Martin Seils

Martin Seils (born July 4, 1927 in Schlatkow , Greifswald district ) is a German Protestant theologian and professor emeritus for systematic theology at the University of Jena .

Life

Martin Seils was born into a Protestant pastor's family. His father Ernst Seils was a pastor and superintendent. Grew up in Alt Kolzigkow , Stolp and from 1939 in Grimmen , he attended schools in Stolp and Stralsund as well as the Joachimsthalsche Gymnasium in Templin / Uckermark . In the last years of the war he was drafted as an air force helper in 1943/44 and as a soldier in 1945. After the end of the war, he first completed an apprenticeship as a radio repairman and at the same time worked as a catechist in Grimmen. He made up his Abitur at the high school in Franzburg in 1947 and in the same year began studying theology at the church college in Berlin and then at the theological faculties in Greifswald and Leipzig . His academic teachers included a. Wilhelm Koepp and Rudolf Hermann (theology) and Günther Jacoby (philosophy). The first theological exam in Greifswald in 1951 was followed by the vicariate in Altenkirchen (Rügen) and Grimmen, as well as working as a scientific assistant for systematic theology in Rostock .

In 1953 he passed the second theological exam in Greifswald and received his doctorate in Rostock in the same year. With his dissertation Theological Aspects of the Current Hamann Interpretation , he also aroused the attention of philosophical experts. Seils continued his academic career as a scientific assistant for systematic theology and lecturer for philosophical propaedeutics at the University of Halle and completed his habilitation in 1959 with a contribution to research on the theology of Martin Luther . The work was entitled The Thought of God and Man working together in Luther's theology . This also includes the name of the theologian who, along with Hamann, had a decisive influence on Seils' theological thinking, his academic teaching and his church commitment.

Martin Seils was ordained in 1960 . At the Catechetical Oberseminar in Naumburg (since 1989/90 church college) he took over the lectureship for church history until 1961 and from 1962 the lectureship for systematic theology. In 1968, he turned down an appointment as professor for systematic theology at Heidelberg University . In 1982 he was appointed professor for systematic theology at the University of Jena, where he worked as an academic teacher until his retirement in 1992. In addition, between 1980 and 1993 he held several guest professorships for ecumenical theology at the Catholic Philosophical-Theological Studies in Erfurt.

He spent his retirement in Halle (Saale) with his wife Margarete nee. Werther, with whom he has been married since 1952. The marriage had five children.

Theological and church work

Martin Seils never saw himself only as an academic theologian, but also expressly as a man of the Church. His membership in the Synod of the Church Province of Saxony (temporarily as theological advisor to the church leadership) and in the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR , as well as his participation in numerous theological commissions and committees of the EKU and the EKD . His ecumenical commitment should be emphasized. From 1966 to 1992 he was a member of the ecumenical-theological working group of Catholic and Protestant theologians in the GDR. From 1978 on, Seils was a member of the European Society for Ecumenical Research. A high point in the ecumenical commitment is his participation in the conclusion of the Leuenberg Agreement , first as a delegate at the preliminary meetings for drafting the Agreement and then finally as one of its authors. His role as one of the “fathers” of the Leuenberg Agreement was again expressly recognized in 2013 on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the signing. After the end of his active time as an academic teacher, Seils first wrote primarily on his late work on the subject of "Faith". It appeared in 1996 under this simple title in the series Handbuch Systematischer Theologie as Volume 13. He was also involved in Luther research. From 1973 to 1989 he was a member of the commission for the publication of Luther's works ( Weimar edition ). From 1970 to 2008 he was a member of the theological working group for research into the history of the Reformation and from 1975 to 1997 scientific director of the Luther Academy in Sondershausen .

His philosophical interest, which became apparent in his work on Hamann, accompanies his theological work and found its expression u. a. in his work as editor and co-editor of the Historical Dictionary of Philosophy from 1996 to 2004. In his academic teaching activities, he has repeatedly turned to philosophical questions and topics.

