Carl Muth
Encyclopedia
Carl Borromäus Johann Baptist Muth (also Karl) (31 January 1867, Worms
– 15 November 1944, Bad Reichenhall
) was a German writer publisher, best known for founding and editing the religious and cultural magazine Hochland
.
from 1882 to 1884 and the missionary school in Algiers
of the White Fathers
from 1884 to 1885. He did military service in Mainz
in 1890 and 1891, then studied for a year at the University of Berlin, taking classes in philosophy, history, and literature. He studied history and art in Paris
(1892-1893) and Rome
(1893), began writing for the Mainzer Journal, and befriended Georges Goyau
. In 1894 he became editor at the newspaper Der Elsässer in Strasbourg
, and he married Anna Thaler from Fulda
in the same year. From 1895 to 1902 he worked as editor at the Catholic monthly family magazine Alte und Neue Welt.
Prompted by a public debate over the "inferiority of German Catholics," Muth began publishing on Catholic literature; furthermore, he began to call for an end to the confessionalism that remained from the Kulturkampf
, with its attendant narrow-minded morality, apathy, and prudery. Under the influence of Martin Deutinger
, he emphasized the interaction between religion and art and maintained that a decrease in religious awareness also entailed a decrease in art's creativity. Muth's main accomplishment was founding and then editing Hochland, a magazine with a "supraconfessional" group of contributors, writing on sciences, poetry, arts, and music. The magazine soon attained a leading status in Catholic spiritual life. During World War I
he defended German culture, and after the war Hochland attacked the primitivism and nihilism of Nazism
; throughout the 1930s the magazine spoke out, partly covertly, against the perversion of (Christianity-derived) justice and the destruction of societal order.
After Hochland was definitively banned in 1941, Muth successfully managed to avoid being arrested in connection with the White Rose
. He died alone in a hospital in Bad Reichenhall.
calls a "self-conscious Catholic modernist," was a patriot, though he never claimed to be a nationalist, and, in a defense of Germany's involvement in World War I
, said, "Our ambition is not rooted in a conceited belief that we are fit and destined to lord it over the globe. Our heart is not set on industrial subjugation or commercial supremacy. We simply have a keen inborn sense that mother nature has made us a many-sided and objective sort of folk. We think we have a duty to ripen in ourselves a humanity that shall unite in harmony the several forces and faculties. A limited, self-centred, bigoted nationalism is foreign to our deeper character....The idea of universalism, catholicity, and world-embracing solidarity is essentially Christian. There is a natural kinship, then, between Christianity and German universalism."
and Hans
and Sophie Scholl
(Sophie Scholl rented a room in his house). Among his friends (the "Hochland Kreis") were such notables as Carl Schmitt
(Hochland published a response to Richard Thoma's critique of Schmitt's seminal 1923 essay "Die geistesgeschichtliche Lage des heutigen Parlamentarismus
") and Theodor Schieffer
.
Worms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
– 15 November 1944, Bad Reichenhall
Bad Reichenhall
Bad Reichenhall is a spa town, and administrative center of the Berchtesgadener Land district in Upper Bavaria, Germany. It is located near Salzburg in a basin encircled by the Chiemgauer Alps ....
) was a German writer publisher, best known for founding and editing the religious and cultural magazine Hochland
Hochland (magazine)
Hochland was a German Catholic magazine, published in Munich from 1903 to 1941 and again from 1946 to 1971. Founded by Carl Muth, it was regarded critically by the church, and published work by authors regardless of denomination on topics related to religion and culture.-History:Hochland was,...
.
Biography
Muth attended gymnasium in Worms from 1877 to 1881. Desiring to become a missionary, he attended the school of the Steyler MissionariesDivine Word Missionaries
The Society of the Divine Word , popularly called the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a missionary religious congregation in the Latin Church, one of the 23 sui iuris churches which make up the Catholic Church. As of 2006 it consisted of 6,102 members composed...
from 1882 to 1884 and the missionary school in Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
of the White Fathers
White Fathers
The missionary society known as "White Fathers" , after their dress, is a Roman Catholic Society of Apostolic Life founded in 1868 by the first Archbishop of Algiers, later Cardinal Lavigerie, as the Missionaries of Our Lady of Africa of Algeria, and is also now known as the Society of the...
from 1884 to 1885. He did military service in Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
in 1890 and 1891, then studied for a year at the University of Berlin, taking classes in philosophy, history, and literature. He studied history and art in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(1892-1893) and Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
(1893), began writing for the Mainzer Journal, and befriended Georges Goyau
Georges Goyau
Georges Goyau was a French historian and essayist specializing in religious history.-Biography:He was born in Orléans, where he went to school before moving on to Lycée Louis-le-Grand and then École Normale Supérieure both in Paris. Then he became lecturer at the French School of Rome, an...
