David Berger (theologian) explained

Birth Date:	8 March 1968
Birth Place:	Würzburg, Germany
Known For:	Gay activist
Occupation:	Theologian, author

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.^{[1] [3]}

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.^[4] 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. .
• Thomas von Aquin und die Liturgie. Ed. Thomisticae. Cologne 2000. (translation in English and French).
• Thomismus. Große Leitmotive der thomistischen Synthese und ihre Aktualität für die Gegenwart. Ed. Thomisticae. Cologne 2001. .
• Thomas von Aquins "Summa theologiae". Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft. Darmstadt 2004. .
• Was ist ein Sakrament? Der hl. Thomas von Aquin und die Sakramente im allgemeinen. Franz Schmitt. Siegburg 2004. .
• Thomas von Aquin begegnen. Sankt-Ulrich. Augsburg 2002. (translation in Hungarian: Budapest 2008).
• In der Schule des hl. Thomas von Aquin. Studien zur Geschichte des Thomismus. nova et vetera. Bonn 2005. .
• Der heilige Schein: Als schwuler Theologe in der katholischen Kirche. 2010. .
• Editor:
  • Karl Rahner – Kritische Annäherungen. Franz Schmitt. Siegburg 2004. .
  • together with Jörgen Vijgen: Thomistenlexikon. nova et vetera. Bonn 2006. .

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

Notes and References

1. News: Theologe David Berger: "Großer Teil der katholischen Kleriker ist homosexuell". Der Spiegel . 21 November 2010. www.spiegel.de.
2. Web site: Kölner Stadt-Anzeigers. November 3, 2015.
3. News: "Der heilige Schein". Die Welt . 3 December 2010. www.welt.de.
4. Web site: Bruderzwist in der Neuen Rechten. Gegneranalyse. German. Jonas. Fedders. 1 October 2019. 13 March 2020.