Institute for Christian Catholic Theology
The Institute for Christian Catholic Theology is a unit of the Theological Faculty of the University of Bern . It is the successor to the Christian Catholic Theological Faculty, which for 127 years was the only independent theological faculty of the Old Catholic Church at a state university worldwide.
history
During the culture war of the 19th century, liberal-radical politicians in the canton of Bern wanted to establish a Catholic theological faculty at the University of Bern as a training facility for future Catholic clergy in order to counterbalance ultramontanism . The Catholic Theological Faculty started lecturing on November 23, 1874 with five professors and nine students. However, since the theologians trained there had no prospect of being accepted into the clergy of his diocese by a Roman Catholic bishop, the faculty served de facto from the beginning as a training center for the Christian Catholic Church in Switzerland, which was emerging in the same period . One of the founding professors, Eduard Herzog , was elected first bishop by the second session of the National Synod of the Christian Catholic Church in Switzerland in 1876.
Nevertheless, the faculty kept the name "Catholic-theological faculty"; It was not until 1945 that the name was adapted to the reality that had existed since the beginning and changed to "Christ Catholic Theological Faculty". With the new university law in 2001, the two theological faculties of the University of Bern, the Protestant and the Christian Catholic, were merged into a single faculty, initially called the "Christian Catholic and Protestant Theological Faculty", and since August 1, 2008 only called the "Theological Faculty" . Initially as the "Department for Christian Catholic Theology", since 2017 as the "Institute for Christian Catholic Theology", the tradition of Christian Catholic teaching and research is continued at the University of Bern.
Study operation
The institute does not cover the entire range of subjects in theology, although there have also been changes in the range of courses: if there was a chair for New Testament , homiletics and Old Catholicism until 2007 , this was replaced by a professorship for Urs von Arx after the chair holder Urs von Arx retired History of Old Catholicism and general church history replaced. There is also a professorship for systematic theology and ecumenism and a lecturer for liturgy . The institute periodically gives teaching assignments for Anglican and Orthodox theology , occasionally also for other subjects.
This mainly covers those theological disciplines that are essential for the Old Catholic theological profile. The institute enables theology to be studied within the Faculty of Theology as a single subject with the aim of Bachelor of Theology and Master of Theology with a Christian Catholic focus. Building on this, a doctorate in Christian Catholic theology is possible. In addition, the institute offers a master's minor "History and Theology of Old Catholicism" and participates in the courses offered for other courses of study at the faculty.
The educational institution experiences an essential character from the fact that students from other Old Catholic churches as well as students from other denominations, namely Orthodox students from Eastern European countries, are always enrolled at it. Most of them are completing a doctoral degree or working on a habilitation project .
Research and publications
International Church Journal
The Institute for Christian Catholic Theology plays a leading role in the publication of the International Church Journal (IKZ) , which was launched in 1893 - at that time under the name Revue International de Théologie . The German title of the magazine was introduced in 1911 due to the overwhelming author and readership. The IKZ is the most important publication organ for research in Old Catholic theology. In addition to specialist articles, it includes a “Church Chronicle” in which the resolutions of the International Bishops' Conference, internationally important resolutions of Old Catholic national churches and developments in ecumenism that are important for Old Catholicism are published. It also documents the International Old Catholic Congresses, International Theological Conferences, theological consultations between Old Catholics and Anglicans, etc. - The IKZ is published in Bern by Stämpfli AG .
International working group Old Catholicism Research
In order to promote the international networking of Old Catholicism research, the institute participates intensively in the work of the International Working Group Old Catholicism Research , which was founded on October 9, 1998 in Bonn and has been meeting there annually since then. The projects “Old Catholic Biography” and “Archive of Old Catholic Publications” are supervised by the institute.
Well-known lecturers and graduates
- in chronological order of the year of birth
- Eduard Herzog (1841–1924), professor of the New Testament and first bishop of the Christian Catholic Church in Switzerland 1876–1924
- Franz Hirschwälder (1843–1886), professor of moral theology, dogmatics and liturgy (from 1874)
- Kurt Stalder (1912–1996), Professor of the New Testament
- Hans Gerny (* 1937), Bishop of the Christian Catholic Church in Switzerland 1986–2001
- Fritz-René Müller (* 1939), Bishop of the Christian Catholic Church in Switzerland 2002–2009
- Urs von Arx (* 1943), Professor of New Testament, Homiletics and Old Catholicism
- Angela Berlis (* 1962), since 2009 professor for the history of Old Catholicism and general church history, head of the institute
- Denise Wyss (* 1965), first woman ordained a priestess in the Christian Catholic Church in Switzerland
Web links
- Homepage of the Institute for Christian Catholic Theology
- History 1974-1999 ( Memento from November 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
literature
- Kurt Stalder : The Christian Catholic theological faculty. Your self-image. In: University history of Bern 1528-1984. Bern 1984, pp. 189-200.