Friedrich Heiler
Encyclopedia
Friedrich Heiler was a German theologian and historian of religion.
Heiler came from a Roman Catholic
family. 1918 he became Privatdozent
in University of Munich, from where he 1920 moved to theological faculty of the University of Marburg, where he became professor 1922.
Dissatisfied with tridentine
Roman Catholicism of his time he became Lutheran through the Evangelical Catholic influence of liberal Nathan Söderblom
after meeting him in Sweden 1919 and receiving Holy Communion in Lutheran church. Soon he became directly involved with Lutheran High Church movement in Germany and 1929 became chairman of Hochkirchliche Vereinigung Augsburgischen Bekenntnisses
. Heiler never completely abandoned his Roman Catholic faith, but developed further the idea of "Evangelical Catholicity" based on Augsburg Confession
from his own liberal Catholic point of view. He, for example, did not approve the traditional Lutheran doctrine of forensic justification
. Heiler favored Franciscan
spirituality and he influenced the foundation of Lutheran Franciscan Third Order
(Evangelische Franziskaner-Tertiaren) 1927 within Hochkirchliche Vereinigung. Later the issue of the absence of Apostolic succession
in Evangelical Church in Germany
caused the foundation of Hochkirchliche St.-Johannes-Bruderschaft
. Heiler became the Apostolischer Vorsteher of the St.-Johannes-Bruderschaft, arranging to receive the episcopal consecration from a bishop of the Gallican Church, Petrus Gaston Vigué (from the succession line of Joseph René Vilatte
).
As a historian of religion, after studying Asian religions, Heiler developed a Modernist view and favored the idea that the "one holy church" includes also non-Christian faiths. He also had a long literary feud with Sadhu Sundar Singh
, but nevertheless defended him in time. Lastly he placed a high value in the role of women in the church, even in favour of ordination of women
.
Despite of Heiler's liberalism, his high church theology was also widely known among other, usually very conservative Lutheran high church theologians outside of Germany, because of at that time generally a rare ecumenical attempt, Heiler's Roman Catholic background and because of his interest on Liturgical Movement
. After the ecumenical approach of Second Vatican Council
of Roman Catholic Church
, Heiler as an ecumenical theologian has been of less interest in academical theology.
Secular Spirituality The most detached prayer from Christianity is that of worldly mysticism, in which the one praying seeks to converse with a deity by immersing their life with the world. This secular petitioning may not include God at all, but instead be the effort to connect with nature. Secular prayer may also simply be a type of inward meditation instead of outward communication. In societies that recognize a sentient God, prayers progress outward.
Primitive Prayer The most basic petitions to higher beings, according to Heiler, derive from felt needs and fear. The basics of these prayers focus on deliverance from misfortune and danger. This type of prayer can be found in all facets of life, from primitive cultures to superstitious industrialized countries. When such prayers seem to be heard, and even answered, the culture is likely to progress into ritualistic prayer.
Ritual Prayer While primitive prayer may come from the heart, once it is recognized for producing results, efforts are made to replicate the effects. Ritualistic prayer derives from such pragmatism in which superstition leads to formulas and litany. In this case, the form, instead of the content, is thought to produce the results. Many Christians fall into this superstition by ending all prayers, “in Jesus’ name”, when Christ himself ended his lesson in prayer with no such formula, instead saying, “for yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever, amen.” (Matthew 16:13) The next progression is recognition of the importance of content over method.
Greek Cultural Prayer In the Greek culture, more emphasis is placed on moral needs than physical needs. In other words, this refined primitive prayer sought intercession from gods for cultural needs instead of individual needs. This type of prayer was often the duty of the philosophical elite.
Philosophical Prayer The progression from cultural prayer by the philosophical elite leads into contemplative examination of the relationship between creation and creator. At this point, the person praying recognizes that naïve and realistic prayers may not affect the divine order of the universe. At this level is where the question first is introduced, “Why pray?” Any communicative prayer is no longer for petition, as it seems the immutability of God precludes his intercession, and prayers turn only to thanksgiving. Up until this level, these five types of prayer seek what man can receive from prayer, from the most basic of necessities to transcendent knowledge, but according to Heiler there are two forms of higher prayer which seek an audience with God; Mystical and Prophetic prayer.
