CHAPTER 1: HEIDEGGERâS THEOLOGICAL ROOTS
Heideggerâs Theological Roots
While, from 1903 to 1906, when attending the State Gymnasium in Constance, and subsequently, from 1906 to 1909, when attending the State Berthold Gymnasium in Freiburg, Heidegger remained âwith residence at the archdiocesan Gymnasium Seminary in preparation for archdiocesan priesthood.â By July 13, 1909, when he was awarded his high school baccalaureate âwith the highest possible overall grade,â having studied a variety of academic subjects including religion, Latin, Hebrew, Greek, and philosophy, Heidegger selected theology on a âstatement of intent regarding university studies.â As a student entering the University of Freiburg, Heideggerâs academic âtheological roots,â as I refer to them, can be situated in his acceptance into Freiburgâs Department of Theology for the Winter 1909/1910 semester. At that time, Heidegger was still preparing for archdiocesan priesthood, âwith residence at the archdiocesan Theological Seminary.â
With the exception of a course on logic, during Heideggerâs first semester at Freiburg, as detailed in noteworthy accounts by Thomas Sheehan (1988) and John Van Buren (2002), Heidegger was enrolled in the following theology/religion courses with the following lecturers: âEncyclopedia of Theological Disciplinesâ (Rev. Julius Mayer), âIntroduction to the Sacred Scripture of the Old Testamentâ (Rev. Gottfried Hoberg), âExegesis of Paulâs Letter to the Romansâ (Rev. Simon Weber), âGeneral History of the Church, Part Oneâ (Rev. Georg Pfeilschifter), and âTheory of Religionâ (Rev. Heinrich Straubinger).
With the exception of a course on metaphysics, in Heideggerâs second semester at Freiburg in Summer 1910, he was enrolled in the following theology/religion courses with the following lecturers: âMessianic Prophesiesâ (with Hoberg), Hermeneutics, with the History of Exegesis (with Hoberg), âIntroduction to the Sacred Scripture of the New Testamentâ (with Weber), âGeneral History of the Church, Part Twoâ (with Pfeilschifter), and âTheory of Revelation and of the Churchâ (with Straubinger).
With the exception of a survey course on the history of the German constitution, in his third semester at Freiburg in Winter 1910/1911, Heidegger was enrolled in the following theology/religion courses with the following lecturers: âIntroduction to Catholic Dogmatics: The Doctrine of Godâ (Rev. Carl Braig), âExegesis of the Holy Gospel According to Johnâ (with Weber), âGeneral Moral Theology, Part One through Threeâ (with Mayer), âThe Doctrine of Propertyâ (with Mayer), âCatholic Canon Law, Part One: Introduction, Sources, and Constitutionâ (Rev. Emil Göller), âGeneral History of the Church, Part Three, The Age of the Enlightenmentâ (with Pfeilschifter), and âThe History of Medieval Mysticismâ (Rev. Joseph Sauer).
With the exception of a course on the Renaissance, in his fourth semester at Freiburg in Summer 1911, Heidegger was enrolled in the following theology/religion courses with the following lecturers: âTheological Cosmology: The Creation, Preservation, and Governance of the Worldâ (with Braig), âSpecial Moral Theology, Parts One and Two (with Mayer), and âThe Christian Art of the Nineteenth Century and the Presentâ (with Sauer).
As noted by Sheehan, throughout the Summer of 1911, Heidegger suffered from ill-health that posed ânegative consequences for his ecclesiastical plans.â By Fall of 1911, Sheehan observes that âwhen [Heidegger] returned to Freiburg [for the upcoming Winter 1911 semester], Heidegger had moved out of the theological seminary [ . . . ] he had also transferred out of theology.â Essentially, at this point, Heidegger âabandon[ed] career plans for the priesthood.â It seems that this was mostly due to Heideggerâs âpreference at this point [being] to study with Husserl,â who, at the time, was teaching at the University of Göttingen. Instead of doing so, Heidegger was accepted into Freiburgâs Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Winter 1911/1912. Though Heidegger was enrolled mostly math and sciences courses for the semester, with the exception of two science courses and two philosophy courses, it has been detailed by both Sheehan and Van Buren that, during this semester, Heidegger audited a three theology/religion courses with the following lecturers: âDogmatic Theologyâ (with Braig), âGospel of Johnâ (with Prof. Edward Schwartz), and âHellenic Mystery Religionsâ (with Prof. Richard Reitzenstein). For the following Summer 1912, Winter 1912/1913, and Summer 1913, Heidegger was enrolled in mostly math courses, with a single science course and a handful of philosophy courses sprinkled throughout. On July 26, 1913, Heidegger had left the Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, was accepted to the Department of Philosophy, and was recommended by the Department of Philosophy âfor the doctoral degree in philosophy summa cum laude,â based on his dissertation, submitted a month prior, âTheory of Judgment in Psychologism: Critical and Positive Contributions to Logic.â On August 20, 1913, Heidegger applied for a Von Schaezler Grant, in order, as cited by Van Buren, âto dedicate himself to the study of Christian philosophy and to pursue an academic careerââby September 29, 1913, he was awarded the grant for the 1913-1914 academic year with the expectation, as purported by Van Buren, that Heidegger âwould remain true to the spirit of Thomistic philosophy.â Heidegger renewed the grant twice (on September 20, 1914 and on December 13, 1915), under the premise that, as Van Buren quotes, âhis academic lifeâs work [would be] oriented to making the wealth of ideas inherited from Scholasticism applicable to the future intellectual struggle for the Christian ideal of life in Catholicism.â...