Maria Elisabeth Gössmann née Placke (21 June 1928, Osnabrück; — 1 May 2019,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

) was a German

Roman Catholic theologian Catholic theology is the understanding of Catholic doctrine or teachings, and results from the studies of theologians. It is based on Biblical canon, canonical Catholic Bible, scripture, and sacred tradition, as interpreted authoritatively by ...

and prominent representative of

feminist theology Feminist theology is a movement found in several religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Neopaganism, Baháʼí Faith, Judaism, Islam and New Thought, to reconsider the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of those religi ...

within the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. She saw herself as a representative of "historical

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

in theology".

Life

After leaving school in 1947, Elisabeth Gössmann studied Catholic theology, philosophy and

German studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

and passed her

state examination The ("state examination" or "exam by state"; pl.: ''Staatsexamina'') is a German government licensing examination that future physicians, dentists, teachers, pharmacists, food chemists, psychotherapists and jurists (i.e., lawyers, judges, p ...

in 1952. She studied under

Michael Schmaus Michael Schmaus (17 July 1897 – 8 December 1993) was a German Roman Catholic theologian specializing in dogmatics. Life Schmaus was born in Oberbaar, Bavaria. He was ordained a priest in 1922 and got his doctorate in Catholic Dogmatic Theolo ...

München Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. She was more interested in "the alternative", namely the theological drafts of early

scholasticism Scholasticism was a medieval school of philosophy that employed a critical organic method of philosophical analysis predicated upon the Aristotelian 10 Categories. Christian scholasticism emerged within the monastic schools that translate ...

and more in the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

than the Dominican line. She received her doctorate there in 1954 (at the same time as her fellow students

Joseph Ratzinger Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

and

Uta Ranke-Heinemann Uta Ranke-Heinemann (2 October 1927 – 25 March 2021) was a German theologian, academic, and author. In 1969, she was the first woman in the world to be habilitated in Catholic theology. She held a chair of ancient Church history and the New T ...

). Until 1954, there had been no doctorate in Catholic theology for women in Germany. She initially worked in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, first as a lecturer in medieval German literature at the ecclesiastical Sophia University in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, then as a lecturer in Christian philosophy at the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Japanese: ''Seishinkai'') Seishin Women's University. She has taught there as a professor of Japanese since 1968. She has held teaching positions in Germany,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

since 1986. Her first attempt at

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

failed in 1963 due to an objection from the German Bishops' Conference:

Laity In religious organizations, the laity () consists of all members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother. In both religious and wider secular usage, a layperson ...

should not be made professors. In 1978, she succeeded in her second attempt at a habilitation, this time in philosophy under Eugen Biser. However, despite applying 37 times, she was not awarded a

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

S. 5–18, hier S. 6 in Germany and was only able to take up an adjunct professorship in Munich in 1990. She was married to the literary scholar Wilhelm Gössmann from 1954 until his death in January 2019 and had two daughters and two grandchildren. Elisabeth Gössmann died in Munich at the beginning of May 2019 at the age of 90 after a long illness.

Books

* Maria Elisabeth Gössmann (geborene Placke): ''Die Verkündigung an Maria im dogmatischen Verständnis des Mittelalters''. Hueber, München 1957 (Dissertation Universität München, Theologische Fakultät, 20 June 1957, 303 Seiten, 8°). * ''Metaphysik und Heilsgeschichte. Eine theologische Untersuchung der Summa Halensis'' ( Alexander von Hales) (= ''Mitteilungen des Grabmann-Instituts der Universität München'', Sonderband), Grabmann-Institut zur Erforschung der Mittelalterlichen Theologie und Philosophie, Universität München, Hueber München 1964, (Habilitation Universität München 1964, 423 Seiten, nicht angenommen). * Elisabeth Gössmann (Hrsg.): '' Archiv für philosophie- und theologiegeschichtliche Frauenforschung''. Mehrere Bände, iudicium München, ab 1984. * Elisabeth Gössmann (Hrsg.) u. a.: ''Wörterbuch der feministischen Theologie''. 2., vollst. überarb. und grundlegend erw. Aufl., Gütersloh 2002, ISBN 3-579-00285-6. * ''Geburtsfehler: weiblich. Lebenserinnerungen einer katholischen Theologin.'' Iudicium, München 2003, ISBN 3-89129-975-3. * Elisabeth Gössmann (Hrsg.): ''Weisheit. Eine schöne Rose auf dem Dornenstrauche'' (= ''Archiv für philosophie- und theologiegeschichtliche Frauenforschung'', Band 8), München 2004, ISBN 3-89129-008-X. * Julie Kirchberg (Hrsg.), Judith Könemann (Hrsg.), Martina Blasberg-Kuhnke (Beitrag) u. a.: ''Frauentraditionen. Mit Elisabeth Gössmann im Gespräch''. Ostfildern 2006, ISBN 978-3-7966-1258-9. * Elisabeth Gössmann (Hrsg.), u. a.: ''Der Teufel blieb männlich. Kritische Diskussion zur „Bibel in gerechter Sprache". Feministische, historische und systematische Beiträge''. Neukirchen-Vluyn 2007, ISBN 978-3-7887-2271-5

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gossmann, Elisabeth 1928 births 2019 deaths German feminists 20th-century German writers 20th-century German women writers 21st-century German writers 21st-century German women writers Writers from Osnabrück