Friedhelm Hengsbach

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Friedhelm Hengsbach, 2000

Friedhelm Hengsbach SJ (born July 15, 1937 in Dortmund ) is a German economist, Jesuit and social ethicist .

Life

After graduating from high school, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1957 at the age of twenty and studied from 1959 to 1962 at the Order's own University of Philosophy in Munich . From 1962 to 1964 he did an educational internship in Büren (Westphalia) . From 1964 to 1968 he studied Catholic theology at the Philosophical-Theological University of Sankt Georgen and from 1968 to 1972 economics at the Ruhr University in Bochum .

In 1967 he received the sacrament of ordination . In 1977 he was with a thesis on the question of the association of African States to the European Communities doctorate ; In 1982 he completed his habilitation with a paper on work ethics ( work has priority - an option of Catholic social teaching ).

From 1977 to 1982 he was a lecturer, from 1985 until his retirement in 2005 he was professor of Christian social science and economic and social ethics at the Philosophical-Theological University of Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt am Main. From 1992 to 2006 he headed the Nell Breuning Institute for Business and Social Ethics.

He has lived in Ludwigshafen am Rhein since 2008 and belongs to the Jesuit community in the Heinrich-Pesch-Haus there.

Until his retirement, Hengsbach was a member of Attac's scientific advisory board .

In 2018 he was a founding member of the citizens' movement Finanzwende .

Act

Hengsbach's work revolves around the topics of the future of the working society, the connection between the employment system and social security, political business ethics and the theory of market economies capable of democracy. Hengsbach regularly gives lectures and is a welcome guest in discussion groups. In his writings, Hengsbach always criticized the measures taken on a political level against the rising unemployment figures. He suggested to the CDU-led government under Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl (1982-1998) that the social division in society should be increased by relieving the high performers and reducing social benefits. He demanded that the social security systems should no longer be financed solely through the gainful employment of dependent employees, but also through income from entrepreneurship and assets. He always advocated reductions in working hours and a redistribution of work. He saw possible new jobs in the personal services and in the environmentally friendly restructuring of the energy industry and transport systems.

The red-green government (1998-2005) under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and its reforms ( Agenda 2010 ) were also the target of his criticism. Hengsbach did not accept the reasons for the bad situation on the labor market, such as globalization, demographic change or high non-wage costs , and doubted that the reforms would create jobs. In October 2010 he was a co-initiator of the “Wealth Tax Now!” Initiative, which campaigns for the recovery of wealth tax in Germany.

In 2011 he described the government's labor market policy for the past 30 years (note: from around 1981) as completely wrong. It is characterized by a " complete dismantling of solidarity social insurance " and a " deregulation of secure working conditions ". The governments have simply given in to the economy and have forgotten the standards of social ethics . No positive impulses can be expected from the official church: the powerful in the church sought to close ranks with the powerful in the state and in business. The church also acts in the labor market like industry and violates the common word of the churches.

Awards

Friedhelm Hengsbach, 2009

Fonts (selection)

  • The Association of African States to the European Communities. A policy of spatial integration? Nomos, Baden-Baden 1977, ISBN 3-7890-0293-3 .
  • Beyond Catholic Social Doctrine, (ed., Together with Bernhard Emunds and Matthias Möhring-Hesse), Patmos, Düsseldorf 1993 ISBN 3-491-77932-4 .
  • with Matthias Möhring-Hesse : Out of the imbalance: Democratic distribution of wealth and work. 2nd Edition. Dietz, Bonn 1999, ISBN 3-8012-0278-X .
  • The others in view. Christian social ethics in the age of globalization. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2001, ISBN 3-534-11897-9 .
  • The reform spectacle. Why the human factor deserves more respect. Herder Spectrum 5544. 2nd edition. Herder, Freiburg i. Br. 2004, ISBN 3-451-05544-9 .
  • The proletariat . In: Werner Sombart , Friedhelm Hengsbach SJ: Das Proletariat (= The Society, NF 1). Metropolis, Marburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-89518-650-9 , pp. 91-207.
  • Another capitalism is possible! : how a life succeeds after the crisis . VAS Verlag for Academic Writings, Bad Homburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-88864-460-3 .
  • God's people in exile. Impetus for church reform . Publik-Forum Verlag, Oberursel 2011, ISBN 978-3-88095-216-4 .
  • The time is ours. Resistance to the regime of acceleration . Westend-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2012, ISBN 978-3-86489-025-3 .
  • Share, not kill . Westend Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2014, ISBN 978-3-86489-069-7 .
  • Deregulation of secure employment . Bund-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2016, ISBN 978-3-7663-6591-0 .
  • 'What's wrong with you, Europe?' For more justice, peace and solidarity! Westend Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2017, ISBN 978-3-86489-166-3 .

literature

  • Bernhard Emunds , Judith Hahn, Matthias Möhring-Hesse (eds.), Friedhelm Hengsbach, Detoxified Capitalism - Fair Democracy. Texts on the reform of church, economy and society , Grünewald, Ostfildern 2013, ISBN 978-3-7867-2952-5 .
  • Christian social ethics - orientation of which practice? (FS Friedhelm Hengsbach), Nomos, Baden-Baden 2018, ISBN 978-3-8452-9323-3 .

Web links

Commons : Friedhelm Hengsbach  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Members of the Attac Scientific Advisory Board ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (January 2016)
  2. ^ Founding members. Citizens' Movement Finanzwende, archived from the original on July 6, 2020 ; accessed on July 6, 2020 .
  3. ↑ http://www.vermoegensteuerjetzt.de/ Initiative "Property Tax Now!" with details of the initiators (accessed on December 1, 2010)
  4. ↑ Rheinische Post May 12, 2011 page C2 (local section Viersen): Archived copy ( Memento from May 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Laudation on sankt-georgen.de ( Memento from October 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Unconventional forging bridges in vigilant contemporaneity. Diocese of Limburg , April 14, 2010, accessed on April 18, 2010 .
  8. ↑ Passionate plea for a just economic order. Walter Dirks Prize 2010 for social ethicist Friedhelm Hengsbach. In: Haus am Dom. The catholic culture and meeting center in Frankfurt am Main. Diocese of Limburg, May 29, 2010, accessed on September 30, 2010 : “The Jesuit Friedhelm Hengsbach accepted the 2010 Walter Dirks Prize with a passionate plea for an economic order that serves people. At the award ceremony on Saturday evening, May 29th, in Frankfurt's Bartholomew Cathedral, Father Hengsbach emphasized that the current "imbalance of social power" had to be resolved. Europe is not a financial project, but needs the solidarity of the strong with the weak. [...] With this year's award winner, Prof. Friedhelm Hengsbach (* July 15, 1937), a reminder from the tradition of social Catholicism is honored who, especially in view of the current crisis of neoliberal social plans, has groundbreaking things to say for the current debate on the welfare state. The Jesuit is considered one of the leading social ethicists in Germany. "
  9. ↑ Review on Share, not kill by Holger Heimann in Deutschlandradio Kultur on January 17, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Hengsbach, Friedhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hengsbach, Friedhelm SJ
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German social ethicist and economist
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Dortmund