Friedhelm Hengsbach is a professor emeritus for Christian social ethics. He was also director of the
Oswald von Nell-Breuning
Oswald von Nell-Breuning (8 March 1890 – 21 August 1991) was a Roman Catholic theologian and sociologist.
Born in Trier, Germany into an aristocratic family, Nell-Breuning was ordained in 1921 and appointed Professor of Ethics at the S ...
Institute for Economic and Social Ethical Studies of the Jesuit
Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology
Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology (German: ''Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Sankt Georgen'') is a higher education Jesuit college in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
The school offers a 10-semester Magister in Catholic T ...
in Frankfurt.
Biography
Friedhelm Hengsbach was born in
Dortmund
Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...
in 1937. After attending grammar school and passing his A-levels he joined the
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...
when he was twenty, and studied at the order's own
Munich School of Philosophy
Munich School of Philosophy (German: ''Hochschule für Philosophie München'') is a small Jesuit higher education college in Munich, Germany founded in 1925.
History
Founded as a seminary at Pullach in 1925 by Augustin Bea, first named the Ber ...
. His work experience in pedagogy took him back to
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...
, before he studied theology at the
Goethe University Frankfurt
Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...
from 1964 to 1968, and economics at the
Ruhr University Bochum
The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began ...
from 1968 to 1972. His doctoral thesis was about African states as Associate Members of the European Community, and he obtained a professorship for his thesis on the subject of work ethics: "The pre-eminence of labour - an option of Catholic social teaching".
Before he became a professor, he was a lecturer in Christian Social Science at the
Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology
Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology (German: ''Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Sankt Georgen'') is a higher education Jesuit college in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
The school offers a 10-semester Magister in Catholic T ...
in Frankfurt, where he was appointed professor of Christian Social Science, Economic and Social Studies in 1985. From 1992 to 2006 he was the director of that institution. He retired as a professor in 2005.
Nowadays Hengsbach lives in Ludwigshafen, where he still works as a lecturer at the Catholic Academy of the Rhine Neckar District.
Criticism of the present Capitalist Economy
Hengsbach has always been an outspoken critic of the present Capitalist economy. He is not against Capitalism as such - he speaks of its "positive dynamics" which will remain the dominant economic style.
But if Capitalism is left deregulated and unchecked, it inevitably leads to injustice in society and to the failure of the system itself. Then the state is needed to save the system, the same state that has been told to keep out of the economy before. Of course the state can only save the system at the expense of its millions of taxpayers - the losers of the previous rat race. When the system has been restored, the state may withdraw again, and the old imbalances prevail: the power of the banks versus the impotence of politics, the strong position of employers in comparison with that of their employees, the constant reduction of means for public welfare, and the mindless destruction of our environment. Hengsbach's hope: "to liberate the government, the state from the maelstrom of the lobbyists".
- "A different sort of capitalism is possible" is the title of one of his publications.
Social involvement
As a member of the advisory committee of the
(Attac), Hengsbach takes part in numerous discussions, debates, talks and lectures on the various aspects of globalization.
He sees a close connection between globalization in its present form and the kind of capitalism which he criticizes - characterized by a lack of "solidarity and justice".
Prizes
Prizes Friedhelm Hengsbach was awarded include the Gustav-Heinemann-Buergerpreis, the Regine-Hildebrandt-Preis für Solidarität bei Arbeitslosigkeit und Armut, the Marburger Leuchtfeuer and the Walter-Dirks-Preis.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hengsbach, Friedhelm
20th-century German Jesuits
21st-century German Jesuits
Heads of universities in Germany
German ethicists
20th-century German philosophers
21st-century German philosophers
Living people
1937 births
People from Dortmund