Joseph Langen

Joseph Langen (born June 3, 1837 in Cologne , † July 13, 1901 in Bonn ) was a Roman Catholic , later Old Catholic theologian and university professor.

Life

Joseph Langen attended the Marzellengymnasium in Cologne, after which he studied Catholic theology in Bonn from 1855 to 1858 , a. a. with Franz Heinrich Reusch . After completing his theological and philosophical studies, he was ordained a priest in 1859 and then worked as a chaplain in Wevelinghoven and, from 1860, as a tutor at the Catholic-theological Konvikt in Bonn. In 1861 he received his doctorate in theology in Freiburg im Breisgau .

In 1864 Langen was appointed extraordinary professor and, after his habilitation in 1867, full professor of exegesis of the New Testament at the University of Bonn . From 1866 to 1877 he worked on the Theologische Literaturblatt . Since Langen - just like his teacher Reusch and his faculty colleague Bernhard Josef Hilgers - refused to recognize the decrees of the First Vatican Council , he lost his church teaching license in 1871 and was excommunicated on March 23, 1872 by Archbishop Melchers .

Grave of the Langen family

After the formation of a German old Catholic diocese, Joseph Langen worked as a pastor in Bonn until 1878. He published various catechetical writings and took part in the " Bonn Union Conferences " in 1874 and 1875 with representatives of the Anglican and Orthodox churches. After compulsory celibacy was abolished in the Old Catholic Church in 1878, Langen - who would have liked to maintain celibacy - withdrew from church life. Until his death, however, he held lectures for students of Old Catholic theology; In 1883/84 he was also rector of the University of Bonn. Since 1894 he was a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

Langen's grave is located in the Melaten cemetery in Cologne (hall 48, no. 65).

literature

A. Franzen: The Catholic-Theological Faculty Bonn in the dispute over the First Vatican Council. Cologne 1974.
Andreas Krebs: Langen, Joseph. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 33, Bautz, Nordhausen 2012, ISBN 978-3-88309-690-2 , column in preparation. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Individual evidence

^ J. Friedrich: Joseph Langen (obituary) . In: Session reports of the philosophical-philological and historical classes of the KB Academy of Sciences in Munich . Year 1902, p. 102–103 ( online [PDF; accessed March 1, 2017]).

personal data
SURNAME	Langen, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German Old Catholic theologian
DATE OF BIRTH	June 3, 1837
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cologne
DATE OF DEATH	July 13, 1901
Place of death	Bonn

[1] J. Friedrich: Joseph Langen (obituary) . In: Session reports of the philosophical-philological and historical classes of the KB Academy of Sciences in Munich . Year 1902, p. 102–103 ( online [PDF; accessed March 1, 2017]).