Johann Adam Möhler

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Johann Adam Möhler, after a painting by Eduard Johann Nikolaus Istas , 1837

Johann Adam Möhler (born May 6, 1796 in Igersheim ; † April 12, 1838 in Munich ) was a German, Roman Catholic theologian and shaped the younger Tübingen school of church and biblical research. His best-known work is the symbolism published in 1832 .

education and study

Möhler's birthplace in Igersheim (2013)

Möhler was the son of one of the wealthy baker and innkeeper Antonin Möhler and Maria Anna geb. Messner, sister of the cathedral capitular Philipp Jos. Meßner, in Igersheim and first attended the Lyceum in nearby Bad Mergentheim , then the Lyceum in Ellwangen.

From 1815 he studied theology in Ellwangen , then from 1817 in Tübingen. From 1818 he was a student at Wilhelmsstift , where he a. a. Was a student of Johann Sebastian von Drey and Johann Baptist von Hirscher . He was ordained a priest on September 18, 1819 and initially worked as a pastor. In the autumn of 1820 he started as a preparatory student for the grammar school teaching post at Wilhelmsstift, where he was soon appointed to theological repetition . Here he studied ancient Greek philosophy and history, through which he acquired the "clarity of judgment, the subtlety of expression, the dexterity of presentation". When he was given a position as a private lecturer in church history in 1822 , he first went on a study trip to Würzburg, Bamberg, Jena, Leipzig, Halle, Göttingen, Braunschweig, Magdeburg, Breslau, Prague and Vienna.

Professor in Tübingen and Munich

In April 1823 he returned from his literary trip to Tübingen, where he first had to take over lectures on canon law. It was not until the winter semester of 1823/1824 that he was allowed to give lectures on church history. After intensive studies by the Church Fathers, an inner change took place in him. In 1825 he published his first work, The Unity in the Church, or the Principle of Catholicism. Depicted in the spirit of the church fathers of the first three centuries, which was recognized as a dissertation. On March 16, 1826 he was appointed associate professor for church history at the Tübingen Catholic faculty. In 1826 he made a contribution to Some Thoughts on the Reduction of Priests in Our Time and Related Points . After the publication of the two historical monographs Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury. A contribution to the knowledge of the religious-moral, public-ecclesiastical and scientific life in the eleventh and twelfth centuries as well as Athanasius the great and the church of his time especially in the fight with the Arianism in the year 1827 he received a call to Breslau, which he refused so on December 31, 1828, he became a full professor of church history in the theological faculty of Tübingen.

Further publications followed: In 1828 the magazine Der Katholik first published the ' Illumination of the memorandum for the abolition of the celibate prescribed for Catholic clergy ', later as a monograph. After a first worrying illness and strengthened by a spa stay in the Appenzeller Land, he designed a program for the king's birthday within three weeks in 1829: Brief reflections on the historical relationship between universities and the state and he wrote an academic speech on the same occasion with the title About the external conditions in which, according to the Koran, Jesus Christ stands with Mohammed and the Gospel with Islam. With special consideration of the future destinies of the latter in relation to Christianity.

In the course of lectures on the Christian confessions he wrote his sensational masterpiece symbolism, or presentation of the doctrinal differences between Catholics and Protestants by their public Bekenntnißschriften , Mainz 1832. It experienced until 1838 five editions and led his Protestant fellow professors Ferdinand Christian Baur in 1834 to counter signature The Contrast of Catholicism and Protestantism according to the principles and main dogmas of the two doctrinal concepts . Möhler replicated in detail in 1835 and proved that Baur had ignored some of the symbolic books of his own denomination. These three writings are the most detailed on the subject to date.

After the dispute with Baur, Möhler lost pleasure in Tübingen. After rejecting several calls , he now showed interest in a change. Prussia tried to appoint him to Bonn or Münster, but the negotiations dragged on, so that Möhler accepted an offer at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich in 1835 .

In Munich Möhler planned to revise the symbolism again and to tackle other larger projects, but it did not come about because of a lung disease. In the summer of 1837 he had to suspend his lectures and take a long cure in Merano . In the meantime Prussia offered him another professorship in Bonn - also to drop the Hermesians . The still sick refused this time too. After the Würzburg cathedral dean Michael Erhard died on March 15, 1838 , the Bavarian King Ludwig I appointed Möhler as his successor a few days later.

