Hans Küng

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Hans Küng (2009)
Signature of Hans Küng (1972)
Hans Küng (1973)

Hans Küng (born March 19, 1928 in Sursee , Canton Lucerne ; † April 6, 2021 in Tübingen ) was a Swiss theologian , Roman Catholic priest and author . From 1960 until his retirement in 1996 he was theology professor at the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen , most recently for ecumenical theology . Until March 2013 he was President of the Global Ethic Foundation, which he co-founded .

Küng was not only considered one of the best-known church critics among the academically outstanding Catholic theologians in contemporary history in German-speaking countries . In particular, his criticism of the dogma of papal infallibility resulted a year after the publication of his widely acclaimed book Does God Exist? Answer to the question of God in modern times based on a decree of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith approved by Pope John Paul II in 1979 to withdraw his ecclesiastical license to teach Roman Catholic doctrine by the German Bishops' Conference .

Live and act

Studies and PhD

Hans Küng was born in Sursee as the son of a shoe retailer. From 1935 to 1948 he attended schools in Sursee and Lucerne , and graduated from school in Lucerne in 1948. He then studied philosophy from 1948 to 1951 and theology from 1951 to 1955 at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome . There he became a member of the Catholic student association “AV Helvetia Romana Rom” in the SchwStV . During his studies he took part in a seminar on the salvation of non-Christians, the 'infideles', the 'unbelievers' with a keen interest ”. In the Pontificium Collegium Germanicum, Küng practiced half an hour of contemplation every morning before breakfast and the celebration of the Eucharist , which was prepared the evening before with so-called “points of observation”. Every year three or eight days of Exercitia spiritualia were also spent in complete silence. It was neither about paying attention to one's own breath nor about not thinking, but about looking at Bible scenes, Bible words or general thoughts about a religious festival or special event.

“In my seven years in Rome, prayer has been very cultivated and increased at the same time. I went through everything in full seriousness, day after day, from the ' silent mass ' to the Latin chorale office and the German pray-sing mass to the pontifical offices of bishops and the bombastic papal mass in St. Peter's Basilica . In addition to the daily Eucharistic celebration in the Pontificium Collegium Germanicum, the following were compulsory: in the chapel, the common silent morning and evening prayer and the 'Adoratio' (adoration) after lunch and dinner, which had already been opened and closed in the refectory with grace . Before dinner the litany , sometimes the sung Vespers or Compline was added. Truly, prayer was not neglected while studying; it could have existed well in front of any contemplative religious community. "

- Hans Küng

As part of his studies, Küng was also introduced to the higher forms of prayer. He has eagerly sought to attain these higher levels and "simple prayer." A couple of times it was given to him to be emotionally “completely filled with the presence of God and inner joy”. For these higher levels of prayer, however, a special religious talent is required, which he only possesses to a limited extent.

"Yes, we have sometimes been instilled with feelings of guilt with high mystical-spiritual ideals and made it difficult for us to pray and sometimes scared off because we could not reach these highest levels."

- Hans Küng

In addition to his lic. phil. and lic. theol. Küng was also ordained a Catholic priest. At that time, for several years, he dealt intensively with Karl Barth's multi-volume church dogmatics . From 1955 to 1957 studies at the Sorbonne and the Institut Catholique in Paris followed . There he was awarded a dissertation on the subject of “Justification. The teachings of Karl Barth and a Catholic reflection ”is doing his doctorate . Karl Barth wrote an approving letter of safe conduct. With this work, Küng tried to overcome the differences between Protestants and Catholics on the question of justifying sinners. He thus became one of the preparers of the joint declaration on the doctrine of justification by the church officials in 1999. Further studies followed in Amsterdam, Berlin, Madrid and London. Immediately after receiving his doctorate, Küng began to deal intensively with Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel .

Priest and professor

On October 10, 1954, Hans Küng was ordained diocesan priest for the diocese of Basel . From 1957 to 1959 he devoted himself to practical pastoral care at the Court Church in Lucerne . From 1959 to 1960 he worked as a research assistant at the Catholic theological faculty of the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster . In 1960 he was appointed professor for fundamental theology at the Catholic Theological Faculty of the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen as the successor to Heinrich Fries . Küng was only 32 years old at the time and had not completed his habilitation . He developed a reform program aimed at the abolition of celibacy , equal rights for women and a far-reaching ecumenical movement . With his book Council and Reunification from 1960 he influenced the ecumenical discussion. 1962 to 1965 he was as "Peritus" one of the Pope John XXIII. appointed council theologians of the Second Vatican Council - for the then Bishop of Rottenburg , Carl Joseph Leiprecht . Together with Joseph Ratzinger , he was referred to as the “teenage theologian” of the council. Important topics of the council, for which Küng campaigned successfully alongside others, were the upgrading of the Bible, a liturgical vernacular, the lay chalice , the understanding of the Eucharist and a charismatic ministry structure. On the other hand, no changes could be achieved in topics such as contraception, priestly celibacy, divorce, communal Lord's Supper celebrations and the reform of the papacy, some of which could not even be put up for discussion. Because of his strong public interest, Cardinal Ottaviani and Pope Paul VI advised him . 1965 in personal conversations to more patience and restraint.

