Gabriel Biel

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Wendelin Stambach , Supplementum commentarii , 1574

Gabriel Biel (* before 1410 in Speyer ; † November 29, 1495 in Einsiedel near Tübingen ), scholastic philosopher , since 1484 professor of philosophy and founding member of the University of Tübingen . Called the “last scholastic ” by his contemporaries , he continued Ockham's nominalism towards systematic development and exerted great influence on Luther and Melanchthon through the Augustinian rain of Johannes August Ernst Nathin .

Background and historical situation

The occidental schism did not end until the Council of Constance between 1414 and 1418, when all three popes were deposed and a new Roman head recognized by all was elected . But the decision-makers of the council not only wanted to end the schism and thus reform the Roman Catholic Church , they also wanted to finally eradicate the heretical heresies .

The replacement of the traditional theology and philosophy, influenced by the Platonic views of the church father Augustine , with Aristotelianism . The historical development of scholasticism was connected with the transfer of knowledge from the monastic enclave to the cities of the High Middle Ages . Because towards the end of the 12th century and in the course of the first half of the 13th century, a comprehensive fund of works by Aristotle, along with numerous commentaries by Greek, Jewish and Arab thinkers, was known in Latin translation. With these works, a rational philosophy prevailed as an alternative to a theology based on the interpretation of the Bible and the Church Fathers . Wilhelm von Ockham († 1347) was the champion of a new conception that had been represented in a slightly different form as early as the 11th century. It radicalized the Aristotelian criticism of Plato's theory of ideas by granting the ideas ( universals ) no real existence whatsoever ( nominalism or, according to other terminology, conceptualism ). This view was incompatible with the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity . The universal dispute that this triggered between nominalists / conceptualists and universal realists (Platonists) became one of the main themes of the scholastics.

Life

Commentarii doctissimi in quatuor Sententiarum libros , 1574

Early years and college education

Biel probably came from a well-off family of craftsmen or traders who were originally based in Heidelberg. First, before 1432, he was primissarius (Frühmeßner) at the Chapel of the Ten Thousand Martyrs, St. Peter's Church in Speyer , Gabriel Bihel, primissarius altaris X milium martirum in capella s [ancti] Petri Spyrensi . When he went to university in the summer semester of 1432, he was already ordained a priest as an early knife. In view of this ordination, he should have been born around 1408.

Gabriel Biel studied in Heidelberg (matriculated on July 13, 1432, Baccalarius on July 21, 1435) and Erfurt (matriculated at Easter 1451). On May 25, 1453 he was admitted to the old University of Cologne .

Time as provost and university professor

After a time as cathedral preacher at the High Cathedral in Mainz (1457 to 1466), he first became provost of the St. Markus Brethren in Butzbach . Biel remained lifelong connected to the brothers who lived together (also known as “Kugelherren”). Influenced by Biel, Eberhard III appointed. from Eppstein-Königstein († 1475) 1466 the brothers from living together to Königstein im Taunus . In 1479 he was appointed provost of the church in Urach . Count Eberhard im Bart von Württemberg called him in 1476 to work on church reform in his country. Biel participated in the establishment of the University of Tübingen (1477). There he was appointed to the first chair of via moderna on November 22nd, 1484 and remained the most prominent member of his faculty until his death . In 1485 and 1489 he was rector of the university. Wendelin Steinbach and his brother went to Württemberg with their provost Biel and also belonged to the local chapter there.

In 1492, at the special request of Count Eberhard von Württemberg, Biel became head of the newly founded St. Peter Brothers House on the Einsiedel near Tübingen, where he died in 1495 and was also buried.

Literary creation and thoughts

His first book dealt with the canon of the Catholic Mass . His second and most important work is a commentary on the sentences of Petrus Lombardus . Although he explicitly refers to Wilhelm von Ockham , his last three books show Biel to be a Scotist rather than a nominalist. His theological writings were repeatedly consulted at the Council of Trent .

Biel lived in an era of transition. His thinking therefore shows characteristics of two intellectual ages and stands between the late Middle Ages and early modern times. He recognized, for example, the highest authority of the Pope , but postulated, like many theologians of his time, the superiority of general councils at least insofar as they were entitled to depose the Pope.

Important theses of Biel are:

  1. All power of canon law, even that of the bishops, is derived directly or indirectly from the Pope. His defense of Diether von Ysenburg on the basis of this argument earned him the thanks of Pope Pius II .
  2. The authority to give absolution is inherent in the priesthood.
  3. Those who give baptism only need to intend to do what the believers (that is, the Church) mean by it.
  4. The state must not force Jews, unbelievers and their children to be baptized.
  5. A contractus trinus (attempt to circumvent the church's prohibition of interest by combining a partnership agreement with two insurance contracts and agreeing on a fixed profit sharing and the return of the loaned amount) is morally justified.

