Eberhard Müller (theologian)

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Eberhard Müller (born August 22, 1906 in Stuttgart , † January 11, 1989 in Heidelberg ) was a Protestant theologian and founding director of the Evangelical Academy Bad Boll .

Life

Müller studied Protestant theology and philosophy in Tübingen , Erlangen and Berlin in 1925 and received his doctorate in 1929. phil. in Erlangen. As general secretary of the German Christian Student Association (DCSV) he was the managing director of the Evangelical Weeks , a forerunner of the German Evangelical Church Congress , which was banned by the Gestapo in 1937 . After a few years as a student pastor at the University of TübingenMüller was called up for military service and worked as a chaplain on the Eastern Front. On September 29, 1945, Müller and the Württemberg regional bishop Theophil Wurm invited to an academy conference "for men of business and law" in Bad Boll. Thus the first church academy in Central Europe was founded as a place for dialogue.

Müller was director of this academy from 1945 to 1971 and for years chairman of the chamber for social order of the EKD . He was one of the most influential theologians in post-war Germany. He gave the impetus to found the Kronberger Kreis . Numerous church academies in Europe, Asia and Africa can be traced back to his initiative. The main focus of his work was the concern for the rebuilding of a social order in Germany, the development of a democratic culture of discussion promoted by the churches and the stimulation of numerous institutions that contribute to social responsibility (e.g. action community spirit ). In 1971, Federal President Gustav Heinemann awarded him the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his services in shaping the German post-war order .

Müller's lasting merit is the discovery of conversation as an independent medium of church work alongside the sermon.

Works

  • Lively church. A word about the goals of the Evangelical Week , in: The Evangelical Hamburg. Half-monthly publication for Low German Lutheranism , No. 1, January 1936, p. 14 ff.
  • The Hamburg Evangelical Week , in: Die Furche. Evangelical two-month publication for the spiritual life of the present , XXII (1936) 189–190.
  • God and the German Lord God , 1937
  • The world has changed. From the Path of the Church in the 20th Century , 1953
  • The art of conversation. A Way to Think Together , 1953
  • Pastoral care in modern society , 1960
  • Conversation on Faith , 1961
  • Conversion of Structures , 1973
  • Resistance and understanding. Fifty Years of Church and Society Experience 1933–1983 , 1987

literature

  • Albrecht Daur, Christoph Schubert: Eberhard Müller - what continues to have an effect in living people endures . County 1997, ISBN 3-929304-23-6
  • Gertraud Grünzinger:  Müller, Eberhard. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , pp. 355-357 ( digitized version ).
  • Thomas Sauer: Orientation towards the West in German Protestantism? Concepts and activities of the Kronberger Kreis . Munich 1999, ISBN 3-486-56342-4
  • Rulf Jürgen Treidel: Evangelical academies in post-war Germany. Sociopolitical engagement in church public responsibility . (Confession and Society Vol. 22), Stuttgart, Berlin, Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-17-016878-9

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Müller, Eberhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian
DATE OF BIRTH August 22, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH January 11, 1989
Place of death Heidelberg