Edmund Hardy (religious scholar)

Edmund Georg Nicolaus Hardy ( July 9, 1852 in Mainz - October 10, 1904 in Bonn ) was a German Catholic theologian, religious historian , religious scholar and Indologist .

Life

Edmund Hardy came from a long-established and respected family in Mainz. His father was the pharmacist Edmund Hardy (1816–1878).

Hardy studied Catholic theology and philosophy at the Episcopal Seminary in Mainz . In 1874 he was honored for his work on the prize assignment "Representation and criticism of the Platonic concept of God". He was ordained a priest in 1875 and was chaplain in Heppenheim an der Bergstrasse until 1885 . In 1879 he received his doctorate under Kuno Fischer at the University of Heidelberg . After moving to Freiburg im Breisgau , he obtained a theological doctorate there in 1885, completed his habilitation in the theological faculty of the University of Freiburg in 1886 and was given an extraordinary professorship in 1887. He turned down a call to a chair at the reopened seminary in Mainz in 1887.

Hardy continued to be a priest alongside his teaching post. He was closely associated with leading center politicians and resigned his teaching post in 1893 after political disputes. After a short stay in the Benedictine monastery of Beuron , he was appointed to the chair of Indian philology and comparative religious studies at the University of Freiburg in Üechtland in 1894 . After political entanglements in higher education, connected with the dispute over the constitution of the university and the special rights of the Dominican order, he applied for his dismissal in 1897 together with nine other professors. In 1898 he moved to Würzburg and in 1903 to Bonn , where he died in 1904.

plant

Hardy devoted himself primarily to the history of Indian religion . The realization of the necessity of his own source studies led him to study Sanskrit and Pāli . His publications on Indian religious history and the religious founder Buddha appeared in the popular Göschen collection .

Hardy's importance lies in his advocacy for the historical-comparative observation of religions and for the connection of philological and religious studies methods in the study of Indian religions. He pleaded for a clear separation of religious studies and theology, placed "historical and comparative research taking into account non-Christian and non-European religions at the center of religious studies" and thus provided "a definition of religious studies that is the core of the subject to this day".

Publications (selection)

Friedrich Ozanam : a life in the service of truth and love. Kirchheim, Mainz 1878
The concept of physis in Greek philosophy. Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1884
General Comparative Religious Studies in the Academic Study of Our Time: An Inaugural Academic Address. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1887
Buddhism according to older Pâli works. Representations from the field of non-Christian religious history 1, Aschendorff, Münster 1890; online . New edition obtained from Richard Schmidt , Münster 1919
The Vedic Brahmanic Period of the Religion of Ancient India. Depicted according to the sources. Representations from the field of non-Christian religious history 9/10, Aschendorff, Münster 1893; on-line
What is religious studies? A contribution to the methodology of historical research on religion. In: Archiv für Religionswissenschaft 1 (1898), pp. 9–42; online in the Internet Archive . Also in: Günter Lanczkowski (Hrsg.): Self-understanding and essence of religious studies. Paths of Research 263, Wiss. Buchges., Darmstadt 1974, pp. 1-29
Buddha. Göschen Collection 174, Göschen, Leipzig 1903
Indian religious history. Göschen Collection 83, Göschen, Leipzig 1904
India's culture in the heyday of King Asoka Buddhism. World history in character pictures, Dept. 1 Antiquity, Kirchheim, Mainz 1913

literature

Heinz Bechert : Hardy, Edmund. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , p. 670 ( digitized version ).
Hardy, Edmund (Georg Nicolaus) , in: Bernd Moeller , Bruno Jahn (Hrsg.): German Biographical Encyclopedia of Theology and the Churches. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2005, ISBN 978-3-11-183596-9 , p. 580; limited preview in Google Book search
TW Rhys Davids : Professor Edmund Hardy. In: The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Jan. 1905, pp. 213-215; Preview of JSTOR
Heribert Raab : Catholicism and Science. On the life and work of the religious scholar and Indologist Edmund Hardy (19.7.1852-10.10.1904). In: Louis C. Morsak, Markus Escher (Ed.): Festschrift for Louis Carlen on his 60th birthday. Schulthess Polygraphischer Verlag, Zurich 1989, ISBN 978-3-7255-2710-6 , pp. 639-672
Ulrich Vollmer: Religious Studies as an Academic Discipline in the Context of Catholic Theological Faculties. At the beginning of an exciting relationship. In: Jürgen Court, Michael Klöcker (Ed.): Ways and Worlds of Religions: Research and Mediation. Festschrift for Udo Tworuschka. Lembeck, Frankfurt / M. 2009, ISBN 978-3-87476-591-6 , pp. 647-654, here pp. 648-650; limited preview in Google Book search

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b T. W. Rhys Davids: Professor Edmund Hardy. In: The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Jan. 1905, pp. 213-215; Preview of JSTOR.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Heinz Bechert: Hardy, Edmund. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , p. 670 ( digitized version ).
^ Memorandum of the German professors leaving the Union of the University of Friborg in Switzerland. Academischer Verlag, Munich 1898.
↑ Hardy, Edmund (Georg Nicolaus) , in: Bernd Moeller, Bruno Jahn (Hrsg.): German Biographical Encyclopedia of Theology and the Churches. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2005, ISBN 978-3-11-183596-9 , p. 580; limited preview in Google Book search
↑ Dorothea Lüddeckens: The World Parliament of Religions of 1893. Structures of interreligious encounters in the 19th century. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2002, ISBN 978-3-11-089872-9 , p. 250; limited preview in Google Book search
↑ Recommendations for the further development of theologies and religion-related sciences at German universities , Wissenschaftsrat, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-935353-49-6 , p. 48.

Web links

Wikisource: Edmund Hardy - Sources and full texts

personal data
SURNAME	Hardy, Edmund
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Hardy, Edmund Georg Nicolaus (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German Catholic theologian, religious scholar and Indologist
DATE OF BIRTH	July 9, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mainz
DATE OF DEATH	October 10, 1904
Place of death	Bonn

[Rhys-1] A ^b T. W. Rhys Davids: Professor Edmund Hardy. In: The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Jan. 1905, pp. 213-215; Preview of JSTOR.

[NDB-2] Heinz Bechert: Hardy, Edmund. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , p. 670 ( digitized version ).

[3] Memorandum of the German professors leaving the Union of the University of Friborg in Switzerland. Academischer Verlag, Munich 1898.

[4] Hardy, Edmund (Georg Nicolaus) , in: Bernd Moeller, Bruno Jahn (Hrsg.): German Biographical Encyclopedia of Theology and the Churches. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2005, ISBN 978-3-11-183596-9 , p. 580; limited preview in Google Book search

[5] Dorothea Lüddeckens: The World Parliament of Religions of 1893. Structures of interreligious encounters in the 19th century. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2002, ISBN 978-3-11-089872-9 , p. 250; limited preview in Google Book search

[6] Recommendations for the further development of theologies and religion-related sciences at German universities , Wissenschaftsrat, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-935353-49-6 , p. 48.