From 1963 to 1980 Küng was Professor of Dogmatics and Ecumenical Theology and Director of the Institute for Ecumenical Research at the University of Tübingen. Among his post-doctoral candidates in 1964 was Walter Kasper , who was a research assistant to Leo Scheffczyk and Küng. At Küng's suggestion, Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI. , in 1966 from the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster to the chair for Catholic dogmatics in Tübingen . There was a break between the two when Ratzinger took more conservative positions in the dispute with the 1968 movement and in 1969 accepted a call to the Faculty of Catholic Theology in Regensburg , while Küng made a name for himself as a critic of the popes. At the beginning of the 1970s he suggested a detailed memorandum of the Working Group of Ecumenical University Institutes on the “reform and recognition of church offices”, which was to serve as the basis for a communion in the Lord's Supper and was published in 1973. In addition to his teaching activities in Tübingen, Küng held numerous visiting professorships: 1968 at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, 1969 at the Theological Faculty of the University of Basel , 1981 at the University of Chicago Divinity School, 1983 at the University of Michigan , 1985 at the University of Toronto and in 1987 and 1989 at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

Withdrawal of permission to teach

In his dissertation, Küng had already valued theological differences between Protestants and Catholics, such as the doctrine of justification, as low. Especially in the books The Church (1967) and Infallible? - A request (1970) criticized Küng central structural elements of the church and dogmatic teaching about the church ( ecclesiology ). As early as 1957, a file was created on Küng in Rome. In May 1968 the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith invited him to speak about The Church . But there was no conversation. Küng was asked to submit a written statement, which did not take place. In July 1971 there was a teaching trial for Infallible? - An inquiry opened. Küng received a list of questions that he did not answer. He repeatedly declared himself ready to talk, but insisted on terms and conditions that were never allowed to him. This included: inspection of the files, contact with the legal advisor (unilaterally appointed by Rome), clear delimitation of competencies, possibilities of an appeal and the setting of deadlines for both sides. Independently of this, Küng held talks with the bishops, the prefect and the secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and repeated his demands for fair procedural conditions several times.

In 1973 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a general declaration on the Church "against some contemporary errors". There was no further official conversation. In 1975 Küng was reprimanded by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under certain conditions. The two proceedings that had been running for five and seven years respectively were discontinued with the issued declaration and complaint regarding false beliefs in three points. No revocation was requested, nor was the teaching permit withdrawn, which was unusual.

In 1977 the German Bishops' Conference, under the influence of its then, shortly before deceased chairman, Cardinal Julius Döpfner, published two declarations that diagnosed Kiing as a "theological method" which was due to "detachment [...] from the given faith tradition of the church" and "idiosyncratic [ r] Selection from the Holy Scriptures "lead to an" inadequate narrowing "and" shortening of the content of faith ". As a result, theological truths would be “inadequately presented”, which in Kiing's book “Being a Christian” (1974) “particularly relates to Christology , the doctrine of the Trinity, the theology of the Church and the sacraments, Mary's position in salvation history”. One of the numerous other publications by Kiing in this context is the Church - kept in the truth? (1979). On December 15, 1979, a decree of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith approved by Pope John Paul II found that Kiing deviated from Catholic teaching, making it impossible to remain in the theological teaching post.

The German Bishops' Conference revoked Küng's church teaching license ( Missio canonica ) in December 1979 . Küng himself saw this primarily as a reaction to his criticism of the dogma of infallibility . He described this time as the four worst months of his life:

"Yes, it could very well be a look back in anger [...] when I think back to the mental and physical exhaustion after a fight on theological, canonical, constitutional, journalistic and political level, in the faculty and university, the Ministry of Science and the state parliament; on the other hand, bishop, bishops' conference, nuncio and ultimately the decisive pope and curia. Truly: from December 18, 1979 to April 10, 1980, the four worst months of my life, which even my bitterest opponents cannot wish for. "

- Hans Küng

From 1980 Küng became a faculty-independent professor for ecumenical theology and director of the institute for ecumenical research at the University of Tübingen. From 1982 to 1983 Küng was also President of the Edinburgh University Theological Society . In the 1980s he tried to apply the theory of the paradigm shift, as developed by Thomas S. Kuhn in his epistemological work on the structure of scientific revolutions, to the history of religion. Together with his friend Walter Jens , he gave general studies lectures on the great figures of world literature from Blaise Pascal and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing to Thomas Mann , Hermann Hesse and Heinrich Böll , which were also broadcast on the radio.

He saw himself informally rehabilitated by two letters from Pope Francis .

