Joseph Gredt

Joseph Gredt

Joseph Gredt OSB (born July 30, 1863 as Auguste Gredt in Luxembourg City , † January 20, 1940 in Rome ) was a Luxembourg Benedictine , philosopher , author and professor of philosophy in Rome.

life and work

Auguste Gredt was the eldest son of Nicolas Gredt , who was a grammar school director, philologist and author ( Sagenschatz des Luxemburger Land , 1883) in Luxembourg. After his classical studies at the capital's Athenaeum, Auguste Gredt entered the seminary in Luxembourg and was ordained a priest in 1886 in the Mariendom of his native city.

After receiving his doctorate in theology in 1888 at the Roman Collegium Divi Thomae , the young secular priest moved to Innsbruck to study ancient Semitic languages and Christian archeology with Gustav Bickell . However, he soon changed his plans and in 1889 entered the Benedictine Abbey of Seckau ( Styria ). Joseph Gredt made his profession there on May 18, 1891 .

In 1896 he was called to Rome, where he taught until 1939 as a professor of philosophy at the Collegium Anselmianum (from 1933/34: Pontificium Athenaeum Anselmianum ). In 1908 he became a member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas recorded in Rome.

His textbook Elementa philosophiae aristotelico-thomisticae (2 volumes; Rome, 1899-1901), which is considered a standard work of Neo-Thomism because of its thoroughness and systematics , made him known in the Catholic academic community. Seven editions appeared during his lifetime.

Father Joseph Gredt died on January 20, 1940 in the Anselmianum and was buried in the crypt of his order in the Roman cemetery of Campo Verano .

Works (selection)

• The Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophy. 2 volumes:
  • Vol. I: Logic and Natural Philosophy. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1935.
  • Vol. II: Metaphysics and Ethics. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1935.
  • New edition: Ontos, Heusenstamm 2012 ( Editiones scholasticae , Vol. 16 & Vol. 17).
• Our outside world. An investigation into the objective value of sensory knowledge. Tirolia, Innsbruck 1921.
• together with six co-authors: Problems of Knowledge of God. In: Publications of the Catholic Institute for Philosophy. Albertus Magnus Academy , Cologne 1928, Volume 2, Issue 3.

literature

• Edouard M. Kayser : Le Père Joseph (Auguste) Gredt (1863-1940), un "learned Benedictine philosopher-scientist". In: nos cahiers - Lëtzebuerger zeitschrëft fir culture , St. Paulus Verlag, Luxembourg, 34/2013 , pp. 93-104.
• Pius Engelbert OSB: Sant'Anselmo in Rome. College and University - From the beginning (1888) to the present. EOS Verlag, St. Ottilien 2012, pp. 132-136.
• (Collective): Miscellanea philosophica R. P. Josepho Gredt OSB completis LXXV annis oblata - Festschrift Joseph Gredt (...) . In: Studia Anselmiana , VII-VIII, Rome 1938.
• Jörg Ernesti : Leo XIII., Pope and statesman . Herder, Freiburg i. Br./Basel/Wien 2019, p. 256.