Gerhard Rosenkranz

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Heinrich Richard Walter Gerhard Rosenkranz (born April 29, 1896 in Braunschweig ; † May 16, 1983 in Calw ) was a German Protestant theologian, missiologist and religious scholar and taught missiology at the universities of Heidelberg (1947-1948) and Tübingen (1948-1964) .

Life

Rosenkranz returned home seriously wounded from the First World War and from 1919 studied theology and religious studies in Marburg, a. a. with Rudolf Otto . After the first theological examination in 1920, a vicariate followed with the later provost Heinrich Grüber in Dortmund . He married Hildegard, geb. Schütte (1896–1967) and served for several years in various parish offices in Westphalian parishes and in Berlin-Charlottenburg . In 1931 the German East Asia Mission appointed him to Heidelberg as an inspector. There he received his doctorate in 1935 with a thesis on The Saint in the Chinese Classics . A nine-month business and study trip took him to Japan and the Japanese-occupied northern China in 1938 , with brief stops in Korea, which was then also occupied by Japan, and Manchuria . After having studied the East Asian religions intensively, he wanted to get to know people's religiosity on this trip. He was also interested in their perception and attitude in view of the social and cultural upheavals that had already begun in the Far East . Last but not least, he wanted to get an idea of ​​the presence and role that Christianity played or could play. Rosenkranz assumed that Christianity, if it ever wanted to become at home in East Asia, would have to take a clear position for the battered people and their needs and fears in the turmoil to be expected. The experiences he made with foreign religiosity shaped his further religious studies and theological work. In 1939 he received a teaching position for religious studies and missiology at the University of Heidelberg, where he completed his habilitation in 1941 with a thesis on the oldest Christianity in China in the sources of the Wang dynasty . In 1944 he was banned from speaking in the Reich.

In 1947 the University of Heidelberg appointed Rosenkranz as an extraordinary professor and in 1948 the honorary doctorate was awarded by the local theological faculty. In the same year he accepted a call to the newly created ordinariate for missiology in Tübingen. In 1956 he founded the Ecumenical Institute there , which in 1962 - according to the disciplines assigned to the chair - was renamed the Institute for Mission Studies and Ecumenical Theology . A high point of his work at the University of Tübingen was his election as rector; he filled the office from May 1957 to May 1958. Rosenkranz retired in 1964 . Of his non-university activities, his membership in the German Society for Mission Studies, which he chaired from 1951 to 1965, should be mentioned in particular .

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His central theological concern was directed to an "Evangelical religious studies". It is primarily about a basic understanding of other religions on the basis of their own premises. This requires a sensitive feeling for your own concerns. In particular, through the diverse encounters during his great East Asia trip, the experiences with the people and their beliefs arose. According to Rosenkranz, only the interaction of knowledge and experience opens the space for an encounter shaped by the Gospel. His last great work not only focused on missiology, but also on “Christian mission” in all its breadth.

Selected publications

  • The saint in the Chinese classics. An investigation into the expectation of the Savior in Confucianism and Taoism , Hinrichs, Leipzig 1935.
  • The nomos of China and the gospel. An investigation into the importance of race and nationality for missionary preaching in China , Hinrichs, Leipzig 1936.
  • Far East - where to? Encounters with the religions of China and Japan in the upheaval of the present. Eugen Salzer, Heilbronn 1940.
  • The way of the gods (Shintô) . Content and shape of the Japanese national religion. Working group for contemporary history, Munich 1944.
  • The song of the Church in the world. A mission-hymnological study , Verlag Haus & Schule, Berlin 1951.
  • The way of the Buddha. Becoming and essence of Buddhism as a world religion. Evang. Missionsverlag, Stuttgart 1960.
  • Protestant religious studies. Introduction to a theological view of religions. Mohr & Siebeck, Tübingen 1951.
  • Christian faith in the face of world religions. Francke Verlag, Bern / Munich 1967.
  • Religious Studies and Theology. Essays on Evangelical Religious Studies. Christian Kaiser Verlag, Munich 1964.
  • The Christian Mission: History and Theology. Kaiser, Munich 1977.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Rosary, Gerhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rosenkranz, Heinrich Richard Walter Gerhard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian
DATE OF BIRTH April 29, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Braunschweig
DATE OF DEATH May 16, 1983
Place of death Calw