Catechetical College Naumburg (Saale)

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The Catechetical Oberseminar Naumburg (Saale) (1990-1993 Kirchliche Hochschule Naumburg ) was a church training center in the GDR. As at the Sprachenkonvikt in Berlin and the Theological Seminary in Leipzig, it was possible to study Protestant theology outside of the state-influenced theological faculties or theology sections of the universities in Berlin , Greifswald , Halle , Jena , Leipzig and Rostock .

Aegidia Curia . Home of the advanced catechetical seminar

history

The beginnings

The establishment of the Catechetical Oberseminar (KOS) is related to the state educational policy in the Soviet occupation zone after 1945 and in the GDR which was founded later . Due to the separation of school and church, responsibility for religious instruction, called Christian doctrine, fell to the churches, which themselves were responsible for the curriculum and teaching staff. Therefore teachers with very good knowledge of natural sciences, philosophy and history were needed for the secondary schools. The head of the Catechetical Office of the Ecclesiastical Province of Saxony (KPS), Inge Zippel, submitted the proposal to set up a seminar for the training of catechists for secondary schools, as the teachers trained at the existing catechetical seminars were not suitable for use in secondary schools. The catechetical upper seminary began its work on September 15, 1949 in Wittenberg , in the rooms of the preacher's seminary .

In December 1949, the Magdeburg church leadership of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony decided to relocate the catechetical college to Naumburg . The catechetical seminar had existed there since 1947, and the provincial catechist Otto Güldenberg lived there , who had developed the concept and the curriculum for the newly founded advanced catechetical seminar. Catechetical training should be concentrated in Naumburg. In April 1950 the company moved from Wittenberg to Naumburg to the former cathedral hospital, Hinter dem Dom 1-2. In 1952 the house was claimed by the Soviet headquarters in Naumburg, and the KOS moved to the Aegidia Curia at 8 Domplatz.

On the way to a theological college

As a result of the university reform in the GDR in 1951, the tasks of the catechetical advanced seminar changed. On the one hand, courses in Marxism-Leninism were introduced for all courses of study at the state universities , and the theological faculties also had to offer basic social science studies. On the other hand, from the summer of 1952, theology students from the GDR who had studied at the church university in Berlin-Zehlendorf and at the West German faculties due to the insufficient number of places at the theological faculties in the GDR could no longer, as usual, to Have exams enrolled at the theological faculties of their respective regional churches. The churches feared that they would lose the students to West German regional churches and that the existing shortage of pastors would widen. In the course of these changes, the ecclesiastical province of Saxony decided in April 1951 to expand the Oberseminar into a church university . This made it possible to study theology outside of the state theological faculties.

The advanced catechetical seminar thus developed into a complete university, at which from the 1960s all theological disciplines were staffed with two lecturers. This also contributed to the fact that the Christian doctrine in the high schools was increasingly questioned by the state and the career prospects of the future high school catechists became very uncertain. The areas of catechetics and pedagogy continued to be a focus of the theology studies at KOS.

In addition, there was a focus on the history and theology of the Orthodox Churches , especially the Russian Orthodox Church , which was supervised by theologians who were also trained as Slavists. Since 1985 there has also been a research center for contemporary church history.

Since May 1, 1990, the KOS has been called Kirchliche Hochschule Naumburg (KHN). In August 1990, the government of the GDR granted her the right to doctorate and habilitation. The aim of a church university was thus also formally achieved.

Closure of the church university

With the political changes in the GDR and reunification , it became apparent that the church college would not be able to be maintained in its previous form alongside the theological faculties of the universities. When plans to incorporate the church college as a Protestant theological faculty into the re-establishing University of Erfurt came to nothing, the church leadership of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony decided in May 1992 to stop teaching at the church college in Naumburg with the summer semester of 1993.

Further training courses at KOS

Legal training

Two courses for the training of lawyers were held in the 1960s. This was supposed to cover the need for lawyers for the service in the church administrations, since no suitable offspring could be found among the graduates of the law faculties at the state universities due to the ideological character of the course.

