Werner Schöllgen

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Werner Schöllgen (born September 23, 1893 in Düsseldorf , † March 9, 1985 in Bonn ) was a German Roman Catholic professor of theology.

Schöllgen was a professor of moral theology and sociology at the University of Bonn from 1945 to 1961 .

biography

Schöllgen passed his Abitur in 1913 at the state humanistic Görres-Gymnasium in Düsseldorf. He then studied philosophy and theology in Bonn, Cologne , Freiburg im Breisgau and Rome . In his first semester of study he joined the Catholic student association WKSt.V. Unitas-Salia at. At the Universities of Cologne and Freiburg he met two professors who were groundbreaking for his further thinking and research, in Cologne the philosophy professor Max Scheler (1874–1928) and in Freiburg i. Br. Götz Briefs (1889–1974), then a young professor of sociology . Briefs introduced Schöllgen to sociology, which became very effective in his moral theological approach. Schöllgen later dedicated his main work "The Sociological Foundations of Catholic Morals" (1953) to these two scholars. In 1926 Schöllgen was awarded a doctorate by Martin Honecker in Freiburg with his work The Problem of Freedom of Will with Heinrich von Gent and Herveus Natalis. phil. and in 1931 with the work sociology and ethics of religious nuisance with Fritz Tillmann in Bonn to the Dr. theol. PhD. In 1932 he qualified as a professor for Catholic moral theology in Bonn, was Tillmann's successor in the chair for moral theology since 1939, but was only appointed full professor in 1945 as a result of National Socialist university policy. Schöllgen had also gained experience in hospital pastoral care in 1926-28. In continuation of the efforts of Fritz Tillmann and the Münster-born Joseph Mausbach, Schöllgen led moral theology out of a rigid one-sided canonical-pastoral approach and combined scientific research and teaching with a lively practical relevance, with cultural anthropology and, in an astonishingly progressive way, with sociology, especially cultural, Economic and medical sociology as well as the sociology of charity. At the same time he was characterized by Rhenish humor and sparkling wit, so that his lectures were not only attended by theology students, but by listeners from all faculties. He held the Bonn chair until 1961, then represented it for two years before retiring to a private research life, in which, however, he wrote other scientific, practice-related articles in specialist journals and festivals.

Schöllgen's concern was the philosophical, sociological and medical-biological foundation of moral theology. He designs a "Christian sociology" that finds its key concept in the New Testament concept of kairos as the God-given moment. It has the task of "researching the current and ever changing kairos of the church" (The sociological foundations of Catholic morality, 1953, p. 174). In this contemporary sociology, which is intended to serve pastoral prudence, social-psychological and historical aspects are included. In terms of cultural history, he looks at the variable space between ethos and law, but also the constant striving to shift ethos to the limit of the law. From Götz Briefs he adopts the concept of border morality, which he clarifies using examples from both sexual and economic morality, so that he is considered "an important theoretician of" border morality "."

Fonts

  • Sociology and ethics of religious nuisance , Düsseldorf 1931
  • Christian valor in sickness and death. A moral psychological study (= books of Christian life, vol. 3), Würzburg 1940; since 2 1949 as a doctor, pastor and quack
  • Border morality. Social crisis and new structure , Düsseldorf 1946
  • Christian sociology as theological discipline, in: The new order. Volume 1 (1946/47). Pp. 404-418.
  • The sociological foundations of the Catholic moral doctrine (= Handbook of Catholic Moral Doctrine, Vol. V) Düsseldorf 1953
  • Current moral problems , Düsseldorf 1955
  • The episcopate today. In: Festschrift for the jubilee year of Cardinal and Archbishop Joseph Frings, Cologne 1957, pp. 7–9
  • Concrete ethics , Düsseldorf 1961
  • Hope as the counterpart of love. A cultural-sociological balance sheet, in: Franz Groner (Hrsg.), The Church in the Change of Time. Commemoration of Sr. Eminence to the Most Revered Mr. Joseph Cardinal Höffner, Archbishop of Cologne, on the completion of the 65th year of life. Cologne 1971, 241–255.

literature

  • Franz Böckle; Franz Groner (Ed.): Morality between claim and responsibility. Festschrift for Werner Schöllgen . Düsseldorf 1964.
  • Gerhard Mertens: Ethics and History. The system approach of the theological ethics Werner Schöllgen . Mainz 1982.
  • H. Becher: Schöllgen, Werner . In: Wilhelm Bernsdorf and Horst Knospe (eds.), Internationales Soziologenlexikon , Vol. 2, Stuttgart 1984, pp. 759–760.
  • Gerhard Mertens: Schöllgen, Werner . In: LThK 3 , Vol. 9, 2000, Col. 204.
  • Simon Rüffin:  SCHÖLLGEN, Werner Maria. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 29, Bautz, Nordhausen 2008, ISBN 978-3-88309-452-6 , Sp. 1282-1294.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hermann-Josef Scheidgen: Werner Schöllgen . In: Wolfgang Burr (Ed.): Unitas Handbuch . tape 4 . Verlag Franz Schmitt, Siegburg 2000, p. 412 .
  2. ↑ Schöllgen, Werner. In: DBE IX (1998)
personal data
SURNAME Schöllgen, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Roman Catholic theologian and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf
DATE OF DEATH March 9, 1985
Place of death Bonn