Global Ethic Foundation

In February 1989, Küng presented the base paper for a symposium at UNESCO on the subject of "No world peace without religious peace". In the midst of the upheaval in Eastern Europe, he spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 1990 on the question "Why do we need global ethical standards in order to survive?" In the same year the book Projekt Weltethos was published . Küng was the initiator and from 1995 to 2013 President of the Global Ethic Foundation based in Tübingen. In 1993 the Parliament of the World's Religions passed a “Declaration on the Global Ethic” in Chicago , the draft of which was developed under the direction of Hans Küng at the Institute for Ecumenical Research at the University of Tübingen. With this declaration, representatives of all religions agreed for the first time on the principles of a global ethic. Four years later, the draft for a “General Declaration of Human Duties ” by the InterAction Council , a body of former heads of state and government chaired by former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, followed . Until his retirement in 1996, Küng remained a professor at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen as director of the Institute for Ecumenical Research. He continued to be a Roman Catholic priest.

Media and politics

Hans Küng (right) with former Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (center) and the Mayor of Tübingen Boris Palmer on May 8, 2007 in Tübingen on the occasion of the annual meeting organized by Küng and the “Global Ethic” speech given by Schmidt in 2007

1999 was the world's religions , the seven-part television documentary "Hans Küng clues. The world religions on the way ”broadcast, first by 3sat and then by the third programs of German television. The Federal President Johannes Rau accompanied Küng as a special guest on his trip to Israel in February 2000, when for the first time a German head of state to the deputies of the Knesset spoke. Also since 2000, Küng has been inviting prominent personalities jointly for his Global Ethic Foundation and the University of Tübingen to give a media-effective “Global Ethic Speech” in Tübingen. The guest speakers included Tony Blair , Kofi Annan , Horst Köhler , Helmut Schmidt and Desmond Tutu .

Before the UN General Assembly

Küng belonged to a group of twenty eminent persons who had been appointed by the then Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, to prepare a report on the Dialogue of Cultures. It is titled Crossing the Divide and was unveiled on November 9, 2001. On this occasion, Küng spoke to the United Nations General Assembly in New York :

“Globalization needs a global ethos, not as an additional burden, but as a basis and help for people, for civil society. Some political scientists predict a 'clash of cultures' in the 21st century. Against this we set our future vision of a different kind; not simply an optimistic ideal, but a realistic vision of hope: the religions and cultures of the world, in interaction with all people of good will, can help avoid such a clash, provided they realize the following insights: No peace among nations without peace among Religions. There is no peace among religions without dialogue between religions. There is no dialogue between religions without global ethical standards. No survival of our globe in peace and justice without a new paradigm of international relations based on global ethical standards. "

- Hans Küng before the UN General Assembly in 2001

Papal audience and "great moments"

On September 24, 2005, Hans Küng was welcomed by Pope Benedict XVI. received for a four-hour private audience in Castel Gandolfo . There was no dispute about the disputed doctrinal questions, the conversation was limited to the question of the global ethic and the relationship between the natural sciences and Christian faith. In 2007, Küng presented several episodes of the program “Sternstunde Religion” for German-speaking Swiss television . His guests were among others the former Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, Novartis boss Daniel Vasella and the coach of the Swiss national soccer team Köbi Kuhn . Küng wrote regularly for national daily newspapers and commented on current church politics in interviews.

The Williamson case

In 2009, in the French daily Le Monde , Küng strongly criticized the Pope's decision to lift the excommunication of the British bishop and Holocaust denier Richard Williamson : even if the Pope himself did not know about the Holocaust denial and was certainly not anti-Semitic everyone knows that the four bishops concerned are anti-Semitic. The Pope is locked in the Vatican and protected from critics, and in this respect the Vatican is comparable to the Kremlin . The Catholic Church threatens to become a sect . The lifting of the excommunication was a government mistake. The fundamental problem lies in the traditionalists' lack of engagement with the Second Vatican Council and in their refusal to establish a new relationship with Judaism . On the other hand, the former Cardinal Secretary of State and Dean of the College of Cardinals Angelo Sodano, in a conversation with Vatican Radio, described the "bitter criticism" of Kiing as "undifferentiated words" that do not contribute to the unity of the Church.

Succession planning

At the instigation Kung in 2011 established the Global Ethic Foundation, a Global Ethic Institute (Global Ethic Institute) at the University of Tübingen. The founder of the Global Ethic Institute is the “Karl Schlecht Charitable Foundation”. The institute has an annual budget of 1 million euros. According to the statutes, it is dedicated to “basic research and teaching on the scientific foundation of the idea of ​​a global ethic in society and global economy in the sense of promoting a dialogue between religions and cultures”. The first holder of the professorship for Global Business Ethic and director of the institute was Claus Dierksmeier . The institute was opened with his Tübingen Global Ethic Speech in April 2012. As President of the Global Ethic Foundation, the President of the State Court of Baden-Württemberg, Eberhard Stilz , succeeded Küng in March 2013. The former Federal President Horst Köhler , who was initially planned , had canceled.

