Wilhelm Maas (theologian)

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Wilhelm Maria Maas (* 1937 in Witten ; † May 21, 2012 in Trier ) was a German theologian and Islam researcher who dealt with patristicism , orthodox Christianity , anthroposophy and Buddhism .

Live and act

Maas attended high school in Paderborn . He studied classical philology, philosophy, Catholic theology and religious studies with a focus on Islam. From 1968 to 1974 he was assistant to Heribert Mühlen at the theological faculty in Paderborn , where he obtained his doctorate in 1974. In 1979 he completed his habilitation under Karl Lehmann at the theological faculty of the University of Freiburg . Hans Urs von Balthasar supported the work and had it published by Johannes Verlag. As a Lehmann employee, Maas helped set up the Theological Center at the University of Kassel, where he worked as a professor of systematic theology.

He lived for a few years in Stuttgart, where he dealt with the work of Rudolf Steiner , worked as a freelancer at the Urachhaus publishing house and for the theological research department of the Christian Community's Free University. He worked as a consultant at the World Council of Churches in Geneva and at Pro Oriente in Vienna. After studying the Arabic language and Islam, Maas and his wife Maria-Louise took part in the biodynamic development project Sekem in Egypt in 1993/1994 .

He spent the last twelve years of his life in Trier. Together with Elisabeth Heckmann, Michael Frensch u. a. he brought the work of the mystic Valentin Tomberg closer to a study group , with whom he dealt for over twelve years. Via Friederike Migneco , he joined the Luxembourg publisher Kairos Edition as an employee . "At the Himmerod monastery, Wilhelm Maas worked in the working group for Cistercian spirituality until his death to make a feminine-accented ecotheology in the spirit of Alanus from Insulis and Thomas Merton fruitful." Maas was buried in the Himmerod monastery.

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His dissertation The Immutability of God , written by Heribert Mühlen , examines the relationship between the Greek philosophers' image of God and the Christian understanding. From Mühlen's estate, he published the volume Im-We-Sein , which aims to integrate the occidental orientation on the subject into a we philosophy. Above all, Maas' theological thinking was shaped by the examination of the Holy Day theology of the mystic Adrienne von Speyr and the theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar. The theological relationship between Maas and Balthasar, which was linked by a personal acquaintance, was reflected in Maas' habilitation thesis, God and Hell (5). The book is considered a reference work on Christ's descent into the underworld . The Latin version of the Creed, referred to as the Apostles' Creed , forms the basis of this debate, in which not the underworld, but hell as such is still mentioned.

Maas' work revolves around the question of redemption through love in the age of nihilism and relativism. He examines and justifies Holy Saturday theology against the background of the Old and New Testaments and wants to make it fruitful for today's people by transferring it into existential categories of modernity without falling into an insoluble dialectic between faith and atheism. His band Hell-Abyss of Existence? Hell and Descent into Hell in modern literature and painting treats Christ's descent into Hell as a symbol for the experience of God is dead for today's man in the mirror of modern art.

John Paul II invited Maas to the Vatican as a speaker on the subject of "The Secret of Holy Saturday". Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger , later Benedict XVI. entrusted Maas in a collection of essays on the Articles of Faith, which he published in 1992, the article "Descendit ad inferos".

