Ernst Fuchs (theologian)

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Ernst Fuchs (born June 11, 1903 in Heilbronn , † January 15, 1983 in Langenau ) was a German Protestant theologian. With Gerhard Ebeling he is considered to be the leading exponent of hermeneutic theology in the 20th century.

Life

Ernst Fuchs was born on June 11, 1903 in Heilbronn. After attending the church seminaries in Schöntal and Urach, he began studying law in Tübingen. When he visited a theological lecture by the exegete Adolf Schlatter by chance , he was so fascinated by the connection between biblical textual interpretation and current life experience that he switched to studying theology. When he went to Marburg / Lahn to continue his studies in 1924, he experienced an encounter between theology and philosophy between Rudolf Bultmann and Martin Heidegger , which had a lasting impact on him. After he had passed his 1st exam in Württemberg, he received his doctorate in Marburg in 1929 with a dissertation on “The relationship between faith and action in the Hermas Book”, which was accompanied by Bultmann. Shortly afterwards he moved to the University of Bonn, where he became assistant to the New Testament scholar Karl-Ludwig Schmidt. With a thesis on "Christ and the Spirit with Paul " he received his habilitation in 1932 from the Evangelical Theological Faculty in Bonn. After the Nazis came to power, both Schmidt and Fuchs were dismissed from Bonn University in 1933. Fuchs sought help from his Württemberg regional church . He was pastor from 1934 to 1938 in Winzerhausen b. Grossbott was posted, but had to give way to defamation by the party and was transferred to Oberaspach im Hohenlohischen, where he worked as a pastor until 1951. As a member of the "Church Theological Society" he belonged to the Confessing Church and stood up for the freedom of the Church both against the Nazi regime and against what he saw as a church leadership that was too willing to compromise.

In 1946/47 he accepted a teaching position for three semesters at the theological faculty of the University of Marburg, which in 1947 also gave him the Dr. hc awarded. From 1949 he first became a lecturer, in 1953 an adjunct professor for the New Testament in Tübingen, after he had given up his pastoral office in Oberaspach. In Tübingen, Fuchs got into the dispute over Bultmann's demythologizing program , which he in turn radicalized by interpreting the pietistic myths that obscure the encounter with Jesus in his eyes existentially. The Württemberger church administration imposed a ban on preaching over Fuchs for several months. His appointment by the Bonn faculty in 1952 was prevented by the Rhenish church leadership, which subject him to heresy. The expert opinion was only withdrawn in 1954 due to the energetic intervention of Gerhard Ebeling . Now, in 1955, Fuchs was able to be appointed full professor at the Church University in Berlin, after he had published a “Hermeneutics” in 1954 in Tübingen as a “Language of Faith”. The "heyday" of his New Testament and hermeneutic teaching followed in Berlin from 1955 to 1961. Even before the Wall was built, Fuchs was able to reach the theologians who flocked to him in large numbers from both the East and the West. A large crowd of students gathered around Ernst Fuchs. Theologians such as Christoph Demke , Eberhard Jüngel or Dieter Nestle , Wolfgang Harnisch , Gerd Schunack , Harald Weinacht or Robert Schuster (1934–2013), Peter Widmann or Christian Möller u. a. received their doctorate in Berlin or later in Marburg (1961–1970) under Ernst Fuchs. His teaching was condensed into three volumes of essays: 1. “On the Hermeneutical Problem in Theology” (1959), 2. “On the Question of the Historical Jesus” (1960), 3. “Faith and Experience”, 1965.

In 1961, Fuchs turned down a call to the theological faculty of the University of Zurich and instead accepted the appointment of the University of Marburg to a chair for New Testament and Hermeneutics, where he taught until 1970. Here the conversation with Rudolf Bultmann intensified in a critical way, especially because of the new question about the historical Jesus. The exchange with American colleagues such as John M. Robinson, Schubert M. Ogden and Van A. Harvey on the "New Hermeneutics" by Fuchs and Ebeling intensified here, which in 1962 led to a "Consultation on Hermeneutics" at Drew University with both of them (Madison, USA). Ernst Fuchs' efforts in hermeneutics were crowned in 1963 with the establishment of an institute for hermeneutics in the theological faculty of Marburg. From his work at this institute and in exchange with Gerhard Ebeling in Zurich, Fuchs in 1968 developed “Marburg Hermeneutics” (1968) as the sum of his hermeneutic research. What understanding faith enables, Fuchs had to demonstrate at a disputation with Walter Künneth on "The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead", which took place on October 12, 1964 in Sittensen near Hamburg. Fuchs pleaded for an understanding that does not, like Künneth, first seek to secure the fact of the resurrection before faith is then demanded. Fuchs was more concerned with a belief and an understanding of the resurrection, which are already made possible by the person of Jesus himself: "He tears through hell, I am always his companion" ( Paul Gerhardt ). After retiring in 1970, Fuchs returned to his home in Württemberg and close to his children. He died on January 15, 1983 in Langenau near Ulm.

