Uwe Wolff (cultural scientist)

Uwe Wolff, 2012

Uwe Wolff (born July 27, 1955 in Münster ) is a German cultural scientist, writer and theologian. He lives in Bad Salzdetfurth and has been teaching as a private lecturer at the Institute for Literary Studies and Literary Writing at the University of Hildesheim since 2012 .

Life

After finishing school at the Johann-Conrad-Schlaun-Gymnasium in Münster , Wolff studied, also in Münster, from 1976 philosophy with Hans Blumenberg , medieval studies with Friedrich Ohly as well as pedagogy and evangelical theology .

From 1983 to 2009 he worked as a teacher at the Andreanum grammar school in Hildesheim as well as in teacher training at the Hildesheim State Study Seminar.

Wolff, along with Botho Strauss , Rüdiger Safranski , Michael Wolffsohn and many others, is one of the authors of the then controversial and heatedly discussed anthology The Self-Confident Nation (1994). Here he published his draft of a religious education oriented towards cultural history.

In 2007 he did his doctorate at the Université de Friborg under Barbara Hallensleben in the department of Catholic theology with a biographical thesis on the reformed theologian Walter Nigg .

In 2012 he completed his habilitation with a biography of Edzard Schaper, which was also inspired by Halle life, in the Faculty of Cultural Studies and Aesthetic Practice in Hildesheim and was granted the license to teach “Cultural History Literature”.

In 2020 Wolff transferred to the Roman Catholic Church and was accepted into the Catholic St. Gallus parish in Bad Salzdetfurth by Pastor Thomas Blumenberg.

Wolff is married to the high school teacher Daniela Wolff and has three grown children.

Create

Angelology and Demonology

Although a Protestant theologian, Wolff studied the theology and the cultural history of angels and demons intensively . In a lively publication and lecture activity about angels, he dedicates himself to this border area between the denominations. His detailed presentation of the exorcism case of Anneliese Michel has expert qualities and has received a lot of attention. In a report for the Evangelical Central Office for Weltanschauung questions , Wolff refers to "The Return of the Angels" as a zeitgeist phenomenon at the turn of the millennium. His studies on the cultural history of angels have brought him back to his preoccupation with Rilke : Wolff's biographical approach, which is based on many years of preoccupation with the life of Rilke, gives the topos of angels z. For example, in the Duinese Elegies, a weight that has long been overlooked by literary studies.

Wolff and Blumenberg

Wolff became known through his work on the cultural history of angels and demons as well as his symbol-historical studies of labyrinths and mazes. Towards the end of his teaching activity, the philosopher Hans Blumenberg took an active part in Wolff's cultural-historical studies on angels and demons, as evidenced in an extensive correspondence that can be viewed in the German Literature Archive in Marbach . Wolff's knowledge of Blumenberg's work and circumstances has been taken into account in Sibylle Lewitscharoff's Blumenberg novel. In a research project funded by the Udo Keller Foundation , Wolff is investigating the significance of angelology and demonology in Blumenberg's late work and post-mortem works as part of his work on a scientific biography of Blumenberg . In his biography “The Philosopher's Desk. Memories of Hans Blumenberg ”reports Wolff about the legendary Münster lectures of the philosopher and his personal encounters with the teacher.

"Projective" biographies

More recently, Wolff has published a number of biographies that are also of interdenominational interest. In his dissertation, the biography of the Reformed Swiss theologian and "hagiographer" Walter Nigg , and in his habilitation thesis on the formerly very popular writer Edzard Schaper , who converted to the Catholic denomination , Wolff developed a method of representation that ethnology describes as " participatory observation " where the participation consists in the biographer adapting to the subject of the biography: one's own biography is projected onto the life portrayed . The Schaper biography in particular met with a positive response. With his Hildesheim inaugural lecture on "Rainer Maria Rilke and the world of angels and with a cultural-historical interpretation of the 'Duineser Elegien'" (May 16, 2012) Wolff laid the basis for a Rilke biography with a theological focus. With his biography of the Catholic Luther researcher Erwin Iserloh (1915–1996) Wolff set a much-noticed ecumenical accent for the Reformation anniversary in 2017. Wolff reflects the life and work of Agnes Miegel (1879–1964) with experiences in the Corona crisis 2020.

Wolff gave information about his self-image as a biographer in a workshop conversation with Rüdiger Safranski and Heimo Schwilk.

