Wolfgang Huber
Encyclopedia
Wolfgang Huber is a prominent German theologian and ethicist. Huber served as bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia
Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia
The Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia is a Protestant church body in the German states of Brandenburg, Berlin and a part of Saxony. The seat of the church is in Berlin. It is the most important Protestant denomination in the area....

 until November 2009. Huber succeeded Manfred Kock as Chairperson of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...

 (EKD) in November 2003 and was succeeded by Bishop Margot Käßmann
Margot Käßmann
Margot Käßmann is a Lutheran theologian and was Landesbischöfin of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover in Germany. On 28 October 2009, she was elected to lead the Evangelical Church in Germany, a federation of Protestant church bodies in Germany...

, the first woman in that position, in October 2009.

Life

Huber is the youngest of five brothers and grew up in Falkau in the Black Forest
Black Forest
The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....

 and later in Freiburg im Breisgau. He married the primary school teacher and author Kara Huber in 1966 and they have three children and two grandchildren. His father was Ernst Rudolf Huber, a well-known lawyer and German constitutional scholar. Huber’s mother was the attorney Tula Huber-Simons.

Huber studied Protestant theology from 1960 to 1966 at the University of Heidelberg, University of Göttingen and at the University of Tübingen where he received his doctorate in 1966. He finished his Habilitation
Habilitation
Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...

 at the University of Heidelberg in 1972.

After working in the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg
Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg
The 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...

 from 1966 to 1968 Huber was appointed as researcher and later director of the Protestant Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Heidelberg from 1968 until 1980. He served as member of a number of church organizations and committees: From 1973 to 1984 as member of the EKD’s Chamber for Public Responsibility, from 1975 to 1980 as member of the Evangelical Church of the Union’s Board, from 1980 to 1994 as member of the Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag
Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag
The Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag is a movement of lay members of the Evangelical Church in Germany...

’s executive committee from 1983 to 1985 as its president. He was appointed as Professor of Social Ethics at the University of Marburg in 1980, and Professor of Systematic Theology
Systematic theology
In the context of Christianity, systematic theology is a discipline of Christian theology that attempts to formulate an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the Christian faith and beliefs...

 (with a focus on ethics) at the University of Heidelberg in 1984. In 1989 he was also Lilly Visiting Professor at Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...

. In 1993 he was chosen as Bishop of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia
Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia
The Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia is a Protestant church body in the German states of Brandenburg, Berlin and a part of Saxony. The seat of the church is in Berlin. It is the most important Protestant denomination in the area....

, in 1997 as member of the Council of the EKD and in 2003 as Chairperson of the Council. From 1998 to 2001 Huber served as member of the Central and Executive Committees of the World Council of Churches
World Council of Churches
The World Council of Churches is a worldwide fellowship of 349 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches seeking unity, a common witness and Christian service. It is a Christian ecumenical organization that is based in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland...

.

Huber retired in November 2009. Markus Dröge succeeded him as Bishop and Margot Käßmann
Margot Käßmann
Margot Käßmann is a Lutheran theologian and was Landesbischöfin of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover in Germany. On 28 October 2009, she was elected to lead the Evangelical Church in Germany, a federation of Protestant church bodies in Germany...

 succeeded him as Chairperson of the EKD’s Council. Since retiring Huber has resumed many of his honourary and voluntary positions, amongst others his position as Chairperson of the Stiftung Garnisonkirche Potsdam
Garrison Church (Potsdam)
The Garrison Church was a Baroque church in Potsdam, eastern Germany. It was built under the second Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I. between 1730 and 1735. During World War II, the church burned down on 14 April 1945. The ruin was demolished on 23 June 1968 by the SED leadership under Walter...

 and Dean of the Domstift Brandenburg. He continues to be engaged in public ethical debates and was chosen by the German Cabinet to serve on Germany’s Ethics Council in 2010. His research on ethics currently concerns the mediation of values in business and society.

