Johann Sebastian von Drey

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Dr. JS von Drey (lithograph by Ludwig August Helvig , 1834)

Johann Sebastian Drey , from 1823 von Drey (born October 16, 1777 in Röhlingen -Killingen, today the city of Ellwangen (Jagst) in East Württemberg ; †  February 19, 1853 in Tübingen ) was a German Catholic theologian at the Universities of Ellwangen and Tübingen. Theological apologetics or fundamental theology was one of his fields of work . In 1819 he founded the Catholic Tübingen School .

Life

Johann Sebastian Drey was born the son of a shepherd and was able to attend the Ellwangen grammar school thanks to church support. After studying theology in Augsburg (1797-1799), he entered the local seminary one was in 1801 for priests ordained and then vicar at belonging to his hometown parish Röhlingen .

In 1806 he became professor at the Philosophical-Theological Lyceum in Rottweil and in 1812 professor for apologetics, dogmatics, the history of dogmas and theological encyclopedia at the Catholic State University of Ellwangen . In 1817 it was integrated into the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen as the Catholic theological faculty . After his doctorate as Dr. theol. At the University of Freiburg he became a professor at the Catholic Theological Faculty in Tübingen in 1813 .

In 1819 he was one of the founders of the Tübingen Theological Quarterly , which was of great importance for 19th century Catholic theology. The journal is considered the oldest of the specialist theological journals still in existence today and is still the publication organ of the Catholic-Theological Faculty of Tübingen.

Drey founded the Catholic Tübingen School in 1819 with his student Johann Adam Möhler . Even before her better-known (Protestant) wing around Ferdinand Christian Baur, she introduced the first historical-critical methods to biblical research. Drey's school worked through about 20 well-known theologians - above all Johann Baptist von Hirscher , Johannes von Kuhn and Franz Anton Staudenmaier - into the 20th century.

In the 1820s Drey was planned as bishop for the newly established diocese of Rottenburg , but he did not get a chance. Conservative circles had claimed that one of his writings would be examined in Rome and put on the index. In fact, he was never tried or was soon dropped (see next section), but his chances of becoming a bishop were gone.

Honors, ennobling

  • 1823 Knight's Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown , which was associated with the personal title of nobility
  • 1846 Commentary Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown

Research story on JS Drey

For almost 80 years, Drey was forgotten in Catholic theology. It is mainly thanks to Josef Rupert Geiselmann that he has been "rediscovered" since the 1930s. The Innsbruck habilitation thesis by Franz Schupp is a highlight of the Drey renaissance initiated by Geiselmann . After a standstill in the 1970s, Drey research became topical again in the 1980s. Within three years three theological doctorates were submitted via Drey: in Munich by Raimund Lachner , in Erfurt by Eberhard Tiefensee and in Tübingen with Max Seckler by Abraham Peter Kustermann. While Geiselmann remained the Nestor of Drey Research until his death , Seckler has taken on this role today.

In the course of the research, there was no reference to the alleged index procedure mentioned above, but only a request for a small paper by Drey's from 1815 on the ear confession . It was submitted to the Roman theologian Maurizio Benedetto Olivieri (1769–1845) for assessment together with a publication by his faculty colleague Karl Wachter . While he came to the conclusion at Wachter that some things should be censored, there is no expert opinion on Drey in Rome. The Vicar General Franz Karl von Hohenlohe in Ellwang took his side energetically, which is why the proceedings against him were dropped.

Works

According to the bibliography by Abraham Peter Kustermann in 1994 (see web links) Drey wrote eight independent works, some of them in several volumes, and about 150 dependent writings. Many were later reissued. The titles in detail:

  1. Observata quaedam ad illustrandam Justini Martyris de regno millenario sententiam. Joann Georg Ritter , Schwäbisch Gmünd 1814.
  2. Dissertatio historico-theologica originem ac vicissitudines exomologeseos in ecclesia catholica ex documentis ecclesiasticis illustrans… Joan. Georg Ritter, Elvaci 1815.
  3. Brief introduction to the study of theology with regard to the scientific standpoint and the Catholic system . Heinrich Laupp, Tübingen 1819 ( digitized version ); plus three reprints from 1966 to 1989 and an English translation in 1994.
  4. New Studies on the Constitutions and Canons of the Apostles. A historical-critical contribution to the literature of church history and canon law. Heinrich Laupp, Tübingen 1832 ( digitized version ).
  5. What can we expect from synods in our time ? Heinrich Laupp, Tübingen 1834 ( digitized version ).
  6. The apologetics as a research proving the following divinity of Christianity in its appearance. 3 volumes. Florian Kupferberg, Mainz 1838–1847; plus two photomechanical reprints each in Frankfurt and Mainz.
    • Volume 1: Philosophy of Revelation. 1838 ( digitized ).
    • Volume 2: Religion in its historical development up to its consummation through revelation in Christ. 1843 ( digitized ).
    • Volume 3: The Christian Revelation in the Catholic Church. 1847 ( digitized ).

In addition to these works, Drey published

  • about 40 articles in professional journals,
  • 13 comprehensive encyclopedia articles in the 11-volume church encyclopedia or encyclopedia of Catholic theology ... by Heinrich Joseph Wetzer and Benedikt Welte , Freiburg im Breisgau 1847–1856,
  • over 80 book reviews and some varia.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Court and State Handbook of the Kingdom of Württemberg 1824, p. 32
  2. ↑ Court and State Manual of the Kingdom of Württemberg 1847, p. 37
  3. ↑ See H. Wolf: JS Drey - career kink through rumors. Munich 2006, pp. 87 ff., Online at Google Books .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Drey, Johann Sebastian von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Drey, Johann Sebastian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Catholic theologian
DATE OF BIRTH October 16, 1777
PLACE OF BIRTH Röhlingen -Killingen, today town of Ellwangen (Jagst) , East Württemberg
DATE OF DEATH February 19, 1853
Place of death Tübingen