. In 1894 he became editor at the newspaper Der Elsässer in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, and he married Anna Thaler from Fulda
Fulda
Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...
in the same year. From 1895 to 1902 he worked as editor at the Catholic monthly family magazine Alte und Neue Welt.
Prompted by a public debate over the "inferiority of German Catholics," Muth began publishing on Catholic literature; furthermore, he began to call for an end to the confessionalism that remained from the Kulturkampf
Kulturkampf
The German term refers to German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck. The Kulturkampf did not extend to the other German states such as Bavaria...
, with its attendant narrow-minded morality, apathy, and prudery. Under the influence of Martin Deutinger
Martin Deutinger
Martin Deutinger was a German philosopher and religious writer, born in Langenpreising, Bavaria, and died at Pfäfers, Switzerland.*...
, he emphasized the interaction between religion and art and maintained that a decrease in religious awareness also entailed a decrease in art's creativity. Muth's main accomplishment was founding and then editing Hochland, a magazine with a "supraconfessional" group of contributors, writing on sciences, poetry, arts, and music. The magazine soon attained a leading status in Catholic spiritual life. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
he defended German culture, and after the war Hochland attacked the primitivism and nihilism of Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
; throughout the 1930s the magazine spoke out, partly covertly, against the perversion of (Christianity-derived) justice and the destruction of societal order.
After Hochland was definitively banned in 1941, Muth successfully managed to avoid being arrested in connection with the White Rose
White Rose
The White Rose was a non-violent/intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor...
. He died alone in a hospital in Bad Reichenhall.
Patriotism and Christianity
Muth, whom historian David BlackbournDavid Blackbourn
David Gordon Blackbourn is the Coolidge Professor of History at Harvard University and director of the university's Minda de Gunzberg Center for European Studies. Blackbourn teaches and researches primarily in the fields of German and modern European history...
calls a "self-conscious Catholic modernist," was a patriot, though he never claimed to be a nationalist, and, in a defense of Germany's involvement in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, said, "Our ambition is not rooted in a conceited belief that we are fit and destined to lord it over the globe. Our heart is not set on industrial subjugation or commercial supremacy. We simply have a keen inborn sense that mother nature has made us a many-sided and objective sort of folk. We think we have a duty to ripen in ourselves a humanity that shall unite in harmony the several forces and faculties. A limited, self-centred, bigoted nationalism is foreign to our deeper character....The idea of universalism, catholicity, and world-embracing solidarity is essentially Christian. There is a natural kinship, then, between Christianity and German universalism."
Hochland
Muth founded Hochland in 1903 and edited it from 1903 to 1932 and again from 1935 to 1939. Hochland was a Catholic magazine devoted to religion and culture; the articles it published were to elucidate art and aesthetics and how their power could influence politics and religions. In keeping with Muth's abhorrence of confessionalism, it published works by authors of all denominations and, while patriotic, did not follow any party's line.Influences
Muth, personally and through Hochland, exerted influence on a number of notable people, including Gertrud von Le FortGertrud von Le Fort
Gertrud von Le Fort was a German writer of novels, poems, and essays. She came from a Protestant background, but converted to Catholicism in 1926. Most of Gertrud's writings come after this conversion...
and Hans
Hans Scholl
Hans Fritz Scholl was a founding member of the White Rose resistance movement in Nazi Germany.-Biography:...
and Sophie Scholl
Sophie Scholl
Sophia Magdalena Scholl was a German student, active within the White Rose non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany. She was convicted of high treason after having been found distributing anti-war leaflets at the University of Munich with her brother Hans...
(Sophie Scholl rented a room in his house). Among his friends (the "Hochland Kreis") were such notables as Carl Schmitt
Carl Schmitt
Carl Schmitt was a German jurist, philosopher, political theorist, and professor of law.Schmitt published several essays, influential in the 20th century and beyond, on the mentalities that surround the effective wielding of political power...
(Hochland published a response to Richard Thoma's critique of Schmitt's seminal 1923 essay "Die geistesgeschichtliche Lage des heutigen Parlamentarismus
Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy
The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy is a political book written by a German jurist Carl Schmitt that was translated by Ellen Kennedy.-Introduction:...
") and Theodor Schieffer
Theodor Schieffer
Theodor Schieffer was a German historian. He was professor of medieval history at the University of Mainz, then at the University of Cologne, and since 1952 he was president of the Association for Middle Rhine Church History...
.