Special theological courses for catechists

After the theological-pedagogical studies had become less attractive for high school catechists due to the uncertain prospects described, there was also a lack of appropriately trained catechists for leading positions in the churches. To remedy this shortcoming, special theological courses were set up for catechists. A total of three such two-semester courses took place in 1969/70, 1972/73 and 1975/76.

Sponsorship, financing and organization

Initially, the KOS was financed solely by the Evangelical Church of the KPS. However, since other regional churches were also interested in this training facility, the United regional churches participated in the financing through the Evangelical Church of the Union (EKU) . The Lutheran regional churches, on the other hand, initially rejected co-financing, but later took part when students from their field registered in Naumburg. The KOS has also profited greatly from the financial contributions of the churches in the Federal Republic of Germany in terms of its interior furnishings and library.

In the course of the independence of the KOS as an academic and theological training center, the "Statute of the Catechetic Upper Seminary Naumburg" came into force on January 1, 1960. a. the board of trustees and the teaching staff provided.

The board of trustees represented the church leadership in matters of KOS internally and externally. The chairman was the bishop of the Evangelical Church of the KPS. a. the Naumburg provost , the rector and prorector of the KOS, a member of the theological faculty in Halle (Saale) and representatives of other regional churches. The college of lecturers held the right to propose lecturer positions and was responsible for teaching and research.

Since the lecturers were appointed and paid as provincial pastors, the church leadership of the KPS reserved the right to appeal and dismiss at the suggestion of the faculty and the board of trustees.

Education

At KOS high school graduates as well as graduates of church pre-training institutions, such as B. of the proseminar. The proseminar was founded in 1952 as an institution of the Oberseminar for students who could not take a high school diploma because of refused admission to the high school . It was intended to provide preliminary training for studying theology at a church training center. The curriculum corresponded to that of a state extended high school . In 1958, the Church Proseminar Naumburg became an independent training facility. In addition, those who took a special matriculation examination at KOS could also start studying. These included high school students who had been evicted before graduating from high school.

There were also students who had been refused to study at a university because of politically motivated imprisonment or because they had been reported to the construction soldiers or who had been de-registered from the university for social reasons.

The number of students was v. a. by the scarce, z. The living space in Naumburg, which is often in need of renovation, is limited and settled at 70–100. The students could choose the sequence of the seminars and lectures themselves. Many took advantage of the opportunity to change, especially to the Language Convict, but also to the Theological Seminary in Leipzig. The change to one of the universities with Greifswald only succeeded occasionally.

Teaching and Research

Course offer

With the expansion of KOS into a theological university, the range of courses included the classic theological subjects of the Old Testament, New Testament, Church History, Systematic Theology and Practical Theology. Due to the special history of KOS, catechetics was added as a further subject . Furthermore, there were courses in philosophy, as the examination regulations of the Evangelical Churches in the GDR provided for an oral examination in the minor subject philosophy for the first theological exam. Appropriate language courses were offered to acquire the knowledge of Hebrew, Greek and Latin required for studying theology.

The original aim of the KOS to train religious teachers for the secondary schools was initially reflected in a separate block of natural sciences, in order to enable them to deal with the scientifically shaped atheistic worldview in schools. These courses were soon summarized as a Studium generale at the beginning of each summer semester. From the summer semester of 1969, it was renamed Studium universale. Since the beginning of the 1970s, a lecture series has been held in the winter semester to deal with theological questions across the boundaries of the individual disciplines.

Qualification opportunities

With the independence of the KOS as a church training center, however, was connected with the fact that it did not have the right to award doctorates or habilitation. This was only granted to the faculties or sections by the state. For this reason, a two-stage church qualification procedure was adopted in 1965 for the church universities in Berlin and Naumburg, and later also in Leipzig. Analogous to the doctorate and habilitation, the “qualification for theological-scientific research” as well as the “qualification for theological-scientific teaching activity” could be proven. Due to the unclear legal situation, it was decided not to award corresponding academic titles with the qualification papers. It was only when it received the right to award doctorates in 1990 that the Naumburg University of Applied Sciences was able to give those who had completed this qualification procedure the title of Dr. theol. or Dr. theol. habil. to lend.