Biel developed very progressive ideas in the field of economics . Based on the question of the fair price of a good, Biel defines it as determined by the need for a good, its rarity and the effort involved in its production. Biel sees nothing reprehensible in trade, but considers it to be something good in itself and grants the merchant a wage because he has to bear the work, the risk and the expenses. You can find these theses in his book of sentences. He wrote his own work on currency, A Truly Golden Book , in which he condemned the counterfeiting of coins by the princes as dishonorable exploitation of the people. In the same book he also seriously rebukes those rulers who restricted the common land rights to forest, pasture and water, arbitrarily increased the tax burden and complains about the equestrian amusements of young aristocrats who carelessly devastate the fields of the rural population. Tax policy and the prohibition of interest were also important problems for the later reformers (Luther, Zwingli).

Of particular importance for understanding Gabriel Biel's doctrine of justification are the thoughts he developed in his sermons ( Sermones , 1485). They represent an important independent achievement of Biel, offer a summary of the late medieval theology before the beginning of the Reformation and have a lasting influence on the following generation of theologians.

His literary estate came to Butzbach with his pupil Wendelin Steinbach and is now in the Giessen University Library.

Works

  • Epitoma Expositionis sacri canonis Missae . Konrad Hist, Speier approx. 1500 ( digitized version )
  • Sacri canonis Missae expositio resolutissima literalis et mystica (“Thorough literal and mystical interpretation of the sacred mass canon”). Basel 1510 ( digital )
  • Epitome expositionis canonis Missae ("short version of the interpretation of the measurement canon"). Antwerp 1565
  • Sermones ("sermons"). Augsburg 1519/20 ( digital )
  • Collectorium sive epitome in magistri sententiarum libros IV (“anthology or short version of the four books of the master of sentences ”). Bressanone 1574
  • Tractatus de potestate et utilitate monetarum ("Treatise on the power and utility of currencies"). Oppenheim approx. 1515 ( digital )

literature

  • Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  Biel, Gabriel. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 584-585.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Irene Crusius: Gabriel Biel and the Upper German pens of the Devotio moderna . In: “Publication du center Européen d'études Bourguignonnes (XIV – XVI s.)” 29, 1989, pp. 77–87.
  • Werner Dettloff: Gabriel Biel . In: Theological Real Encyclopedia . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-11-008115-6 , pp. 488-491
  • Gerhard Faix: “Not being a monk and still living like a monk”. The brothers from living together in Herrenberg . In: Roman Janssen, Harald Müller-Baur (ed.): Die Stiftskirche in Herrenberg 1293-1993 , Herrenberg 1993, ISBN 3-926809-06-X (= Herrenberger Historische Schriften, Vol. 5), pp. 51-78.
  • Gerhard Faix: Gabriel Biel and the brothers from the common life. Sources and studies on the constitution and self-image of the Upper German General Chapter . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 1999, ISBN 3-16-147040-0 (also dissertation, University of Stuttgart 1996).
  • Georg von Hertling:  Biel, Gabriel . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 622 f.
  • Erwin Iserloh:  Biel, Gabriel. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 225 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Wolfgang Leesch, Ernest Persoons, Anton G. Weiler (Eds.): Monasticon Fratrum Vitae Communis, Part II: Germany . Brussels 1979 (= Archives et Bibliothèques de Belgique / Archief- en Bibliotheekwezen in Belgie, Numéro Spécial - extra number 19).
  • Hendrik Mäkeler: Nicolas Oresme and Gabriel Biel. On monetary theory in the late Middle Ages . In: “Scripta Mercaturae. Journal for Economic and Social History “37 (2003) 1, pp. 56–94.
  • Detlef Metz: Gabriel Biel and mysticism . Steiner, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-515-07824-X (also dissertation, University of Tübingen 1999).
  • Heiko Augustinus Oberman: Late Scholasticism and Reformation . Volume 1: The Autumn of Medieval Theology . Translated from English by Martin Rumscheid and Henning Kampen. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 1965, ISBN 3-16-129542-0 .
  • Johannes Maria Verweyen : The problem of free will in scholasticism; presented and critically appreciated on the basis of the sources. Carl Winter, Heidelberg 1909, pp. 243-253 [1]

Web links

Commons : Gabriel Biel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerhard Faix: "Not to be a monk and still live like a monk" ... , p. 52 and 57.
  2. ↑ Gerhard Faix: Gabriel Biel and the Brothers from Common Life: Sources and studies on the constitution and self-image of the Upper German General Chapter. Vol. 11 Late Middle Ages and Reformation Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 1999, ISBN 978-3-1614-7040-0 , p. 33
  3. ↑ Gabrieli BIELGRATIARUM ACTIO AND OTHER MATERIALS TO A testimonia-BIOGRAPHY AS TO ITS UNIVERSITY OF YEARS IN HEIDELBERG, ERFURT, COLOGNE (AND TÜBINGEN) informed pouring from manuscripts of the University Library and explained by Wolfgang Georg Bayerer casting UB .
  4. ↑ Beate Großmann-Hofmann; Hans-Curt Köster: Königstein im Taunus. History and Art , Königstein i. Ts. 2010, ISBN 978-3-7845-0778-1 , p. 19.
  5. ↑ Werner Dettloff: Gabriel Biel . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie , p. 489
personal data
SURNAME Biel, Gabriel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gabrielis, Spirensis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German scholastic philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH before 1410
PLACE OF BIRTH Speyer
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1495
Place of death Einsiedel