Hermann Stenger

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Hermann Stenger (born August 29, 1920 in Munich ; † June 26, 2016 ) was a German Roman Catholic theologian , priest, psychotherapist and university professor .

Life

Stenger initially grew up in Dießen as the youngest of six siblings, after the death of his mother the family moved to Schönsee / Opf. From 1926 Hermann Stenger lived in various boarding schools, for example in Gars from 1935 in the Redemptorist boarding school, after the school closed in 1938 he moved to another boarding school of this order in Günzburg , where he graduated from high school in 1940. In the same year he began his theology studies at the then religious college of the Redemptorists in Gars. After only one semester, he was drafted into military service in 1940. After the end of the war he spent two years as a prisoner of war in England, during which he was able to continue his theology studies for two semesters. In 1947 he joined the Redemptorist Order (CSsR) and continued his studies. He made his religious vow "perpetual profession" with the Redemptorists in 1948 and in 1951 he was ordained a priest.

In addition to theology and against the background of his work as a teacher, counselor and priest, psychology became a second reference science of Stenger. He completed his psychology studies at the Ludwig Maximilians University in 1954 with a diploma and in 1961 with a doctorate (Dr. phil.). In addition to other advanced training courses, he completed a training analysis with Igor A. Caruso in Vienna . As a pastoral theologian and pastoral psychologist, he promotes the dialogue between theology and psychology, even after his retirement . He continues individual traditions of early pastoral theology of the 18th and early 19th centuries, which understand them as integration science (from the biblical message, church teaching and various human sciences - at that time called "auxiliary sciences") (e.g. with Johann Michael Sailer ).

From 1955 Stenger taught at various universities: as a professor of psychology at the then religious college of the Redemptorists in Gars am Inn, also from 1966 in Innsbruck, and from 1970 to 1971 at the University of Philosophy of the Jesuits in Munich, and from 1975 as a lecturer for Pastoral psychology at the Institute for Catechetics and Homiletics in Munich. Together with Johannes Gründel, he initiated the Institute for Theological and Pastoral Training in Freising . In 1977 he was appointed professor of pastoral theology at the University of Innsbruck , where he taught until his retirement in 1990. He was buried in the Redemptorist cemetery in Gars am Inn .

After the Second World War, Hermann Stenger was, alongside Joachim Scharfenberg , Dietrich Stollberg and Klaus Winkler, one of the most important representatives of German-language poimenics .

Focus of his work

  • Dealing with your own biography:

His aim is to convey to see his own life story as a theology-relevant place where his own theology takes shape, to deal with all phases of his own past, to see it as a life, spiritual and theological history, to explore and to deal with it to deal with. Biographical reflection thus becomes a kind of "basic research" which - not least in the training of pastoral workers - does not avoid critical questions and promotes the development of authenticity and depth.

  • Overcoming the basic pastoral schism :

One of the central pastoral theological concerns is the commitment to the “common pastoralism of all Christians” and his plea for perceiving and promoting the faith of all believers . The consequences of the separation between clergy and people are a basic theme of Stengers. In order to overcome this, he demands that those involved become aware and orientate themselves towards the threefold vocation of all those who have been baptized and confirmed: “Everyone [...] has been called into life by God and has been empowered to live. Each and every one is chosen to believe and in fact commissioned to bear witness to this belief. And finally, each and every one basically possesses a gift (charisma) bestowed by the Spirit of God for their own service in building up the community. All believers and the baptized participate in Christ's pastoral life and are called to act as pastoral as he has pastoralized. ”According to Stenger, this topic is becoming increasingly important against the background of the current multiple phenomena of reclericalization in the Catholic Church.

  • The care for suitable pastors:

According to Stenger, the practical training of pastors is not only to be seen in terms of technical content, but also as further work on one's own identity and competence and (correspondingly) also on the acceptance of one's own limits and weaknesses. Stenger was active in advising various diocesan and religious leaderships. He was also involved in setting up special advisory services for church professions in several German dioceses, which are available to those responsible for deciding on the suitability of future pastors as well as to training candidates. The objectives are to clarify professional suitability, to discuss professional and personal difficulties, conflicts and crises as well as to qualify for special pastoral care tasks.

  • The pastoral care of older people

The inner connection of the subject areas mentioned consists of a fundamental understanding of the vocation of man through God, which Stenger often describes and admonishes , which he describes in three compelling forms that build on one another:

  • the vocation as a human being, brought into being by God and empowered to live (this aspect is further developed by Stenger in the areas of developing personal identity, reflection and integration of one's own life story),
  • the vocation as a Christian (and thus also to participate fundamentally in Christ's pastoral duty towards people) and
  • a call to a particular individual form of service to people within the framework of the church.

The second builds on the first, the third on the first and second.

