Hubert Müller (theologian)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hubert Müller (born November 15, 1936 in Lechtingen ; † January 6, 1995 in Osnabrück ) was a German Roman Catholic priest , theologian and canon lawyer .

Career

After graduating from high school Carolinum in Osnabrück in 1957, Müller studied philosophy and theology in Sankt Georgen ( Frankfurt ), Münster and Osnabrück. In 1959 he joined the Catholic student association WKSt.V. Unitas Ruhrania at. He was ordained a priest on February 2, 1963 and then worked as a vicar in the parish pastoral care in Bremen and Osnabrück until 1965 . On the occasion of his ordination, Müller was made an honorary member of his home club Sportfreunde Lechtingen .

Shortly after the end of the Second Vatican Council , his diocesan bishop Helmut Hermann Wittler sent him to Rome to study canon law, where he obtained a licentiate in canon law in 1967 . Under his teacher, Father Jean Beyer SJ , Müller received his doctorate in canon law in 1969 with a thesis "On the relationship between episcopate and presbyterate in the Second Vatican Council". This work became a standard work of ecclesiastical constitutional law.

From 1970 to 1972 Müller was cathedral vicar in Osnabrück, secretary of the bishop, cathedral ceremonies, as well as marriage bond defender and vice-official at the diocesan court, where he gained practical liturgical, pastoral and canonical experience.

As a scholarship holder of the German Research Foundation (DFG), Hubert Müller took up studies with Rudolf Weigand in Würzburg in 1972 , which he obtained in 1975 through his habilitation on the subject of canon law history, the share of laypeople in the election of bishops. A contribution to the history of canonical studies from Gratian to Gregory IX. to the Dr. theol. habil. graduated in canon law.

Thereupon he was initially a private lecturer at the Universities of Würzburg and Münster, full professor for canon law and ecclesiastical legal history at the then Eichstätt comprehensive university and finally from 1980 until his death in 1995 full professor for canon law and ecclesiastical legal history and director of the canon law seminar at the University of Bonn .

Furthermore, Müller was a visiting professor ( professor invitatus ) at the canonical faculty of the Pontifical Gregorian University .

Müller also became internationally known for his work on handbooks on post-conciliar church law.

In 1997 the commemorative publication for Hubert Müller “Church Law as an Order of Freedom” was published; From the foreword: “The title ... takes up the main idea under which H. Müller saw his research, teaching and consulting activities. The statement, which goes back to Cardinal Ratzinger and is often quoted by H. Müller, `` Whoever wants freedom must therefore not strive for lawlessness, but must strive for right law as a law in which freedom is observed '' is only one example of the adoption of theological guidelines of other disciplines, in order to make it fruitful for canon law studies. "

Hubert Müller is buried in the priestly graves of the cemetery of the Catholic parish of St. Alexander Wallenhorst .

Works (selection)

  • Loving in the world. Considerations about the apostolic worldliness of the secular institutes. Leutesdorf am Rhein 1968.
  • On the relationship between episcopate and presbyterate in the Second Vatican Council. A legal theological investigation. (= Viennese contributions to theology), Vienna 1971.
  • The share of lay people in the election of bishops. A contribution to the history of canonical studies from Gratian to Gregory IX. Amsterdam 1977.
  • The law of the church "between" official claim and concrete implementation. Acceptance and rejection of universal church laws as a request to canon law. Munich 1978.
  • Outline of post-conciliar canon law . Edited by Joseph Listl , Hubert Müller and Heribert Schmitz , Regensburg 1980.
  • Handbook of Catholic Canon Law. Edited by Joseph Listl, Hubert Müller and Heribert Schmitz, Regensburg 1983.
  • Research on canon law. Edited by Rudolf Weigand and Hubert Müller, Würzburg 1986 ff.
  • The Episcopal Conference. Theological and legal status. Edited by HJ Pottmeyer and Hubert Müller, Düsseldorf 1989.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Burr (ed.): Unitas manual . tape 2 . Verlag Franz Schmitt, Siegburg 1996, p. 288 .
  2. ^ Rudolf Weigand (ed.): Church law as freedom order. (= Research on Canon Law, Vol. 27), Würzburg 1997
personal data
SURNAME Müller, Hubert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Roman Catholic theologian and canon lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH November 15, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Lechtingen
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 1995
Place of death Osnabrück