hans-georg beck - American Philosophical Society

COURTESY OF RAINER BECK
HANS-GEORG BECK
18 february 1910 . 25 may 1999
PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
VOL. 154, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2010
biographical memoirs
O
N 25 MAY 1999, Hans-Georg Beck, the Nestor of Byzantine
studies in Germany and the longtime publisher of the Byzantinische Zeitschrift, died unexpectedly in his ninetieth year.
He was born on 18 February 1910 in Schneizlreuth in the Berchtesgaden region of Bavaria, but spent his childhood in Gmund on the Tegernsee before joining the boarding school of the humanistic Gymnasium at Scheyern (north of Munich), in 1920. From Scheyern, he
transferred in 1925 to the Gymnasium at Kloster Ettal, where he graduated in 1929. Always remaining true to his close ties with the Bavarian homeland, he never betrayed his Alpine dialect if his counterpart in
a conversation was likewise conversant in it.
In 1930 he entered the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich
to study philosophy, Catholic theology, Byzantine studies, and classical
philology. Very early in his studies, he went to Rome (1930–31) to immerse himself in scholastic philosophy. It was there that he fell into “an
enthusiastic friendship” with François Masai, and where he, while attending Easter service at an Eastern Orthodox church, decided to devote himself to Byzantine studies. Among the professors who left the
deepest impression on him in Munich were Kurt Huber (who later became a leading figure in the resistance group “Die Weiße Rose”), Eduard Schwartz, Rudolf Pfeiffer, and Franz Dölger. Martin Grabmann directed his dissertation in theology, and it was to him that he paid tribute
in the preface to his last book in 1993 (Vom Umgang mit Ketzern /
Among the Heretics).
The years between his doctoral dissertation in 1936 and his Habilitation in 1949 were among the most difficult in Hans-Georg Beck’s life.
They had so profound an effect on him that he hardly ever spoke of
them, though they left an indelible trace on his opinion of human nature. He catalogued private libraries, until he could at last resume his
research at the University of Munich and complete his Habilitation at
the Faculty of Philosophy, not an easy task for a theologian. Since—
much like nowadays—the position of a Privatdozent was not remunerated very well, life got easier only after he received a paid position as
university lecturer and eventually became a professor in 1956. As general secretary, Beck organized the XIth International Congress of Byzantine Studies in Munich in 1958. His academic career began in earnest
in 1959, when he was named the successor to Franz Dölger in Byzantine studies and modern Greek philology at the University of Munich, a
position he held until his retirement in 1975.
Hans-Georg Beck did not aspire to titles and administrative influence, but he assumed official duties when he thought that would allow
him to realize his own views and academic convictions and would help
him to promote the cause of the “minor disciplines.” When he was still
[ 454 ]
hans-georg beck
455
a university lecturer, he thus served as a representative of his peer group
in the Faculty of Philosophy, and also served that faculty as dean in
1962–63. Important tasks awaited him also outside the university: he
served as vice president of the humanities division of the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft (1965–68) and as a member of the federal
government’s Scientific Council in 1968. However, he resigned from
these positions when he realized that they detracted too much from his
work, and did not bring the benefits he had hoped for. Instead, he devoted his energies to establishing a German study center in Venice at
the end of the 1960s, a task made easier by his many and varied contacts. He eventually served as the center’s president from 1970 to 1984.
Recognition for his public services is evident in the awarding of the
Bundesverdienstkreuz in 1981 and the Bayerische Maximilianorden für
Wissenschaft und Kunst in 1988.
On the other hand, Hans-Georg Beck was greatly honored to serve
the scholarly community at home and abroad and participate in its advancement. In 1962 he became a member of the Bayerische Akademie
der Wissenschaften, where he oversaw the Kommission zur Herausgabe
des Corpus der griechischen Urkunden and the Patristische Kommission. He was elected a corresponding member of the Österreichische
Akademie der Wissenschaften in 1966, xenos hetairos (foreign member) of the Athenian Academy in 1975, a member of the British and
Belgian academies in 1977, and in 1988 a foreign member of the American Philosophical Society.
In a scholarly oeuvre that extends from 1925 to 1993 it is difficult
to single out any one theme. Beck’s greatness as a scholar lay in his capacity to understand Byzantium as an overall phenomenon, for which
printed sources and their interpretation served as his basis. However,
he did not concentrate his energies on editing texts; neither was he
noted for the study of art and archaeological objects. Instead, theology
and church history formed the foundation of his studies, and, while illuminated rather critically in his later decades, can be considered a leitmotif in his work, stretching from his first article in 1935 on Aquinas’s
concepts, written when he was still a student, via his 1937 dissertation
(published in Rome) on prophecy in the theological writings of Byzantium (“Vorhersehung und Vorherbestimmung in der theologischen
Literatur der Byzantiner”), to his last monograph in 1993 on heretics.
