Herbert Haag (11 February 1915 – 23 August 2001) was a Swiss Roman Catholic theologian and biblical scholar of German origin.
Haag was born in
Singen am Hohentwiel
Singen ( Low Alemannic: ''Singe'') is an industrial city in the very south of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany and just north of the German-Swiss border.
Location
Singen is an industrial city situated in the very south of Baden-Württember ...
. After studying theology in Paris for the
diocese of Basel in 1940, he was ordained a priest and worked for several years as a pastor in Lucerne. In 1942, Haag attained his PhD at the
University of Fribourg
The University of Fribourg (french: Université de Fribourg; german: Universität Freiburg) is a public university located in Fribourg, Switzerland.
The roots of the university can be traced back to 1580, when the notable Jesuit Peter Canisi ...
. From 1948 to 1960, he taught Old Testament studies at the Theological Faculty of Lucerne, and from 1960 to 1980 he held the chair of Old Testament at the Catholic Theological Faculty at the
University of Tübingen
The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...
. Haag in particular as biblical scholars and exegete known, among other things, he published a well-known Bible dictionary. In his 1969 book on ''Farewell to the devil : from the Christian dealing with evil'', he is noted for being the first Catholic theologian in the modern era to deny the existence of the
devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...
, and to deny it as constitutive of the Christian faith, claiming it to be merely linked to a cultural frame inherited from both Judaism and paganism, a position which was criticized by then
Cardinal Ratzinger. The Pope Paul VI answered in a rescript of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1972 about the topic of the existence of the devil, showing the error of his theological position. He also criticized dogmas of the church doctrine, such as
original sin
Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (t ...
,
apostolic succession
Apostolic succession is the method whereby the ministry of the Christian Church is held to be derived from the apostles by a continuous succession, which has usually been associated with a claim that the succession is through a series of bish ...
, homosexuality,
celibacy of the clergy
Clerical celibacy is the requirement in certain religions that some or all members of the clergy be unmarried. Clerical celibacy also requires abstention from deliberately indulging in sexual thoughts and behavior outside of marriage, because the ...
and the ban on the
ordination of women
The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and most denominations in which "ordina ...
. In his last years he emerged as a critic of the institutional church.
In 1981, he signed an open letter to Swiss newspapers contending that a wrong had been done to
Hans Küng
Hans Küng (; 19 March 1928 – 6 April 2021) was a Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and author. From 1995 he was president of the Foundation for a Global Ethic (Stiftung Weltethos).
Küng was ordained a priest in 1954, joined the faculty o ...
in 1979, when the Vatican decreed that Küng was no longer recognised as a Catholic theologian because of his denial of
papal infallibility
Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope when he speaks ''ex cathedra'' is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "initially given to the aposto ...
.
In 1985, he established the Herbert Haag Foundation for "freedom in the Church", which awards the Herbert Haag Prize. He died in
Lucerne
Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...
, aged 86.
Works
* editor, ''Bibel-Lexikon''. 2nd edition. Einsiedeln and Zurich: Benziger, 1968.
* ''Biblische Schöpfungslehre und kirchliche Erbsündenlehre''. Stuttgarter Bibelstudien 10. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1966; 4th edition 1968. and
*
*
*
*
Awards
* 2000:Prix Courage
* 2001:Pin of Lucerne
See also
*
Original sin § Criticism
References
External links
* Victor Conzemius
Herbert Haag (theologian)in the
Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
The ''Historical Dictionary of Switzerland'' is an encyclopedia on the history of Switzerland that aims to take into account the results of modern historical research in a manner accessible to a broader audience.
The encyclopedia is publishe ...
A theologian of a special kind(imprimatur 11/2001)
Herbert Haag-FoundationAudio recordings with Herbert Haagin the Online Archive of the
Österreichische Mediathek
The Österreichische Mediathek ("Austrian Mediathek") is the Austrian archive for sound recordings and videos on cultural and contemporary history. It was founded in 1960 as Österreichische Phonothek (Austrian Phonothek) by the Ministry of Educat ...
(Interviews and lectures in German). Retrieved 2 September 2019
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haag, Herbert
Dissident Roman Catholic theologians
1915 births
2001 deaths
20th-century Swiss Roman Catholic priests
20th-century Swiss Roman Catholic theologians
University of Tübingen faculty