Friedrich Niebergall

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Title page of the text Hilligenlei and modern theology by Friedrich Niebergall (Tübingen, 1906)

Friedrich Niebergall (born March 20, 1866 in Kirn , † September 20, 1932 in Marburg , Hesse ) was a German Protestant theologian. He is considered an important representative of practical theology at the beginning of the 20th century.

Life

Friedrich Niebergall studied Protestant theology in Tübingen , Berlin (where Julius Kaftan particularly influenced him) and Bonn, and in 1892 became pastor of the Protestant community in his hometown of Kirn. In 1902 he acquired the degree of Lic. Theol. at the University of Giessen and completed his habilitation in the same year with a thesis on The Pauline Doctrine of Salvation in Confirmation Classes at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. After five years as a private lecturer, he was appointed associate professor in 1908. From 1922 until his death he held the chair for practical theology at the Philipps University of Marburg .

As a national conservative, Niebergall had supported Germany's position in World War I , but after 1918 sided with the Weimar Republic . Shortly before his death, he warned against the NSDAP .

His son Alfred Niebergall (1909–1978) succeeded his father in Marburg in 1957. His son Fritz Niebergall died in the First World War in 1918.

Work and meaning

Niebergall was decisively influenced by Neo-Kantianism and can be assigned to Albrecht Ritschl's theological school . Another spiritual reference point is his argument with Ernst Troeltsch , against whose supposed relativism he asserted the absoluteness of Christ's revelation . Against the historical and dogmatic orientation of contemporary practical theology, he pushed through an empirical orientation that wanted to reach “modern man”. He was involved in the Evangelical Social Congress and the Evangelical Union .

Niebergall published significant contributions to practical theology as a whole (which he conceived by the community as the bearer of the work and owner of the powers) and to almost all of its sub-subjects. His three-part work How Do We Preach to Modern Man? is considered an important textbook of homiletics . He was one of the first theologians to try to make use of the findings of psychology ( Wilhelm Wundt , William James ). The Practical Interpretation of the New Testament (1905) and the Practical Interpretation of the Old Testament (1912–22) were also intended as an aid to the sermon . The liturgy was his The Protestant worship through the ages dedicated (1925). With his conception of the malleability of humans, Niebergall had a great influence on liberal religious education . Although he explicitly referred to the Old Testament with his approach to national religious education, the German Christians also referred to him.

Works (selection)

  • A path to certainty . Mohr, Tübingen 1902.
  • How do we preach to modern man? . Three parts. Mohr, Tübingen 1902, 1906, 1921.
  • The casual speech . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1905; 2nd edition 1907.
  • The Lord's Supper. Lecture given to the Friends of Evangelical Freedom in Elberfeld-Barmen . Georgi, Bonn 1906.
  • Hilligenlei and modern theology . Mohr, Tübingen 1906 (on the novel Hilligenlei by Gustav Frenssen ).
  • Jesus in class. A Handbook for Treating New Testament History . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1910; 4th edition 1922.
  • Theology and practice. Inhibitions and promotions of preaching and religious instruction by modern theology . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1916.
  • Purpose of life. A legacy of the German faith . Otto Reichel Verlag, Berlin 1918.
  • Practical theology. Doctrine of church education based on religious studies . Two volumes. Mohr, Tübingen 1918–1919.
  • Evangelical socialism . Mohr, Tübingen 1920.
  • Religious education in the home and school. Published by BG Teubner, Leipzig and Berlin 1920.
  • To reform religious education . Beltz, Langensalza 1921.
  • Sexual education of young people, their rights, their ways and limits . Evangelischer Verlag, Heidelberg 1921.
  • Christian youth and popular education. A religious education based on the psychology of religion . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1924.
  • The new ways of church work. A little pastoral theology . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1928.
  • The modern sermon. Cultural-historical and theological basis, history and earnings . Mohr, Tübingen 1929.
  • Educational philosophy of religion . Beltz, Langensalza 1930.

literature

  • Henning Luther : Religion, Subject, Education. Basic concepts of adult education using the example of Friedrich Niebergall's practical theology . Chr. Kaiser, Munich 1984.
  • Dietrich Zilleßen : Friedrich Niebergall (1866–1932). In: Henning Schröer , Dietrich Zilleßen (Hrsg.): Classics of religious education. Diesterweg, Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-425-07711-2 , pp. 161-180.
  • Friedrich Niebergall. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 6, Bautz, Herzberg 1993, ISBN 3-88309-044-1 , Sp. 708-717.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Matthias Heesch: Teachable Religion? Studies on the scientistic theory transmission and its further influence in the theological-religious-pedagogical drafts of Richard Kabisch and Friedrich Niebergall . de Gruyter, Berlin 1997.
  • Dietrich Zilleßen:  Niebergall, Friedrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , p. 214 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Lars Emersleben: Church and practical theology. A study of the meaning of the concept of church for practical theology based on the conceptions of CI Nitzsch , CAG v. Zezschwitz and Ms. Niebergall . de Gruyter, Berlin 1999.
  • Achim Plagentz, Ulrich Schwab: Religious studies-empirical practical theology: Friedrich Niebergall . In: Christian Grethlein , Michael Meyer-Blanck: History of Practical Theology. Shown using their classics . Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2000, ISBN 3-374-01770-3 , pp. 237-278.
  • Andrea Schulte: The world as a topic in religious education. The contribution of Friedrich Niebergall . Spenner, Waltrop 2002.
  • David Käbisch (ed.): Friedrich Niebergall. Work and impact of a liberal theologian . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2016.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see Hessisches Staatsarchiv Marburg (HStAMR), Best. 915 No. 5739, p. 475 ( digitized version ).
  2. ↑ His war diary and other documents are available on the online platform Europeana 1914-1918 .
personal data
SURNAME Niebergall, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pastor and Protestant theologian
DATE OF BIRTH March 20, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Kirn
DATE OF DEATH September 20, 1932
Place of death Marburg