Awards

• 1982: Thomas Mann Prize of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck
• 2008: Prix Jean-Louis Leuba for Ecumenism from the University of Friborg
• 2011: Prince Franz Josef II of Liechtenstein Prize for Scientific Research
• 2013: Udo Keller grant for contemporary research: religion and modernity

Publications (selection)

• Hermann Hesse. Demian - The Message from the Self. Bouvier, Bonn 1979, ISBN 3-416-01457-X .
• Dad fist. Ullstein Verlag, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-548-38533-8 .
• The Eternal German. Haffmans Publishing House. Zurich 1984, ISBN 3-251-00045-4 .
• Both wings spread wide. From the angels of life. Herder Verlag, Freiburg et al. 1993, ISBN 3-451-22922-6 .
• The fallen angel. From the demons of life. Herder Verlag, Freiburg et al. 1995, ISBN 3-451-23680-X .
• The great book of angels. Herder Verlag, Freiburg et al. 1994, ISBN 3-451-23393-2 . (5)
• The devil is in me. Heyne, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-453-60038-X . First published under the title: That breaks the bishop's cross. The last expulsion of the devil in Germany 1975/76. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-499-60619-4 .
• Everything about labyrinths and mazes. Out and about with a zeppelin and camera. Gabriel Verlag, Stuttgart et al., ISBN 978-3-522-30095-7 .
• The secret is mine. Walter Nigg. A biography. TVZ, Zurich, 2009, ISBN 978-3-290-17509-2 .
• The fourth king is alive! Edzard Schaper - poet of the 20th century. Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel 2012, ISBN 978-3-7245-1777-1 .
• The man from Nazareth. The life of Jesus retold. Topos Verlag, Kevelaer 2013 (new edition), ISBN 978-3-8367-0832-6 .
• Walter Nigg . The century of saints. Aschendorff, Münster 2017, ISBN 978-3-402-12032-3 .
• When I was a boy Declaration of love to childhood and youth in the sixties. Kösel publishing house. Munich 2017. ISBN 978-3-466-37190-7 .
• Gifts of the sea. Of shells, seagulls, mermaids. Small publishing house at Eschbach. Eschbach 2018. ISBN 978-3-86917-604-8 .
• The denied cross. Triggering an overdue debate. Claudius publishing house. Munich 2019. ISBN 978-3-532-62846-1 .
• The philosopher's desk. Memories of Hans Blumenberg. Claudius Verlag 2020. ISBN 978-3-532-62850-8 .
• Agnes Miegel and life in quarantine. With a contribution by Archimandrite Irenäus Totzke. Arnshaugk Verlag 2020. ISBN 978-3-95930-223-4 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Guests - Detail - Catholic Forum Lower Saxony. Retrieved October 6, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Uwe Wolff: Tradition and Transcendence. About religious education in the age of diversion. In: Heimo Schwilk / Ulrich Schacht (eds.). The confident nation. "Swelling Bocksgesang" and other contributions to a German debate. Ullstein publishing house. Berlin 1994. pp. 404-415.
3. ↑ https://engelforscher.com/index.php/klimawandel/engel-als-umweltschuetzer ; see. next: Die Tagespost, 13 August 2020. From all over the world . P. 31.
4. ↑ See also: Anneliese Michel # Psychological Interpretation .
5. ↑ For example also in the church-critical internet magazine "Der Theologe"
6. ↑ No. 32 of the impulse series of the Evangelical Central Office for Weltanschauungsfragen “The Return of the Angels” II / 1991. http://ezw-berlin.de/downloads/Impulse_32.pdf
7. ↑ Uwe Wolff. The Angels' Comeback: A Retrospect at the Turn of the Millenium. In: Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Yearbook 2007: Angels. De Gruyter 2007. p. 695-714. Uwe Wolff. Hear the angel's wings grow. Chapter of an angelology from the turn of the millennium. In: NZZ from 21./22. December 1991. pp. 34f.
8. ↑ HS.2003.0001 (accession number): Hans Blumenberg to Uwe Wolff 1983–1988 and Hans Blumenberg to Uwe Wolff 1989–1996
9. ^ Scholarship confirmation from the Udo Keller Foundation
10. ^ Nico Schulte-Ebbert: Remembrance work on the myth. In: denkkerker.de. February 29, 2020, accessed February 29, 2020 (review). 
11. ↑ See itemization 6
12. ↑ Uwe Wolff. Iserloh. The theses were not posted. Reinhardt publishing house. Basel 2013.
13. ↑ Uwe Wolff. Agnes Miegel and life in quarantine. With a contribution by Archimandrite Irenäus Totzke. Arnshaugk Verlag 2020. ISBN 978-3-95930-223-4 .
14. ↑ https://www.anbruch-magazin.de/wo-sich-die-mitte-verdunkelt-uwe-wolff-ueber-agnes-miegel/
15. ↑ Heimo Schwilk: Understanding what grips you. In: welt.de . March 13, 2011, accessed October 7, 2018 . 
16. ^ Ulrich Thoemmes: Sponsorship award for Uwe Wolff. In: Issues of the German Thomas Mann Society, Lübeck headquarters, Issue 2/1982. P. 18–20: “The German Thomas Mann Society, based in Lübeck, awards its first sponsorship award for the Thomas Mann Prize of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck in 1981 to Mr. Uwe Wolff, b. July 27, 1955 in Münster, in appreciation of his already extensive early literary and narrative work, which in its way corresponds to the intention of the main prize. ”(= Text of the certificate) p. 20
17. ^ Prize winner Prix Leuba
18. ^ Dies Academicus 2011
19. ↑ Udo Keller grant for contemporary research: Religion and Modernity ( Memento from May 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

• Literature by and about Uwe Wolff in the catalog of the German National Library
• Website by Uwe Wolff