Alexandre Ganoczy

Alexandre Ganoczy, born in Budapest in 1928, is a Hungarian Catholic priest and theologian who has dedicated particular attention to research on the Reformation. He has been a significant promoter of Catholic-Protestant dialogue, as well as a facilitator of dialogue between theology and the natural sciences. His work has had a significant impact in German and French-speaking countries.

His mother was Amália Krenner (1898–1974), originally Lutheran, later Catholic, and his father was Sándor Gánóczy (1900–1977), a Catholic chemical engineer. Between 1947 and 1949, he studied as a seminarian at the Faculty of Theology at Pázmány Péter University.

In 1949, he began his study stay in France as a seminarian of the Archdiocese of Paris. He was ordained a priest in 1953 and obtained his licentiate in 1957. Between 1959 and 1961, he was a chaplain in Arcueil. In the following ten years in Paris, he was a pastor to workers and Hungarian immigrants, as well as a university chaplain.

Between 1961 and 1963, he obtained his doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. His dissertation, written at the suggestion of the theologians of the ecumenical community of Taizé, dealt with Calvin's teaching on the Church and ecclesiastical ministry. This work, titled "Calvin, théologien de l’Église et du Ministère" ("Calvin, theologian of the Church and Ministry"), was included in the Unam Sanctam series by theologian Yves Congar (1904–1995) in 1964, considering it suitable for dialogue with the Reformed during the Second Vatican Council. From 1963, Ganoczy participated as a consultant in the preparation of texts for the Council, collaborating with theologians such as Hans Küng (1928–2021) and serving the bishops of eastern France. Ecumenism and the openness to the world of the Council marked his subsequent work.

He considered Congar his master, who influenced his career. Between 1963 and 1965, thanks to Congar, he was a research fellow at the Institute of European History in Mainz. The fruits of his research during this period are collected in the book "Le jeune Calvin. Genèse et évolution de sa vocation réformatrice" (1966; "The young Calvin. Genesis and development of his reformist vocation"). In 1965, he obtained French citizenship. Since then, he has taught in Tübingen, Münster, Würzburg, and Paris, and was also a researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France. In Tübingen, he also worked at the Ecumenical Research Institute, as an assistant to Küng. In 1967, he obtained habilitation to teach dogmatics and ecumenical theology at the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Münster. In 1968, he was appointed scientific advisor to the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity at the Vatican. During this period, he also met Joseph Ratzinger (1927–2022, the future Pope Benedict XVI).

In 1969, he obtained a doctorate in philosophy at the Sorbonne with a research on the philosophical sources of Calvin's thought (mainly Seneca and Lucian [ca 120–180]). His supervisor was the Reformed historian and theologian Richard Stauffer (1921–1984). From 1972 to 1996, he was a professor of dogmatics at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Würzburg and directed the Hermann Scholl Institute for the Study of Calvin. In Würzburg, he met the Lutheran theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg (1928–2014), with whom he established a lasting friendship. Here he also collaborated with the exegete Rudolf Schnackenburg (1914–2002), influencing each other – Ganoczy derived from Schnackenburg the centrality of the Bible in his dogmatics.

During this period, as a member of the Lutheran-Catholic Working Group led by Pannenberg and Bishop Karl Lehmann (1936–2018), he contributed to drafting documents that brought the positions of the Christian denominations closer on divisive dogmatic issues (e.g., justification, Eucharist, ecclesiastical ministry). From 1974 to 1983, he directed a Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft project on Calvin's hermeneutics. Between 1978 and 1980, he worked at the Section of Western Religious History at the Institute of European History in Mainz. In 1982, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Geneva and in 1990 from the Reformed University Károli Gáspár in Budapest. Since 1996, he has been professor emeritus and moved to southern France. In 1997, he temporarily held the chair dedicated to Bishop Klaus Hemmerle (1929–1994) at the Technical University of Aachen. In 2009, he received the Stephanus Prize from the St. Stephen Society; in 2013, he was elected an external member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Since 2018, he has also been an honorary doctor of the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj. He has published over thirty books, many of which have been translated into Italian, Spanish, English, and other languages. Based on the teachings of the New Testament, he developed his theology of the principle of love ("Liebe als Prinzip der Theologie", 1994; "Love as the principle of theology").

In his dogmatic writings, he has particularly dealt with the doctrine of God, the Trinity, creation (creation), the Church, and the sacraments, but he has also written on epistemological and scientific issues of theology. Following the correlation method of the Lutheran theologian Paul Tillich (1886–1965), he defined his dogmatics as an open or "responsorial" system, based on a dynamic question-answer process, which remains open to new questions. In various works, he often quoted Karl Rahner, whom he admired, regarding his assertion that "every defined dogma is objectively open to the future." Ganoczy believed that "we have not yet arrived at the best, most correct, truest interpretation." This applies to both the natural sciences and theology: "Theology must also progress. Without progress, it would lose its scientific character." However, this progress can only approach the complete reality. With this premise, theology can also be considered a science, as it does not operate authoritatively (authority), not excluding the return to questions. If theologians "try to give space to different interpretations of the articles of faith, without fearing that the acceptance of the debate could shake the faith of believers." (See "La foi confiante", 2014, p. 9. See also "In what sense can Christian theology be a science?", "Magyar Tudomány", 2012, 10, pp. 1256–1267). See also his work "Introduction to Dogmatics" (1993). Similarly, "Hermeneutics of Reality and Interpretation of the Bible" (1999).

Ganoczy often uses the expression "faith as trust," meaning Christian faith lived as trust in God. At the same time, the rejection of suspicion and credulity leads to founded trust. This aspect is equally appropriate in the relationship with God, as it can help find a correct image of God. Faith in the New Testament sense (pistis) also includes hope (see Letter to the Romans 11:1) and that existential moment in which the believer follows Christ with all his essence, even facing death. He dealt with this theme more broadly in "Vivere la nostra morte da cristiani" (2016; Italian translation: "Vivere la nostra morte", 2018).

Since his work "Suche nach Gott auf den Wegen der Natur" (1992), Ganoczy has been interested in the common questions between the natural sciences and Christian faith, exploring the possibility of a theology of nature and dialoguing with scientists such as Jean-Pierre Changeux (1936–) and Vilmos Csányi (1935–). He criticizes creationism and the thesis of "intelligent design," considering them unfounded both theologically and scientifically. His research also addresses topics such as relativity, quantum theory, and chaos.

Currently, Alexandre Ganoczy lives in Paris 75012, where he organizes theological conferences of a spiritual and confessional nature for the local parish faithful. He is preparing his latest book "Du Dieu Unique au Dieu Amour" on the evolution of the image of God in the Bible and an essay on longevity and eternal life. He is honorary president of the Breznay-Ganoczy Foundation.