Since choosing the position of Bishop of Berlin-Brandenburg above a seat in the German Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...

 for the Social Democratic Party of Germany
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

 in 1993 Huber has not associated himself with any political party publicly. His was consequently considered as potential neutral candidate to replace the then President of Germany
President of Germany
The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...

 Horst Köhler
Horst Köhler
Horst Köhler is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union. He was President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties, the CDU and the CSU, and the liberal FDP, Köhler was elected to his first five-year term by the Federal Assembly on...

 after his resignation in 2010.

Thought

Huber has worked on a wide variety and great number of ethical and theological themes. With his father Huber edited five volumes of documents on German church-state relations. His other publications include Kirche und Öffentlichkeit (1973), Menschenrechte. Perspektiven einer menschlichen Welt (1977, with Heinz Eduard Tödt), Kirche (1979), Folgen christlicher Freiheit. Ethik und Theorie der Kirche im Horizont der Barmer Theologischen Erklärung (1983), Konflikt und Konsens. Studien zur Ethik der Verantwortung (1990), Friedensethik (1990, with Hans-Richard Reuter), Die tägliche Gewalt. Gegen den Ausverkauf der Menschenwürde (1993), Gerechtigkeit und Recht. Grundlinien christlicher Rechtsethik (1996), Kirche in der Zeitenwende. Gesellschaftlicher Wandel und Erneuerung der Kirche (1998), Vertrauen erneuern. Eine Reform um der Menschen willen (2005), Im Geist der Freiheit. Für eine Ökumene der Profile (2007), Der christliche Glaube. Eine evangelische Orientierung (2008). As respected religious figure, academic and public intellectual Huber continues to initiate and contribute to a wide range of themes, amongst others by means of a large number of public lectures, sermons and public discussions.

Research on Huber’s thought emphasizes the centrality of the concept “communicative freedom” in his work. His theology and public engagement is characterized by the fact that Christianity is the religion of life-enabling freedom. He understands communicative freedom as a rearticulation of the Reformation’s rediscovery of freedom, as is clear in his use of Martin Luther’s theology to substantiate his understanding of freedom. Huber aims to reconcile individuality and sociality, by developing an understanding of freedom that transcends mere self-realisation. In his recent work he makes use of the term "responsible freedom" to denote this comprehensive understanding of freedom.

Following the sociologist Max Weber, the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the philosopher Hans Jonas, Huber develops an ethics of responsibility for life in the context of modernity. This forms the starting point for Huber’s contributions to present-day ethical questions, as can be seen in his contributions to business ethics, political ethics and bio-ethics.

Huber is known for his opposition to embryology
Embryology
Embryology is a science which is about the development of an embryo from the fertilization of the ovum to the fetus stage...

 research. He understands human dignity as conferred by God, and expressed by the Christian conviction that the human person is created in the “image of God”. Human dignity cannot be equated with either the biological development or genetic characteristics as this contradicts the human person as subject of freedom. In Huber's view a human being is always a person and never simply an object.

Church reform

As bishop and chairperson of the EKD’s Council Huber initiated and supported numerous reform programs. In the context of the challenges mainline Protestantism face, especially in the eastern parts of Germany, Huber advocated for a missionary reorientation of the church. For him church reform is closely connected to the rediscovery of the church’s evangelical essence and requires openness to those who have distanced themselves from the Christian faith. These impulses characterize the large-scale reform process, subsumed under the theme “Church of freedom”, which Huber headed. The document Kirche der Freiheit describes how the church can set its profile in society, whilst respecting societal plurality. This document formulates four goals for the reform of the Protestant church in Germany, namely (a) spiritual profiling instead of indistinct activity, (b) prioritising instead of aiming for completeness, (c) structural mobility and (d) shifting the focus of the activities of the church to the outside instead of self-contentment. In his own regional church Huber also oversaw a reform process, “Salt of the earth”. Huber’s tenure as chairperson of the EKD’s Council also saw the incorporation of the Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands and the Union Evangelischer Kirchen with the EKD, the streamlining of regional churches from 23 to 21, and the initiation of further reform processes.