His estate is in the Tübingen University Library (shelf number: Mn 22).

theology

" Demythologizing "

Bultmann's program word " demythologization ", which sounded like clearing out like disposal, was misunderstood by Ernst Fuchs, because in 1942 the term contained a clear point against the National Socialist ideology primer "The Myth of the 20th Century" (A. Rosenberg) , and because after the Second World War it became the battleground against any new kind of reactionary worldview. Fuchs was not concerned with ideological ideas, but with attitudes of love that shaped existence and that in their need calls for the word of faith. The actual goal of "demythologizing" New Testament texts was the encounter with Jesus himself for Fuchs. Therefore, from the existential interpretation, a new question about the historical Jesus follows for him. The question is asked about Jesus' understanding of time, which results from his call: "The kingdom of God has come near!" This call makes the gospel a time announcement of the kingdom of God. Jesus himself is recognized by his way of dealing with time, as he reveals himself to be the time of the kingdom of God in parables, disputes, short logia and long narratives. Empty time is filled in Jesus 'time announcements with the fullness of the kingdom of God as a time for celebration, as a time for creative rest, as a time to defy and consolation, etc. Existential interpretation of New Testament texts within the horizon of Jesus' understanding of time is more and more transformed into one with Fuchs sacramental interpretation, because he is concerned with the self-effective word that turns the text into a table of gifts from which interpreters and listeners are presented.

Existential interpretation

Historical-critical exegesis was indispensable for Fuchs in order to look up the biblical text in its historical place, where it becomes healing alien. Of course, exegesis has only done its job "when the text shows the need to preach". For Fuchs, the task of preaching is not an arbitrary application that could also be omitted. It is the necessary, indispensable emergency of biblical exegesis: “The text is interpreted when God is preached!” This requires the correction of the historical-critical exegesis through the existential interpretation, which translates the historical succession into a coexistence of man and God. The existential interpretation translates historical ideas into attitudes that shape existence and call for the word of love and the preaching of faith in love. Then the preaching of faith becomes necessary for existence

New hermeneutics

Fuchs saw the novelty of his “new hermeneutics ” in the fact that the question was no longer asked about the “meaning of the text” but “about the hermeneutic help given by the text itself”. Hermeneutics thus becomes a “linguistic theory of faith” because faith learns to pay attention to the linguistic event of love in the texts. Now, precisely where it becomes speechless with horror, with the help of faith it can find the word that lets it come back up and gives it time to love. Even where love becomes speechless with joy, faith in the biblical texts teaches it to pay attention to a language of praise and to give it joy in God. That is why Ernst Fuchs was called "the troubadour of God's joy" (J. Brantschen), because he does not translate the biblical texts into a general horizon of meaning, but allows him to translate all the problems from the biblical texts into the linguistic horizon of love, joy in God gives.

Works

  • Freedom of Belief: Romans 5-8 interpreted. Munich: Kaiser 1949
  • Hermeneutics. Bad Cannstatt: Müllerschön 1954
  • Collected articles Tübingen: Mohr (Siebeck)
    • Vol. 1: On the hermeneutical problem in theology: The existential interpretation. 1959
    • Vol. 2: On the question of the historical Jesus. 1960
    • Vol. 3: Faith and Experience: On the Christological Problem in the New Testament. 1965
  • Marburg hermeneutics. Tübingen: Mohr (Siebeck) 1968
  • Jesus: word and deed. Tübingen: Mohr (Siebeck) 1971
  • Ernst Fuchs [and] Walter Künneth: The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The disputation of Sittensen. Documentation of a dispute. Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1973.
  • Joy in preaching. Edited by Gerlinde Hühn u. a. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener 1978, ISBN 3-7887-0551-5
  • Dare of Faith: Essays & Articles Lectures. Edited by Eberhard Grötzinger. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener 1979, ISBN 3-7887-0586-8
  • Reader: selected texts. Edited by Eberhard Jüngel and Gerd Schunack. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2003, ISBN 3-8252-2419-8

