David Berger (theologian)
David Berger | |
---|---|
Born | Würzburg, Germany | 8 March 1968
Occupation | Theologian, author |
Known for | gay activist |
David Berger (born 8 March 1968 in Würzburg) is a German theologian, author and gay activist.
Biography[]
From 1991 to 1998 Berger studied philosophy, Catholic theology and German language and literature in Würzburg, Cologne and Dortmund. Berger is a German neo-Thomist and took a critical stance to the work of Karl Rahner. Berger was a professor of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome[1] and also worked as a religious education teacher at a high school in Erftstadt, Germany. The Catholic Church has since revoked his licence to teach.[2]
In 2010, Berger's homosexuality was publicized. He then published his book Der heilige Schein: Als schwuler Theologe in der katholischen Kirche (“The holy appearance: Being a gay theologian in the Catholic church”), in which he claimed that 20 to 40 percent of the Catholic clergy were homosexual.[3][4]
He subsequently was the editor-in-chief of the gay periodical Männer (Berlin). He increasingly took a critical stance towards Islam and immigration, which in February 2015 led to him being dismissed from that position and to Berger distancing himself from the German LGBT movement.[5] Berger continues as an independent blogger and supports, among other things, the German anti-migration party AfD.
Works by Berger[]
- Natur und Gnade in systematischer Theologie und Religionspädagogik von der Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts bis zur Gegenwart. S. Roderer. Regensburg 1998. ISBN 3-89073-980-6.
- Thomas von Aquin und die Liturgie. Ed. Thomisticae. Cologne 2000. ISBN 3-89811-286-1 (translation in English and French).
- Thomismus. Große Leitmotive der thomistischen Synthese und ihre Aktualität für die Gegenwart. Ed. Thomisticae. Cologne 2001. ISBN 3-8311-1620-2.
- Thomas von Aquins „Summa theologiae“. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft. Darmstadt 2004. ISBN 3-534-17456-9.
- Was ist ein Sakrament? Der hl. Thomas von Aquin und die Sakramente im allgemeinen. Franz Schmitt. Siegburg 2004. ISBN 3-87710-278-6.
- Thomas von Aquin begegnen. Sankt-Ulrich. Augsburg 2002. ISBN 3-929246-77-5 (translation in Hungarian: Budapest 2008).
- In der Schule des hl. Thomas von Aquin. Studien zur Geschichte des Thomismus. nova et vetera. Bonn 2005. ISBN 3-936741-30-1.
- Der heilige Schein: Als schwuler Theologe in der katholischen Kirche. 2010. ISBN 978-3-550-08855-1.
- Editor:
- Karl Rahner - Kritische Annäherungen. Franz Schmitt. Siegburg 2004. ISBN 3-87710-280-8.
- together with Jörgen Vijgen: Thomistenlexikon. nova et vetera. Bonn 2006. ISBN 3-936741-37-9.
External links[]
- Philosophia Perennis - David Berger's blog
- Personal homepage of Berger (engl/German)
- About David Berger. Where two worlds coincide (engl.)
- Frankfurter Rundschau: Ich darf nicht länger schweigen (German)
- Frankfurter Rundschau: Kirche feuert schwulen Theologen (German)
- kath.net: Ansonsten muss ich dies als Verleumdung betrachten (German)
- Spiegel:Theologe David Berger: Großteil katholischer Kleriker homosexuell
- Der Spiegel: Gay Comments - Pope Francis Not as Liberal as He Seems
- Die Welt: "Der heilige Schein"
- Pinknews: Over half of catholic priests are gay says vatican insider
References[]
- ^ Spiegel:Theologe David Berger: Großteil katholischer Kleriker homosexuell
- ^ Kölner Stadt-Anzeigers. November 3, 2015
- ^ Spiegel:Theologe David Berger: Großteil katholischer Kleriker homosexuell
- ^ Die Welt: "Der heilige Schein"
- ^ Fedders, Jonas (1 October 2019). "Bruderzwist in der Neuen Rechten" (in German). Gegneranalyse. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- 1968 births
- Living people
- 20th-century German Catholic theologians
- 21st-century German Catholic theologians
- Dissident Roman Catholic theologians
- Catholic philosophers
- LGBT writers from Germany
- LGBT Roman Catholics
- Gay writers
- German male non-fiction writers
- German critics of Islam