Study reform

In 1967, a debate on study reform began at KOS. It was sparked by the increasing demands placed on first-year students who, due to the GDR school system, no longer had the classical humanistic training required for studying theology, by a perceived contrast between theological training and the practice later experienced in church service and fundamental Questions about the relationship between personal belief and scientific theology. Even if there was no further restructuring of the theological training and the subdivision into the five main theological disciplines was retained, a stronger structure with basic and specialist studies, intermediate examinations and community internships could be achieved. A strengthening of the participation and co-determination rights of the student body in study matters was achieved with the convention, which was made up of equal numbers of students and lecturers and repeaters / assistants.

Library

The expansion of the KOS into a church university brought about the construction of a large library of its own, which in addition to theological literature included many subjects. Under the conditions of the GDR, in which the state publishers did not publish theological literature, this was associated with great difficulties. This is how v. a. back to the acquisition of theological private libraries and antiquarian books. Furthermore, private and church libraries were taken over as deposits. In addition, theological literature from the Federal Republic could be acquired through financial support from West German regional churches. Most of the new acquisitions were reported to the University Library in Halle, via which the KOS was connected to the interlibrary loan system.

The books were initially set up in the rooms of the senior seminar. Since the library grew steadily, the teaching and classrooms, the dining room and other rooms were also used for installation. The shortage of space in the library only eased with a renovation of St. Othmarskirche (1976–1977), in which the library was given new storage space from 1978.

From 1958 the church books were recorded in a central catalog under the initiative of Konrad von Rabenau in particular . On the one hand the church book inventory was to be recorded, on the other hand the acquisition of theological new publications, v. a. from the Federal Republic of Germany. Among others, the Language Convict in Berlin and the Theological Seminar in Leipzig took part in the central catalog. In 1974 the catalog was given to the secretariat of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR , where it was continued with a librarian position, due to the great amount of work involved .

The closure of the KHN resulted in the closure of the library, which in 1991 comprised around 155,000 volumes. The main holdings were given to the Erfurt University Library on permanent loan in 1995 .

Life together

The studies at KOS were characterized by a large number of joint activities in addition to the studies, both spiritual and sociable. The morning prayer was held by lecturers, assistants, but also students; participation was voluntary. Later there were also devotions before lunch, which were more crowded. In addition, church services were held at the beginning and end of the semester. At the end of the semester a festival was celebrated, the highlight of which was a student theater performance.

The cathedral choir, the choir at the St. Wenceslas Church and their own carolers, who solemnly accompanied events of the KOS , offered the opportunity to sing .

The lecturer Eva Heßler supported the first literary steps, which could be heard at a “Day of Young Authors”. The KOS also organized “open evenings”, in which primarily poetry readings and lectures on art and literature took place. Authors were often invited by the student community. Among those who presented their latest works were: Sascha Anderson , Matthias Biskupek , Johannes Bobrowski , Elke Erb , Franz Fühmann , Werner Heiduczek , Stephan Hermlin , Stefan Heym , Rainer Kirsch , Heinz Knobloch , Reiner Kunze , Erich Loest , Monika Maron , Lutz Rathenow , Bettina Wegner , Christa Wolf , Rosemarie Zeplin u. a.

A soccer team trained once a week, which took part in the annual tournament of the theological training centers of the GDR and won the trophy twice.

Every summer, all employees, lecturers and students went on a day trip with their families to the wider area of ​​Naumburg.

Relationship to church, universities, city, state and society

Church anchoring

Lecturer and student families were often active in the church congregations and the general church, be it through connections to the proseminar and the catechetical seminar, be it through church services, participation in the parish choirs, participation in parish church councils, in the synod of the KPS, the EKU and later the Federal government, be it through lecturing.