Mystical Prayer At this level of prayer, the person praying recognizes that God is outside of them, but capable and perhaps willing to indwell and unite with them through conversation and transformation. While not biblical, Mystical prayer does contain similarities, such as petition, revelation, and elevation of the one praying. The major difference between Mystical and Prophetic prayer is the motive of the one praying. Mysticism seeks an illumination rather than intervention, and sees this illumination as being revealed in stages.
Prophetic Prayer The highest form of prayer, according to Heiler, is that of the biblical model. In this model, there are no stages, as the ability to speak directly to God without formula or meditation began when the veil was rent on the day Christ was crucified. The prophetic prayer allows all four types of biblical prayer from any believer at any time. No limitations are placed on method, location, or liturgical ranking.
Heiler came from a Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
family. 1918 he became Privatdozent
Privatdozent
Privatdozent or Private lecturer is a title conferred in some European university systems, especially in German-speaking countries, for someone who pursues an academic career and holds all formal qualifications to become a tenured university professor...
in University of Munich, from where he 1920 moved to theological faculty of the University of Marburg, where he became professor 1922.
Dissatisfied with tridentine
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
Roman Catholicism of his time he became Lutheran through the Evangelical Catholic influence of liberal Nathan Söderblom
Nathan Söderblom
Lars Olof Jonathan Söderblom was a Swedish clergyman, Archbishop of Uppsala in the Church of Sweden, and recipient of the 1930 Nobel Peace Prize...
after meeting him in Sweden 1919 and receiving Holy Communion in Lutheran church. Soon he became directly involved with Lutheran High Church movement in Germany and 1929 became chairman of Hochkirchliche Vereinigung Augsburgischen Bekenntnisses
Hochkirchliche Vereinigung Augsburgischen Bekenntnisses
Hochkirchliche Vereinigung Augsburgischen Bekenntnisses is a Lutheran High Church organisation in Germany. It was founded in Berlin, October 1918, inspired by High Church theses Stimuli et Clavi 1917 by Heinrich Hansen...
. Heiler never completely abandoned his Roman Catholic faith, but developed further the idea of "Evangelical Catholicity" based on Augsburg Confession
Augsburg Confession
The Augsburg Confession, also known as the "Augustana" from its Latin name, Confessio Augustana, is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Lutheran reformation...
from his own liberal Catholic point of view. He, for example, did not approve the traditional Lutheran doctrine of forensic justification
Justification (theology)
Rising out of the Protestant Reformation, Justification is the chief article of faith describing God's act of declaring or making a sinner righteous through Christ's atoning sacrifice....
. Heiler favored Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
spirituality and he influenced the foundation of Lutheran Franciscan Third Order
Third order
The term Third Order designates persons who live according to the Third Rule of a Roman Catholic religious order, an Anglican religious order, or a Lutheran religious order. Their members, known as Tertiaries, are generally lay members of religious orders, i.e...
(Evangelische Franziskaner-Tertiaren) 1927 within Hochkirchliche Vereinigung. Later the issue of the absence of Apostolic succession
Apostolic Succession
Apostolic succession is a doctrine, held by some Christian denominations, which asserts that the chosen successors of the Twelve Apostles, from the first century to the present day, have inherited the spiritual, ecclesiastical and sacramental authority, power, and responsibility that were...
in 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...
caused the foundation of Hochkirchliche St.-Johannes-Bruderschaft
Hochkirchliche St.-Johannes-Bruderschaft
Hochkirchliche St. Johannes-Bruderschaft is a German High Church Lutheran religious society for men and women under the patronate of John the Apostle within the Hochkirchliche Vereinigung. It has about 100 members in Germany, Netherlands, Austria and Czech Republic...
. Heiler became the Apostolischer Vorsteher of the St.-Johannes-Bruderschaft, arranging to receive the episcopal consecration from a bishop of the Gallican Church, Petrus Gaston Vigué (from the succession line of Joseph René Vilatte
Joseph René Vilatte
Joseph René Vilatte was, at different times, a Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Russian Orthodox and Jacobite...
).
As a historian of religion, after studying Asian religions, Heiler developed a Modernist view and favored the idea that the "one holy church" includes also non-Christian faiths. He also had a long literary feud with Sadhu Sundar Singh
Sadhu Sundar Singh
Sadhu Sundar Singh was an Indian Christian missionary. He is believed to have died in the foothills of the Himalayas in 1929.-Early years:...
, but nevertheless defended him in time. Lastly he placed a high value in the role of women in the church, even in favour of ordination of women
Ordination of women
Ordination in general religious usage is the process by which a person is consecrated . The ordination of women is a regular practice among some major religious groups, as it was of several religions of antiquity...
