Werner Küppers

Werner Küppers (born November 1, 1905 in Königsberg , East Prussia , † June 22, 1980 in Tübingen ) was an old Catholic theologian.

Career

Werner Küppers was born in Koenigsberg / East Prussia in 1905 as the son of the old Catholic pastor Walter Küppers and his wife Olga. After graduating from high school in 1924, he began studying Old Catholic theology at the Christian Catholic theological faculty of the University of Bern. In 1927 Küppers passed the two state examinations and was accepted into the church service in the canton of Bern, but continued his studies. In the course of 1929 he received minor orders, the diaconate and the priesthood through Bishop Adolf Küry . In March 1930 the Biel community elected him their pastor, and the installation took place on July 27th.

On December 15, 1932, Küppers received his doctorate at the Bern Faculty with a thesis on The Messiah Image of Late Jewish Apocalyptic , and in April 1933 he was appointed associate professor in Bern with a teaching assignment for the Old Testament. He remained pastor in Biel until 1938. In 1935, Werner Küppers married Elsbeth Bailly (1912–2001), the daughter of a Swiss pastor and from Hellikon, Canton Aargau. Four daughters were born to them: Gisela (1936), Gudrun (1938), Brigitte (1939) and Roswitha (1940).

From 1933 he was associate professor for Old Testament exegesis at the Christian Catholic theological faculty of the University of Bern , and in 1939 he was appointed to the University of Bonn with a teaching position for Old Catholic systematic theology .

In 1938 Küppers returned to Germany and in the same year was elected old Catholic pastor of Bonn, an office that he held until 1960, interrupted by military service and prisoner of war, in addition to his university activities. He was also responsible for Koblenz as a pastor until 1974.

From July 15, 1938 he worked at the episcopal seminary as a lecturer in systematic theology and from 1939 also with a teaching position at the University of Bonn, since 1940 with an unscheduled professorship. From 1941 Werner Küppers worked as an interpreter in the Wehrmacht, during the course of the war he was taken prisoner, from which he was released in July 1945. Since he had a party ID, he had to wait for a review by the Special Committee on Denazification before returning to university. In 1947 the British military authorities determined that he was not a National Socialist, and Küppers was able to return to university service, which he held until his retirement in 1971.

From 1949 to 1971 Werner Küppers was director of the Old Catholic Seminary at the University of Bonn and Regens of the episcopal seminary.

Theological work

Old Catholic seminar at the University of Bonn

In September 1948 he was again given the teaching assignment for Old Catholic (systematic) theology as an associate professor, and since February 1949 he was appointed director of the Old Catholic Seminary in Bonn . In 1958, Küppers was awarded a lectureship in dietetics, which enabled him to concentrate fully on his university activities. A further consolidation of the old Catholic training center could be achieved in 1964 with the appointment to scientific council and professor. In 1965 an assistant position was finally approved. During his activity he made a significant contribution to the (political and financial) security of the Old Catholic Seminary as an institution at the Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelm University in Bonn. Werner Küppers retired on April 1, 1971; Christian Oeyen was appointed as his successor as director on March 9, 1972.

Old Catholic observer at the Second Vatican Council

At the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) an Old Catholic delegation of observers was invited and officially accredited. The Dean of the Utrecht Cathedral Chapter, Petrus Johannes Maan , appeared as an Old Catholic Council observer, Herwig Aldenhoven took part as deputy Council observer during the third session , and Werner Küppers was appointed to the Vatican as a deputy Old Catholic observer during the other periods.

Already during the council Küppers tried to prepare further official Roman Catholic / Old Catholic contacts, for example in a conversation with Auxiliary Bishop Paul Nordhues von Paderborn that was conducted by the two Council observers , that with the approval of Lorenz Cardinal Jaeger on Monte Mario took place. When mixed commissions began their work in the Netherlands and Switzerland after the end of the council, the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference Julius Cardinal Döpfner and the old Catholic Bishop Josef Brinkhues agreed on the establishment of an ecumenical body.

Co-chair of the Roman Catholic / Old Catholic Discussion Commission

The Joint Roman Catholic / Old Catholic Discussion Commission began its work in 1967; Heinrich Fries , Peter Bläser, Abbot Laurentius Klein and Erwin Iserloh were appointed on the Roman Catholic side, and Werner Küppers (as co-chair ), Fritz Herrmann and Ernst Hammerschmidt the conversations. During its work, the commission took into account the possibility suggested by the council of applying the Eastern Church decree Orientalium ecclesiarum (Nos. 27 and 28) to Old Catholics as well, supplemented by the (Roman Catholic) Zurich Nota of 1968, which grants the Papal Unity Secretariat mutual approval Recommended repentance, the Eucharist and the anointing of the sick.

After the joint discussion committee had presented its final report, the German Bishops' Conference in Fulda, under its chairman Julius Cardinal Döpfner, decided in September 1973 on an agreement on a conditional and limited community service between the Catholic and the Old Catholic Church . The Würzburg Synod also appreciated this agreement, but the promulgation by the Vatican, which was expected by all sides, ultimately failed to materialize, even after some additions were made.

Werner Küppers addressed this dialogue, in which he was personally very involved, also in various publications, for example in a commemorative publication dedicated to Heinrich Fries:

“In any case, something essential would be achieved if the Pope's general yes to the 'Zurich Nota' concluded the first phase of the Old Catholic / Roman Catholic understanding with a fundamental equality of the Old Catholic Churches with the Eastern Churches and the relationship with him like that long-lasting sting would be taken. "

Secretary of the Orthodox / Old Catholic Commission

The International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference and the Ecumenical Patriarchy of Constantinople set up a Mixed Theological Commission for the Orthodox-Old Catholic dialogue from 1975 to 1987 . Werner Küppers was a secretary of this ecumenical commission from 1975 to 1979. The total of 26 consensus texts from the areas of doctrine of God, ecclesiology, soteriology, doctrine of sacraments, eschatology and church fellowship established a high degree of agreement between Orthodoxy and Old Catholicism.

