Eduard Langhans

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Eduard Langhans

Eduard Langhans (born April 20, 1832 in Guttannen ; † January 9, 1891 in Bern ) was a Swiss Protestant clergyman and university professor .

Life

Eduard Langhans was the son of pastor Daniel Friedrich Langhans (born January 13, 1796 in Schüpfen ; † March 31, 1875 in Münchenbuchsee ) and his first wife Elisabeth (born May 15, 1801 in Reutigen ; † June 30, 1844 in Bern), Daughter of Johannes Kernen. His siblings were:

  • Ernst Friedrich Langhans , theologian , married to Maria Sophia (* 1839 in Bern; † 1909), daughter of pastor Samuel Ziegler (1804-1852);
  • Maria Elisabeth Langhans (born December 10, 1830 in Guttannen, † January 20, 1869 in Münchenbuchsee);
  • Paul Karl Gustav Langhans (* December 23, 1833 in Münchenbuchsee; † March 15, 1837 there).

He enrolled at the University of Bern and began studying theology, which he later continued at the University of Tübingen and the University of Berlin . During his studies he listened to the lectures of the Old Testament scholar Gottlieb Ludwig Studer , who subjected the Old Testament texts to a critical historical analysis and thus suited his way of thinking, while the practical theologian Bernhard Karl Wyss (1793-1870) was committed to traditional orthodox doctrine and for church practice thus remained authoritative; Eduard Langhans did not want to accept this.

After completing his studies, he was accepted into the Bernese ministry in 1855 , but this brought him the reproach of the ecclesiastical Orthodox that he lacked the internal profession of clergy. In the various vicariate positions , however, he found friends who were to become important for his later career, including Albert Bitzius (son of Jeremias Gotthelf ) and Johann Jakob Kummer (1828–1913).

He supplemented his education with a study visit from 1858 to 1859 in Berlin and in 1860 at the theological faculty in Montauban , founded in 1808 and belonging to the University of Toulouse .

At the University of Berlin he heard the lectures of Wilhelm Vatke (theology) and Heinrich Gustav Hotho ( aesthetics ) as well as those of the art historian Gustav Friedrich Waagen ; in Montauban he got to know French Protestantism through Jules Steeg (1836–1898) and P. Goy .

In 1861, after initial concerns from the electoral authority, he became a teacher of religion, initially with geography at the state teachers' seminar in Schloss Münchenbuchsee .

In 1877 he obtained his habilitation in ethics and in 1881 he succeeded his brother as professor for dogmatics , ethics and religious history at the University of Bern, where he was rector from 1888 to 1889.

In 1880 he resigned as a seminary teacher, took over church functions in Laupen and taught Hebrew at the high school .

Eduard Langhans was married in Hindelbank on June 28, 1863 , to Maria Charlotte (* December 19, 1832 in Bern; † 1891), daughter of Albrecht Friedrich Stettler (1796–1849), Secretary of the Justice and Police Directorate , governor in Interlaken , Professor of Criminal Law . The marriage remained childless, but they took on two adoptive daughters.

Writing and theological work

His writing The Holy Scriptures: A Guide for Religious Education , which presented the historical biblical and dogma criticism of the younger Tübingen School, among others by Ferdinand Christian Baur and David Friedrich Strauss , sparked the guide dispute from 1866 to 1868 .

Together with his brother and Albert Bitzius, he founded the Church Reform Association in 1866 , which later became a branch of the Swiss Association for Free Christianity , founded in 1871 . The association began in October 1866 to publish the reform papers from the Bernese church . Theological liberalism made itself heard through the reform papers , which Eduard Langhans helped to edit . In the further course he developed into a leading figure of the religious-liberal reform movement, the so-called reformers .

Guide dispute

In 1865 Eduard Langhans published his religious textbook for teaching at the teachers' seminar, which subsequently triggered a major discussion in the Reformed Church in Bern because in it he outlined his approach to religious teaching without confession ; He saw the lack of denomination in the non-literal interpretation of the Holy Scriptures . He opposed the literal interpretation of the Holy Scriptures and took over the historical-critical method developed in principles and thus leaned on the Tübingen School , as it was founded by Ferdinand Christian Baur and his student David Friedrich Strauss and others.

With his approach to an empirically shaped understanding of the Bible, he broke away from the previous tradition of the literal structure of revelation and made a new addition possible for religious instruction. The science-oriented handling of the biblical evidence ultimately justified the demand for non-denominational religious instruction.

