Tillich circle

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Tillich Circle was a group of religious socialists during the Weimar Republic , named after Paul Tillich .

Development and goals

In 1919 a relatively solid group of predominantly Protestant theologians and social scientists was formed around the Berlin pastor Friedrich Rittelmeyer . This group saw itself as a "free spiritual movement" whose only bond should be the spiritual community. The theologian and philosopher Paul Tillich, but also the economist and social politician Eduard Heimann , the social pedagogue Carl Mennicke and the economist and sociologist Adolph Lowe were decisive for the circle . Since 1920 he was also the editor of the “Blätter für den Sozialismus”, a journal of the circle. The publication appeared in this form until 1927. Then until 1933 Heimann published the “Neue Blätter für den Sozialismus”. These journals were among the most demanding theoretical publications on social policy and socialism of the time. The main concern of the group was to deal with the intellectual climate after 1918, which was understood as a spiritual vacuum. The group tried to pursue this by systematically reflecting on the reasons for the failure of theology, the church and the socialist labor movement. The ultimate goal was to assign socialism a central place in a comprehensive cultural philosophy . Tillich's attempt to integrate socialism into his cultural-philosophical-theological system played a decisive role.

Even if the Tillich Circle shared many views with the Association of Religious Socialists in Germany , the group remained independent. If the federal government was able to attract non-academic supporters at least in some regions, the Tillich circle remained an academic discussion forum. In some cases, the members like Tillich and Heimann were able to maintain contact even in exile.

Not a few of the members of Tillich's group belonged to the Kreisau district during the Second World War . Among them were Harald Poelchau , Adolf Reichwein , Carlo Mierendorff , Theodor Haubach , Otto Heinrich von der Gablentz and Adam von Trott zu Solz .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Günter Brakelmann: The Kreisau Circle. In: Peter Steinbach / Johannes Tuchel (eds.): Resistance against the National Socialist dictatorship 1933–1945. Bonn: Federal Agency for Civic Education, 2004, p. 360

literature

  • Johannes Kandel: Theories of the labor movement in the Weimar Republic - religious socialism . In: Thomas Meyer, Susanne Miller , Joachim Rohlfes (Hrsg.): History of the German workers' movement. Part 2 (A15-A39). Federal Agency for Civic Education, Bonn, 1984, ISBN 3-923423-11-X , p. 465
  • Klaus Kreppel : Kairos and Socialism. Questions to Paul Tillich's theology of history . In: Socialism Past and Present . Edited by Richard Faber. Würzburg, 1994, ISBN 3-88479-731-X , (Verlag Königshausen & Neumann), pp. 199-214.
  • Klaus Kreppel : Expectation is the symbol of socialism. Reflections on Paul Tillich's The Socialist Decision . In: Richard Faber / Eveline Goodman-Thau / Thomas Macho (eds.): Occidental eschatology. Ad Jacob Taubes, Würzburg 2001, ISBN 3-8260-2123-1 , (Verlag Königshausen & Neumann). Pp. 355-364.