The
Tübinger Stift is a hall of residence and teaching; it is owned and supported by the
Evangelical-Lutheran Church in WürttembergThe Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg is a Protestant church in the German former state of Württemberg, now the part of the state Baden-Württemberg. The seat of the church is in Stuttgart.It is a full member of the Evangelical Church in Germany , and is a Lutheran Church...
, and located in the university city of
TübingenTübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...
, in South West Germany. The Stift was originally founded as an Augustinian
monasteryMonastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
in the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. After the
Reformation- Movements :* Protestant Reformation, an attempt by Martin Luther to reform the Roman Catholic Church that resulted in a schism, and grew into a wider movement...
, in 1536,
Duke UlrichHerzog Ulrich von Württemberg succeeded his kinsman Eberhard II as Duke of Württemberg in 1498, being declared of age in 1503.-Early life:...
turned the Stift into a seminary which served to prepare Protestant pastors for Württemberg. To this day the scholarship is still given to students in preparation for the ministry or teaching in
WürttembergWürttemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
. Students receive a scholarship which consists of boarding, lodging and further academic support.
Some of the well known "Stiftlers" are the astronomer
Johannes KeplerJohannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer. A key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution, he is best known for his eponymous laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers, based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican...
and his associate, statesman
Hans Ulrich von EggenbergHans Ulrich von Eggenberg was an Austrian statesman, a son of Seyfried von Eggenberg and great-grandson of Balthasar Eggenberger of the House of Eggenberg.- Biography :...
, the poet
Friedrich HölderlinJohann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
, the philosophers G. W. F. Hegel and Friedrich Schelling, as well as the theologians
David Friedrich StraußDavid Friedrich Strauss was a German theologian and writer. He scandalized Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus," whose divine nature he denied...
,
Johann Albrecht BengelJohann Albrecht Bengel , Lutheran pietist clergyman and Greek-language scholar known for his edition of the Greek New Testament and his commentaries on it.-Life and career:Bengel was born at Winnenden in Württemberg, Germany....
,
Friedrich Christoph OetingerFriedrich Christoph Oetinger was a German theosopher.He was born at Göppingen. He studied philosophy and theology at Tübingen , and was impressed by the works of Jakob Böhme. On the completion of his university course, Oetinger spent some years travelling...
,
Ferdinand Christian BaurFerdinand Christian Baur was a German theologian and leader of the Tübingen school of theology...
and
Eberhard NestleEberhard Nestle was a German biblical scholar, textual critic, Orientalist, editor of Novum Testamentum Graece, and the father of Erwin Nestle.- Life :...
, and the philologist
August PaulyAugust Friedrich von Pauly was a teacher who began the first edition of the classical encyclopedia Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, whose later editions are commonly known as the Pauly–Wissowa. Pauly died while working on the fourth volume....
.
Famous students from the past
- Nikodemus Frischlin
Philipp Nicodemus Frischlin , German philologist, poet, playwright, mathematician, and astronomer, was born at Erzingen, today part of Balingen in Württemberg, where his father was parish minister.- Life :He was educated as a scholar of "Tübinger Stift" at the university of Tübingen, where in 1568...
, poet, playwright, humanist, mathematician, astronomer (1547–1590)
- Michael Maestlin
Michael Maestlin was a German astronomer and mathematician, known for being the mentor of Johannes Kepler.-Career:...
, astronomer, mathematician (1550–1631)
- Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg
Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg was an Austrian statesman, a son of Seyfried von Eggenberg and great-grandson of Balthasar Eggenberger of the House of Eggenberg.- Biography :...
, Statesman (1568–1634)
- Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer. A key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution, he is best known for his eponymous laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers, based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican...
, astronomer (1571–1630)
- Johann Valentin Andreae, theologian (1586–1654)
- Wilhelm Schickhardt, theologian, astronomer, universal scientist (1592–1635)
- Johann Albrecht Bengel
Johann Albrecht Bengel , Lutheran pietist clergyman and Greek-language scholar known for his edition of the Greek New Testament and his commentaries on it.-Life and career:Bengel was born at Winnenden in Württemberg, Germany....
, theologian (1687–1752)
- Friedrich Christoph Oetinger
Friedrich Christoph Oetinger was a German theosopher.He was born at Göppingen. He studied philosophy and theology at Tübingen , and was impressed by the works of Jakob Böhme. On the completion of his university course, Oetinger spent some years travelling...
, theologian (1702–1782)
- Karl Friedrich Reinhard, French politician and diplomate (1761–1837)
- Karl Philipp Conz, poet, writer (1762–1827)
- Friedrich Hölderlin
Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
, poet (1770–1843)
- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher, one of the creators of German Idealism. His historicist and idealist account of reality as a whole revolutionized European philosophy and was an important precursor to Continental philosophy and Marxism.Hegel developed a comprehensive...
, philosopher (1770–1831)
- Friedrich Schelling, philosopher (1775–1854)
- Gustav Schwab
Gustav Benjamin Schwab was a German writer, pastor and publisher.-Life:Gustav Schwab was born in Stuttgart, the son of a professor and was introduced to the humanities early in life...