Monographs and Articles

  • Immutability of God. On the relationship between Greek-philosophical and Christian doctrine of God . Munich, Paderborn: Schöningh 1974, ISBN 978-3-506-76251-1
  • God and Hell: Studies on the Descensus of Christ , Einsiedeln: Johannes Verlag 1979, ISBN 978-3-265-10212-2
  • Arabism - Islam - Christianity: Conflicts and Convergences , Urachhaus, Stuttgart, 1991, 236 pp., ISBN 978-3-87838-916-3
  • In the name of the merciful God? Islam between fundamentalism and renewal . Stuttgart: Urachhaus 1999, ISBN 978-3-8251-7261-9
  • Hell - the abyss of existence? Hell and Hell Descent in Modern Literature and Painting , Ed. By Gebhard Fürst, Academy of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, Kleine Hohenheimer Reihe, Vol. 36, Stuttgart, 1999, 39 pages, ISBN 978-3-926297-74-7 , P. 39
  • Descended to Hell: Aspects of a Forgotten Article of Faith , International Catholic Journal «Communio», Volume 10, January – February 1981, 1/81, pp. 1–18, Cologne, Communio-Verlag, 1981
  • Descended into the realm of death: the meaning d. Sentence in Confession and Doctrine, Poetry and Art , edited by Hans Urs von Balthasar, Munich, Zurich, Schnell and Steiner, 1982, p. 16, ISBN 978-3-7954-0121-4
  • The secret of Holy Saturday , in: Adrienne von Speyr and her ecclesiastical mission: Files of the Roman Symposium 27. – 29. Sept. 1985 / 2nd Internat. Colloquium on Christl. Think, organize from ISTRA (Istituto di Studi per la Transizione). Edited by HU v. Balthasar, Georg Chantraine, Angelo Scola , Johannes Verlag, Einsiedeln, 1986, pp. 128–146, ISBN 978-3-265-103068
  • Il mistero del Sabato Santo in: La missione ecclesiale di Adrienne von Speyr  : atti del 2. Colloquio Internazionale del Pensiero Cristiano / [promosso da] ISTRA, Istituto di Studi per la Transizionene. Introd. di Hans Urs von Balthasar. Trad. di Maria Tosetto ..., pp. 133-143, Milano, Jaca Book, 1986
  • Le Mystère du Samedi saint in: La mission ecclésiale d'Adrienne by Speyr  : actes du colloque romain, September 27–29, 1985 / 2nd Colloque International de la Pensée Chrétienne. Organizé par ISTRA (Istituto di Studi per la Transizione). Ed. par HU by Balthasar ..., Paris, Ed. Lethielleux, Namur, Culture et Vérité, 1987, pp. 140-160, ISBN 2-283-61147-4
  • Descended to hell , in Credo: a theological reader , Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI., Pope ed.); Peter Henrici (Ed.), Communio, Cologne, 1992, pp. 131-151, ISBN 3-921204-08-9
  • Allah as God of Becoming , Interview with Wilhelm Maas by Wolfgang Weirauch, Islamic Impressions, Bridges between Orient and Occident, Flensburger Hefte 69, 2000, pp. 72-104, ISBN 3-926841-96-6
  • Valentin Tomberg, Rudolf Steiner and the Roman Catholic Church - Your Understanding of Papal Infallibility , in: Valentin Tomberg, Life, Work, Effect. Volume II Sources and contributions to the work, Ed. Ramsteiner Kreis, pp. 323–348, Schaffhausen, Novalis, 2000, pp. 323–348, ISBN 3-907160-72-X
  • Contradiction between faith and reason: the dispute between Bernhard von Clairvaux and Petrus Abelard , drawn as Wilhelm Maria Maas, in Novalis, 9/10, 2003, pp. 22-25, Schaffhausen
  • Path of longing: Maria-Sophia as «seat of wisdom» , in Totus tuus: Marianisches Lesebuch zur Muttergottes-Oktave , edited by Volker Zotz and Friederike Migneco, Luxembourg, Kairos Edition, 2004, pp. 103–119, ISBN 9782919771028
  • Christian in Buddhism? in: Novalis, December 2004
  • Advocate of the logo: Joseph Ratzinger as a philosopher and theologian , in die Drei: Zeitschrift für Anthroposophie in Wissenschaft, Kunst und Soziale Leben , pp. 5–8, Frankfurt, 75th year, July 7, 2005,
  • Tomberg's Sophia teaching in: Valentin Tomberg, life, work, effect: Part: Vol. 1.2 1944–1973 , Valentin Tombergs Leben, Elisabeth Heckmann and Michael Frensch, pp. 609–615, Novalis, Schaffhausen, 2005, ISBN 3-907160 -82-7
  • Asceticism instead of martyrdom? - Constantine and early monasticism , in Bulgaria in Himmerod, ed. By Abbot Bruno Fromme and Rumjana Zlatanova, pp. 30–46, Munich, edition Biblion, 2008, ISBN 978-3-86688-026-9