Relationship with the universities

There were closer personal relationships, particularly with Halle and Jena, but also with the other theological faculties and sections, and lecturers were also appointed from there. It has been proven that the existence of the three ecclesiastical full theological training centers even stabilized the theology's continued presence at the universities of the GDR, which are under state supervision. The variously cultivated relationships between West German professors and the KOS and the special relationship with the Wuppertal Church University were also helpful.

Relationship to the state organs

Contacts with state bodies at the local level were mainly shaped by practical issues of everyday life such as the supply of food and fuel, the availability of living space or the printing permit for the course catalog. The KOS tried to show the connection with the worries and needs of the city and the district by having students take part in harvest operations or work on their accommodation.

Since the KOS, like the other church universities, was not recognized by the state as a university, they were not, like the theological faculties at the universities, subject to the State Secretariat or the Ministry of Higher Education and Technical Education. University policy matters that concerned teaching and research or the status of the KOS as a theological training center were therefore negotiated through the State Secretary for Church Affairs. On the church side, however, the independence of the KOS as a church training center was always emphasized, which state organs were not obliged to account for. The relationship was never free of tension, and there were repeated fears that the training facility would be closed by government resolutions. Attempts by the state security to exert influence within the KOS through unofficial employees were unsuccessful , with the exception of lecturer Aleksander Radler (1978f.), Administrative director Peter Fischer from 1978–1991 and very few students. The peace policy activities of the Evangelical Student Congregation were monitored at great expense by the Ministry for State Security .

Student community

As in other university cities, there was an Evangelical Student Congregation (ESG) in Naumburg . In addition to the KOS, there was a technical school for agriculture in Naumburg (from 1968 agricultural engineering school) and a post office school. Their students only joined the ESG in exceptional cases. The KOS students thus formed the majority of the community members. Since there was no contact to the Catholic student community as in other university cities, the exchange with other student communities, v. a. in Halle, Merseburg, Eisleben, Köthen, Erfurt, Jena and Weimar, important.

As a student pastor, initially there were lecturers at KOS: Rudolf Lorenz (1957–1959), Johannes Hamel (1959–1966), Wolfgang Schenk (1967–1973), Ulrich Schröter (1973–1977). With Edelbert Richter (1977–1987) and Ulrich Stockmann (1988–1990), the student pastor's office was deliberately separated from the faculty of lecturers, so that teaching and disciplinary on the one hand and pastoral care on the other, despite their fundamental relationship, each have their own rights.

From the ESG Naumburg, especially under the student pastor Edelbert Richter, demands for social change in the GDR were loud. This sometimes led to disputes with the teaching staff, who were concerned about the continued existence of the KOS.

Teaching staff

Full-time lecturers

Vocations with a special focus are shown in italics .

  • Practical theology and catechetics
  • Ancient languages
    • Greek and Latin: Werner Heller, Armgard Placke, b. Werneburg, Gerhard Steinkopf, Gerhard Wolfrum
    • Hebrew: see Old Testament including Lux and von Rabenau
  • music
    • Music and organ: Ilsabe Moering
    • Methodology and music: Johanna Winterberg, m. Heckmann

The rectorate changed its full-time lecturers every year. The other teaching staff included guest lecturers, part-time lecturers and lecturers, repeaters and assistants as well as study inspectors.

Students at KOS (selection)

Roland Adolph , Eduard Berger , Stephan Bickhardt , Roland Biewald, Reiner Bohley, Christian Dietrich , Tobias Eichenberg, Peter Freybe, Hans-Georg Hafa, Hans-Martin Harder , Johannes Heidler, Martin Herche , Roland Hoffmann , Regine Huppenbauer-Krause, Karl- Ludwig Ihmels, Joachim Jaeger , Eberhard Jüngel , Irene Kammerer-König, Hans-Wilhelm Kasch, Hanna Kasparick, Siegfried Kasparick , Michael Kühne, Andreas Kuhnert , Ingo Klaer, Werner Krätschell , Jens Kreuter , Wolf Krötke , Johannes Kwaschik , Rochus Leonhardt , Fairy von Lilienfeld , Andreas Lindner, Ekkehard Maaß , Markus Meckel , Peter Müller, Andreas Neumann-Nochten, Axel Noack , Ingemar Pettelkau, Matthias Petzoldt , Hans-Wilhelm Pietz , Giselher Quast , Tonio Sebastian Richter , Christian Sachse, Matthias Sens , Richard Schröder , Ulrich Schröter , Günther Schulz, Curt Stauss, Christian Stawenow, Albrecht Steinhäuser, Michael Stübgen , Wolfram Tschiche , Jürgen Weiß, Reinhart Zarneckow .

