University preacher
The university preacher is a professor of ( Protestant ) theology commissioned by the respective university who , in addition to his teaching and research duties, assumes or supervises the organization of church services . These university services usually take place at regular intervals, often in sacred spaces known as university churches. The university services are often themed within a semester . The university sermons are taken over by lecturers from the various university subjects.
There is also the task of university preacher for professors who teach theology on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church.
history
The office of university preacher is a Prussian invention. First at the old universities of Prussia, and later at the universities in the countries which were conquered by Prussia or which merged with it, these preaching offices arose at the universities. The aim was to ensure that the Prussian state would preach at the university , regardless of the local denomination .
University churches and church services have been held locally at theological faculties since the High Middle Ages. With the Reformation, original religious churches, as in Leipzig, were consecrated to university churches. Originally the professors of the faculty presided over the services. Only at a later time did the mere commissioning develop into an office of its own, the occupation and exercise of which often had university and state political motives.
During the Soviet occupation and in the GDR, university preachers were not allowed to work at the universities. These were reintroduced quite soon after the political change.
Famous university preachers
- Friedrich Schleiermacher , at the University of Halle before 1806
- Richard Rothe , at Heidelberg University since 1838
- Romano Guardini , at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich (1948–1963)
- Eugen Biser , at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich (1979–2007)
present
Today the university preachers see it as their task to bring the scientific nature of academic studies into dialogue with the Christian tradition of the university and the Christian faith in their services at a high level. Here, a concept of worship in the sense of so-called cultural Protestantism often plays a predominant role at almost all universities.
Today's examples
| university | Emergence | Interruption | Official |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rostock University | 1841 | SBZ , GDR | |
| University of Leipzig | circa 1830 | SBZ, GDR | Peter Zimmerling and Alexander Deeg |
| Christian Albrechts University Kiel | Andreas Mueller | ||
| Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz | Kristian Fechtner | ||
| Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald | SBZ, GDR, since winter semester 1990/1991 | Michael Herbst | |
| Philipps University of Marburg | 1667 | u. a. 1933-1957 | Gerhard Marcel Martin |
| Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg | SBZ, GDR | Jörg Ulrich | |
| Humboldt University Berlin | SBZ, GDR | Wilhelm Gräb | |
| Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich | 1845 | 1939-1949 | Christoph Levin (ev.), Marc-Aeilko Aris (rk) |
| Georg-August-University Goettingen | Florian Wilk | ||
| Heidelberg University | 1838 | Helmut Schwier | |
| Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg | Martin Nicol | ||
| University of Hamburg | Sonja Keller | ||
| Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster | Traugott Roser | ||
| Friedrich Schiller University Jena | Corinna Dahlgrün |
See also
literature
- Konrad Hammann: University service and enlightenment sermon. Contributions to historical theology, Tübingen 2000, Mohr Siebeck
- Kristian Fechtner , Stefan Goldschmidt, Helmut Schwier (Eds.): Special issue university church services , liturgy a. Culture. Journal of the Liturgical Conference for Worship, Music and Culture H. 2, 2013