, minister, poet, writer (1792–1850)
- Ferdinand Christian Baur
Ferdinand Christian Baur was a German theologian and leader of the Tübingen school of theology...
, theologian (1792–1860)
- August Pauly
August Friedrich von Pauly was a teacher who began the first edition of the classical encyclopedia Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, whose later editions are commonly known as the Pauly–Wissowa. Pauly died while working on the fourth volume....
, philologist (1796–1845)
- Wilhelm Hauff
Wilhelm Hauff was a German poet and novelist.-Early life:Hauff was born in Stuttgart, the son of August Friedrich Hauff, a secretary in the ministry of foreign affairs, and Hedwig Wilhelmine Elsaesser Hauff...
, writer (1802–1827)
- Wilhelm Waiblinger
Wilhelm Waiblinger was a German romantic poet, mostly remembered today in connection with Friedrich Hölderlin. After he had attended Gymnasium Illustre in Stuttgart, he was a student at the seminary of Tübingen in the 1820s, when Hölderlin, already mentally ill, lived there as a recluse in a...
, poet, writer (1804–1830)
- Eduard Mörike
Eduard Friedrich Mörike was a German Romantic poet.-Biography:Mörike was born in Ludwigsburg. His father was Karl Friedrich Mörike , a district medical councilor; his mother was Charlotte Bayer...
, minister and poet (1804–1875)
- Friedrich Theodor Vischer
Friedrich Theodor Vischer was a German writer on the philosophy of art.Born at Ludwigsburg as the son of a clergyman, Vischer was educated at Tübinger Stift, and began life in his father's profession...
, writer, professor of literature (1807–1887)
- David Friedrich Strauß
David Friedrich Strauss was a German theologian and writer. He scandalized Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus," whose divine nature he denied...
, theologian, philosopher, writer (1808–1874)
- Hermann Kurz
Hermann Kurz was a German poet and novelist.He was born at Reutlingen. Having studied at the theological seminary at Maulbronn and at the University of Tübingen, he became assistant pastor at Ehningen...
, poet, writer (1813–1873)
- Eduard Zeller
Eduard Gottlob Zeller , was a German philosopher and theologian of the Tübingen School of theology.- Life :Eduard Zeller was born at Kleinbottwar in Württemberg, and educated at the University of Tübingen and under the influence of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel...
, theologian, philosopher (1814–1908)
- Georg Herwegh
Georg Friedrich Rudolph Theodor Herwegh was a German revolutionary poet.-Biography:He was born in Stuttgart on 31 May 1817, the son of an innkeeper...
, poet, revolutionist (1817–1875)
- Ferdinand von Hochstetter
Christian Gottlieb Ferdinand Ritter von Hochstetter was a German geologist.He was born at Esslingen, Württemberg, the son of Christian Ferdinand Friedrich Hochstetter , a clergyman and professor at Bonn, who was also a botanist and mineralogist...
, geologist, naturalist (1829–1884)
- Albert Schäffle
Albert Eberhard Friedrich Schäffle , German statesman and political economist, was born at Nürtingen in Württemberg, and in 1848 became a student at the University of Tübingen....
, economist, sociologist, politician (1831–1903)
- Eberhard Nestle
Eberhard Nestle was a German biblical scholar, textual critic, Orientalist, editor of Novum Testamentum Graece, and the father of Erwin Nestle.- Life :...
, theologian, orientalist (1851–1913)
- Hans Vaihinger
Hans Vaihinger was a German philosopher, best known as a Kant scholar and for his Philosophie des Als Ob , published in 1911, but written more than thirty years earlier....
, philosopher (1852–1933)
- Johannes Hieber, politician (1862–1951)
- Karl Heim
Karl Heim was a professor of dogmatics at Münster and Tübingen. One of his students was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He retired in 1939. His idea of God controlling quantum events that do and would seem otherwise random has been seen as the precursor to much of the current studies on divine action...
, theologian (1874–1958)
- Edwin Hoernle, politician (1883–1952)
Quote
- "One need merely say «Tübingen Stift» to understand what German philosophy is at bottom—an insidious theology." – Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
Literature references
- Martin Leube: Das Tübinger Stift: 1770 – 1950; Geschichte des Tübinger Stifts. Stuttgart, Steinkopf (1954)
- Reinhard Breymayer: Freimaurer vor den Toren des Tübinger Stifts: Masonischer Einfluss auf Hölderlin? In: Tubingensia: Impulse zur Stadt- und Universitätsgeschichte. Festschrift für Wilfried Setzler zum 65. Geburtstag. Hrsg. von Sönke Lorenz und Volker [Karl] Schäfer in Verbindung mit dem Institut für Geschichtliche Landeskunde und Historische Hilfswissenschaften der Universität Tübingen. Redaktion: Susanne Borgards. (Ostfildern:) Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 2008 (Tübinger Bausteine zur Landesgeschichte, 10), pp. 355 – 395. - ISBN 978-3-7995-5510-4.
External links