Works

Küng signs his book Global Ethic from the Sources of Judaism (2009)

Küng mainly dealt with ecumenism, that is, with the relationships of the Christian denominations and later also with the relationships of the world religions to one another. As a consequence, he is committed to a common global ethic.

Church and Christianity

In the 1960s, Küng devoted several books to the subject of the Church and Council. In his work Die Kirche (1967), Küng was concerned with promoting ecumenism with his own ideas. But only with his sensational book Infallible? (1970) he became known to a wide public. In the 1970s he tried to explain the Christian faith ( Being a Christian , 1974) and the general belief in God ( Does God exist?, 1978) with his next major works . He dealt with the modern critics of religion Karl Marx , Ludwig Feuerbach , Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud .

World religions and global ethics

Later, Küng dealt intensively with the world religions ( Christianity and World Religions , 1984) and developed the Global Ethic Project from this discussion ( Global Ethic Project , 1990). According to this, religions can only make a contribution to world peace if they succeed in finding a basic consensus on values, norms and attitudes. Numerous books deal with the historical development of Christianity and the world religions. In his analysis of the history of the three Abrahamic world religions, Küng relies on the paradigm theory of Thomas S. Kuhn and thus transfers a scientific epistemology to a scheme for the humanities . According to Kuhn, a paradigm is a whole set of beliefs, values, practices, etc., that are shared by the members of a given community. Küng took up this concept of paradigm and showed that the history of religion can be explained as a sequence of paradigm shifts. For him, seven theologians have significantly further developed the development of the Christian West : Paul , Origen , Augustine , Thomas Aquinas , Martin Luther , Friedrich Schleiermacher and Karl Barth ( Große Christian Denker , 1994). Building on this, he developed the paradigm theory further in his main work, Christianity - Essence and History (1994). With the help of specialist authors, further analyzes are available for the other two Abrahamic world religions: Judaism. Essence and History (1991) and Islam. Past, Present, Future (2004). Together with Rabbi Walter Homolka , Küng wrote the Global Ethic from the Sources of Judaism (2008): Justice is the right way people deal with one another. Judaism has made the ethical coexistence of people a core religious issue.

other topics

In 1992 Küng took part in the campaign to vote in favor of Switzerland joining the EEA with his brochure “Switzerland without Orientation ?, European Perspectives” .

His work The Beginning of All Things. Natural Science and Religion (2005) contains five lectures from the Studium generale of the University of Tübingen . In it, Küng deals with the question of how modern natural sciences explain the origin of the universe, the earth and mankind and how religion - especially Christian theology - can credibly meet this challenge.

Together with the classical philologist Walter Jens , the criminal lawyer Albin Eser and the pediatrician Dietrich Niethammer he published in 1995 with dying human. A plea for self-responsibility a work on the subject of euthanasia , in which he spoke out in favor of a responsible approach to one's own dying and death. In the 1950s, Küng had lost his brother Georg, who died in agony of a brain tumor. "Pain and wheezing for six months," Küng later said in an interview.

Küng presented his extensive autobiography under the titles Fought Freedom (2002, Birth to the Second Vatican Council ), Controversial Truth (2007, End of the Council until Teaching Permit was withdrawn) and Experienced Humanity (2013, 1980 to 2013).

Many of Küng's works have been translated into foreign languages.

Complete edition

Since March 2015, Herder Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau, has published a 24-volume complete edition of Hans Küng's works. These are summarized according to content and each provided with a contextual introduction by the author. Older texts are re-evaluated from his current point of view.

Theological positions

Küng dedicated his theological work to ecumenism. He tried to balance different positions. He is critical of the strict hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church and its attitude, which he regards as authoritarian.

Christian faith

In the 1970s one could from his extensive main work such as Christ sein (1974), Existiert Gott? (1978) and Eternal Life? (1982) get to know his positions. Some readers tended towards a more traditional interpretation, others criticized Küng's approaches to a modern Christology as seriously deficient. In the early 1990s, Küng compiled his views on Christianity in his book Credo , which was also published under the title An Introduction to Christian Faith . Küng wants to take the history of the Enlightenment seriously. Therefore, every future understanding of God should be seen from the following horizon:

  • No naive anthropological idea: God as a “supreme being” living in the literal or spatial sense “above” the world.
  • No enlightened deist conception: God as an objectified, reified counterpart that exists in a spiritual or metaphysical sense “outside” the world in an otherworldly beyond.
  • But a unified understanding of reality: God in this world and this world in God. God not only as part of reality a (highest) finite next to finite. But the infinite in the finite, the absolute in the relative. God as the this-worldly-otherworldly, transcendent-immanent, most real reality in the heart of things, in man and in human history.
  • God is the near-distant, worldly-unworldly God who, precisely as the one who carries, holds, guides us, is always present and embraces us in all life and movement, failure and falling.
  • God cannot be understood by any concept, cannot be fully stated by any statement, cannot be defined by any definition. He is the incomprehensible, the inexpressible, the indefinable.

