Alfred de Quervain (theologian)

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Alfred de Quervain (born September 28, 1896 in La Neuveville , † October 30, 1968 in Bern ) was a Swiss theologian of the Reformed denomination.

Life

Alfred de Quervain was born the oldest of five siblings into a pastor's family; his grandfather and father were pastors. He grew up on Lake Biel until he was 12 years old ; then his family moved to Trubschachen in the Emmental . He passed the high school diploma at the Free Gymnasium in Bern .

Studies, social work and pastoral service

Following the family tradition, Quervain studied theology and philosophy in Bern , Basel , Marburg and at the Friedrich Wilhelms University in Berlin. Formative teachers were Paul Natorp , Bernhard Duhm and Paul Wernle . During this time he was close to Leonhard Ragaz and Hermann Kutter , the two Swiss pioneers of religious socialism .

Quervain decided not to go straight to the parish after taking the theological exam . Instead, he joined the social working group in Berlin and did social work in the workers' and slums in eastern Berlin. He took up his first pastor's position (from 1923 to 1926) in Frankfurt am Main, in the oldest Huguenot community in Germany. He was then pastor of the Reformed congregations in Stuttgart (from 1926 to 1928) and in his home town of La Neuveville (from 1928 to 1931). At the same time he continued his theological studies and wrote books. In the winter semester 1928/1929, he was with one at the University of Vienna submitted dissertation on "Law and Freedom" doctorate ; In 1930 he completed his habilitation in Basel with a thesis on the theological requirements of politics. Basic lines of a political theology . Important conversation and correspondence partners for him were Carl Schmitt and Gustav Radbruch .

Pastor in Elberfeld and lecturer at the Elberfeld Church University

In autumn 1931 the Dutch Reformed congregation in Elberfeld appointed Alfred de Quervain to be their pastor. It was created in 1847 when Reformed parishioners responded to the union efforts of Friedrich Wilhelm III. resisted and started their own church. Even 84 years after its foundation, the congregation was still shaped by Hermann Friedrich Kohlbrügge , its first pastor, and created by the spirit of the Jülich-Bergische church order of 1671, which was synodal-presbyteral and not subject to the state. Karl Barth lived with the Quervain family during the Barmer Confession Synod. In addition to his work as a pastor, Quervain has held lectures and seminars at the Church University of the Confessing Church in Elberfeld since its foundation in the winter semester of 1935/1936. As a pastor and theological teacher in Elberfeld "to have called my German fellow Christians in sermons, lectures, writings and reports ... to resistance against the total state and its attack on the neighbor", appeared to him in retrospect as the most important service of his life.

Return to Switzerland, professor at the University of Bern

At the end of 1938 Quervain returned to his home country and became a pastor in Laufen . In 1944 he was appointed associate professor for ethics at the University of Bern, from 1948 he taught ethics, practical exegesis and French Reformed theology there as a full professor.

His main work was ethics . The first volume was published in 1942 with the significant title Heiligung , in 1945 on political ethics the second volume, Kirche, Volk du Staat . In 1953 marriage and home followed , in 1956 rest and work, property and wages . In the last volume his ethics are shown in places to be influenced by a rather conservative, occasionally culturally pessimistic attitude.

Fonts

  • The faith struggle of the Huguenots , 1924
  • Calvin . His teaching and fighting , 1926
  • The theological presuppositions of politics , 1931
  • The Law of the State , 1932
  • From the Christian life. An interpretation of Romans 12 and 13 , 1934
  • The freedom of the church and its service to the people and the state. , 1934 ( online )
  • On the right understanding of Christian freedom and on the maintenance of this freedom in civil life , 1935
  • People and authorities, a gift from God , 1937
  • Christ's Kingdom and the Earthly Realms , 1939
  • Sanctification. Ethics I , 1942, ²1946
  • Church, people, state. Ethics II / 1 , 1945
  • Humanism and Evangelical Theology , 1947
  • Marriage and home. Ethics II / 2 , 1953
  • Rest and work, wages and property. Ethics II / 3 , 1956
  • The Judaism in the teaching and preaching of the Church today (= Theological existence today , NF, vol. 130). Chr. Kaiser Verlag, Munich 1966

literature

  • Klaus Wegenast :  Alfred de Quervain (theologian). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 7, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-048-4 , Sp. 1100-1102.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Werner Göllner: The political existence of the community. A theological ethics of the political using the example of Alfred de Quervain . Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-631-32552-5 .
  • Werner Göllner: Alfred de Quervain (1896–1968) . In: Wolfgang Lienemann, Frank Mathwig (ed.): Swiss ethicists in the 20th century. The contribution of theological thinkers . Theological Publishing House Zurich (TVZ), Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-290-17370-4 , pp. 105-131.
  • Hartmut Ludwig, Eberhard Röhm : Baptized Evangelically - persecuted as "Jews" . Calwer, Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-7668-4299-2 , pp. 280-281.
  • Hans Scholl: Alfred de Quervain - a reformed ethicist in the church struggle . In: Reformierte Kirchenzeitung, vol. 129 (1988), pp. 79–83 and 112–116.
  • Herwart Vorländer: Church fight in Elberfeld 1933–1945. A critical contribution to the history of the church struggle in Germany. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1968, passim, esp.p. 54ff.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ a b Werner Göllner: Alfred de Quervain (1896–1968) . In: Wolfgang Lienemann, Frank Mathwig (ed.): Swiss ethicists in the 20th century. The contribution of theological thinkers . Theologischer Verlag Zürich (TVZ), Zürich 2005, pp. 105–131, here p. 109.
  2. ↑ Werner Göllner: Alfred de Quervain (1896–1968) , here p. 108.
  3. ↑ Werner Göllner: Alfred de Quervain (1896–1968) , here pp. 109 and 110.
  4. ↑ Werner Göllner: Alfred de Quervain (1896–1968) , here p. 110.
  5. ↑ a b Werner Göllner: Alfred de Quervain (1896–1968) , here p. 111.
  6. ↑ Werner Göllner: Alfred de Quervain (1896–1968) , here p. 112.
  7. ↑ a b Werner Göllner: Alfred de Quervain (1896–1968) , here p. 117.
  8. ^ Benjamin G. Locher:  Kohlbrügge, Hermann Friedrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , pp. 423-425 ( digitized version ). ( Friedrich Wilhelms II is mistakenly named there).
  9. ↑ Werner Göllner: Alfred de Quervain (1896–1968) , here pp. 118 and 119.
  10. ↑ Werner Göllner: Alfred de Quervain (1896–1968) , here p. 119.
  11. ↑ Quoted from Werner Göllner: Alfred de Quervain (1896–1968) , quoted on p. 105.
  12. ↑ Werner Göllner: Alfred de Quervain (1896–1968) , here p. 126.
  13. ↑ Werner Göllner: Alfred de Quervain (1896–1968) , here p. 127.
  14. ↑ Martin Honecker : Art. Work. Part VII: 18. – 20. Century . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE), Vol. 3, pp. 639–659, here p. 652.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Quervain, Alfred de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss theologian of the Reformed denomination
DATE OF BIRTH September 28, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH La Neuveville
DATE OF DEATH October 30, 1968
Place of death Bern