Richard Rothe

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Richard Rothe, 1865.

Richard Rothe (born January 28, 1799 in Posen , † August 20, 1867 in Heidelberg ) was a German Protestant theologian .

Life

Richard Rothe grew up as the son of a Prussian civil servant family in Stettin and Breslau. He was influenced by Romanticism and therefore studied Protestant theology and philosophy in Heidelberg since 1817 , because professors with a romantic background taught here, especially the classical philologist Friedrich Creuzer influenced him. In Heidelberg Rothe also got to know the representative of speculative theology Carl Daub , whose ideas strongly influenced him, and the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel , of whose philosophy Rothe was very convinced. That is why he changed his place of study from the winter semester of 1819/1820 and moved to the University of Berlin , where Hegel had accepted an offer . Here he was impressed by the church and piety theologian Johann Wilhelm August Neander . Through him Rothe also got to know Friedrich August Gottreu Tholuck , who led him to the revival movement .

Richard Rothe passed the first theological exam in Berlin at the end of 1820 and then entered the pietistic seminary in Wittenberg until 1822. Then he was a candidate in the Protestant church service in Breslau . His second theological exam and ordination took place in Berlin in 1823 in quick succession. Because the head of the Wittenberg seminary Heinrich Leonhard Heubner had recommended Richard Rothe to the Prussian Ministry of Spiritual, Educational and Medical Affairs as a candidate for the office of Prussian legation minister in Rome as early as 1823, to whom Rothe was also appointed on December 16, 1823. In the same year Rothe married Luise von Brück (1803–1861), a younger sister of Heubner's wife. In 1828 he became professor at the seminary in Wittenberg and in 1832 second director and Ephorus of this institution. In 1837, through the mediation of his Heidelberg teacher Carl Daub, he was appointed full professor of New Testament , dogmatics and practical theology at the University of Heidelberg by the Baden government . Here he was also the director of the Heidelberg seminary. During this time Rothe published his main work, Theological Ethics . In November 1849 he accepted an appointment as professor for practical theology at the University of Bonn . However, due to the poor health of his wife, he returned to Heidelberg, which is climatically more favorable, in 1854. Here he took over the professorship from Carl Christian Ullmann , who took over the position of prelate of the Evangelical Church in Baden . As a full professor, Rothe now also taught church history in addition to his previous subjects. At the same time he held the office of university minister again.

Richard Rothe was appointed an extraordinary member of the Karlsruhe Upper Church Council in 1861 and was appointed a member of the First Chamber of the Baden state parliament by Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden in 1863 and 1865 . In 1843, 1855, 1861 and 1867 he took part in the general synods of the Bad Evangelical Church and was involved in the founding of the German Protestant Association in 1863 .

Rothe was also the founding father of the Academic Theological Association in Heidelberg, from which the AThV Wartburg student association emerged .

Theological position

Richard Rothe wanted to remove responsibility for morality from the areas of religion and church, and this should come into play in a moral, cultural state. In this way the institution of the church would have merged in a Christian cultural state. According to Rothe, this cultural state presented itself as an "absolute theocracy" from which the "perfect kingdom of God" would arise. This line of thought emerged from Rothes speculative theology, which was not bound by any dogma and which deviated from the prevailing church doctrine. Following the example of Friedrich Schleiermacher , Rothe divided theology into speculative, historical and practical theology. The speculative theology developed by Rothe was guided by the content of the Bible and a pious feeling of God. Since this pious feeling of God was differently pronounced in the Christian churches, this speculative theology, according to the piety determined by Protestant content, could only be used in a Protestant cultural state. The significance of Rothes theology today consists in the fact that the "God-feeling of piety" was transferred to the God-thought of the entire speculative theology.

Act

Richard Rothe was an important figure in liberal Protestantism in the 19th century. The view of Rothes that the church should merge into a moral, cultural state was vehemently advocated by many Protestants at the time. This conviction no longer fits into the "basic principle of modernity" that u. a. assumes an autonomy of the individual, it is therefore no longer educational. - Some theologians of modern times agree with Rothes once again that Christianity should exist outside the church, since modern Christianity has changed from a dogmatic, ecclesiastical to an ethical orientation.

