Anton Günther
Anton Günther (17 November 1783, Lindenau, Bohemia (now part of Cvikov, Czech Republic) – 24 February 1863, Vienna) was an Austrian Roman Catholic philosopher whose work was condemned by the church as heretical tritheism.
Anton Günther was born the eldest son of devout Catholic parents at Lindenau (now part of Cvikov) in Bohemia.
[4] Günther's religious views had been shaken during the years of his student life by his study of the modern systems of philosophy (Kant, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Jacob and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling); but his removal in 1810 to Brünn (Brno) near Vienna with the prince's family brought him under the influence of the parish priest of this place, named Korn, and particularly of Saint Clement Mary Hofbauer, and restored him to firm Catholic convictions.
By this speculative process, which Günther calls a "metalogical" or ideal (ideell) inference, as distinct from a logical or conceptual conclusion, the idea of its own being becomes for the soul the most certain of all truths (the Cartesian cogito ergo sum).
Proceeding along purely philosophical lines, and prescinding entirely from historical Divine Revelation, the absolute necessity of which Günther contests, it seeks to make evident the fundamental tenets of positive Christianity by the mere light of reason.
The antithetical relation of spirit and nature shows itself in this, that the realm of the purely spiritual is formed of a plurality of substances, of unitary and integral real principles, each of which must ever retain its unity and its integrity; while nature, which was created a single substance, a single real principle, has in its process of differentiation lost its unity for ever, and has brought forth, and still brings forth, a multiplicity of forms or individuals.
From man's character as a generic being, the result of his participation in the life of nature, Günther deduces the rational basis of the dogmas of the Incarnation and Redemption.
His philosophical labours were at any rate a sincere and honest endeavour to promote the triumph of positive Christianity over those systems of philosophy which were inimical to it.
Finally, long after Günther's death, Franz Peter Knoodt published from his posthumous papers "Anti-Savarese" (Vienna, 1883).
The latter and Baltzer laboured together until the end of November in that year, when they submitted their written defence to the Congregation of the Index and returned to Germany.
Yet their efforts and the favourable intervention of friends in high station failed to avert the final blow, though they served to defer it for a time.
The special grounds of this condemnation were set forth by Pius IX in the Brief addressed by him to Cardinal von Geissel, Archbishop of Cologne, on 15 June 1857, which declares that Günther's teachings on the Trinity, the Person of Christ, the nature of man, the Creation and particularly his views on the relation of faith to knowledge, as well as fundamental rationalism, which is the controlling factor of his philosophy even in the handling of Christian dogmas, are not consistent with the doctrine of the Church.
Before the publication of the Index decree, Günther had been summoned to submit thereto, and in fact had declared his acquiescence, but for him internal submission and rejection of his errors was out of the question.
Some of his followers, like Merten, now turned away from Güntherianism, but the greater number held to it obstinately, and for many years it found academic support at Bonn (through Knoodt) and at Breslau (through Elvenich and Weber).
After the First Vatican Council most of the Güntherians named above who were still living at the time (with the exception of Veith) joined the Old Catholic movement, in which some of them assumed leading parts.
