Wilhelm Neuss (theologian)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wilhelm Neuss (born July 24, 1880 in Montabaur , † December 31, 1965 in Bonn ) was a German Catholic priest, church historian and art historian .

Life

Wilhelm Neuss grew up in Aachen and studied theology and art history from 1899 to 1902 at the universities of Münster, Munich, Bonn and Freiburg im Breisgau. He was ordained a priest on August 24, 1903 . In 1911 he received his doctorate and in 1913 his habilitation. In 1917 Neuss was appointed associate professor for church history at the University of Bonn and a year later director of the seminar for Christian archeology and art studies in Bonn. From 1920 he was a full professor for church history in Bonn. In 1927 he received the chair for church history of the Middle Ages and the modern age as well as for the history of Christian art . During this time he belonged to the circle of acquaintances of the constitutional lawyer Carl Schmitt .

From 1923 to 1965 Neuss was chairman of the Association for Christian Art in the Archdiocese of Cologne and the Diocese of Aachen . After 1933 he succeeded in securing numerous works of art from being confiscated by the National Socialists.

On the occasion of the German boycott of Jews on April 1, 1933 , Neuss wrote "Thoughts of a Catholic theologian on the Jewish question" in the Bonn edition of the Zentrum newspaper . He described from his own experience how people would now be hit hardest,

"Who are characterized by warm-hearted charity and are completely filled with patriotic sentiments". He does not want to flatly deny abuses in "social and cultural life" in which Jews are "unfavorably involved"; that called for remedy. Neuss asks: "Wouldn't it have been possible (isn't it still possible?) To have the noble and patriotic-minded Jews themselves as allies to fight against real abuses and against the bad elements?" Only one will have to use a different standard than in the so-called racial principle. "

Neuss supported u. a. the historian Wilhelm Levison . He dedicated the extended new edition of his work on The Beginnings of Christianity in the Rhineland , published in 1933, to him .

In the years 1934/1935 Neuss was one of the editors of the “Studies on the Myth of the XX. Century ”, which dealt critically with the racial ideology of Alfred Rosenberg . They were published in an edition of around 200,000 copies as supplements to the ecclesiastical official gazettes of the dioceses of Münster and Cologne.

In 1936 Neuss was appointed cathedral capital in Cologne. Until his death, Neuss was the editor of the series of books on the history of the Archdiocese of Cologne, published by Bachem Verlag in Cologne. He wrote the first volume of this series, which appeared in 1964 and covers the period from the founding of the diocese to the end of the 12th century, together with Friedrich Wilhelm Oediger (in the second edition of this volume published in 1972, the text, with the exception of a short chapter reworked on the Christian inscriptions by Oediger).

In 1947 he represented the German Bishops' Conference at the Seelisberg Conference in order to counteract Christian anti-Semitism.

He retired in 1949 and died in Bonn in 1965. He was buried in Bonn's southern cemetery.

Wilhelm Neuss was a member of the Catholic student association WKSt.V. Unitas Rhenania in Bonn.

Honors

Fonts

  • The development of the theological conception of the book of Ezekiel up to the time of early scholasticism . Diss. Bonn 1911.
  • The Book of Ezekiel in Theology and Art by the End of the 12th Century. With special consideration of the paintings in the church in Schwarzrheindorf . A contribution to the history of the development of the typology of Christian art . Munster 1912.
  • The Catalan Bible illustration at the turn of the first millennium and the old Spanish illumination. A new source on the history of living out early Christian art in Spain and on the history of the early medieval style . Bonn and Leipzig 1922.
  • The beginnings of Christianity in the Rhineland . Bonn 1923, revised and supplemented new edition 1933.
  • The art of the ancient Christians . Augsburg 1926.
  • The Apocalypse of St. John in the Old Spanish and Old Christian Bible Illustration . Munster 1931.
  • The iconographic roots of Dürer's Apocalypse . Cologne 1932.
  • A priest of our time. Josef Stoffels , auxiliary bishop of Cologne 1879–1923. Life and work from speeches and writings . Einsiedeln and Waldshut 1934, 2nd edition 1935.
  • A masterpiece of Carolingian book art from the Prüm Abbey in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid . In: Spanish Research . Row 1, Vol. 8, Aschendorff, Münster 1939, pp. 37-64.
  • The problem of the Middle Ages . Kolmar 1943, 1958.
  • The Church of the Middle Ages . Bonn 1946, revised and supplemented new edition 1950.
  • Fight against the myth of the 20th century. A memorial sheet to Clemens August Cardinal Graf Galen . Cologne 1947.
  • War and art in the Archdiocese of Cologne and the Diocese of Aachen . Mönchengladbach 1948.
  • Rhenish churches in reconstruction . Mönchengladbach 1951.
  • The Church of the Modern Age . Bonn 1954, revised and supplemented new edition 1959.
  • One hundred years of the association for Christian art in the Archdiocese of Cologne and the Diocese of Aachen . B. Kühlen Verlag, Mönchengladbach 1954.

literature

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Dominik Meiering: Association for Christian Art in the Archdiocese of Cologne and Diocese of Aachen eV celebrates its 150th anniversary . In: The Minster. Journal for Christian Art and Art History , vol. 56 (2003), p. 60.
  2. ↑ a b Catholic News Agency , December 29, 2015.
  3. ^ Konrad Repgen : Hitler's " seizure of power ", the Christian churches, the Jewish question and Edith Stein's petition to Pius XI. from (9) April 1933, in Edith Stein Jahrbuch 10 , Echter, Würzburg 2004, p. 53. Access only personalized (without registration), choose here Vol. 10, 2004, pp. 34-64
  4. ↑ Bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen wrote a foreword in his own name for the Münster edition .
  5. ↑ Wolfgang Burr: On the 100th birthday of Bbr. Hugo Rahner SJ , WKSt.V. Unitas Ruhrania Bochum, May 3, 2000
personal data
SURNAME Neuss, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Neuss, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German church historian
DATE OF BIRTH July 24, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Montabaur
DATE OF DEATH December 31, 1965
Place of death Bonn