Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag is a German

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

publishing house founded in

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

, see of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz The Diocese of Mainz, (, ) historically known in English as Mentz as well as by its French name Mayence, is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. It was founded in 304, promoted in 780 to Metropol ...

. Mainz was famous for its culture of Catholic publishing houses, where the catholic intelligence was able to publish their intellectual property.

History

Origin of name

The Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag is named after the painter and

graphic artist A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming l ...

Matthias Grünewald Matthias Grünewald ( – 31 August 1528; also known as Mathis Gothart Nithart) was a German Renaissance painter of religious works who ignored Renaissance classicism to continue the style of late medieval Central European art into the 16th cent ...

, who is regarded as an important German representative of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

History of the publishing house

The publishing house was founded in 1918 in the environment of the so-called Bible Movement and the Liturgical Movement in

. A main crystallization point was the Catholic theologian Romano Guardini. Among others the series ''Classics of Catholic Theology'' and the

Bible translation The Christian Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. the whole Bible has been translated into 756 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,726 lan ...

of Paul Riessler and Rupert Storr ''(Mainz Bible)'' appeared. In 1944 the Reichsschrifttumskammer (RSK) announced the closure of the publishing house. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the publishing house and its archives were completely destroyed. After the war the work was continued. In 1978 the publishing house, which had been a

Kommanditgesellschaft A (abbreviated KG, ; from + ) is the German name for a limited partnership business entity and is used in German, Belgian, Dutch, Austrian, and some other European legal systems. In Japan, it is called a '' gōshi gaisha''. Its name derives ...

since 1938, was transformed into a

GmbH (; ) is a type of Juridical person, legal entity in German-speaking countries. It is equivalent to a (Sàrl) in the Romandy, French-speaking region of Switzerland and to a (Sagl) in the Ticino, Italian-speaking region of Switzerland. It is a ...

. After Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag was transferred to Schwabenverlag AG on 1 January 2006, the company was suspended in 2006 and in

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

. The successor company was ''MGV GmbH'', which was deleted from the commercial register on 20 November 2009.Handelsregister des AG Mainz, HRB 1654 (MGV GmbH) Today ''Matthias Grünewald Verlag'' is a company of the Patmos publishing group in Schwabenverlag AG in Ostfildern (HRB 210919).

Publishing program

The logo of the publishing house shows the hand of John the Baptist at the Isenheim Altar. The publishing programme with more than 900 titles essentially comprises the areas of Christian theology (also

pastoral theology Pastoral theology is the branch of practical theology concerned with the application of the study of religion in the context of regular church ministry. This approach to theology seeks to give practical expression to theology. Normally viewed as ...

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

, self help in life,

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

and

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

. In addition, singing books ''(Gotteslob editions),'' magazines and brochures (pastoral.de)'' are published. Among the main authors are

Anselm Grün Anselm Grün (in English also: Anselm Gruen), OSB (born 14 January 1945 in , Germany) is a German Benedictine monk. He was in charge of Münsterschwarzach Abbey's financial matters, as its ''cellarer''. He has written around 300 books focused ...

, Romano Guardini,

Gustavo Gutiérrez Gustavo Gutiérrez-Merino Díaz (8 June 1928 – 22 October 2024) was a Peruvian philosopher, Catholic theologian, and Dominican priest who was one of the founders of liberation theology in Latin America. His 1971 book '' A Theology of Lib ...

, Wilhelm Hoffsümmer,

Walter Kasper Walter Kasper (born 5 March 1933) is a German Catholic prelate who served as President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity from 2001 to 2010. He was previously Bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart from 1989 to 1999. Early life B ...

Pinchas Lapide Pinchas Lapide (; 28 November 1922 – 23 October 1997) was a Jewish theologian, historian, and diplomat. From 1951 to 1969, he served as an Israeli diplomat, including a tenure as Israel's consul (representative), Consul to Milan. He played a ...

, Wunibald Müller, Otto Hermann Pesch and Josef Pieper.

Bibliography

*Jakob Laubach: ''Zur Geschichte des Matthias-Grünewald-Verlags.'' – In: Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag, Mainz: ''75 Jahre Grünewald-Bücher.'' Mainz, 1993, . – p. 5–28

References

External links

Official webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthias-Grunewald-Verlag Book publishing companies of Germany Christian publishing companies Publishing companies established in 1918 Mass media in Mainz Companies based in Mainz German companies established in 1918