Ecumenical and inter-religious engagement

Huber continuously engages in ecumenical and inter-religious discussions. He was the hosting bishop of the first Ecumenical Church Conference in Berlin in 2003, and during his meeting with Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...

 in Cologne in 2005 Huber expressed the wish that ecumenical relations may develop to a phase of “profiled ecumenism”. This position also characterized his reaction to the Vatican’s declaration in 2007 that Protestant churches cannot be regarded as churches in the true sense of the word. The Archbishop of Canterbury invited Huber to address the Nikaean Club of Archbishops in 2009, where Huber identified “ecumenism of the indicative” – namely borne from the conferred unity in Christ, of faith and of baptism – as the basis for all ecumenical relations.

Huber regards religious pluralism as a defining characteristic of contemporary society. He understands the growing influence of Muslim minorities in western Europe (and particularly in his native Germany) as a legitimate example of growing religious pluralism. As chairperson of the EKD Huber campaigned for an open and regular dialogue between Christian and Muslim religious leaders. His insistence on clarity (“Klarheit”) and being good neighbours (“gute Nachbarschaft) – following a document published by the EKD – led to controversies within the EKD and between Protestants and Muslim conversation partners. Especially his warning not to engage in “interreligious cheating” (a formulation which he articulated for the first time in 2001) gave rise to a number of public discussions. A prominent German Muslim organisation reacted to the document published by the EKD by saying that it reinforces and legitimates existing prejudices against Islam. Huber reacted by stating the continued need for honest dialogue – including controversial themes such as freedom of religion and of the change of religion in Muslim countries.

Awards and honorary memberships

  • 1982: Theodor Heuss Prize (together with the Kammer der EKD für öffentliche Verantwortung)
  • 1995: Honorary Professor of the Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg and the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
  • 1999: Comenius
    Comenius
    John Amos Comenius ; ; Latinized: Iohannes Amos Comenius) was a Czech teacher, educator, and writer. He served as the last bishop of Unity of the Brethren, and became a religious refugee and one of the earliest champions of universal education, a concept eventually set forth in his book Didactica...

     Prize
  • 2003: Kreuzpfadfinder der Christlichen Pfadfinderschaft Deutschlands
  • 2004: Honorary member of the Rotary International|Rotary Club Berlin-Kurfürstendamm
  • 2005: The Golden Feather of the Bauer Publishing Group
  • 2006: Ludwig Wolker Badge of the German Olympic Federation
  • 2006: Honorary member of the Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg), known as the Johanniterorden
  • 2007: Großes Verdienstkreuz mit Stern und Schulterband from the German Federal Government
  • 2007: Hermann Ehlers Medal of the Evangelischer Arbeitskreises der CDU/CSU
    CDU/CSU
    CDU/CSU, unofficially also referred to as the Union parties or the Union, is the name of the Bundestag parliamentary faction comprising the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria , considered to be sister parties...

  • 2007: Honorary member of Hertha BSC
  • 2007: Patron of the German Children's Prize
  • 2008: Agricola Medal of the Lutheran Church of Finland
  • 2008: Honorary doctorate from the Christian Academy in Warschau
  • 2009: Order of Berlin
  • 2009: European Culture Prize for Theology
  • 2009: Vordenker Prize of the Plansecur Group

