Emil Bock

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Emil Bock

Emil Bock (born May 19, 1895 in Barmen ; † December 6, 1959 in Stuttgart ) was a German anthroposophist , one of the most important founders of the Christian community and a writer .

Life

Emil Bock grew up with his eight years older brother Wilhelm in modest circumstances in Wuppertal-Barmen.

In 1914 he finished his school years with the Abitur and began to study German and modern languages at the University of Bonn . He volunteered for the army and was wounded at the front in Flanders on October 31, 1914 . During the First World War he could only study on the side. In 1916 he met the evangelical preacher Friedrich Rittelmeyer for the first time in Berlin , where he attended philosophical and theological lectures and took up the Latinum , Graecum and Hebraicum . After his discharge from military service, he studied Protestant theology from 1918in Berlin and graduated in 1921 after completing the vicariate with a licentiate thesis on Schleiermacher's historical way of thinking .

In June of the same year he and some like-minded people took part in Rudolf Steiner's first course for theologians in Stuttgart . After a second course in September 1921 at the Goetheanum in Dornach near Basel , Bock, as spokesman for the young theologians, set about founding the Christian Community together with Rittelmeyer , which was prepared in Breitbrunn am Ammersee in September 1922 and then carried out in Dornach.

On November 13, 1922, Bock married Grete Seumer in Stuttgart. He had four children with her.

He was soon entrusted with leading the seminary courses in Stuttgart, which he passed on to Gottfried Husemann in 1931 . When Rittelmeyer died on March 23, 1938, Bock was appointed as his successor in the office of “Arch-Chief” of the Christian Community.

On August 12, 1939, his wife Grete died after giving birth to their fourth child.

During the forced dissolution and " Gleichschaltung " The Christian Community was the June 11, 1941 at the Nazi regime banned and Bock as part of the campaign against secret teachings and so-called occult sciences into protective custody camp Welzheim locked. He was released on February 5, 1942, subject to conditions, but was under surveillance until 1945. Immediately after the end of the war, Bock began to rebuild the Christian community in Germany.

As a priest, writer and speaker, Bock worked until the end of his life. He died in Stuttgart on December 6, 1959 at the age of 64. In 1960, Rudolf Frieling became his successor as arch-top link .

Spiritual meaning

As an exegete and writer, Bock initially followed Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophical ideas, but soon developed his own philosophical direction. In his works he set a focus on church history , but addressed both the Old and the New Testament .

He worked intensively on a “contemporary” translation of the entire New Testament; a first version appeared between 1927 and 1933, a second in 1950, both emphasizing their “provisional” character, groping for a new biblical language; however not (yet) in book form. His aim was to use a more circumscribing style to make the “letters” of the traditional wording as permeable as possible for their meaning and spirit. However, its new translation was rejected by the majority of Christian theologians.

Bock repeatedly indicated - for example in his exegetical work The Gospel - that he by no means wanted to address his thoughts to an anthroposophically oriented audience, although his work was published exclusively by anthroposophical publishers. However, his lively overviews of the history of ideas found enthusiastic readers far beyond the circles of anthroposophists, such as the conductor Bruno Walter or the film director Ludwig Berger . As his correspondence shows, Bock was also in contact with many personalities in German intellectual life.

Fonts

  • On religious renewal (with Friedrich Rittelmeyer), special print (from Die Drei , vol. 1, issue 9), 1922
  • The childhood of Jesus. Two apocryphal Gospels , Michael Verlag (Christ of all Earth 14/15), Munich 1924
  • The clear year. About the course of the year and the festivals (with Rudolf Meyer ), Verlag der Christengemeinschaft (Christ of All Earth 4), Stuttgart 1924
  • Contemporary riddle in the light of revelation (with Rudolf Frieling, Johannes Werner Klein , Eberhard Kurras and Rudolf Meyer), Verlag der Christengemeinschaft (Christ of all Earth 16), Stuttgart 1925
  • A play by John the Baptist . Community game for the summer solstice, Stuttgart 1927
  • Contributions to the understanding of the gospel , typescripts, Stuttgart 1927–29 (revised in two volumes 1950)
    • Reissued as: The Gospel. Collected reflections on the New Testament , Stuttgart 1984 (2nd A. 1995), ISBN 3-87838-406-8
  • Messengers of the spirit. Swabian intellectual history and the Christian future , Stuttgart 1929 (4th A. 1987)
  • The catacombs. Pictures of the Mysteries of Early Christianity (with Robert Goebel ), Stuttgart 1930 (2nd, revised edition 1960)
  • Repeated earth lives. The re-embodiment idea in German intellectual history , Stuttgart 1932 (7. A. 1996), ISBN 3-87838-027-5
  • Contributions to the translation of the New Testament , typescripts, Stuttgart 1930–33 (revised in two volumes 1950)
    • New edition as: The New Testament , Stuttgart 1980; current: Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-8251-7221-X
  • Contributions to the intellectual history of mankind , 7 volumes, Stuttgart 1934ff
  • Catholicism, Protestantism, Christian community. Old and new spirituality . A lecture, Stuttgart 1940
  • In the Michaelic age , Stuttgart 1948
    • New edition as: Michaelian Age. Humanity in front of the conscience of time , Stuttgart 1979 (2nd A. 1995), ISBN 3-87838-265-0
  • Travel diaries. Italy - Greece - Holy Land , Stuttgart 1949 (3rd edition 1986), ISBN 3-87838-460-2
  • Apocalypse. Reflections on the revelation of Johannes , Stuttgart 1951 (5. A. 1997), ISBN 3-87838-362-2
  • The new reformation . Four lectures, Stuttgart 1953
  • Romanesque architecture and sculpture in Württemberg , Stuttgart 1958
    • Newly published and expanded as: Schwäbische Romanik , Stuttgart 1973
  • The age of Romanesque art with special consideration of the Württemberg monuments , Stuttgart 1958
  • Contemporaries - companions - trailblazers , Stuttgart 1959
  • What does the Christian community want? Two public lectures. Published by Gottfried Husemann and Kurt von Wistinghausen , Stuttgart 1961
  • Rudolf Steiner. Studies on his life and work , Stuttgart 1961 (3rd edition 1990), ISBN 3-7725-0475-2
  • The circle of annual festivals , Stuttgart 1962 (6 A. 1999), ISBN 3-87838-244-8
  • Letters , Stuttgart 1968, ISBN 3-87838-030-5
  • The threefold secret of Mary. Three lectures , Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-8251-7147-7

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bock, Emil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German priest, anthroposophist and writer
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Barmen
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1959
Place of death Stuttgart