Pastor Ludwig Fellenberg (1807–1886), member of the parish council of the Münster community in Bern, opposed this form of religious instruction because, in his opinion, giving up the literal interpretation of the biblical script would lead to a loss of church authority, and that would be the Society's foundations at risk. In 1865, Grand Councilor Otto von Büren (1822–1888) initiated a discussion on the extent to which the new approach in the guideline would be in harmony with the authority of the Church; in doing so, he rejected the new ideas and saw the book as a danger to church and state.

The director of education Johann Jakob Kummer (1828–1913), however, took Eduard Langhans and with it his ideas under protection on the grounds that the new teachings were definitely suitable for a majority among the teachers.

The textbook also led to heated arguments in the two church synods , the district synod of the Münster parish of Bern on May 23 and the cantonal synod on June 19, 1866; The Protestant church of the canton of Bern tried to incorporate the findings of scientific research, but this sparked a conflict between orthodox and liberal representatives because, according to the orthodox theologians, the empirical scientific approach led to the loss of the foundation of the principle of revelation and thus also to the loss of the stability of the church and State led. But it was not just a matter of content. Rather, Rudolf Emanuel Wurstemberger-Steiger (1808–1876), another critic, urged the district synod to ban the book at the teachers' seminar and to fraternally admonish Eduard Langhans as a seminar teacher . Some members of the district synod tried to de-escalate the heated discussions by relativizing the effect of religious instruction at the teachers' college, for example magistrate Friedrich Staub (1777–1868) from Belp . His brother Ernst Friedrich Langhans (1829–1880) and his father Daniel Friedrich Langhans (1796–1875), the first director of the state teacher training college in Münchenbuchsee, founded in 1833, took the side of Eduard Langhans; According to his brother, a fraternal admonition would only be an expression of hypocrisy, because the opponents would never have attended the seminar and therefore do not know how the lessons actually take place. His father pointed out that an escalation between the Bernese church and the Bernese teachers would be preprogrammed.

In the subsequent cantonal synod of June 19, 1866, the concern of the district synod of the Münster community of Bern was discussed again. Otto von Büren, who is also in office in the cantonal synod, again pointed out the unconditional authority of the Holy Scriptures and rejected Langhans' empirical approach. Government councilor Johann Jakob Kummer pointed out that direct influence on the part of the church synod would not be successful in the Bernese government because the government at the time was happy to have found a competent man in the election of Eduard Langhans. He also emphasized that a government should not favor theological orientations, as this would ruin even the heterogeneously constituted regional church.

In the Grand Council discussion on November 29, 1866, a motion by Otto von Büren was accepted with 73 votes to 61, which was supposed to examine religious instruction at the state teachers' college; however, it never came to that. There has been no government investigation or any consequences from parliament or government. The matter therefore fizzled out, probably not without the assistance of the government that supported the seminar.

As a result, there was a separation between orthodox-pietist and liberal theology within the Reformed Church of Bern.

The conflict over the guidelines was subsequently an important motive for the establishment of the Association for Free Christianity of the Bernese Regional Church on August 14, 1866.

honors and awards

Fonts (selection)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Langhans, Daniel Friedrich. Retrieved February 29, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Bernese families - persons. Retrieved February 29, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Wyss, Bernhard Karl. Retrieved February 29, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Kummer, Johann Jakob. Retrieved February 29, 2020 .
  5. ^ Stettler, Albrecht Friedrich. Retrieved February 29, 2020 .
  6. ^ E. Bloesch: History of the Swiss Reformed Church . BoD - Books on Demand, 2015, ISBN 978-3-7340-0766-8 ( google.de [accessed February 29, 2020]).
  7. ↑ Martin Pernet: Nietzsche and the "pious" Basel . Schwabe AG, 2014, ISBN 978-3-7965-3309-9 ( google.de [accessed on February 29, 2020]).
  8. ↑ Guido Estermann: Religious instruction in state teacher training in the 19th and 20th centuries: Exemplary examples in the cantons of Bern and Lucerne. Religious Studies Journal, 2016, accessed February 29, 2020 .
  9. ^ Wurstemberger, Rudolf Emanuel von. Retrieved February 29, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Langhans, Eduard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Langhans, Ed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss Protestant clergyman and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH April 20, 1832
PLACE OF BIRTH Guttannen
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 1891
Place of death Bern