Bibliotheca Catholicaa library of libraries
Twentieth Century

Karl Adam (1876–1966)

Tübingen theologian, author of The Spirit of Catholicism. Karl Adam was a German Catholic theologian, known for his work in the fields of ecclesiology and Christology. He spent most of his academic career at the University of Tübingen, where he published work influenced by Lebensphilosophie and German Romanticism including The Spirit of Catholicism (1924), which argued for an understanding of the church as a community and for a revitalisation of Christian faith. Following Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933, Adam sought a rapprochement between the Nazi regime and the German Catholic Church. In pursuit of this aim, he published work during the Nazi e

All authors