Paul van Buren

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paul Matthews van Buren (born 1924 in Norfolk , Virginia - † June 18, 1998 in Blue Hill , Maine ) was an American Episcopal theologian , pastor of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America , professor of religion at Temple University of Philadelphia , Director of the Center of Ethics and Religious Pluralism at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem .

Live and act

Paul van Buren grew up in Norfolk. During World War II he served in the United States Coast Guard . After the war he attended Harvard College , which he left in 1948 with a Bachelor of Arts degree . He then attended the Episcopal Theological School and received in 1951 the degree of Bachelor of Sacred Theology . Later he became a priest in the Diocese of Massachusetts ordained . In 1957 he was selected by the University of Basel to the doctor of philosophy doctorate , where he at Karl Barth had studied. As a professor at Temple University , where he taught for 22 years, he became the head of the school or movement “ God is dead ”, although he himself considered the name to be a journalistic invention. He saw himself as a representative of a "Secular Christianity" ( secular Christianity). By appointment, he became director of the Center for Ethical and Religious Pluralism at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.

With the publication of his book “The Secular Meaning of the Gospel” in 1963, van Buren raised the question, which from then on would run as a red thread through his theology: “How can a Christian who is not church-bound apply the Gospel to a secular one Understand wisely? ”Three currents had a strong influence on this question: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's theology , Friedrich Gogarten's and Ludwig Wittgenstein's analytical philosophy .

Van Buren was a member of the Christian Peace Conference and participant in the 1st All-Christian Peace Assembly in Prague in 1961 .

Works

  • The Secular Meaning of the Gospel (1963)
  • The Edges of Language (1972)
  • Discerning the Way (1980)
  • Christ in Context: A Christology for the Jewish-Christian reality (1988).
  • A theology of Christian-Jewish discourse, Munich: Kaiser, 1988
  • Bonhoeffer in a world come of age, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1968
  • God here and now. Barth, Karl. - New York: Harper & Row, 1964
  • God here and now. Barth, Karl. - London: Routledge and Paul, 1964
  • Speeches from God in the language of the world, Zurich: Zwingli Verl., 1965

literature

  • Stephan Vasel : Philosophically responsible for Christology and Christian-Jewish dialogue . Steps towards a doubly apologetic Christology in examination of the designs by H.-J. Kraus, F.-W. Marquardt, PM van Buren, P. Tillich, W. Pannenberg and W. Härle , Gütersloh 2001, in particular 121-258
  • Barbara U. Meyer: Christology in the Shadow of the Shoah - in the Light of Israel: Studies on Paul van Buren and Friedrich-Wilhelm Marquardt . Zurich: TVZ, 2004, TVZ dissertations. Zugl .: Heidelberg, Univ., Diss., 2003 ISBN 3-290-17330-5

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Secretariat of the Christian Peace Conference (ed.): ... and peace on earth. Documents of the First All-Christian Peace Assembly, Prague 13-18 June 1961, Prague 1961

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Buren, Paul van
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Buren, Paul Matthews van (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American theologian and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Norfolk , Virginia , United States
DATE OF DEATH June 18, 1998
Place of death Blue Hill , Maine , United States