- Helmut Gollwitzer
Helmut Gollwitzer (
December 29 ,1908 ,Pappenheim ,Bavaria –October 17 ,1993 ,Berlin ) was a Protestant (Lutheran) theologian and author.Born in Bavaria, Gollwitzer studied Protestant theology in Munich, Erlangen, Jena and Bonn (1928-1932); he later completed a doctorate under
Karl Barth in Basel (1937), writing on the understanding of the eucharist inMartin Luther andJohn Calvin .During the period of the Nazi-regime in Germany, Gollwitzer was a well-known member of the
Confessing Church movement which resisted the regimes' attempt to control the churches. He took over as the pastor of the congregation at Berlin-Dahlem after the arrest ofMartin Niemöller .During
World War II , Gollwitzer served as a medic at the Eastern Front, and was a Prisoner of War in theSoviet Union from 1945-1949. He wrote a book about his experience of being a POW which became a bestseller in Germany in 1950 ("Unwilling Journey: A Diary from Russia"); the then President of West-Germany,Theodor Heuss , called it "a great historical document".Gollwitzer was appointed professor of systematic theology at the
University of Bonn (1950-1957), and then as professor of Protestant theology at theFree University of Berlin ; he retired in 1975. He had beenKarl Barth 's first choice as his successor in Basel, but the University authorities turned him down due to what they called 'his unclear attitude to the Soviet Union'.Known as a close friend of
Rudi Dutschke , whose wife studied with Gollwitzer, and a pastor toUlrike Meinhof , he was prominently involved in the political debates ensuing in the late 1960s and 1970s. Gollwitzer was a well-known opponent of the US engagement in Vietnam and the arms race, as well as a staunch critic of capitalism.Helmut Gollwitzer died on
October 17 ,1993 .Quotes
* "Socialists may be Christians, but Christians must be socialists."
External links
* [http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/04/62441.shtml "Why am I a Christian Socialist?" (Better translation: Why am I, as a Christian, a Socialist?)]
* [http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/g/Gollwitzer.shtml 'Helmut Gollwitzer' in the "Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon" (German)]Literature
* Gollwitzer, H 1953. "Unwilling Journey: A Diary from Russia." Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press.
* Gollwitzer, H 1956. "Dying We Live: The Final Messages and Records of the Resistance." New York: Pantheon.
* Gollwitzer, H 1965. "The Demands of Freedom: Papers by a Christian in West Germany." New York: Harper & Row.
* Gollwitzer, H 1965. "The Existence of God as Confessed by Faith." London: SCM.
* Gollwitzer, H 1970. "The Christian Faith and the Marxist Criticism of Religion." New York: Scribner.
* Gollwitzer, H 1970. "The Rich Christians and Poor Lazarus." New York: Macmillan.
* Gollwitzer, H 1982. "An Introduction to Protestant Theology." Philadelphia: Westminster Press.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
