Gebhard Fürst (born 2 December 1948 in

Bietigheim Bietigheim is a village in the district of Rastatt in Baden-Württemberg in Southwestern Germany. It is located east of the Rhine river and thus the border to France, west of the Black Forest (more precisely the Northern Black Forest), south of ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

) is a German Roman Catholic bishop. He is the

Bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart The Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Freiburg in Baden-Württemberg, '' Bun ...

. Fürst began his career attending the Collegium Ambrosianum in Stuttgart, where he studied

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, in 1969. He then studied

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

at the Faculty of Catholic Theology 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-W� ...

(1970) and at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

(1971 to 1973). In 1975, he passed the necessary theological exams. He then entered the Seminary of Rottenburg-Stuttgart in

Rottenburg am Neckar Rottenburg am Neckar (; until 10 July 1964 only ''Rottenburg''; Swabian: ''Raodaburg'') is a medium-sized town in the administrative district (''Landkreis'') of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It lies about 50 kilometres (31 miles) s ...

. He was ordained as a deacon in

Nürtingen Nürtingen () is a town on the river Neckar in the district of Esslingen in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. History The following events occurred, by year: *1046: First mention of ''Niuritingin'' in the document of Speyer ...

in 1976 and, a year later, he was ordained as a priest by Bishop Georg Moser in the Basilica of St. Vitus in Ellwangen an der Jagst. That same year, he became the vicar at St. Joseph's Church in Stuttgart. In 1986, Fürst became the Director of the Academy of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart and a member of the Caucus of Bishop Ordinaries. The next year, he received his doctorate in fundamental theology for his work ''Sprache als metaphorischer Prozess. Johann Gottfried Herders hermeneutische Theorie der Sprache'' (''Speech as a metaphorical process. Johann Gottfried Herder's Hermeneutic Theory of Language''). In 1993, he was Chairman of the leadership circle of the Catholic Academy of Germany. Fürst was made an honorary chaplain to the Pope (''

Monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...

'') in 1999 and, a year later, the eleventh

. Today, Fürst is the Chairman of the Prize Committee of the " Aleksandr Men Prize for Cultural Ecumenism". He is also a member of the Culture Board of the State Capital of Stuttgart, a leading member in the Board of Trustees of the Academy of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Friends and Patrons of the Academy. Fürst has further memberships in the History Club of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, in the Diocesan Institute, in the Theological Commission of the Consortium of the Christian Church in

(ACK), and in the Women's Commission of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart (since 1999). Bishop Fürst belonged to the national Ethics Council as the representative of the Catholic Church from 2001 to May 2004. The council was established by a 2001 decision of the

German Cabinet The Federal Cabinet or Federal Government (german: link=no, Bundeskabinett or ') is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's or ...

. Fürst is a member of A.V. Alania Stuttgart chapter of the

Cartellverband der katholischen deutschen Studentenverbindungen The Union of Catholic German Student Fraternities (german: Cartellverband der katholischen deutschen Studentenverbindungen or ''Cartellverband'' (CV)) is a German umbrella organization of Catholic male student fraternities (Studentenverbindung). ...

. In 2009, Fürst criticized the lifting of the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson and said that it had led to "external and internal alienation from the church on the part of many believers, to a betrayal of trust especially among Jewish sisters and brothers in their relationship to the Church, and to a considerable disturbance in the Christian-Jewish dialogue."

Views by Fürst

In 2017, Fürst supported female ordination for

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

.Domradio.de: Fürst bekennt sich zum Frauendiakonat, 2017 (german)
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Works

* ''Sprache als metaphorischer Prozess: Johann Gottfried Herders hermeneutische Theorie der Sprache'', Mainz: Matthias-Grünewald-Verl, 1988. * "'Kirche braucht Kulturstationen'. Ein Gespräch mit Akademiedirektor Gebhard Fürst," in: ''Herder Korrespondenz'' 53 (1999)182-187. * ''Zäsur: Generationswechsel in der katholischen Theologie/Akademie der Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart.'' Hrsg. von Gebhard Fürst. - Stuttgart: Akad. der Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart, 1997. * ''Höllenerfahrungen in Literatur und Kunst'' (1998) * ''Dialog als Selbstvollzug der Kirche?'' Ed. Gebhard Fürst. - Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1997. * ''Dialog als Selbstvollzug der Kirche?'' (Quaestiones disputatae 166) Hrsg.: Gebhard Fürst. Verlag Herder Freiburg i. Br./Basel/Wien 1997 * ''Das heilige Buch der Menschen. Johann Gottfried Herders hermeneutische Sprachtheorie der Bibel. Ein Beitrag zur Herder-Forschung'', in: ''Fides quaerens intellectum: Beiträge zur Fundamentaltheologie.'' ax Seckler zum 65. GeburtstagEd. Michael Kessler. Tübingen 1992 * ''Wechselbekenntnisse: auf dem Weg zur Normalität; aus einer Ost-West-Begegnung in turbulenter Zeit'', Ed. Gebhard Fürst, Stuttgart: Akad. der Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart, 1992. * ''Dialog und Gastfreundschaft: 40 Jahre Akademie der Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart 1951 – 1991'', d. der Akademie der Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart. Verantw. für den Inhalt: Gebhard Fürst - Stuttgart: Akad. der Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart

References

*This article is based on the German Wikipedia entry.

External links

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Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart
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Academy of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart
{{DEFAULTSORT:Furst, Gebhard 1948 births Living people People from Bietigheim-Bissingen Roman Catholic bishops of Rottenburg 21st-century German Roman Catholic bishops Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Germany