Editorships

  • Try to understand the suffering and death of Jesus . Catholic Academy of the Archdiocese of Freiburg, Munich, Zurich: Schnell and Steiner 1983, ISBN 978-3-7954-0124-5
  • Origen : About prayer. Text selection . Free University of the Christian Community, publications of the academy, 1997, Stuttgart
  • Dionysius Areopagita : On Mystical Theology . Free University of the Christian Community, Publications of the Academy, Volume 2, 1998, 142 p., Stuttgart
  • Heribert Mühlen: Being-in-us. Foundation of We-Science . From the estate, ed. by Wilhelm Maas, Paderborn, Munich, Vienna, Zurich: Schöningh 2008, ISBN 978-3-506-76505-5

Translations

  • Robert Powell, Hermetic Astrology , Part: Vol. 1. Astrology and Reincarnation , trans. from the English by Florian Mayr and Wilhelm Maas, Stuttgart, Urachhaus, 2001, p. 492, ISBN 978-3-8251-7267-1
  • Robert Powell, Hermetic Astrology  : Part: Vol. 2., Astrological Biographics , trans. from the English by Heidi Langen and Wilhelm Maas, Stuttgart, Urachhaus, 2003, p. 262, ISBN 978-3-8251-7417-0
  • Robert Powell, History of the Zodiac , translated from the English. by Wilhelm Maas, Tübingen, astronova, 2007, p. 256, ISBN 978-3-937077-23-9
  • The wandering fool: love and its symbols; a Christian tarot meditation  ; nine sketches; bilingual edition French-German, Valentin Tomberg. Ed. And inserted by Friederike Migneco and Volker Zotz, from the Franz. by Wilhelm Maas, Luxembourg, Kairos Edition, 2007, p. 158, ISBN 978-2-9599829-5-8
  • Robert Powell, Chronicle of the Living Christ: Foundation Stone of Cosmic Christianity , trans. by Wilhelm Maas and Heidi Langen, Basel, ILV, Informationsluecke-Verl., 2011, p. 568, ISBN 978-3-905955-23-1
  • Robert Powell, The Greatest Mystery of Our Age: Thoughts on the Second Coming of Christ , trans. by Heidi Langen and Wilhelm Maas, Basel, ILV, 2011, p. 194, ISBN 978-3-905955-13-2

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christian in Buddhism? in: Novalis, December 2004
  2. ↑ Biographical data and career according to Volker Zotz : In memoriam Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Maas (1937–2012) and Friederike Migneco, Descend to Hell: The Forgotten Article of Faith. Living and dying in humble humility , devoted to the search for love and true knowledge , Die Warte No. 24, Luxemburger Wort, 20 September 2012
  3. ↑ Dionysius Areopagita, On mystical theology , introduced, trans. And commented on by Wilhelm Maas, Free University of the Christian Community, Academic publications, Volume 2, 1998, p. 142, Stuttgart
  4. ↑ Islamic Impressions, Bridges between Orient and Occident , Flensburger Hefte 69, 2000, p. 72, ISBN 3-926841-96-6
  5. ↑ Volker Zotz, In memoriam
  6. ↑ Immutability of God: on the relationship between the Greek-philosophical and Christian doctrine of God . Munich, Paderborn: Schöningh 1974, ISBN 978-3-506-76251-1
  7. ↑ See Friederike Migneco, Heribert Mühlen and the basics of a we philosophy. According to the id and me philosophy: the question of meaning re-enters the room , Luxemburger Wort , Die Warte, No. 8/2250, March 5, 2009
  8. ↑ Volker Zotz, In memoriam , op.cit. www.kairos.lu
  9. ^ A b Friederike Migneco: Descended to Hell: The Forgotten Article of Faith. Living and dying in humble humility devoted to the search for love and true knowledge , Die Warte No. 24, Luxemburger Wort, September 20, 2012 [1]
  10. ↑ Hell - Abyss of Existence? Hell and hell descent in modern literature and painting , edited by Gebhard Fürst, Academy of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, Kleine Hohenheimer series; Vol. 36, Stuttgart, 1999, p. 39, ISBN 978-3-926297-74-7 , p. 39
  11. ↑ See Migneco, Descended to Hell
  12. ↑ Descended to Hell, in: Credo. A theological reading book , Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI., Pope ed.), Peter Henrici (ed.): Communio. Cologne, 1992, pp. 131-151, ISBN 3-921204-08-9
personal data
SURNAME Maas, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maas, Wilhelm Maria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Roman Catholic theologian and Islam researcher
DATE OF BIRTH 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Witten
DATE OF DEATH May 21, 2012
Place of death trier