Josef Engert

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Theodor Josef Engert (also Joseph ; born January 25, 1882 in Ochsenfurt , † October 7, 1964 in Regensburg ) was a Catholic theologian and philosopher . He held a chair for philosophy at the Philosophical-Theological University of Regensburg , which existed since 1923, and is considered the father of the University of Regensburg .

Life

Engert, son of the Ochsenfurt rope master and city treasurer Barthel Engert from his marriage to Maria Christine Scheckenbach (1852-1913) and younger half-brother of the theologian Thaddäus Engert (1875-1945) in 1881 , studied at the University of Würzburg and University of Leuven , where he was a member the KAV Lovania Lions . In 1904 he became a chaplain and in 1910 a religion teacher. Because of his brother's excommunication in the modernism dispute, Josef Engert's first attempt at a habilitation failed in Würzburg in 1910. During the First World War he was field chaplain and hospital chaplain, in 1917 in Turkey . His report to the Holy See on the situation of Christians, especially the Armenians , in Anatolia and Lebanon testifies to the full knowledge of the catastrophe, which the German Chancellor, Count Georg von Hertling, was also aware of (see Genocide of the Armenians ).

In 1905 he received his doctorate in theology and in 1907 in philosophy. In 1913 he became a professor at the PTH Dillingen an der Donau , and in 1923 in Regensburg. There he was rector from 1928 to 1931 and again after 1945. In 1948 he retired , but still played a leading role in the preparations for the establishment of a fourth state university in Bavaria . He also worked as a pastor at the same time.

As a theologian, he attacked the Protestant criticism of Karl Barth on historicism on which no general offer for evangelization. He wanted to establish this in inductive metaphysics on a scientific basis. Thus it belongs to the modern neo-scholasticism . He also published in the Catholic magazine Hochland .

As prorector , Engert signed in November 1933, like the rector Franz Heidingsfelder and all other professors of the PTH Regensburg, the professors' commitment to Adolf Hitler at German universities and colleges . According to the church historian Karl Hausberger, Joseph Engert was an anti-democratic “right- wing Catholic” who wanted to anchor the NSDAP's university policy at the PTH in Regensburg as a bridge builder to National Socialism and as a member of the National Socialist Teachers' Association (since June 1, 1933, membership number 24611). Engert had been a member of the Reichsschrifttumskammer since October 1934 and was thus able to publish uninterrupted until 1944. His 1937 work, Where Is America Going To, is enriched with “nationalist, racist and anti-Semitic charges”.

Research from 2014 identified Engert as a national theologian and anti-Semite who actively supported the Nazi regime. Engert had welcomed the Nuremberg race laws in Catholic publications for clergy and presented himself as an opponent of the regime after the end of the war. Based on this research, the city of Regensburg announced that it would rename the price named after Joseph Engert and the street that bears his name. In November 2014, a “University Prize” was awarded for the first time and in September 2015 the street in question was renamed “Am Biopark”. Engert's estate is kept in the Regensburg State Library .

Honors

The city of Regensburg awarded Engert the Albertus Magnus Medal in 1955 . This happened under the CSU mayor Hans Herrmann , who himself had been a student of the local philosophical-theological university and was a mayor with legal knowledge during the Nazi era. In 1959 he was awarded the Bavarian Order of Merit . In 1962 the city of Regensburg awarded him the City of Regensburg's Silver Citizen Medal . In addition, a street in the university district has been named after him, which has since been renamed.

Until 2013, the city of Regensburg awarded the Professor-Josef-Engert-Prize to young scientists . The University of Regensburg proposed the award winners, whose outstanding work must be related to the region.

Fonts (selection)

  • Haeckel's naturalistic monism tested for its scientific durability. Vienna 1907.
  • Hermann Samuel Reimarus as a metaphysician. Schöningh, Paderborn 1908.
  • On the psychology of natural mysticism and spiritism . In: Anthropos, Vol. 18/19, H. 4./6. (July – December 1923/1924), pp. 619–655.
  • The idea of ​​God in modern thinking. Augsburg 1932.
  • The educational doctrine of the Catholic religion. Munich, printing & publishing by R. Oldenbourg 1932.
  • The development of being: an introduction to epistemology and Logic. Bonn 1935.
  • Science and religion: modern physics, idea of ​​God, etc. Christianity. A general discussion. Bamberg 1947.

literature

  • Otto Weiß : Modernism in Germany. A contribution to the history of theology. Pustet, Regensburg 1995, ISBN 3-7917-1478-3 .
  • Karl Hausberger : Thaddäus Engert (1875-1945). Life and striving of a German “modernist” . (Sources and studies on the recent history of theology, 1). Regensburg 1996.
  • Benjamin Dahlke: The Catholic Reception Karl Barths. Tübingen 2010, pp. 13-18.
  • Robert Werner: Brown spots on the priest's skirt. Studies on the denial and suppression of the Nazi past by the Regensburg theologians Josef Engert, Rudolf Graber and Theobald Schrems , Regensburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-9814689-6-0 .

Web links

supporting documents

  1. ↑ See the report to the papal nuncio Eugenio Pacelli : Memorandum alla Sua Eccellenza Monsignore al Nunzio Pacelli a Monaco sopra la situazione dei cristiani nel oriente. 1917 [www.pacelli-edition.de/Dokument/8433 (online)].
  2. ↑ Metaphysics and Historicism in Christianity. In: Hochland (magazine) . 21,1 (1923/24), pp. 502-517, 638-651.
  3. ^ Karl Hausberger: The Philosophical-Theological University of Regensburg in the time of National Socialism. An inventory. In: Paul Mai u. a .: Contributions to the history of the diocese of Regensburg. Vol. 40, Verlag des Verein für Regensburg Bishopric History, 2008, p. 407.
  4. ↑ Manfred Eder : The Philosophical-Theological University , in: University of Regensburg (ed.): Gelehrtes Regensburg - City of Science , 1995, p. 207.
  5. ↑ Municipal Josef Engert Prize before the abolition Report on regensburg-digital from June 24, 2014
  6. ↑ Josef Engert Prize before the end? Report in the Mittelbayerische Zeitung from June 24, 2014.
  7. ^ Professor Josef Engert Prize homepage of the city of Regensburg.
  8. ^ Anti-Semitic namesake is from the table report on regensburg-digital from September 29, 2015.
  9. ↑ https://www.staatliche-bibliothek-regensburg.de/sonderbestaende/weiter-sonderbestaende/persoenliche-nachlaesse-und-sammlungen/
  10. ^ Albertus Magnus Medal
personal data
SURNAME Engert, Josef
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Engert, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theologian
DATE OF BIRTH January 25, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Ochsenfurt
DATE OF DEATH October 7, 1964
Place of death regensburg