Honors

  • Honorary doctorate from the theological faculty of Heidelberg University
  • Title of a church council by the Grand Duke of Baden
  • Title of a secret church council by the Grand Duke of Baden
  • Honoring the 100th birthday. Gift of a bust of Rothes from his students and followers to the Heidelberg Peterskirche, the university church.

Fonts (selection)

  • The beginnings of the Christian church and its constitution. Zimmermann, Wittenberg 1837 ( online resource ) (Reprint Frankfurt a. M. 1963).
  • De disciplinae arcani, quae dicitur, in ecclesia christiana origine. Mohr, Heidelberg, 1841 ( online resource ).
  • Theological ethics. 3 vols. Zimmermann, Wittenberg 1845–1848 ( online resource, vol. 1 ; vol. 2 ; vol. 3 ) (2nd, completely new edition), Zimmermann [from vol. 3: Kölling], Wittenberg 1867– 1871 ( Online Resource, Vol. 1 ; Vol. 2 , Vol. 3 , Vol. 4 , Vol. 5 ; reprint of the 2nd edition, newly edited and incorporated by Jürgen Albert, Waltrop 1991).
  • To dogmatics. Perthes, Gotha 1863 ( online resource ) (2nd ed. 1869, 3rd ed. 1898).

Most of his lectures and sermons were published by friends and students after his death:

  • Post sermons. Edited by Daniel Schenkel and Johannes Bleek. 3 Vols. Elberfeld 1868–1869 ( online resource, Vol. 1 ; Vol. 2 ; Vol. 3 ).
  • Dogmatics. Edited by Daniel Schenkel. 3 vols. Heidelberg 1870 ( online resource, part 1 ; part 2.1 ; part 2.2 ).
  • Lectures on church history and the history of Christian church life. Edited by Hermann Weingarten . 2 Bde. Mohr, Heidelberg 1875–76 ( online resource, part 1 ; part 2 ).
  • Quiet hours. Aphorisms from the author's handwritten papers. Koelling, Wittenberg 1872 ( online resource ).
  • Drafts for the evening devotions on the pastoral letters. Edited by Carl Palmié. Koelling, Wittenberg (2nd edition, Bremen 1886).
    • Volume 1: Pauli's letters to Timothy and Titus with an appendix: Luther's memorial days. 1876 ​​( online resource ).
    • Volume 2: Johanni's first letter, the Lord's story, the Sermon on the Mount, festive texts and other pastoral texts. 1877 ( online resource ).
  • Theological Encyclopedia. Edited by H. Ruppelius. Koelling, Wittenberg 1880.
  • Story of the sermon. Heinsius, Bremen 1881 ( online resource ).
  • Collected lectures and treatises. Edited by Friedrich Wilhelm Nippold . Elberfeld 1886.
  • Overview of theological ethics. From his Hs. Ed. by Rudolf Ahrendts. Heinsius, Bremen 1895.

literature

Web links

Wikiquote: Richard Rothe  - Quotes
Commons : Richard Rothe  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See the article Vormärz in the TRE , vol. 35, 2003 p. 292f
  2. ↑ Klaus-Peter Kriegsmann: 125 Years of the Science Principle - Festschrift for the 125th Foundation Festival. In: Writings of the Academic Theological Association Wartburg to Heidelberg. Volume 2. Heidelberg 1988, p. 12ff.
  3. ^ Richard Rothe: Theologische Ethik, Vol. 2 , Wittenberg 1869, p. 476.
  4. ↑ Falk Wagner: Theologische Universalintegration - Richard Rothe 1799-1867 , in: Profiles des neuzeitlichen Protestantismus, ed. by Friedrich Wilhelm Graf, Vol. 1, Gütersloh 1990, p. 277.
  5. ↑ Theological Real Encyclopedia, Vol . 29 , ed. by Gerhard Müller, Berlin 1998, p. 439.
personal data
SURNAME Rothe, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1799
PLACE OF BIRTH Poses
DATE OF DEATH August 20, 1867
Place of death Heidelberg