Friedrich Bernhard Ferdinand Michelis (July 27, 1815 – May 28, 1886) was a German theologian and philosopher born in

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 ...

Biography

He studied philosophy and theology at the Academy of Münster, receiving his

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorization, authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational ...

in 1838. From 1845 he was a chaplain and school teacher in

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...

, and later (1849–54) an instructor at the Episcopal Theological Institute in

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

. From 1855 to 1864 he served as pastor in Münster-Albachten, and from 1864 to 1872 was a professor of philosophy at the Lyceum in

Braunsberg Braniewo () (german: Braunsberg in Ostpreußen, la, Brunsberga, Old Prussian: ''Brus'', lt, Prūsa), is a town in northern Poland, in Warmia, in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, with a population of 16,907 as of June 2021. It is the capital of ...

. In 1860 he participated in the Erfurt conference that would lead to Julie von Massow's ''Ut Omnes Unum'' movement, which sought the reunification of Catholicism with Protestantism. In his writings, Michelis attempted to reconcile the teachings of

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

and those of modern science with the doctrines of

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. In 1866/7, he was prominent in the Prussian Diet as an opponent of

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of J ...

's ecclesiastical policy. But he also opposed the influence of the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

and the dogma of papal infallibility in several pamphlets (1869–70), which led to his

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

. Michelis was a major figure in the " Old Catholic" movement in Germany, and from 1874 was associated with Old Catholic parish at Freiburg. As a philosopher he was an opponent of

materialism Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materiali ...

, and an outspoken critic of

Darwinism Darwinism is a scientific theory, theory of Biology, biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of smal ...

and Güntherianism. For a period of time, he was editor of the journal ''Natur und Offenbarung'' (Nature and Epiphany), the first major journal in Germany devoted to a religiously founded popular science. He also edited ''Der Katholik'', an organ especially directed against the Jesuits.

Writings

Among his better known writings are the following: * ''Der kirchliche Standpunkt der Naturforschung'' (Standpoint on the religious nature of research), 1855 * ''Der Materialismus als Köhlerglaube'' (Materialism as blind faith), 1856 * ''Die Philosophie Platons in ihrer inneren Beziehung zur geoffenbarten Wahrheit'' (The philosophy of

in its internal relationship to revealed truth), (1858-1860, two volumes) * ''Renan's Roman vom Leben Jesu. Eine deutsche Antwort auf die französische Blasphemie'' ( Renan's novel of the life of Jesus, a German answer to the French blasphemy), 1864. * ''Preußen's Beruf für Deutschland und die Weltgeschichte. Ein freies Wort zur rechten Zeit'' (Prussia's occupation of Germany and World History, a free word at the right time), 1863 * ''De Aristotele Plantonis in idearum doctrina adversario. Commentatio critica'', 1864 * ''Anti-Darwinische Beobachtungen'' (Anti-Darwinian observations), 1877 * ''Die Philosophie des Bewusstseins'' (The philosophy of consciousness), 1877 * ''Haeckelogonie. Ein akademischer Protest'' ( Haeckelogony, an academic protest), 1876

Biography

Writings

References

Further reading