Ansgar Koschel

Ansgar Koschel (born October 18, 1943 in Seligenstadt ; † March 5, 2007 in Friedberg (Hesse) ) was a German Roman Catholic theologian .

Life

Ansgar Koschel studied theology and philosophy at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster and the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen . In 1970 he graduated with a licentiate in theology. In 1973 he completed a degree in educational science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main . In 1980 he was at the University of Essen with a thesis on the dialogue of Jesus with Ernst Bloch and Milan Machovec to Dr. phil. PhD .

Koschel worked from 1969 to 1972 as an education officer in the Limburg diocese ; then from 1972 to 1973 part-time as a religion teacher at a Frankfurt grammar school. From 1973 to 1976 he was a research assistant for the subject “Catholic theology and its didactics” at the comprehensive university in Essen .

In 1976, Ansgar Koschel became federal chairman of the German Scouting Association Saint Georg (DPSG) . He held this office until 1982 and was also President of the Ring of German Scout Associations from 1977 to 1979 .

Ansgar Koschel was Secretary General of the German Section of the International Catholic Peace Movement Pax Christi from 1982 to 1989 and Secretary General of the German Coordination Council of Societies for Christian-Jewish Cooperation (DKR) from 1990 to 2000. He was also the long-term chairman of the Catholic Federal Working Group for Conscientious Objectors (KAK).

From January 2000 until his retirement at the end of 2006, he was director of the Rabanus Maurus Catholic Academy of the Limburg diocese. In April 2007 he wanted to take over the leadership of the Association of Catholic Men and Women in the Bund New Germany (KMF).

Act

Ansgar Koschel has always been committed to the reconciliation of Christians and Jews. In 1984 he initiated a pilgrimage to the Auschwitz concentration camp . Together with the Limburg auxiliary bishop Walther Kampe , he donated a bronze sculpture by Maximilian Kolbe as a symbol of the "victory of love over violence". Koschel was one of the founders of the Frankfurt Alfred Delp Group.

Numerous voluntary functions and engagements reflected this commitment to understanding and reconciliation: for example, he was involved in the Maximilian Kolbe factory, in the "Action Atonement / Peace Services", in German-Polish reconciliation, in German-French reconciliation work and in the project group “Church and Synagogue” of the Diocesan Synodal Council of the Diocese of Limburg. He was also a member of the board of trustees of the Auschwitz Youth Meeting Center , the “Jews and Christians” discussion group at the Central Committee of German Catholics and the EKHN “Church and Israel” working group. He did not shy away from the risk and - like Bishop Franz Kamphaus - traveled to Sarajevo and the Holy Land in times of crisis. Koschel died at a time when a new task was already determining his plans.

Fonts

• About salvation and redemption in the Jewish tradition. With a Christian Approach , AphorismA 1995, ISBN 3865751024 , along with David Rosen
• When the prophets rise ... Handout for Israel Sunday , Action atonement 1995, ISBN 3892460302 , together with Wolf Jung, Wolfgang Raupach-Rudnick, Micha Brumlik , Nachum Orland, Hubert Frankemölle
• Education from memory. Pedagogical Perspectives after Auschwitz , Academy of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3926297549 , together with Gebhard Fürst , Reinhold Boschki , Franz M. Konrad, Franz J. Klehr
• (Ed.): The forgotten Jews in the Baltic States , Verlag für Wissenschaft und Politik, Cologne 1998
• The dialogue between Jews and Christians. Attempts to talk to Auschwitz. , Campus 1999, ISBN 3593363461 , together with Hans Erler
• Catholic Church and Judaism in the 20th Century , Lit 2002, ISBN 3825855074
• Gerechter Friede , Meinhardt 2002, ISBN 3933325226 , together with Thomas Meinhardt, Daniela Seel , Franz Kamphaus , Paul Wehrle , Walter Mixa
• Return to the national religion ?. Faith and Nation in National Socialism and Today , Haag + _Herchen 2003, ISBN 3898462692 , together with Lutz Becht, Hermann Düringer
• Ansgar Koschel (editor): Ververstellungigung. Martin Buber as teacher and translator , AphorismA 2006, ISBN 386575001X

swell

1. ↑ Peace, justice and reconciliation were his main topics ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

• Literature by and about Ansgar Koschel in the catalog of the German National Library
• Obituary Dr. Ansgar Koschel (pax christi) (PDF file; 21 kB)
• Peace, justice and reconciliation were his main themes ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 1.24 MB)