Recent publications

  • 2010: Wenn ihr umkehrt, wird euch geholfen. Oder: Anmerkungen zur globalen Finanzmarkt- und Wirtschaftskrise, Frankfurt / Main
  • 2010: Das Netz ist zerrissen und wir sind frei. Reden, Frankfurt/Main
  • 2010: Gottes Wort halten, Liebe üben und demütig sein. Predigten, Frankfurt/Main
  • 2009: Die Liebe in der Wahrheit. Die Sozialenzyklika “Caritas in veritate” Papst Benedikts XVI. Ökumenisch kommentiert von Wolfgang Huber und anderen, Freiburg/Breisgau
  • 2009: Der christliche Glaube. Eine evangelische Orientierung, 5. Aufl. Gütersloh
  • 2009: Von den Grenzen der Erkenntnis und der Unbegrenztheit des Glaubens. Ein Streitgespräch zwischen Wolfgang Huber und Wolf Singer, Berlin
  • 2009: Die Mauer ist weg. Ein Lesebuch, herausgegeben von Wolfgang Huber, Frankfurt am Main
  • 2009: Religion, Politik und Gewalt in der heutigen Welt, in: Karl Kardinal Lehmann (Hg.), Weltreligionen – Verstehen, Verständigung, Verantwortung, Frankfurt/Main
  • 2008: Die Verantwortung eines Unternehmers, in: P. May u.a. (Hg.), Familienunternehmen heute, Jahrbuch 2008, Bonn
  • 2008: Habermas in protestantischer Tradition, in: Michael Funken (Hg.), Über Habermas, Darmstadt
  • 2008: Die Verfassungsordnung für Religion und Kirche in Anfechtung und Bewährung. Zusammen mit Christian Waldhoff und Udo die Fabio, Münster
  • 2007: Im Geist der Freiheit. Für eine Ökumene der Profile, Freiburg
  • 2007: Position beziehen. Das Ende der Beliebigkeit, Lahr
  • 2007: „Der Mensch ist zur Arbeit geboren wie der Vogel zum Fliegen...“. Hat das protestantische Arbeitsethos noch eine Zukunft?, in: Die neue Frage nach der Arbeit, Wittenberg
  • 2006: Familie haben alle. Für eine Zukunft mit Kindern, Berlin
  • 2006: Gerechtigkeit und Recht. Grundlinien christlicher Rechtsethik, 3. Aufl. Gütersloh
  • 2006: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Auswahl, 6 Bände, herausgegeben von Christian Gremmels und Wolfgang Huber, Gütersloh
  • 2006: Wissenschaft verantworten. Überlegungen zur Ethik der Forschung, Göttingen
  • 2006: Vertrauensberufe im Rechtsstaat, in: Anwaltsblatt, 8+9
  • 2005: Der Staat und die Religionen, Bonn 2005 und Erfurt
  • 2005: Vertrauen erneuern. Eine Reform um der Menschen willen, Freiburg/Breisgau
  • 2005: Woran dein Herz hängt. Bischofsworte in bewegter Zeit, Gütersloh
  • 2005: Die jüdisch-christliche Tradition, in: Hans Joas / Klaus Wiegandt (Hg.), Die kulturellen Werte Europas, 2. Aufl. Frankfurt/Main
  • 2004: Vor Gott und den Menschen. Wolfgang Huber im Gespräch mit Stefan Berg, Berlin: Wichern
  • 2004: Verfassung ohne Gottesbezug? Zu einer aktuellen europäischen Kontroverse. Gemeinsam mit Helmut Goerlich und Karl Kardinal Lehmann, Leipzig
  • 2002: Der gemachte Mensch. Christlicher Glaube und Biotechnik, Berlin 2002
  • 1999: Kirche in der Zeitenwende. Gesellschaftlicher Wandel und Erneuerung der Kirche, 3. Aufl. Gütersloh

Literature


External links

  • http://www.wolfganghuber.info
  • http://dispatch.opac.d-nb.de/DB=4.1/REL?PPN=119333260
  • http://www.ekd.de/ekd_kirchen/3218_ratsmitglied_huber.html
  • http://www.ekbo.de/landeskirche/bischof.php
  • http://www.br-online.de/alpha/forum/vor0506/20050621_i.shtml
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