Gustav Mensching (6 May 1901 – 30 September 1978) was a German theologian who was Professor of Comparative Religious Studies at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

from 1936 to 1972.

Biography

Gustav Mensching was born in

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

on 6 May 1901, the son of farmer and businessman Gustav Mensching (1869-1906) and Anna Vogler. Mensching studied

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Protestant theology Protestant theology refers to the doctrines held by various Protestant traditions, which share some things in common but differ in others. In general, Protestant theology, as a subset of Christian theology, holds to faith in the Christian Bible, t ...

and

religious studies Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...

at the universities of

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. He gained his Dr. Theol. at Maburg under the supervision of

Rudolf Otto Rudolf Otto (25 September 1869 – 7 March 1937) was a German Lutheran theologian, philosopher, and comparative religionist. He is regarded as one of the most influential scholars of religion in the early twentieth century and is best known fo ...

. Mensching completed his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

religious history The history of religion is the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BCE). The prehistory of religion involves the stu ...

at the

University of Braunschweig TU Braunschweig (, unofficially ''University of Braunschweig – Institute of Technology'') is the oldest ' (comparable to an institute of technology in the American system) in Germany. It was founded in 1745 as Collegium Carolinum and is a membe ...

in 1927. The same year he married Erika Dombrowski, with whom he had two sons, the Germanist and philosopher . From 1927 to 1936, Mensching was Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the

University of Riga University of Latvia (, shortened ''LU'') is a public university, public research university located in Riga, Latvia. The university was established in 1919. History The University of Latvia, initially named as the Higher School of Latvia ( ...

. In 1936 he was appointed Professor of Comparative Religious Studies at the

. Due to his membership in the

National Socialist German Lecturers League The National Socialist German Lecturers League (''Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Dozentenbund'', also called ''NS-Dozentenbund'' , or abbreviated ''NSDDB''), was a party organization under the NSDAP (the Nazi Party). Origin and purpose Th ...

, Mensching was from 1946 to 1948 prohibited from teaching. has since demonstrated was Mensching was not a supporter of

Nazism 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 fre ...

. Mensching published a number of works on religion. Among his best known students were , and . Mensching retired from the University of Bonn in 1972. He died in

Düren Düren (; Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between Aachen and Cologne, on the river Rur (river), Rur. History Roman era The area of Düren was part of Gallia Belgica, more specifically the ter ...

, Germany on 30 September 1978.

Selected works

* ''Das heilige Schweigen''; 1926 * ''Die Idee der Sünde''; 1931 * ''Zum Streit um die Deutung des buddhistischen Nirvana''; 1933 * ''Zur Metaphysik des Ich''; 1934 * ''Der Katholizismus – Sein Stirb und Werde''; Herausgeber; 1937 * ''Das heilige Wort''; 1937 * ''Volksreligion und Weltreligion'';1938 * ''Vergleichende Religionswissenschaft''; 1938 * ''Allgemeine Religionsgeschichte''; 1940, 1949² * ''Der Schicksalsgedanke in der Religionsgeschichte''. Bonn 1942. 15 S. (Antrittsvorlesungen als Kriegsvorträge der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn; Heft 12) * ''Soziologie der Religion''; 1947 * ''Geschichte der Religionswissenschaft''; 1948 * ''Die Religionen und die Welt''; 1947 * ''Gut und Böse im Glauben der Völker''; 1950² * ''Buddhistische Geisteswelt''; 1955 * ''Toleranz und Wahrheit in der Religion''; 1955; Neuausgabe, hg. von Udo Tworuschka 1996 * ''Leben und Legende der Religionsstifter''; 1955 * ''Religiöse Ursymbole der Menschheit''; 1955 * ''Die Söhne Gottes''; 1958 * ''Die Religion. Erscheinungsformen, Strukturtypen und Lebensgesetze''; 1959 * ''Idee und Aufgabe der Weltuniversität''; 1962 * ''Soziologie der großen Religionen''; 1966 * ''Topos und Typos. Motive und Strukturen religiösen Lebens''; hg. von Hans Joachim Klimkeit, 1971 * ''Die Weltreligionen''; 1972 * ''Der offene Tempel. Die Weltreligionen im Gespräch miteinander''; Stuttgart 1974 * ''Buddha und Christus''; 1978; Neuausgabe als Herder TB 2004 * ''Aufsätze und Vorträge Gustav Menschings zur Toleranz- und Wahrheitskonzeption''; Bausteine zur Mensching-Forschung 2; hrsg. v. Hamid Reza Yousefi; Würzburg 2002 * ''Der Irrtum in der Religion'' (Stuttgart 1969). Neu hrsg. mit dem neuen Untertitel: ''Eine Einführung in die Phänomenologie des Irrtums''; hrsg. von Hamid Reza Yousefi und Klaus Fischer; Nordhausen 2003

Sources

* Udo Tworuschka: ''Religionsbewertung als Problem und Aufgabe''. Die Haltung Gustav Menschings zur Religionsmessung. In: '' Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte.'' 27, 1975, , S. 122–140. * * Wolfgang Gantke, Karl Hoheisel, Wilhelm P. Schneemelcher (Hrsg.): ''Religionswissenschaft im historischen Kontext.'' diagonal, Marburg 2003, ''(= Religionswissenschaftliche Reihe.'' Band 21). * Hamid Reza Yousefi, Ina Braun: ''Gustav Mensching – Leben und Werk.'' Ein Forschungsbericht zur Toleranzkonzeption, Gewidmet Gustav Mensching anlässlich seines 100. Geburtstages. Königshausen und Neumann, Würzburg 2002, ''(= Bausteine zur Mensching-Forschung.'' Band 1). * * Hamid Reza Yousefi: ''Der Toleranzbegriff im Denken Gustav Menschings. Eine interkulturelle philosophische Orientierung.'' Bautz, Nordhausen 2004, ''(= Bausteine zur Mensching-Forschung.'' Band 7). * Hamid Reza Yousefi: ''Angewandte Toleranz.'' Gustav Mensching interkulturell gelesen. Bautz, Nordhausen 2008, ''(= Interkulturelle Bibliothek.'' Band 49). * Nikandrs Gills: ''Gustav Mensching and University of Latvia.'' In: ''The European connection. Baltic intellectuals and the history of Western philosophy and theology,'' Riga 2006, S. 44–57 * Christian Grethlein: ''Gustav Mensching (1901–1978).'' In: Benedikt Kranemann/Klaus Raschzok (Hrsg.): ''Gottesdienst als Feld theologischer Wissenschaft im 20. Jahrhundert,'' Münster 2001, Bd. 2, S. 722–731 * Udo Tworuschka: ''Religionswissenschaft. Wegbereiter und Klassiker,'' Böhlau, Köln, Weimar, Wien 2011, S. 214–237. * Udo Tworuschka: ''Einführung in die Geschichte der Religionswissenschaft,'' WBG, Darmstadt 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mensching, Gustav 1901 births 1976 deaths German theologians People from Hanover Academic staff of the University of Bonn University of Marburg alumni Academic staff of the University of Latvia

Biography

See also

Selected works

Sources