Küng has worked out the similarities between the Christian denominations and tried to approximate differences. This is especially true of the dispute over the justification of man before God . Overall, Küng is close to a conception derived from Hegelianism , including in his unfinished, later published habilitation thesis.

Theology and church

According to Küng, the Christian churches today are increasingly losing their credibility by clinging to parts of the medieval worldview. He tries with Does God exist? (1978) to show how theology can survive in the confrontation with the Enlightenment, criticism of religion and atheism. In Christian theology, the philosophical insights of the Enlightenment are to be recognized and implemented. This also applies to the historical-critical method of biblical research and advances in the natural sciences ( The Beginning of All Things , 2005). Küng grants Christianity a relative priority over other religions and world views , but is critical of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church and questions them:

Küng has a positive view of federal German and Swiss state church law because he considers private religious practice to be in good hands within the framework of political guarantees.

Religious Peace and Global Ethic

Küng in the Hechingen Synagogue (2009)

Küng also represents this civil denominational concept in the interreligious dialogue he supports . He differentiates between three major religious "electricity systems":

For Küng, religious peace was a prerequisite for maintaining world peace. He therefore emphasizes that the various world religions actually have a similar ethic when it comes to the central basic questions - such as the Ten Commandments. He developed the Global Ethic project because the various religions can only live in peace with one another in the long term if they are aware of common values. Global ethos is not a substitute religion, but a basic consensus on binding values, standards and rules of human behavior.

Every single partner in interreligious dialogue is committed to its own tradition. However, this individual point of view must at the same time be open to transformation in the process of dialogue. Here, Küng distinguishes between a believing inner perspective and an outer perspective based on religious studies: From within, for him as the person concerned, there is only one true religion, namely Christianity. Viewed from the outside, there are different ways of salvation with different forms of salvation to the one goal; but at the same time there are different true religions from the outside perspective. With a religion that insists on its own absolute criterion of truth, a real dialogue is hopeless from the outset. The leaders of all religions would have to acknowledge their joint responsibility for world peace, charity, non-violence, reconciliation and forgiveness.

criticism

The sociologist Hans Albert sees the conception of God represented by Küng in the service of the satisfaction of human needs. Kiing's thesis that Christian belief in God is rationally defensible is based on serious thinking errors. Küng's lines of thought are typical of theological thinking in general and reveal the "misery of theology":

“In its thinking, theology is more than ever shaped by the prejudice for certain beliefs. To a certain extent it is the professionalized and institutionalized abuse of reason in the service of faith, insofar as dogmatic questions are taken into account. "

- Hans Albert

As a representative of critical rationalism , Albert assumes that fundamentally all human reason is fallible. In the development of theories, errors occur, as history has shown. Only those who are constantly ready to falsify their respective hypothetical theories make the progress of science possible. Attempts to assert an ultimately founded truth fail, according to Albert, because of infinite recourse , circular reasoning or the arbitrary termination of the justification procedure. There is no Archimedean point whose truth is certain. As the only alternative for the basic trust, namely the way to and with God, Küng names a basic mistrust that can be equated with nihilism. This is a typical example of Kiing's argumentation technique: blackmailing with the only alternative. To the extent that Küng designates God as the "this worldly-beyond, transcendent-immanent, most real reality in the heart of things", as the world-bearing, world-keeping and world-guiding as well as origin, original meaning and original value, this is a circular argument: the self-justifying being, causa sui.

Honors and memberships

Küng receiving an honorary doctorate from the Spanish Universidad de Educación a Distancia (2011)

Küng received honorary doctorates from the University of St. Louis, Missouri (1963), the Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California (1966), the Loyola University Chicago (1970), the University of Glasgow , UK (1971), the University of Toronto , Canada (1984), University of Cambridge , UK (1985), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1985), University of Dublin , Ireland (1995), University of Wales , Swansea (1999), Ramapo College , New Jersey (1999), the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion , Cincinnati (2000), the Florida International University , Miami (2002), the Ecumenical Theological Seminary, Detroit (2003), the Università degli Studi di Genova , Italy (2004), the Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Brazil (2007) and the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia , Spain (2011).

Among other things, Küng was a founding member of the International Journal for Theology Concilium , Associate Editor of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies , member of the PEN Center Germany and the PEN American Center , the Académie Internationale des Sciences Religieuses , the American Academy of Religion , President of Herbert-Haag -Foundation for “Freedom in the Church”, Lucerne and Co-President of the World Conference on Religion and Peace , New York.

