Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
History
Document Type
Dissertation
Abstract
The theologian Adolf von Harnack (1851-1930) and the philologist Werner Jaeger (1888-1961) bear witness to the rich, boundary-defying diversity of academic––and bourgeois––culture during the Weimar Republic. Separated in age by nearly half a century but united by a common interest in the curriculum of the Gymnasium, a concern for pressing theological and societal problems, and professional ties to the University of Berlin, Harnack and Jaeger both acted as representatives of classical studies (Altertumswissenschaften) who sought to reassert the singularly educational and broader political significance of their disciplines. The spiritual and intellectual crisis occasioned by World War I and by the subsequent collapse of the monarchical Second Reich led many young Germans to question the existential relevance of the traditional philological exercise of textual criticism (Textkritik) as well as the spiritual viability of liberal theology, or Kulturprotestantismus. In response to these challenges, Harnack and Jaeger combined the techniques of “positivistic” nineteenth-century historicist scholarship with the inward-looking spiritual awareness of early twentieth-century neoromanticism and existential thought. For them, the past was a place of inspiration, and the “creative personalities” (schöpferische Persönlichkeiten) of the past were not only to be reconstructed and studied, but used to shape and uplift the modern individuals who now comprised the citizenry of a democratically constituted republic. Both Harnack and Jaeger thus set themselves the tasks of combatting political extremity and, most importantly, preparing their compatriots for proper self-government by deploying their unique brands of religious, philhellenic humanism. Examining their public and scholarly activity, this dissertation intends to provide a more nuanced, holistic look at intellectual and sociopolitical life in the Weimar Republic and to contextualize the work of two of its most prominent scholars, neither of whom attached themselves to a particular party. Although I do not deny the value of more policy-oriented, partisan intellectuals, the activity of scholars such as Harnack and Jaeger who sought to serve “the public good” in more intangible ways is equally pertinent––from both a historical and presentist perspective––and thus worthy of analysis.
Date
3-4-2024
Recommended Citation
Powers, Robert L., "Between Olympus and Golgotha: Adolf von Harnack, Werner Jaeger, and the Cultural Politics of Humanism and Higher Education in the Weimar Republic" (2024). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 6355.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/6355
Committee Chair
Marchand, Suzanne L.
Included in
Classical Literature and Philology Commons, Cultural History Commons, European History Commons, History of Religion Commons, Intellectual History Commons