literature

  • Joachim Conrad: "Concerns about his teaching ...". The Fuchs case in the Rhenish church. In: Monthly Issues for Evangelical Church History of the Rhineland, 53 (2004), pp. 437–451, ISBN 3-7749-3280-8 ( ISSN  0540-6226 )
  • Gerhard Ebeling u. a. (Ed.): Festschrift for Ernst Fuchs. Tübingen: Mohr 1973 (Bibliography Ernst Fuchs pp. 347-361), ISBN 3-16-135102-9
  • Roland Mahler: Responsibility of Freedom: a hermeneutical investigation into the problem of theological handling of reality. Bern; Berlin; Frankfurt a. M .; New York; Paris; Vienna: Lang 1993, ISBN 3-906750-67-1
  • Christian Möller (ed.): Joy in God: hermeneutic late harvest with Ernst Fuchs. Waltrop: Spenner 2003, ISBN 3-89991-012-5
  • Hartmut von Sass:  Ernst Fuchs. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 33, Bautz, Nordhausen 2012, ISBN 978-3-88309-690-2 , Sp. 492-500.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For the curriculum vitae cf. Jörg Thierfelder, Ernst Fuchs in Württemberg, in: C. Möller (ed.), Spätlese, 13–47.
  2. ↑ Joachim Conrad, Christian Möller (ed.): Joy in God: hermeneutic late harvest with Ernst Fuchs. Waltrop: Spenner 2003, ISBN 3-89991-012-5 , pp. 48-60.
  3. ↑ Lothar Vogel, Ernst Fuchs in Oberaspach (1938–1951), Christian Möller (ed.): Joy of God: hermeneutic late harvest with Ernst Fuchs. Waltrop: Spenner 2003, ISBN 3-89991-012-5 , p. 95
  4. ^ Dietz Lange, Memories of Ernst Fuchs in Tübingen (1953–1955), Christian Möller (ed.): Joy of God: hermeneutic late harvest with Ernst Fuchs. Waltrop: Spenner 2003, ISBN 3-89991-012-5 , SO 95-98.
  5. ↑ Joachim Conrad: "Concerns about his teaching ...". The Fuchs case in the Rhenish church. In: Monthly Issues for Evangelical Church History of the Rhineland, 53 (2004), pp. 437–451, ISBN 3-7749-3280-8
  6. ↑ Christoph Demke, Memories of Ernst Fuchs in Berlin (1955–1961), Christian Möller (ed.): Joy of God: hermeneutic late reading with Ernst Fuchs. Waltrop: Spenner 2003, ISBN 3-89991-012-5 , pp. 99-102.
  7. ↑ Uwe Mahlert, Memories of Ernst Fuchs in Marburg (1961–1971), Christian Möller (ed.): Joy of God: hermeneutic late harvest with Ernst Fuchs. Waltrop: Spenner 2003, ISBN 3-89991-012-5 , pp. 103-114.
  8. ↑ Eva Maria Keitel, b. Fuchs: My father's last years in Pfullingen and Langenau (1971–1983), Christian Möller (ed.): Joy of God: hermeneutic late harvest with Ernst Fuchs. Waltrop: Spenner 2003, ISBN 3-89991-012-5 , pp. 115-116.
  9. ^ [1] Federal Archives, Central Database of Legacies. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
  10. ↑ Ernst Fuchs, The program of demythologizing
  11. ↑ Ernst Fuchs, The Understanding of Time, Jesus, Collected Essays Tübingen: Mohr (Siebeck), pp. 304–376.
  12. ↑ Ernst Fuchs, Jesus: Word and Action. Tübingen: Mohr (Siebeck) 1971, p. 140.
  13. ↑ Ernst Fuchs, The reflection imposed on theology by the historical-critical method, Collected Essays Tübingen: Mohr (Siebeck), pp. 219-237, ibid. 226.
  14. ↑ Christian Möller (ed.): Joy of God: hermeneutic late harvest with Ernst Fuchs. Waltrop: Spenner 2003, ISBN 3-89991-012-5 , p. 100.
  15. ^ Ernst Fuchs, Letters to Gerhard Ebeling , in: Gerhard Ebeling u. a. (Ed.): Festschrift for Ernst Fuchs. Tübingen: Mohr 1973 (Bibliography Ernst Fuchs pp. 347-361), ISBN 3-16-135102-9 , p. 48.
  16. ↑ Hermeneutics. Bad Cannstatt: Müllerschön 1954, III.
  17. ↑ Johannes Brantschen, The Troubadour of the Joy of God, Christian Möller (ed.): Joy of God: hermeneutic late harvest with Ernst Fuchs. Waltrop: Spenner 2003, ISBN 3-89991-012-5 , pp. 213-231.
personal data
SURNAME Fuchs, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian
DATE OF BIRTH June 11, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Heilbronn
DATE OF DEATH January 15, 1983
Place of death Langenau