Heinz Eduard Tödt

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Heinz Eduard Tödt (born May 4, 1918 in Bordelum ; † May 25, 1991 in Hanover ) was a German university professor of theology , most recently professor of systematic theology at the University of Heidelberg .

Life

Tödt grew up as a pastor's son, the third of six children, in the North Frisian village of Bordelum. A few years of difficult school days followed in Neumünster , where his father worked in a branch of the Ricklinger Institutions of the Inner Mission . He experienced the decisive years of childhood and youth in Garding in Eiderstedt on the North Sea, where his father Anton Tödt was appointed provost in 1939. He attended the Hermann-Tast-Gymnasium in Husum as a driving learner and passed the old-language Abitur there on February 1, 1937. He was considered a gifted student with a preference for ancient languages, read privately in Latin with his father Tacitus in the evenings and translated Plato's Politeia as a complete work from Greek into German for himself .

He had fond memories of the confirmation class with his father and his confirmation promise remained important to him throughout his life. There was no church youth group. He was an enthusiastic soccer boy in the Gardinger sports club and became a member of the Jungvolk in 1933 . As Hitler Youth leader he was invited to a selection course in Potsdam and on this occasion met Joseph Goebbels , Alfred Rosenberg and Baldur von Schirach . When he heard how one intended to behave under the premise that church and party were incompatible with Christianity and the churches, he decided to pack his knapsack and go home again. He wanted to study theology.

After graduating from high school, the labor service followed and then he was drafted for military service. Then the Second World War began .

In his autobiography Tödt describes his time as a soldier and later as an officer in units of the 30th Infantry Division in Poland , on the Western Front and in the Russian campaign . He reports in detail on the advance on the Eastern Front, on the fighting in the Demyansk pocket , on the retreat and the defensive battles in Courland . As a young captain of the reserve, he was awarded the Knight's Cross on September 2, 1944 for his bravery as head of a battery . He describes how he tries to act as a Christian in difficult situations. He describes the defeat, the five years in Soviet captivity, the homecoming and the beginning of his theology studies, etc. a. at the University of Basel with Karl Barth .

In 1957 he was promoted to Dr. theol. at the University of Heidelberg is doing his doctorate based on a New Testament work The Son of Man in Synoptic Tradition with Günther Bornkamm . In 1961 he began working as an employee at the research facility of the Evangelical Study Community (FEST). From 1962 to 1974 he was a member of the Marxism Commission, from 1963 to 1983 Professor of Systematic Theology , Ethics and Social Ethics at the University of Heidelberg.

Theology and the Church owe him a lot, including the complete scientific edition of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's works and initiatives for peace research .

His most important student was Wolfgang Huber , who later became the bishop and council chairman of the EKD , who did his doctorate with Tödt in Heidelberg and did his habilitation with him. In the sixties, in the hard arguments at the University of Heidelberg with committed students of the extra-parliamentary opposition and at the beginning of theological peace research together with Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker , Tödt was the driving force and recognized spokesman for the theological faculty in Heidelberg.