.
Despite of Heiler's liberalism, his high church theology was also widely known among other, usually very conservative Lutheran high church theologians outside of Germany, because of at that time generally a rare ecumenical attempt, Heiler's Roman Catholic background and because of his interest on Liturgical Movement
Liturgical Movement
The Liturgical Movement began as a movement of scholarship for the reform of worship within the Roman Catholic Church. It has grown over the last century and a half and has affected many other Christian Churches, including the Church of England and other Churches of the Anglican Communion, and some...
. After the ecumenical approach of Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
of Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, Heiler as an ecumenical theologian has been of less interest in academical theology.
Typology of Prayer
Friedrich Heiler is recognized for compiling one of the most comprehensive Christian studies into the phenomenology of prayer. This typology proposes six types of prayer; primitive, ritual, Greek cultural, philosophical, mystical, and prophetic. In these the reader can see a sort of progression from man-centered to God-centered prayer. It has been noted in recent years that Heiler’s typology should include seven types, the first being secular spirituality.Secular Spirituality The most detached prayer from Christianity is that of worldly mysticism, in which the one praying seeks to converse with a deity by immersing their life with the world. This secular petitioning may not include God at all, but instead be the effort to connect with nature. Secular prayer may also simply be a type of inward meditation instead of outward communication. In societies that recognize a sentient God, prayers progress outward.
Primitive Prayer The most basic petitions to higher beings, according to Heiler, derive from felt needs and fear. The basics of these prayers focus on deliverance from misfortune and danger. This type of prayer can be found in all facets of life, from primitive cultures to superstitious industrialized countries. When such prayers seem to be heard, and even answered, the culture is likely to progress into ritualistic prayer.
Ritual Prayer While primitive prayer may come from the heart, once it is recognized for producing results, efforts are made to replicate the effects. Ritualistic prayer derives from such pragmatism in which superstition leads to formulas and litany. In this case, the form, instead of the content, is thought to produce the results. Many Christians fall into this superstition by ending all prayers, “in Jesus’ name”, when Christ himself ended his lesson in prayer with no such formula, instead saying, “for yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever, amen.” (Matthew 16:13) The next progression is recognition of the importance of content over method.
Greek Cultural Prayer In the Greek culture, more emphasis is placed on moral needs than physical needs. In other words, this refined primitive prayer sought intercession from gods for cultural needs instead of individual needs. This type of prayer was often the duty of the philosophical elite.
Philosophical Prayer The progression from cultural prayer by the philosophical elite leads into contemplative examination of the relationship between creation and creator. At this point, the person praying recognizes that naïve and realistic prayers may not affect the divine order of the universe. At this level is where the question first is introduced, “Why pray?” Any communicative prayer is no longer for petition, as it seems the immutability of God precludes his intercession, and prayers turn only to thanksgiving. Up until this level, these five types of prayer seek what man can receive from prayer, from the most basic of necessities to transcendent knowledge, but according to Heiler there are two forms of higher prayer which seek an audience with God; Mystical and Prophetic prayer.
Mystical Prayer At this level of prayer, the person praying recognizes that God is outside of them, but capable and perhaps willing to indwell and unite with them through conversation and transformation. While not biblical, Mystical prayer does contain similarities, such as petition, revelation, and elevation of the one praying. The major difference between Mystical and Prophetic prayer is the motive of the one praying. Mysticism seeks an illumination rather than intervention, and sees this illumination as being revealed in stages.
Prophetic Prayer The highest form of prayer, according to Heiler, is that of the biblical model. In this model, there are no stages, as the ability to speak directly to God without formula or meditation began when the veil was rent on the day Christ was crucified. The prophetic prayer allows all four types of biblical prayer from any believer at any time. No limitations are placed on method, location, or liturgical ranking.
External links
- Religio Eruditi: Some Letters of Friedrich Heiler (1918)
- Friedrich Heiler (1892-1967) by Annemarie Schimmel (JSTORJSTORJSTOR is an online system for archiving academic journals, founded in 1995. It provides its member institutions full-text searches of digitized back issues of several hundred well-known journals, dating back to 1665 in the case of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society...
) - Friedrich Heiler and the High Church Movement in Germany by Bernard E. Meland (JSTORJSTORJSTOR is an online system for archiving academic journals, founded in 1995. It provides its member institutions full-text searches of digitized back issues of several hundred well-known journals, dating back to 1665 in the case of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society...
)