Death and burial

A change in the weather was enough to weaken Möhler's compromised health further. The scholar died on the afternoon of April 12, 1838 - Maundy Thursday - and was buried two days later on Holy Saturday in the Munich central cemetery with a large crowd . In its issue No. 91 of April 17, 1838, the Munich political newspaper reported on April 15, 1838:

"Yesterday afternoon at 3 o'clock the solemn burial of the earthly shell of the late cathedral dean Dr. Möhler instead. The chapter of the Metropolitan Church with the clergy of the Holy Trinity Church, in which the deceased used to read Holy Mass, opened the procession to which, behind the richly decorated coffin, His Excellency the Minister of the Interior, the professors of the University in official costume, and a numerous crowd of respected people had joined the students of the university to pay their last respects to the celebrated dead man. "

tomb

Grave of Johann Adam Moehler on the old southern cemetery in Munich location

The tomb of Johann Adam Moehler is on the old southern cemetery in Munich (Wall Links Course at 288 burial ground 11) location . The Latin inscription on the gravestone gives the name of the deceased, his activity as a university professor in Tübingen and Munich, the appointment as dean of the cathedral of Würzburg and knight of the order of St. Michael, his place of birth Igersheim in Württemberg and the place of death Munich as well as Möhler's life's work descriptive honorary title: "Defender of the Faith, Adornment of Science, Consolation of the Church". As usual in the Latin language, the date of birth and death is given according to the Roman calendar. The original text is:

"Johannes Adamus Moehler ~ Ss. Theologiae Doctor et Professor PO ~ in Universitate Tübingensi et Monacensi ~ Capituli Cathedr. Wirceburg. Decanus design. ~ Ord. St. Michael. pro Meritis Eques ~ Natus Igersheimi in Würtemberga pridie ~ Non. Maias 1796 ~ Defensor Fidei ~ Literarum Decus Ecclesiae Solamen ~ Obiit Monachii pridie Idus Apriles 1838. "

Möhler's importance and his legacy

Möhler monument in his baptistery, St. Michaelskirche in Igersheim (2013)

Johann Adam Möhler is the most important representative of the Catholic Tübingen School founded by Johann Sebastian von Drey in 1819 . His writings revolutionized Catholic thought at the time. He was the first theologian to systematically present the symbols of the church alongside the beliefs of other denominations. That is why the Johann Adam Möhler Institute for Ecumenism was named after him.

The Munich magistrate erected a monument to Möhler. He is represented in the choir in the Würzburg Cathedral. Around 1837 he was portrayed by Eduard Johann Nikolaus Istas.

Möhler's collected works were published in three volumes by Ignaz Döllinger and Franz Xaver Reithmayr in 1839/40 . Almost 30 years later, PB Gams published a volume in 1867 with Möhler's lectures on church history based on the transcripts of his listeners at the time, which appeared again in 1992.

Works (selection)

  • The unity of the church, or the principle of Catholicism , habilitation thesis, Tübingen 1825.
  • Athanasius the Great and the Church of his Time in the Struggle with Arianism , 2 volumes, Mainz 1827.
  • Symbolism, or representation of the dogmatic contradictions of Catholics and Protestants, according to their public confessions , 1st edition, Mainz 1832.
  • Symbolism or representation of the dogmatic opposites of Catholics and Protestants according to their public confessions [based on the 5th verm. And verb. Ed. 1838], with additions to Möhler's symbolism from his writing: New investigations into the doctrinal contrasts between Catholics and Protestants , ed. by Johann Michael Raich, as well as a picture of life as a contribution to the history of theology of modern times , by Heinrich Kihn , [JA Möhler's Selected Writings Vol. 1], Malsfeld 2011, ISBN 978-3-943506-00-6 .
  • New investigations into the doctrinal differences between Catholics and Protestants , Mainz 1834/35 (counter-writ to FC Baur 1834)
  • Möhler's collected writings and essays, edited by I. Döllinger, Regensburg 1839, 2 volumes.
  • Möhler's Patrology or Christian Litterary History, Ed. FX Reithmayr, Volume 1, Regensburg 1840 / New edition: [JA Möhler's Selected Writings Volume 2], Malsfeld 2011, ISBN 978-3-943506-01-3 .
  • Collected files and letters , edited by Stephan Lösch , Munich 1928.
  • Lecture on Roman letters , published by Reinhold Rieger, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-87904-169-5 .
  • Lectures on Church History , Ed. Reinhold Rieger, Munich 1992, 2 volumes, ISBN 3-87904-179-2 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Johann Adam Möhler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anton Lutterbeck:  Möhler, Johann Adam . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, pp. 59-61., P. 59
  2. ^ Möhler, Johann Adam: Illumination of the memorandum . Ed .: Hattrup, Dieter: From the spirit of celibacy. 2nd edition Bonifatius, Paderborn 1993.
personal data
SURNAME Möhler, Johann Adam
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Roman Catholic theologian
DATE OF BIRTH May 6, 1796
PLACE OF BIRTH Igersheim
DATE OF DEATH April 12, 1838
Place of death Munich