Eduard Preuss

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Title page of the Scripture against the Immaculate Conception of Mary, 1865

Eduard Preuss full name Friedrich Reinhold Eduard Preuss , later often Edward Preuss (born July 10, 1834 in Königsberg , Kingdom of Prussia , † July 17, 1904 , in Chicago , USA) was a Lutheran theologian, university teacher, convert to the Catholic faith, journalist and Editor-in-chief of the largest German-speaking Catholic daily newspaper in America.

Live and act

Lutheran theologian

Eduard Preuss was born as the son of the royal orphanage and seminary director August Eduard Preuss and his wife Rosalie, née. Stehr, born in Königsberg. The father was a well-known educator and book author, the latter mostly under the abbreviation "AE Preuss" . The boy attended the local grammar school and obtained his doctorate in philosophy at the University of Königsberg in 1853 . Here in the city he first worked as a high school teacher. In 1857 he received his doctorate in theology at the University of Berlin , where he also completed his habilitation in 1859 . In addition to a job as a teacher at the Dorotheenstädtische Realschule and at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Gymnasium, Eduard Preuss worked as a tutor and private lecturer at the Berlin University until 1868 . His students included u. a. Members of the royal house, the historians Theodor Mommsen and Leopold von Ranke , formed a friendship with him and even Otto von Bismarck was one of his friends. Religiously he stood on the ground of a strictly conservative Lutheranism .

On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed . the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary (the liberation of Mary from original sin ), whereas a strong counter-movement formed in the Protestant area, which consistently denied this belief. Eduard Preuss also belonged to her. On the other hand, he wrote a theological work entitled “The Roman Doctrine of Immaculate Conception: presented from the sources and refuted from God's word” , which was also translated into foreign languages. As a result, Preuss gained great fame as a Protestant theologian. In the sometimes polemical text, Preuss attacked not only the Catholic Church, but also rationalism in the Protestant camp, which led to fierce controversies and disputes, since the University of Berlin was dominated by liberal Protestantism.

In December 1868 Eduard Preuss gave up his position in Berlin and followed a call to the theologically conservative, Lutheran Concordia seminar , the Missouri Synod in St. Louis , USA, where he taught exegesis , church history and Hebrew . At the same time, his preoccupation with the Catholic doctrine and especially with the dogma of the "Immaculate Conception" did not let go of him .

Catholic publicist

After severe internal struggles, Eduard Preuss came to the conclusion that the dogma he had so fiercely opposed was theologically correct and subsequently accepted the entire Catholic faith. On December 1, 1871, he quit his apprenticeship at the Concordia Seminary and on December 8, the feast day of the Immaculate Conception, he officially converted to the Catholic Church. He soon published a theological work in which he revoked his book "The Roman Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception: presented from the sources and refuted from the Word of God" and justified the dogma doctrinally. On October 17, 1872, the German-language newspaper "Die Amerika" was founded in St. Louis and became the largest Catholic daily in the United States. From the beginning Eduard Preuss, who called himself Edward Preuss more and more often, acted as editor-in-chief. As a neo-Catholic initially only active and known internally, he officially took over the management of the magazine on January 17, 1878. In 1902 Preuss had to retire from professional life due to health problems and died in Chicago in 1904. At that time he was one of the best-known publicists in the USA and was called the “Prince among German-American journalists” .

Eduard Preuss married Concordia P. Schuricht in America, from a respected Lutheran family who immigrated from Saxony in 1839 together with Pastor Martin Stephan , the founder of the Missouri Synod .

Her son Arthur Preuss (1871-1934) followed in his father's footsteps and also became a well-known American journalist and Catholic lay theologian.

literature

  • Ludwig Kleiber: "History of the Dorotheenstädtische Realschule during the first 25 years of its existence" , page 68, Berlin, 1861; Scan from the source
  • David August Rosenthal : " Images of Converts from the Nineteenth Century" , Volume 1, Part 3, Pages 666–668; Excerpt from the source
  • Josef Hättenschwiller SJ: "The Immaculate Conception: 32 readings for the May month" , 1916, page 164
  • Josef Hanß: "Maria the beautiful and helpful mother: True incidents from new and recent times about the veneration of Mary" , Steffen Verlag, Limburg an der Lahn, 1935, page 15
  • Thomas Adam: "Germany and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History" , 2005, pages 904 and 905, ISBN 1-85109-628-0 scan from the source
  • Rory T. Conley: "Arthur Preuss, journalist and voice of German and conservative Catholics in America, 1871-1934" , 1998, ISBN 0-8204-4002-7 ; Description of the source in "google books"

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "The Messenger" , Volume 42, 1904, page 280; Source of date and place of birth
  2. ↑ "Literary Guide for Catholic Germany" , Volume 43, 1905; Source of date and place of death
  3. ^ Historical Commission for East and West Prussian State Research: "Old Prussian Biography" , Volume 2, page 520, 1967; Excerpt from the source on the mother's name
  4. ^ List of publications by AE Preuß
  5. ^ Johann Heinrich Kurtz: Textbook of Church History for Students, Volume 2, Page 21 Excerpt from the source
  6. ↑ Digital scan of the complete book against the dogma of the Immaculate Conception
  7. ^ "The Catholic Encyclopedia," Volume 6, 1913, page 483; Excerpt from the source
  8. ↑ "US Catholic historian", Volume 12, page 50, 1994 excerpt from the source, to the quote
  9. ^ Rory T. Conley: "Arthur Preuss, journalist and voice of German and conservative Catholics in America, 1871-1934" , 1998, ISBN 0820440027 , page 11; Excerpt from the source on the wife's name
  10. ^ Concordia Historical Institute quarterly, volumes 75-76, 2002, page 153; 1. Part of the scan from the source ; 2. Part of the scan from the source
  11. ^ Rory T. Conley: Arthur Preuss, "German-Catholic Exile in America", in "US Catholic Historian", 1994 scan from the source
  12. ^ "New Catholic encyclopedia," Volume 11, 1967, p. 764; Scan from the source
personal data
SURNAME Preuss, Eduard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Preuss, Friedrich Reinhold Eduard; Preuss, Edward
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theologian and author, publicist in the USA
DATE OF BIRTH July 10, 1834
PLACE OF BIRTH Koenigsberg
DATE OF DEATH July 17, 1904
Place of death Chicago