Martin Seils is considered to be a respected and internationally valued voice of Lutheranism from the churches of the former GDR as well as within the Community of Evangelical Churches in Europe , both in terms of Luther research and his ecumenical engagement . His theological concerns can be unfolded in two directions: On the one hand, he endeavored to always make the basic concerns of a Lutheran theology heard in contemporary theological discourse where they were not seen or taken into account with this clarity. He consciously accepted the tensions that necessarily arose in relation to the prevailing theological trends in contemporary theology and did not shy away from dealing with them. In a way that can almost be called classic in its simplicity, he explained this in his inaugural lecture Marginalia on Lutheran theology from 1983 in Jena . On the other hand, he was deeply penetrated by the fact that theological reflection must be aware of a final limit, because God's possibilities can still exceed his realities. With all reflection on God and all talk about God, a final secret remains. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that this ever greater God in Christ is at the same time a completely trustworthy God for man. From this basic conviction, Seils grew in a ceaseless, often meticulous struggle for the most precise and understandable way of expressing even theologically complicated issues with a simultaneous great modesty as well as the willingness to listen to and respond to other theological drafts and ideas. He sees the task of systematic theology in looking at things together, distinguishing what is important from what is unimportant, and in determining what is the center and center of the testimony of faith, while at the same time guarding against trying to bring everything into a coherent system. In this way, Seils remains true to the reality of human life and maintains a great deal of openness.

If one wants to reduce Martin Seils' theological concerns to a possible denominator, the Lutheran double formulation of gift and present is a good choice (cf. the study of the same name by Seils from 2009). Accordingly, the Christian witness of God culminates in understanding him as the ultimate giver in Christ and the Christian life that feeds on it as one that is determined by the divine giving. In gratitude for this promised salvation and the joy of it, not only the Christian's assurance of salvation is based, but also his special freedom. The certainty of God, Christ and salvation are inextricably linked to the practice of a life that is responsible before God.

Works (selection)

• Theological aspects of the current Hamann interpretation. Berlin / Göttingen 1957.
• Reality and Word with Johann Georg Hamann (= essays and lectures on theology and religious studies, issue 18). Berlin / Stuttgart 1961 (reprint in: Johann Georg Hamann. Ed. V. Reiner Wild, Darmstadt 1978, pp. 314–339 (= Paths of Research, Volume 511))
• The thought of God and man working together in Luther's theology. Berlin / Gütersloh 1962.
• On the question of the salvific meaning of Jesus' death on the cross. In: ThLZ 90 (1965), col. 881-894.
• God on the way. A report on new approaches in the systematic theology of the present. In: Report on theology. Ed. V. Gerhard Kulicke, Karl Matthiae and Peter-Paul Singer, Berlin 1971, pp. 107–130.
• The rational world. A chapter from Luther's theology. In: Topics of Luther as questions of the church today. Ed. V. Joachim Rogge and Gottfried Schille , Berlin 1982, pp. 29–40.
• The Luther affair. In: Lutherjahrbuch 52 (1985), pp. 64–80 (reprinted in: Martin Luther. Ed. V. Christian Danz , Darmstadt 2015, pp. 154–169 (= new ways of research)).
• Marginalia on Lutheran Theology Today. In: New Journal for Systematic Theology and Philosophy of Religion 28 (1986) Issue 2, pp. 111-123.
• Faith (= Handbook of Systematic Theology 13). Gütersloh 1996.
• Hamann and Luther. In: Luther - between the times. Ed. V. Christoph Markschies , Michael Trowitzsch , Tübingen 1999, pp. 159-184.
• Gift and present. An encore. In: Thinking Room Catechism. Ceremony for Oswald Bayer on his 70th birthday. Ed. V. Johannes von Lüpke u. Edgar Thaidigsmann, Tübingen 2009, pp. 97-108.

Editing

• Johann Georg Hamann. Undressing and transfiguration. A selection from the writings and letters of the “Magus in the North”. Edited, introduced and with an afterword by Martin Seils, Berlin / Witten 1963, 2nd edition Wuppertal 1987.

literature

• Carrying tradition. Festschrift for Martin Seils on his 65th birthday. Ed. V. Annegret Freund, Udo Kern and Aleksander Radler , Frankfurt a. M. 1992 (with picture and bibliography 1953–1992).
• Ulrich Kühn : laudation for Martin Seils. In: The Rostock Theological Faculty under two dictatorships. History studies 1933–1989 . Ed. V. Heinrich Holze , Münster 2004 (= Rostocker Theologische Studien 13), pp. 163–172
• Miriam Rose : laudation by Martin Seils. In: 1973-2013. 40 years of the Leuenberg Agreement. Ed. V. Michael Bünker and Bernd Jaeger, Vienna 2014, pp. 106–108.

Web links

• Literature by and about Martin Seils in the catalog of the German National Library