Friedrich Rittelmeyer (5 October 1872, Dillingen an der Donau, Bavarian Swabia – 23 March 1938,

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

) was a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

German minister, theologian and the principal founder and first leader of The Christian Community. Rittelmeyer came to prominence in the early 20th century as a leading academic liberal theologian and priest in Germany and wrote several books that advocated a socially engaged "Christianity of deeds" (''Tatchristentum''). During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he eventually became one of the most high-profile clergymen in Germany to publicly oppose the war. From the 1910s his thinking was gradually influenced by the philosopher

Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (; 27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century ...

, and in 1922 a group of mainly Lutheran priests and theology students led by Rittelmeyer founded The Christian Community as an ecumenically oriented Christian community inspired by Steiner's writings; The Christian Community is primarily a liturgical community with only a loose creed, and for that reason rejects Christian dogmas. Rittelmeyer saw it as a continuation of the liberal Christian tradition of which he was the foremost representative in Germany in the early 20th century.

Life

Rittelmeyer grew up in Frankish

Schweinfurt Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a town#Germany, city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding Schweinfurt (district), district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultur ...

as the son of a Lutheran priest. From 1890 Rittelmeyer studied philosophy and Protestant theology at the

University of Erlangen A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

and the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

. Among his teachers were

Adolf von Harnack Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack (born Harnack; 7 May 1851 – 10 June 1930) was a Baltic German Lutheran theologian and prominent Church historian. He produced many religious publications from 1873 to 1912 (in which he is sometimes credited ...

and Julius Kaftan, and later

Oswald Külpe Theodor Oswald Rudolph Külpe (; 3 August 1862 – 30 December 1915) was a German structural psychologist of the late 19th and early 20th century. Külpe, who is less well-known than his German mentor, Wilhelm Wundt, revolutionized experimental p ...

, who encouraged him to write his dissertation on

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...

. In 1903 he defended his doctoral dissertation in Lutheran theology at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

. He also went on a study trip to meet theologians and socially engaged ministers of the time, as well as members of the

Moravian Church The Moravian Church, or the Moravian Brethren ( or ), formally the (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestant denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohemian Reformation of the 15th century and the original ...

. From 1895 to 1902 he was a priest at the St.-Johannis-Kirche in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

, from which in 1903 he took up the preachership of Heilig-Geist-Kirche in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

. There he married Julie Kerler on 5 April 1904. Rittelmeyer worked and closely collaborated with Christian Geyer (1862–1929), the head preacher of the Sebalduskirche, and the pair produced two joint volumes of sermons. Around 1910 they both led discussions with the Bavarian church council on a liberal interpretation of the Bible and the denomination. In 1916 Rittelmeyer was sent to the Neue Kirche in Berlin, working as preacher there. At first gripped by nationalist enthusiasm, he soon came to oppose the

and with 4 other Berlin theologians signed a proclamation of peace and understanding on the occasion of Reformation Day (October 1917). The Nuremberg school teacher Michael Bauer in 1910 enabled Rittelmeyer to have his first encounter with

, the founder of

anthroposophy Anthroposophy is a spiritual new religious movementSources for 'new religious movement': which was founded in the early 20th century by the esotericist Rudolf Steiner that postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensibl ...

. Rittelmeyer described the encounter and discussed Steiner's personality and work in his ''Meine Lebensbegegnung mit Rudolf Steiner'' (''Rudolf Steiner Enters my Life''). In the '' Christengemeinschaft'' he established in September 1922, Rittelmeyer acted as its first Kultushandlungen (Priesterweihe der Begründenden und Altarsakrament). He was the first "Erzoberlenker" of the "Movement for Religious Revival" (another term for the Christengemeinschaft) and from its base in Stuttgart was its leading envoy right up to his death. Under

National Socialism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequ ...

, he carried out a permanent balancing act: between critical intellectual discussion with Nazism in numerous publications on the one hand and his task of enabling a survival strategy for the Christengemeinschaft (for which he felt responsible) on the other.In more detail see the corresponding chapter in Gerhard Wehr: ''Friedrich Rittelmeyer'', Stuttgart 1998

References

External links

Claudia Becker: ''Versuche religiöser Erneuerung in der Moderne am Beispiel des evangelischen Theologen FR''
Digital Dissertation, FU Berlin 2000 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rittelmeyer, Friedrich 1872 births 1938 deaths People from Dillingen an der Donau People from the Kingdom of Bavaria German Protestant clergy Anthroposophists