Carl Heinrich Becker (12 April 1876 – 10 February 1933) was a German
orientalist and politician in Prussia. In 1921 and 1925–1930 he served as Minister for Culture in Prussia (independent). He was one of the founders of the study of the contemporary Middle East and a reformer of the system of higher education in the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is ...
.
Early life and study
Becker was born in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
, the son of a banker. He attended universities at
Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...
,
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
, and
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, and travelled in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
,
Sudan,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
, and
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
, before earning his doctorate in 1899.
Academic career
In 1902, Becker became a ''
privatdozent'' for semitic
philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
at the
University of Heidelberg
}
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
, where he came into contact with
Max Weber. After his
habilitation in 1908, he was appointed Professor of
History and Culture of the Orient at the newly founded
Hamburg Colonial Institute and Director of the Seminar for History and Culture of the Orient in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
. In 1910 he founded ''
Der Islam
''Der Islam: Journal of the History and Culture of the Middle East'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on the history and culture of the Middle East. The journal is published by Walter de Gruyter. It was established i ...
'', a journal for the history and culture of the Middle East, and was its first editor. In 1913 he accepted an offer from
Bonn University, where he was Professor of Oriental Philology.
Becker and his colleague
Martin Hartmann
Martin Hartmann (9 December 1851, Breslau – 5 December 1918, Berlin) was a German orientalist, who specialized in Islamic studies.
In 1875, he received his doctorate at the University of Leipzig as a student of Heinrich Leberecht Fleische ...
were among the first to combine modern sociological thinking with
Islamic studies
Islamic studies refers to the academic study of Islam, and generally to academic multidisciplinary "studies" programs—programs similar to others that focus on the history, texts and theologies of other religious traditions, such as Easter ...
. He was an opponent of the ''
Kulturkreis
The (roughly, "culture circle" or "cultural field") school was a central idea of the early 20th-century German school of anthropology that sought to redirect the discipline away from the quest for an underlying, universal human nature toward a c ...
theorie'' (theory of cultural circles) of
Ernst Troeltsch
Ernst Peter Wilhelm Troeltsch (; ; 17 February 1865 – 1 February 1923) was a German liberal Protestant theologian, a writer on the philosophy of religion and the philosophy of history, and a classical liberal politician. He was a member of ...
.
Political career
During the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Becker began his work with the Prussian Ministry of Culture. In 1921 and 1925–1930 he served as Minister for Culture in Prussia (independent). He died in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
.
Selected works
*''Ibn Gauzi's Manaqib Omar Ibn' Abdelaziz'' (Dissertation, 1899)
*''Beitrage zur Geschichte Agyptens unter dem Islam'' (2 vols., 1902- 1903)
*''Papyri Schott-Reinhardt: Veroffentlichungen aus der Heidelberger Papyrus‐ Sammlung'', Vol. 1 ( 1906)
*''Der Kanzel im Kultus des alten Islam'' (1906)
*''Christentum und Islam'' (1907)
*''L'Islam et la Colonisation de l'Afrique'' (1910)
*''Gedanken zur Hochschulreform'' (1919)
*''Kulturpolitische Aufgaben des Reichs'' (1919)
*''Kant und die Bildungskrise der Gegenwart'' (1924)
*''Islamstudien: Vom Werden und Wesen der islamischen Welt'' (2 vols., 1924- 1932)
*''Vom Wesen der deutschen Universitaet'' (1925)
*''Die preussische Kunstpolitik und der Fall Schilling'' (1925)
*''Die Paedagogische Akademie im Aufbau unseres nationalen Bildungswesens'' (1926)
*''Zu Beethovens 100. Todestag'' (1927)
Further reading
* Haridi, Alexander. ''Das Paradigma der “islamischen Zivilisation”—oder die Begründung der deutschen Islamwissenschaft durch Carl Heinrich Becker (1876–1933)''. (MISK—Mitteilungen zur Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte der islamischen Welt, 19.) 204 pp.
Würzburg
Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River.
Würzburg ...
:
Ergon Verlag, 2005.
External links
*
*
** (trans. Rev. H. J. Chaytor)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Carl Heinrich
1876 births
1933 deaths
German scholars
German orientalists
Education ministers of Prussia
Historians of Islam
Academic staff of the University of Bonn
Politicians from Amsterdam
German male non-fiction writers