ACK and DÖSTA

Werner Küppers was also an old Catholic delegate in the Working Group of Christian Churches in Germany , and in the study committee (Dösta) he was the deputy chairman from 1960 to 1975.

Publications

• The image of the Messiah in late Jewish apocalypticism (Diss. Theol.), Bern 1933
• The symbolism of the Old Catholic Church, 1964. Article in: Symbolik der Religionen, Stuttgart. Tafelband 1968
• The Russian Church and the Churches of the West. Contribution in: The Russian Orthodox Church in Doctrine and Life, Witten 1966
• The Doctrine of the Church at the Second Vatican Council in Old Catholic Reception. Contribution in: De Ekklesia II, I. 1966
• Various articles in the international church journal
• Various contributions to religion in the past and present 1957
• Various contributions to the Theological Real Encyclopedia 1977
• Co-editor of the Ecumenical Review .

Web links

• Evangelical Central Archive Berlin
• German National Library
• Old Catholic seminar at the University of Bonn

Individual evidence

1. ^ Matthias Ring: A new period. A contribution to the history of the Old Catholic Seminars at the University of Bonn . In: Günter Eßer / Matthias Ring (eds.): Between freedom and bondage. Festschrift for the 100th anniversary of the Old Catholic Seminary at the University of Bonn (1902-2002) . Old Catholic diocese publisher. Bonn. 2002. ISBN 3-934610-18-8 . Pp. 164-167.
2. ↑ Urs Küry: The Old Catholic Church. Their history, their teaching, their concerns . 3. Edition. Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Frankfurt / Main 1982, ISBN 3-7715-0190-3 , p. 524 .
3. ^ Matthias Ring: A new period. A contribution to the history of the Old Catholic Seminars at the University of Bonn . In: Günter Eßer / Matthias Ring (eds.): Between freedom and bondage. Festschrift for the 100th anniversary of the Old Catholic Seminary at the University of Bonn (1902-2002) . Old Catholic diocese publisher. Bonn. 2002. ISBN 3-934610-18-8 . Pp. 168-172.
4. ↑ Old Catholic Seminar of the University of Bonn, History ( Memento of the original from July 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Homepage of the Old Catholic Seminary, accessed on May 21, 2014 
5. ↑ Urs Küry: The Old Catholic Church. Their history, their teaching, their concerns . 3. Edition. Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Frankfurt / Main 1982, ISBN 3-7715-0190-3 , p. 527 .
6. ↑ Urs Küry: The Old Catholic Church. Their history, their teaching, their concerns . 3. Edition. Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Frankfurt / Main 1982, ISBN 3-7715-0190-3 , p. 532 .
7. ↑ Urs Küry: The Old Catholic Church. Their history, their teaching, their concerns . 3. Edition. Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Frankfurt / Main 1982, ISBN 3-7715-0190-3 , p. 524 .
8. ^ Werner Küppers: Between Rome and Utrecht. On the recent development of the relationship between the Old Catholic and Roman Catholic Church . In: Max Seckler / Otto H. Pesch / Johannes Brosseder / Wolfhart Pannenberg (eds.): Encounter. Contributions to a hermeneutics of theological conversation . Styria. Graz Vienna Cologne. 1972. ISBN 3-222-10701-7 . Pp. 505-507.
9. ^ Peter Bläser: The Conversation between the Roman Catholic and Old Catholic Church in Germany . In: Max Seckler / Otto H. Pesch / Johannes Brosseder / Wolfhart Pannenberg (eds.): Encounter. Contributions to a hermeneutics of theological conversation . Styria. Graz Vienna Cologne. 1972. ISBN 3-222-10701-7 . Pp. 525-530.
10. ↑ Peter Neuner: New Aspects of the Communion in Communion. The theological significance of the limited fellowship with the Old Catholics . In: Wolfgang Seibel SJ (Ed.): Voices of the time. Issue 3 March 1974 . Herder. Freiburg in Breisgau. P. 172 f.
11. ^ Resolutions of the Würzburg Synod, 5.4.1. Eastern Churches and Old Catholic Church, page 214 Homepage of the German Catholic Bishops' Conference, accessed on May 3, 2014
12. ↑ Urs Küry: The Old Catholic Church. Their history, their teaching, their concerns . 3. Edition. Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Frankfurt / Main 1982, ISBN 3-7715-0190-3 , p. 421 .
13. ^ Werner Küppers: Between Rome and Utrecht. On the recent development of the relationship between the Old Catholic and Roman Catholic Church . In: Max Seckler / Otto H. Pesch / Johannes Brosseder / Wolfhart Pannenberg (eds.): Encounter. Contributions to a hermeneutics of theological conversation . Styria. Graz Vienna Cologne. 1972. ISBN 3-222-10701-7 . P. 509.
14. ↑ Urs von Arx (ed.): Koinonia on an early church basis. German complete edition of the common texts of the Orthodox-Old Catholic Dialogue 1975–1987 with French and English translation . Stämpfli, Bern 1989, p. 3 f., 106-108 .
15. ↑ Handbook of the German Evangelical Churches, 1918 to 1949, page 311 online edition of the Handbook of the German Evangelical Churches, accessed on May 21, 2014
16. ^ The German Ecumenical Study Committee, the first five decades. Table of contents Homepage of the German National Library, accessed on May 21, 2014
17. ↑ Urs Küry: The Old Catholic Church. Their history, their teaching, their concerns . 3. Edition. Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Frankfurt / Main 1982, ISBN 3-7715-0190-3 , p. 525 .