Karl Beth

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Karl Beth (born December 1, 1872 in Förderstedt , † September 9, 1959 in Chicago ) was a German theologian and philosopher .

Life

He was the son of Rector Beth from Stendal . Beth studied with Adolf von Harnack , Otto Pfleiderer and Wilhelm Dilthey at the Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Berlin , where he met his dissertation in 1898 , the fundamental views Schleiermacher in his first draft of philosophical ethics doctorate . In 1901 he became a lecturer in systematic theology at the university. Shortly afterwards, he was touring Christian communities in the Greek and Turkish Mediterranean regions, where he collected material for his book The Oriental Christianity of the Mediterranean Countries. This book, published in 1902, helped Western Protestants better understand Eastern Orthodoxy.

In 1906 Beth moved to the Evangelical Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna and married Marianne Weisl in the same year . In 1908 he was promoted to a full professorship in Vienna. He taught systematic theology and, partly influenced by Johannes Reinke and Carl Nägeli , proposed a neo-vitalist perspective.

Until 1938, Beth was dean of the faculty at the University of Vienna. After Austria's annexation to the National Socialist German Reich , Beth's wife Marianne (a lawyer from a Jewish family who had converted to Christianity through marriage) could no longer work as a lawyer. The Beths emigrated to the United States. Karl Beth was on the faculty of the Meadville Lombard Theological School from 1941 to 1944, teaching primarily in the field of religious history.

Fonts (selection)

  • The development of Christianity into a universal religion . Leipzig 1913, OCLC 475497381 .
  • Religion and magic among primitive peoples. A contribution to the history of religion on the question of the beginnings of religion . Leipzig 1914, OCLC 934804708 .
  • Healthy thinking and healthy praying. An Assessment of Scientism . Vienna 1918, OCLC 941276597 .
  • Introduction to Comparative Religious History . Leipzig 1920, OCLC 3910579 .

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personal data
SURNAME Beth, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theologian and philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH December 1, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Förderstedt
DATE OF DEATH September 9, 1959
Place of death Chicago