Abstract

Manfred Lochbrunner:
The Dossier about Hans Urs von Balthasar in the Inheritance of Karl Jaspers
(FKTh 2020-3, p. 161–186)

The article is an evaluation of a dossier about Hans Urs von Balthasar which can be found in the inheritance of Karl Jaspers in the German Literary Archive in Marbach. After leaving the Jesuit order Balthasar applied for a post as lecturer within the Faculty of Philosophy at Basel University. The dossier reveals a Curriculum vitae and list of works published until about the mid-50s. Additionally there are two pages of notes from Jaspers which contain his thoughts on Balthasar’s application and fundamental observations on the place of philosophy within the Humanities. As we know the application was unsuccessful. However the sources do not give any reasons for this. Alongside formal deficiencies such as the absence of a postdoctoral qualification, his status as a cleric probably also contributed to this. There is admittedly only one episode in Balthasar’s biography, but both the curriculum as well as the presentation of the bibliography serve our interests as authentic documents.