Collaboration in specialist societies

Award

  • Dr. theol. hc by the Theological Faculty of the University of Würzburg (1993).
  • Dr. theol. hc by the Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna (2001).
  • Honorary membership of the German Society for Pastoral Psychology 2011 (together with Dietrich Stollberg )

Fonts (selection)

  • Science and testimony. The scientific training of the Catholic pastoral care clergy from a psychological point of view , (= Studia theologiae moralis et pastoralis. Part 7) Salzburg 1961; dissertation
  • The belief in the decision. Attempt to answer the crisis of faith of today's youth , Freiburg i. Br., 1961.
  • (Ed.) Education and calling. About the future of the church student halls. Pfeiffer, Munich 1967.
  • Society, gender, upbringing. Studies on Pedagogical Practice Pfeiffer, Munich 1971, ISBN 3-7904-0035-1 .
  • with Jan Theodorus Ernst (statements), and Jan Kerkhofs (analysis), Das Schicksal der Orden - End or New Beginning? (in: Hermann Stenger, Josef Parstorfer, Johannes Gründel , Klaus Doppler (Eds.), Church in Conversation) Freiburg i. Br., Basel, Vienna 1971.
  • with Karl Wilhelm Dahm, group dynamics in church practice. Experience reports (= Society and Theology. Practice of the Church, Volume 16), Munich 1974.
  • Realization under the eyes of God. Psyche and Grace , Salzburg 1985, ISBN 3-7013-0680-X .
  • with Klemens Schaupp , holder of spiritual professions as subjects of evangelization. Thesis paper , in: Pastoraltheologische Information Nr. 8. Advisory board of the conference of German-speaking pastoral theologians, Mainz 1988, pp. 166-170.
  • (Ed.), Karl Berkel (co-author), For the professions of the church. Clarification - advice - accompaniment , Freiburg im Breisgau, Basel, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-451-21096-7 .
  • Life from the power of faith , Freiburg im Breisgau 1989.
  • For a church that can be seen , Innsbruck, Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-7022-1977-3 .
  • Shaped time , Münsterschwarzach 1996.
  • with Andreas Heller, Committed to the sick . Innsbruck, 1997, ISBN 3-7022-2015-1 and ISBN 3-7022-2056-9 .
  • (with a contribution by Robert Oberforcher), In the Sign of the Shepherd and the Lamb. Dowry and poison of biblical images , Innsbruck, Vienna, 2000, 2nd edition ISBN 3-7022-2265-0 .
  • (together with Rudolf Pacik ), From Annunciation Theology to Communicative Theology , in: Bernd Jochen Hilberath (Ed.), Teresa Peter (Assoc.), Truth in Relationship. The three God as the source and orientation of human communication (= Communicative Theology, Volume 4), Mainz 2003, ISBN 3-7867-2453-9 , pp. 191–198.
  • Diverse relationships , in: Martina Blasberg-Kuhnke , Andreas Wittrahm (ed.): Aging in freedom and dignity. Handbook of Christian work for the elderly. Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-466-36741-2 .

literature

  • Franz Weber (Hrsg.), Thomas Böhm (Hrsg.), Anna Findl-Ludescher (Hrsg.), Hubert Findl, (Hrsg.), Becoming Human in Faith. Impetus for pastoral care that is born (Festschrift Hermann Stenger), Münster 2000, ISBN 3-8258-4738-1 . (Includes a biography of. H. Stenger on pages 330–331)
  • Heribert Wahl , The not at all gentle power of the shepherd. Congratulations on Hermann M. Stenger's book “In the Sign of the Shepherd and the Lamb. Dowry and poison of biblical images ” , in: Ways to People , Volume 53, 2001, 500–506.
  • Anna Findl-Ludescher / Hubert Findl, Become Human in Faith. Hermann M. Stenger on his 80th birthday , in: Diakonia , year 32, 2001, 62–66.
  • Anna Findl-Ludescher, Franz Weber, Pastoral - a service of shepherds for life. Hermann M. Stenger on his 85th birthday , in: Pastoral-Theologische Perspektiven practical-theological education, Volume 25, Issue 2005-1, ISSN  0555-9308

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary notice , Süddeutsche Zeitung of June 29, 2016
  2. ↑ AR Batlogg: Crossed - My Life with the Diagnosis of Cancer. Innsbruck 2019. p. 117.
  3. ↑ cf. H. Stenger, In the Sign of the Shepherd and the Lamb. Dowry and poison from biblical images, Innsbruck 22002, 20.
  4. ↑ cf. H. Stenger, Common Shepherdhood of All Christians. Reform of the Church with respect for the sensus fidelium, in: Herder Korrespondenz 58 (2004), 357-360

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Stenger, Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stenger, Hermann M.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Roman Catholic pastoral theologian and psychotherapist
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH June 26, 2016