Further church theological training centers

In addition to the KOS, the already mentioned Language Convict in Berlin and the Theological Seminary in Leipzig , there were other theological training institutions supported by the Protestant churches. This included the second educational paths to the pastor's profession at the Paulinum Berlin and the Preacher School Erfurt. At the Evangelical Training Center for Congregational Education in Potsdam, graduates were able to be trained to become pastors. On the Catholic side, these institutes corresponded to the Catholic Philosophical-Theological Studies in Erfurt.

literature

  • Martin Onnasch: The Catechetical Oberseminar - the church college. A review and a balance sheet . In: Kirchliche Hochschule Naumburg (Hrsg.): Vom Menschen. The last lecture series of the Kirchliche Hochschule Naumburg with a review of its history 1949–1993 , Naumburger Verlagsanstalt, Naumburg 1993, ISBN 3-86156-028-3 , pp. 134–146.
  • Martin Onnasch: Church college in Naumburg . In: Peer Pasternack (Ed.): College & Church. Theology & Politics. Visiting a network of relationships in the GDR , Berliner Debatte Wissenschaftsverlag, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-929666-27-8 , pp. 251–259.
  • Ulrich Schröter, Harald Schultze (ed.): In the shadow of the cathedral. Theological training in Naumburg 1949–1993 , Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2012, ISBN 978-3-374-03048-4 (there further references as well as printing of additional documents: lists of lectures and lecturers; ZK template on church training centers in the GDR 1968 ; Theses on theology studies and spiritual experience).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ulrich Schröter, Harald Schultze (ed.): In the shadow of the cathedral. Theological training in Naumburg 1949–1993 , Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2012, pp. 260–268 (Document 4: Statute of the Catechetical College in the 1972 version).
  2. ↑ Friedemann Stengel: The theological faculties in the GDR as a problem of church and university policy of the SED state up to their conversion into sections 1970/71 (works on the history of church and theology 3), Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 1998, ISBN 3-374 -01708-8 , pp. 545-560.
  3. ↑ Ulrich Schröter, Harald Schultze (ed.): In the shadow of the cathedral. Theological training in Naumburg 1949–1993 , Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2012, pp. 301–309 (Document 11: “Open letter” of the student body of the Catechetical College for Peace Education 1980/81).
  4. ↑ For time information and previous or subsequent part-time work: Ulrich Schröter, Harald Schultze (ed.): Im Schatten des Domes. Theological training in Naumburg 1949–1993 , Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2012, pp. 325–333.
  5. ↑ Ulrich Schröter, Harald Schultze (ed.): In the shadow of the cathedral. Theological training in Naumburg 1949–1993 , Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2012, pp. 333f.
  6. ↑ Ulrich Schröter, Harald Schultze (ed.): In the shadow of the cathedral. Theological training in Naumburg 1949–1993 , Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2012, pp. 334–336.
  7. ↑ Ulrich Schröter, Harald Schultze (ed.): In the shadow of the cathedral. Theological training in Naumburg 1949–1993 , Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2012, pp. 336f.
  8. ↑ Ulrich Schröter, Harald Schultze (ed.): In the shadow of the cathedral. Theological training in Naumburg 1949–1993 , Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2012, p. 338.
  9. ^ Gerhard Zachhuber: Bohley, Reiner. In: Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon. Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, accessed on April 30, 2017 .


Coordinates: 51 ° 9 ′ 19.2 ″  N , 11 ° 48 ′ 10.5 ″  E