Weltanschauung professorship

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Weltanschauung professorships in Germany, especially in the interwar period, were institutions of denominationally quoted chairs for predominantly humanities subjects. They almost exclusively concerned professorships reserved for Roman Catholic teachers at predominantly Protestant universities. Relevant staffing agreements , especially those from concordats, are in part still in force today.

Confessional Weltanschauung professorships

For the sake of denominational balance, however, after the First World War, universities where one denomination was not represented by a faculty of its own should be given a professorship for the other denomination.

This was preceded by a parliamentary discussion, which ended at the end of 1919 in a resolution by the Prussian state assembly to set up Catholic professorships for world views in Berlin, Frankfurt and Göttingen. In Berlin, however, it was only then Minister of Culture Carl Heinrich Becker who promoted a Catholic professorship for worldview at Berlin University in 1922/23. The university, especially the Evangelical Faculty, refused to be incorporated directly into the university, so that the chair was attached to the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Wroclaw. The first professor at the time was Romano Guardini . In Frankfurt it was filled with Theodor Steinbüchel , but later continued as an extraordinary professorship for philosophy.

It was not uncommon for the idea of ​​a Catholic professorship to be linked to the content of scholastic philosophy. Romano Guardini, among others, however - probably on the basis of Max Scheler's suggestion - lifted this restriction and dedicated himself to dealing with modern philosophy, literature and art.

Weltanschauung professorships in totalitarianism

In the totalitarian systems of National Socialism and Communism, these confessionally-oriented professorships were displaced because one could not tolerate any competition other than one's own worldview. Ultimately, most of the chairs of philosophy and history mutated into worldview chairs during the Third Reich and under the communist dictatorships.

Chairs for Christian Weltanschauung

The experience of totalitarianism and the practice of confessional ideology chairs made it possible that after the Second World War the focus shifted more towards the "Christian worldview". Today there are still the so-called Guardini chairs in Munich and Berlin. In the public discussion, the so-called concordat chairs are often referred to as world view chairs . The Concordat between the Free State of Bavaria and the Holy See from 1924 made these chairs possible, which are not located in a theological faculty, but the Catholic Church can influence their calling.

literature

  • Horst Stephan: Catholic professorships for worldview? , in: Die Christliche Welt 35 (1921), 442–446
  • Max Meinertz: Catholic Weltanschauung Professorships? , in: Die Christliche Welt 35 (1921), 538-542;
  • Martin Rade: An open word on the occasion of the dispute over the Catholic worldview professorships. To Professor D. Meinertz, Magnificenz Münster , in: Die Christliche Welt 35 (1921), 560-564
  • Johann Peter Steffes: The so-called Weltanschauungsprofessuren at the universities , in: Allgemeine Rdsch. 19 (1922) 521
  • Hans Grundei, in: Allgemeine Rundschau, Munich, 20, 1923, 40, October 4, pp. 474–476
  • Romano Guardini: On the essay by Dr. Hans Grundei on the endangerment of the Catholic pastoral care for students and the professorships of ideology , in: Allgemeine Rundschau, Munich, 20, 1923, 44–45, Nov. 6, pp. 522–523
  • Martin Honecker: Weltanschauung Professorships . In: Lexicon for Theology and Church. 1st ed. Vol. 10. Freiburg: Herder, 1938, Col. 815
  • Seitter, Walter: Construction of a chair (statement against ideological chairs at the university) , in: Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich, 1966, 307, 24 Dec.
  • Hugo Ott: The Weltanschauung professorships (philosophy and history) at the University of Freiburg - especially in the Third Reich . In: Historisches Jahrbuch 108 (1988), pp. 157-173

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jutta Rüdel: Guardini Foundation Fund. (No longer available online.) Deutsches Stiftungszentrum GmbH, formerly in the original ; accessed on June 4, 2013 (funding volume: approx. 455,000.00 €): "The Guardini Professorship for Philosophy of Religion and Catholic Worldview was established at the Humboldt University in Berlin in the winter semester 2004/2005."