Fonts (selection)

  • Justification. The teaching of Karl Barth and a Catholic reflection. With a letter of passage from Karl Barth, Einsiedeln 1957.
  • Council and reunification. Munich 1960.
  • Structures of the church. Freiburg im Breisgau 1962.
  • Church in the Council. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1963.
  • The church. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1967.
  • Truthfulness. On the future of the church. Herder, Fre.iburg im Breisgau 1968.
  • Infallible? A request. Benziger, Zurich 1970
  • Incarnation of God. An introduction to Hegel's theological thinking as a prolegomena to a future Christology (= ecumenical research. II. 1). Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 1970. (Paperback edition: Series Piper 1049, Munich 1989; with a new foreword)
  • Be a christian. Piper, Munich 1974.
  • Does God Exist? Answer to the question of God in modern times. Piper, Munich 1978 ( 1st place on the Spiegel bestseller list from April 10 to July 23, 1978 )
  • Eternal life? Piper, Munich 1982.
  • Christianity and world religions. Introduction to the dialogue with Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. (With Josef van Ess, Heinrich von Stietencron and Heinz Bechert ). Piper, Munich 1984.
  • Theology on the move. An ecumenical foundation. Piper, Munich 1987.
  • Christianity and Chinese Religion. Piper, Munich 1988. (With Julia Ching).
  • Global Ethic Project. Piper, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-492-03426-8 .
  • Judaism. Essence and history. Piper, Munich 1991.
  • Creed. The Apostles' Creed - Contemporaries Explained. Piper, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-492-03009-2 .
  • Switzerland without orientation? European perspectives. Benziger, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-545-34103-8 .
  • Christianity. Essence and history. Piper, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-492-03747-X .
  • Great Christian thinkers. Piper, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-492-03666-X .
  • To die dignified. Piper, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-492-03791-7 .
  • Global ethic for global politics and global economy. Piper, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-492-03938-3 .
  • Search for clues. The world religions on the way. Piper, Munich 1999.
  • The woman in Christianity. 4th edition Piper, Munich 2001, ISBN 978-3-492-23327-9 .
  • Fought for freedom. Memories. 2nd edition Piper, Munich 2002, ISBN 978-3-492-04444-8 .
  • Why Global Ethic? Religion and Ethics in Times of Globalization. In conversation with Jürgen Hoeren. 2nd edition Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2006, ISBN 978-3-451-05797-7 .
  • Documentation on the global ethic. Piper, Munich 2002, ISBN 978-3-492-23489-4 .
  • The beginning of all things. Science and religion. Piper, Munich 2005.
  • Global ethic understood in a Christian way. Positions - experiences - impulses. (With Angela Rinn-Maurer) Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2005, ISBN 978-3-451-28850-0 .
  • The islam. History, present, future. 2004, 4th edition Piper, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-492-24709-2 .
  • Controversial truth. Memories. Piper, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-492-05123-1 .
  • Global ethic from the sources of Judaism (with Rabbi Walter Homolka ) Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2008, ISBN 978-3-451-32115-3 .
  • What i believe Piper, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-492-05333-4 .
  • Manifesto Global Business Ethics. Consequences and challenges for the global economy. Manifesto Global Economic Ethic. Consequences and Challenges for Global Businesses. (With Klaus Leisinger , Josef Wieland ) dtv, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-423-34628-3 .
  • Doing business properly - Why economics needs morality. Piper, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-492-05424-9 .
  • Can the Church Still Be Saved? Piper, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-492-05457-7 .
  • Global Ethic Manual. A vision and its implementation. Piper, Munich, 2012, ISBN 978-3-492-30059-9 .
  • What remains, core idea. Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-49205579-6 .
  • Experienced humanity. Memories. Piper, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-492-05601-4 .
  • To die happy? Hans Küng in conversation with Anne Will. Piper, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-492-05673-1 .
  • Seven Popes. How I experienced it. Piper, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-492-05687-8 .