Publications

  • In the Zeitschrift für Evangelische Ethik (ZEE) :
    • Theology of Society or Theological Social Ethics? A critical article on Wendland's attempt at a Protestant theology of society , in: ZEE 5 (1961), pp. 211–241.
    • Review: Wolf-Dieter Marsch: Christian faith and democratic ethos, illustrated in the life work of Abraham Lincoln. A contribution from the history of the United States of America, Hamburg 1958 , in: ZEE 6 (1962), p. 378 ff.
    • Review: Konrad Thomas: The operational situation of the workers (Göttinger Abhandlungen zur Sociology; 9) , Stuttgart 1964, in: ZEE 10 (1966), pp. 119–122.
    • Ernst Troeltsch's importance for evangelical social ethics , in: ZEE 10 (1966), pp. 227–236.
    • Significance and shortcomings of the Geneva World Conference of Churches , in: ZEE 11 (1967), pp. 2-19.
    • The Christian understanding of people in the current social upheaval , in: ZEE 12 (1968), pp. 333-348.
    • The doctrine of just war and the churches ' mission for peace , in: ZEE 14 (1970), pp. 159–173.
    • Attempt to develop a theory of ethical judgment , in: ZEE 21 (1977), pp. 80-93.
    • Comment: General Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation in Black Africa , in: ZEE 21 (1977), pp. 300–303.
    • Review: Martin Greiffenhagen; Sylvia Greiffenhagen: A difficult fatherland. On the political culture of Germany , in: ZEE 25 (1981), p. 234 f.
    • The ambivalence of technical progress as a topic of Christian ethics , in: ZEE 25 (1981), pp. 18-29.
    • Comment: On social ethics for practitioners. Considerations on an example of teacher training by St. Blattner and S. Ley , in: ZEE 25 (1981), pp. 301-304.
    • Review: Hans-Jürgen Prien: The history of Christianity in Latin America, Göttingen 1978 , in: ZEE 26 (1982), pp. 231–235.
    • On the relationship between dogmatics and theological ethics , in: ZEE 26 (1982), pp. 29–39.
    • Review: Helmut Gollwitzer: Christianity / Democracy / Socialism I. Essays on Christianity and Socialism (Argument Studienheft; 39) , Berlin 1980, in: ZEE 27 (1983), pp. 335–338.
    • Review: Otto Dann: Equality and Equal Rights. The postulate of equality in the old European tradition and in Germany until the end of the 19th century (Historische Forschungen; 16), Berlin 1980 , in: ZEE 28 (1984), p. 104 ff.
    • Review: Gisela Albrecht; Hartwig Liebich (Red.): Confession and resistance. Churches of South Africa in conflict with the state. Documents on the investigation of the South African Council of Churches by the Eloff Commission, Hamburg 1983 , in: ZEE 29 (1985), p. 349 ff.
    • Luther memory in the memorial year 1983. Social ethical aspects of the Luther anniversary in the Federal Republic , in: ZEE 29 (1985), pp. 409–437.
    • Repressed responsibility. Evangelical theology and the church in view of the fortieth return of the day the end of the war , in: ZEE 29 (1985), pp. 127-138.
    • Faith and political attitude in Rudolf Bultmann. Comments on Walter Rebell's contribution , in: ZEE 31 (1987), pp. 183–189.
  • Publications in the Marxism Studies :
    • The discussion of Marxism in the ecumenical movement , in: Marxismusstudien (1969), pp. 1-42.
  • Theological perspectives according to Dietrich Bonhoeffer . Published by Ernst-Albert Scharffenorth, Gütersloh 1993.
  • Accomplices, victims and opponents of the Hitler regime. On the “inner history” of Protestant theology and the Church in the “Third Reich” . Edited by Jörg Dinger and Dirk Schulz, Gütersloh: Chr. Kaiser 1997.
  • Risk and fortune. Beginnings of a theological biography: childhood in the republic, youth in the Third Reich. Five years on the front lines of World War II. Five years imprisonment in Soviet camps. With the funeral sermon by Wolfgang Huber , Berlin 2012.

literature

  • Wolfgang Huber: Structures of a responsible life. The importance of Heinz Eduard Tödt for theological ethics. Lecture at the academic commemoration in Heidelberg on May 6, 1992 , in: Ilse Tödt (Hrsg.): Provokation und Gentmut. Diary letters from the 1968 student riots in Heidelberg. With sermons and a review 1983 by Heinz Eduard Tödt and the academic commemorative speech by Wolfgang Huber (Drafts for Christian Social Science 29) , Berlin 2013, pp. 343–356.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Jens-Hinrich Poerksen: Heinz Eduard Tödt ... .
  2. ↑ Tödt served as battery chief and department commander in the horse artillery , most recently as major d. Res. Staff officer in the division staff of the 30th Infantry Division . (Killing: risk and fate ... , p. 265; 394)
personal data
SURNAME Killing, Heinz Eduard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian
DATE OF BIRTH May 4, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Bordelum
DATE OF DEATH May 25, 1991
Place of death Hanover