Karl Adam (theologian)

Karl Borromäus Adam (October 22, 1876 in Freudenberg, Bavaria – April 1, 1966 in Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg) was a German Catholic theologian of the early 20th century.

Life

Adam was born in Bavaria in 1876. He attended the Philosophical and Theological Seminary at Regensburg and was ordained in 1900. Adam spent the next two years doing parish work. Adam received his doctorate at the University of Munich in 1904.

In 1915, he became a professor of theology in Munich. Two years later, he accepted a chair in moral theology at Strasbourg and in 1919 he went to teach dogmatic theology at the University of Tübingen. He retired from that post in 1949.

Adam wrote extensively on theology. His books include: Tertullian's Concept of the Church, Eucharistic Teaching of St. Augustine, Christ Our Brother, The Son of God, The Spirit of Catholicism, Roots of the Reformation, The Christ of Faith (Der Christus des Glaubens) and One and Holy.

Adam is best known for his 1924 work, The Spirit of Catholicism. It has been widely translated, and is still in print today. In The Spirit Of Catholicism, Adam communicates with the laity about the Catholic faith and the Church's role as the keeper of the faith.

George Orwell reviewed The Spirit of Catholicism in The New English Weekly in 1932.[1] Orwell differentiated the book from works of "Catholic propaganda", which focus on the basis of Catholic faith and criticisms of its opponents; Orwell praised Adam, by contrast, for his focus on "what goes on inside the Catholic soul".[2] The book's main significance for non-Catholics, Orwell argued, was as an example of the "Hebrew-like pride and exclusiveness of the Catholic mind".[3]

In 1933 he became member of the NSDAP, the Nazi party. He was the most prominent Catholic theologian who defended the reconciliation of Catholicism and Nazism.[4] After 1945 he became professor for dogmatics at the University of Tübingen.

In 1934 he delivered a denunciation of the so-called German religion in an address on "The Eternal Christ".[5]

See also

Notes
  1. Orwell, George (1968) [1932]. "Review". In Orwell, Sonia; Angus, Ian (eds.). The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, Volume 1: An Age Like This 1920–1940. Penguin. pp. 102–105.
  2. Orwell 1968, p. 103.
  3. Orwell 1968, p. 104.
  4. de:Karl Adam (Theologe)#cite note-1
  5. Foreword to Spirit of Catholicism, Doubleday 1954

Further reading
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