literature

  • Hermann Häring , Josef Nolte (ed.): Discussion about Hans Küng "The Church". Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1971.
  • Karl Rahner (Ed.): On the problem of infallibility. Answers to the inquiry from Hans Küng (= Quaestiones disputatae. 54). Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1971.
  • Hans Küng et al .: fallible? A balance sheet. Benziger, Zurich 1973.
  • Hans Urs von Balthasar and others: Discussion about Hans Küng's “Being a Christian”. Mainz 1976.
  • Hermann Häring, Karl-Josef Kuschel (Ed.): Hans Küng. Way and work. Piper, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-492-02362-2 .
  • Walter Jens (Ed.): About nothing but the truth. German Bishops' Conference against Hans Küng. A documentation. Piper, Munich 1978.
  • Hans Albert : The misery of theology. Critical examination of Hans Küng. Hoffmann & Campe, Hamburg 1979, ISBN 3-455-08853-8 ; extended new edition: Alibri, Aschaffenburg 2005, ISBN 3-86569-001-7 ; 3rd, extended edition, ibid. 2012, ISBN 978-3-86569-111-8 (critical examination of Küng's theological-philosophical approach, primarily based on the book Existiert Gott ).
  • Norbert Greinacher , Herbert Haag (ed.): The Küng case. , Piper, Munich 1980.
  • Norbert Greinacher, Hans Küng (Ed.): Catholic Church - where to? Piper, Munich 1986.
  • Karl-Josef Kuschel (Ed.): Hans Küng. Ways of thinking. A reading book. Piper, Munich 1992.
  • Robert Nowell: Hans Küng. Passion for the truth. Life and work. Benziger, Zurich 1993.
  • Werner G. Jeanrond : Hans Küng. In: David Ford (ed.): Theologians of the present. Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 1993, pp. 154-172.
  • Hermann Häring, Karl-Josef Kuschel (Ed.): Hans Küng. New horizons of belief and thought. A work book. Piper, Munich 1993.
  • Walter Jens, Karl-Josef Kuschel: Dialogue with Hans Küng. With the farewell lecture by Hans Küng. Piper, Munich 1996.
  • Rolf Becker: Hans Küng and the ecumenical movement. Evangelical catholicity as a model. Grünewald, Mainz 1996.
  • Hermann Häring: Hans Küng. Break through boundaries. Matthias Grünewald Verlag, Mainz 1998, ISBN 3-7867-2069-X .
  • Hans Küng, Karl-Josef Kuschel (ed.): Science and global ethos. Piper, Munich 1998.
  • Christel Hasselmann: The world religions are discovering their common ethos. The way to the Global Ethic Declaration. With a foreword by Hans Küng. Grünewald, Mainz 2002.
  • Hans Küng, Dieter Senghaas (Ed.): Peace Policy. Ethical foundations of international relations. Piper, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-492-04541-3 .
  • Freddy Derwahl: The one with the bike and the one with the Alfa. Benedict XVI. and Hans Küng - a double portrait. Pattloch, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-629-02137-9 .
  • Hans-Martin Schönherr-Mann : Learning to Live Together - The Philosophy and the Clash of Cultures. With an essay and a foreword by Hans Küng. Piper-Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-492-05104-0 .
  • Hubertus Mynarek : Why Hans Küng cannot save the church either. An analysis of its errors. Tectum, Marburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8288-3020-2 .

