Carl Hilty

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Portrait of Carl Hilty

Carl Hilty (born February 28, 1833 in the town of Werdenberg , municipality of Grabs in the canton of St. Gallen ; † October 12, 1909 in Clarens ) was a Swiss constitutional lawyer and lay theologian.

Life

Hilty was born the son of a doctor and attended elementary and cantonal school in Chur . He studied at the University of Göttingen and received his doctorate in 1854 at the University of Heidelberg as a Doctor iuris utriusque . After a short time as a lawyer in Chur, he joined the Swiss military in 1856. From 1874 he taught Swiss constitutional law at the University of Bern , and later also general constitutional and international law as well as Swiss history. As a Swiss delegate, he went to the international arbitration tribunal in The Hague.

First a constitutional law teacher, Hilty was National Councilor for the Democrats and head of military justice before he was appointed to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague . From the end of the 19th century he was best known for his philosophical-theological writings. His statements on the question "What is education?" are based on the knowledge that only by overcoming the human conflict can true education and happiness be achieved. With his three volumes "Glück" - published in 1890, 1895 and 1899 - Hilty also had great journalistic success.

The lucky volumes achieved an enormously high circulation, running into tens of thousands during his lifetime. There were translations and editions into Russian, Scandinavian, and even in America a collection of essays appeared. These books were also part of Konrad Adenauer's reading, to whom they gave spiritual orientation, especially during the dark days of National Socialism .

His work reflects his talents in politics, law, help in life (psychology / medicine) and religion (he was not an academically trained theologian, is still not recognized by them to this day), which formed the basis for his journalistic work (especially his today still isolated Traditional quotes!), which is reflected in the happiness research of the modern age. Hilty defined “closeness to God” and “work” as elements of happiness, which he understood to mean active and political participation in the kingdom of God.

Theologically he distanced himself after initial approval from David Friedrich Strauss . Rothe and August Tholuck told him more, as did Adolf von Harnack . He was very close to the Blumhardts . He had subscribed to the papers from Bad Boll. In the Institutio Christianae Religionis of Johannes Calvin he saw the best Protestant teaching structure, even if he rejected his doctrine of predestination . At literature he recommended u. a. the pilgrimage to blessed eternity by John Bunyan , then Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling , Gerhard Tersteegen and the songs by Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf , but also the Old Testament sermons by Charles Haddon Spurgeon . Hilty saw in the Christocentricity of his faith the highest acquisition of his life.

Carl Hilty's birthplace in Werdenberg

In addition to lectures on Swiss history, his self-published Political Yearbooks of the Swiss Confederation (1886–1909) form a work "of great scope and unexploited depth" (F. Seebaß). Hilty was married to Johanna Gärtner, the daughter of a German professor who had come to Switzerland as a political refugee. He died in a hotel in Clarens on the shores of Lake Geneva, where he had finished his last text, "Pax Perpetua", on political peace between the states. The words "Amor omnia vincit" ("Love conquers everything") are written on his tombstone in the Bremgarten cemetery in Bern (family grave).

Works

  • The modern servant contract . 2nd edition Hitz'schen Buchhandlung, Chur 1893.
  • Women's suffrage. In: Hilty, Carl (ed.): Political yearbook of the Swiss Confederation. Bern, 1897 ( digitized version and full text in the German text archive ).
  • For sleepless nights. Hinrichs, Leipzig 1901.
  • Building blocks. Aphorisms and quotations from ancient and modern times. Edward Erwin Meyer, Leipzig / Aarau / Vienna 1910.
  • The gospel of Christ. With a few explanatory notes. Huber, Leipzig / Frauenfeld 1910.
  • Building blocks of happiness. / Epictets handbook of morals. Edited by Raphael Baer. Bär, Niederuzwil 2010, ISBN 978-3-9523212-4-9 .
  • Political responsibility: Political yearbook of the Swiss Confederation 1886–1910. Edited by Raphael Baer. Bär, Niederuzwil 2010, ISBN 978-3-9523212-5-6 .
  • On the sanctity of marriage / My principles in family education / The poor contribution of state-organized schools to self-education and life. In: Raphael Baer (Ed.): Ehe, Familie, Gesellschaft. Ed. Jerzy Kułaczkowski. Bär, Niederuzwil 2011, ISBN 978-3-9523212-6-3 , pp. 717–730, 731–740, 741–750.
  • Modern Holiness / The New Reformation. In: Raphael Baer (Ed.): Sankt Gallus: History - Legende - Interpretation. Bär, Niederuzwil 2011, ISBN 978-3-9523212-7-0 , pp. 97-104, 136 f.

literature

  • Heinrich Auer: Carl Hilty. Sheets on the history of his life and work. KJ Wyss, Bern 1910.
  • Raphael Koeber: Carl Hilty. In: Small Fonts. New episode. Tokyo 1921 or in: Carl Hilty: Building blocks for happiness. Bär, Niederuzwil 2010, ISBN 978-3-9523212-4-9 , pp. 535-553.
  • Jakob Steiger: Carl Hilty's Swiss Legacy. Huber, Frauenfeld / Leipzig 1937.
  • Alfred Stucki: Carl Hilty, life and work of a great Swiss. Friedr. Reinhardt, Basel 1946.
  • Hans Rudolf Hilty : Carl Hilty and the spiritual legacy of the Goethe era. St. Gallen 1953.
  • Friedrich Seebaß : Carl Hilty. A friend of God. 2nd edition Gießen / Basel 1956.
  • Hanspeter Mattmüller : Carl Hilty 1833–1909 (= Basel contributions to historical science. Volume 100). Helbing and Lichtenhahn, Basel / Stuttgart 1966.
Short biographies
Further secondary literature with specific topics
  • Raphael Baer: Carl Hilty on the sanctity of marriage. In: marriage, family, society. Bär, Niederuzwil 2011, ISBN 978-3-9523212-6-3 , pp. 119–145.
  • Raphael Baer: Errors and Limits of State Education according to Carl Hilty. In: marriage, family, society. Bär, Niederuzwil 2011, ISBN 978-3-9523212-6-3 , pp. 663–688.

Web links

Wikiquote: Carl Hilty  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to the statement of Otto Kopp, a biographer of Adenauer, who had spoken to his son, in conversation with Verlag Bär and the written hint in Anneliese Poppinga's book, The most important thing is courage. Konrad Adenauer - the last five years of chancellor , p. 255.
  2. ↑ Hanspeter Mattmüller : Carl Hilty 1833–1909 (= Basel contributions to historical science. Volume 100). Helbing and Lichtenhahn, Basel / Stuttgart 1966. P. 278 f. and p. 284.
personal data
SURNAME Hilty, Carl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss constitutional lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1833
PLACE OF BIRTH Werdenberg
DATE OF DEATH October 12, 1909
Place of death Clarens VD