See also

Web links

Commons : Hans Küng  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Hans Küng  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Elisabeth Zoll: Famous church critic: theologian Hans Küng died. In: swp.de (Südwest Presse). April 6, 2021, accessed April 6, 2021 .
  2. ↑ Hans Küng: The long way to the Global Ethic Project. Twenty years after the missio was withdrawn ( Memento from May 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). Lecture at the University of Tübingen on December 14, 1999, p. 4.] (PDF file; 69 kB).
  3. ↑ Hans Küng: What I believe. 2009, p. 175.
  4. ↑ Hans Küng: What I believe. 2009, p. 177.
  5. ↑ La Justification du pécheur. Doctrine de Karl Barth et réflexion catholique. https://www.sudoc.fr/186438761
  6. ↑ The decisive letter of September 22, 1973 is documented in: Walter Jens (ed.): Um nothing but the truth. Munich 1978, pp. 80-94.
  7. ↑ Hans Küng: Controversial Truth - Memories . Munich 2007, p. 101-105, 348-351, 576-580, 587-597 .
  8. ↑ Declaratio circa catholicam doctrinam de Ecclesia contra nonnullos errores hodiernos tuendam of June 24, 1973, published in Acta Apostolicae Sedis 65 (1973), pp. 396-408. Establish a (not explicit) reference to Küng's ecclesiology, among other things. the German bishops in their declaration below.
  9. ↑ Declaratio de duobus operibus professoris Ioannis Küng in quibus continentur nonnullae opiniones quae doctrinae Ecclesiae Catholicae opponuntur of February 15, 1975, published in Acta Apostolicae Sedis 67 (1975), pp. 203-204.
  10. ↑ The German bishops spoke in their declaration on the withdrawal of the church's license to teach Prof. Dr. Hans Küngs - Joint pulpit word and declaration of the German bishops of January 7, 1980 of "an unusual step", in: Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference (Ed.): Series of publications "The German Bishops", issue 25 (PDF file; 94 kB), Bonn 1980. Some of the events are documented in: Walter Jens (Ed.): Um nothing but the truth. German Bishops' Conference against Hans Küng. Piper, Munich 1978; Hans Küng, Norbert Greinacher , Herbert Haag (eds.): The Küng case. A documentation. Piper, Munich 1980.
  11. ↑ Cf. in particular the word to those standing in the proclamation of the faith of November 14, 1977, in: Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference (Ed.): Declaration on the book "To be a Christian" by Professor Dr. Hans Küng. Series of publications “The German Bishops”, issue 13 (PDF file; 90 kB), Bonn 1977. On the theological reception cf. the essays in: Hans Urs von Balthasar et al. (Ed.): Discussion about Hans Küng's “Being a Christian”. Mainz 1976.
  12. ↑ Declaratio de quibusdam capitibus doctrinae theologiae professoris Ioannis Küng, qui, ab integra fidei catholicae veritate deficiens, munere docendi, qua theologus catholicus, privatus declaratur of December 15, 1979 with a blocking period until December 18, 1979, printed and others. in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , No. 295 of December 19, 1979, p. 4, published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis. 72: 90-92 (1980).
  13. ↑ Hans Küng: The long way to the Global Ethic Project. Twenty years after the missio was withdrawn. Lecture at the University of Tübingen on December 14, 1999, p. 1.
  14. ↑ Notes on canon law on this e.g. B. in Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde : The Küng case and state church law. In: New legal weekly. 1981, pp. 2101-2103; Helmut Quaritsch: Hans Küng, Tübingen and the Reich Concordat. In: Baden-Württemberg administrative practice. 8: 82-89 (1981). A ministerial report is available in: Recommendation for a resolution and report of the Standing Committee of April 17, 1980. Printed matter 7/7044.
  15. ↑ SWR-TV on the death of Hans Küng, minute 41 , accessed on April 8, 2021
  16. ↑ Quoted from Hans Küng: What I believe. 2009, p. 297.
  17. ↑ Le Monde. February 24, 2009 under the title L'Église risque de devenir une secte.
  18. ^ Vatican Radio, broadcast on February 26, 2009.
  19. ↑ Generous support from the Karl Schlecht Charitable Foundation (KSG) ( Memento from April 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), May 13, 2011, accessed on April 19, 2012.
  20. ↑ This week the new Global Ethic Institute opens. In: tagblatt.de. April 16, 2012, archived from the original on January 3, 2015 ; accessed on April 6, 2021 .
  21. ↑ http://www.swr.de/nachrichten/bw/-/id=1622/nid=1622/did=10925744/667so1/ .
  22. ↑ That Küng's efforts were also appreciated by his friends in the Evangelical Reformed camp is shown by the book review by the Reformed Professor Paul Jacobs , who taught in Münster: Paul Jacobs: Die Kirche. A catholic voice. In: Karl Halaski (ed.): Reformed church newspaper. 108th vol., 1967, pp. 202-204. Quotation from it: "If in the book about the justification of Kiing the question was asked how far this statement, so welcomed by the evangelical side, was recognized as Catholic, then this will apply all the more to this book about the church. This ecclesiology is an almost purely evangelical book. "
  23. ^ Th. S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago 1962.
  24. ↑ Lucas Wiegelmann, “The last way leads out of darkness into light” ; In: DIE WELT from April 7, 2021
  25. ↑ cf. B. Küng's first 48 books and the translations by Häring et al. 1993, pp. 831-846.
  26. ↑ For example Leo Scheffczyk , 1980.
  27. ↑ Credo. The Apostles' Creed - Contemporaries Explained , 1992.
  28. ↑ Hans Küng, Being a Christian . Piper, Munich 1974, p. 72 ff.
  29. ↑ Hans Küng, Does God Exist? , dtv, Munich 1981, p. 215 f.
  30. ↑ Hans Küng, Does God Exist? , 2nd edition, Munich 2001, p. 659.
  31. ↑ Justification. The teaching of Karl Barth and a Catholic reflection. 1957.
  32. ↑ See the conflict with Bishop Kurt Koch , Basel, March 2006.
  33. ↑ Hans Küng, Global Ethic Project , 1990.
  34. ↑ "I hope for the infinite dimension" , interview with Hans Küng, gezeitenwende.org, February 24, 2014.
  35. ↑ Hans Küng, Global Ethic Project , p. 132.
  36. ↑ Hans Küng, Global Ethic Project , p. 129.
  37. ↑ Hans Küng, Global Ethic Project , p. 113.
  38. ↑ Hans Albert, The misery of theology. Critical examination of Hans Küng , 1979, p. 185 f.
  39. ↑ Hans Albert, treatise on critical reason , Mohr-Siebeck, 5th edition, Tübingen 1991, p. 15 ff., ISBN 3-16-145721-8 .
  40. ↑ Hans Albert, Das Elend der Theologie , Alibri Verlag, Aschaffenburg, 2005, p. 57 ff., ISBN 3-86569-001-7 .
  41. ↑ DGPA
  42. ↑ Hans Küng receives Mozart's honorary chair . Retrieved April 10, 2013.
  43. ↑ List of medal recipients 1975–2019. (PDF; 180 kB) State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg, May 20, 2019, p. 51
  44. ↑ Hans Küng at the IAU Minor Planet Center (English)
personal data
SURNAME Küng, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss Catholic theologian and author
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Sursee
DATE OF DEATH April 6, 2021
PLACE OF DEATH Tubingen