The synopsis of Byzantine theology written by Albert Ehrhard and
added to the second edition of Krumbacher’s literary history of Byzantium (1897), quickly proved too restrictive. After Ehrhard’s death
(1940) he assumed the responsibility of writing an independent history of Byzantine theology, but could not devote his attention to this
work until 1951. Beck’s first major publication (of more than eight
456
biographical memoirs
hundred pages), a history of Byzantine theology (Kirche und theologische Literatur im byzantinischen Reich), appeared in 1958, making
his name known throughout the world. The book is still considered the
standard reference work on the subject. Beck later returned to problems in theology and church history, though they were no longer central to his interests. The Geschichte der orthodoxen Kirche im byzantinischen Reich was published in 1980, comprising various revised
chapters about Byzantium from the Handbuch der Kirchengeschichte
(1962–73). In a study from 1967 he first investigated the political
norms of the Byzantine mission. He later tackled even controversial
subjects in his writings on the reliability of icons (Von der Fragwürdigkeit der Ikone, 1975) and Byzantine conceptions of the afterlife (Die
Byzantiner und ihr Jenseits, 1979). Beck’s sharp eye for marginal religious (and social) groups is once again apparent in the monograph by
the then eighty-three-year-old scholar, Vom Umgang mit Ketzern. Der
Glaube der kleinen Leute und die Macht der Theologen.
Another area of interest to Hans-Georg Beck was social history. Inspired by research in the field of medieval studies, he pointed out the
similarities and great differences between East and West in terms of the
social groups that supported the interests of the state (Byzantinisches
Gefolgschaftswesen, 1965). At around the same time, he elaborated
these thoughts further in his treatment of the complicated mechanism
that governed the electing of the emperor (Senat und Volk von Konstantinopel, 1966). In his Untersuchungen zur Sozialgeschichte Konstantinopels (Social History of Constantinople, 1965) he addressed issues that were, back then, almost exclusively treated by scholars in
socialist countries. His path took him further, to questions of the creation of state power, and of Byzantine theories of the state. Even now, a
quarter of a century later, these studies can still be considered fundamental contributions to the field of Byzantine studies.
No less fundamental was Hans-Georg Beck’s research on Byzantine
literature. In his Habilitationsschrift (1949) on Theodoros Metochites,
which was published in 1951 with the subtitle Die Krise des byzantinischen Weltbildes im 14. Jahrhundert (Crisis of the Byzantine World
Image in the Fourteenth Century), he gave expression to his conviction
that literature is tightly bound with cultural and social developments.
Herbert Hunger described it in his review (Byzantinische Zeitschrift
46 [1953]: 123–27) as “ein Buch sui generis, das in der heutigen byzantinischen Literatur kaum seinesgleichen hat,” and was convinced
that it will undoubtedly enter “die Annalen der Nachkriegsbyzantinistik” as a major achievement, a prediction that stands justified half a
century later. Beck subsequently translated the advice of Kekaumenos
hans-georg beck
457
as Vademecum des byzantinischen Aristokraten (Manual for a Byzantine
Aristocrat, 1964), making this most interesting text available to a wider
public. For Beck, literature was always a social phenomenon, and he
wanted to know who read the works, how many manuscripts were circulated, and so forth, questions to which only provisional answers
can be given. His Überlieferungsgeschichte der byzantinischen Literatur (History of the Transmission of Byzantine Literature, 1961) in the
general collection Die Textüberlieferung der antiken Literatur und der
Bibel (translated in 1967 into Serbian) remains unsurpassed in its essentials. There is also much to gain from Leserkreis der byzantinischen
Volksliteratur (1975). These titles preceded or accompanied in 1971
the Geschichte der byzantinischen Volksliteratur (History of Byzantine
Popular Literature), which appeared in the Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft series and replaced the corresponding extract in Krumbacher’s literary history of Byzantium (1897). Byzantine literature is
generally considered from the vantage point of the period that reads it.
Beck, however, was also interested in the question, how the Byzantine
reader understood it (Das literarische Schaffen der Byzantiner, 1974),
though he acknowledged (as in his subtitle, Wege zu seinem Verständnis) the difficulty of finding the right pitch.
How strongly literature is connected to social mentality and forms
of taboo, is shown in one of his last major publications, Byzantinisches
Erotikon, which was first presented to a small academic circle for discussion in 1984, and then enlarged for a wider publication in 1986.
Hans-Georg Beck was an eminent stylist, with a sharp power of observation. He could interpret for a broad audience without striking a
banal or false tone. In the various chapters of Das byzantinische Jahrtausend (The Byzantine Millennium, 1978, 1982, which appeared in
Italian in 1981), he gave a brilliant synopsis and splendid account of
Byzantine civilization. Because he knew how difficult it is to understand Byzantine texts, he thought it was especially important to translate a great variety of them; the results are published in his Byzantinisches Lesebuch (Byzantine Reader, 1982) and in the hundred pages
of his appendix of translated heretical sources in Vom Umgang mit
Ketzern (1993).
Besides his own extensive academic oeuvre, Hans-Georg Beck also
made notable contributions in his capacity as editor-in-chief of both the
Byzantinische Zeitschrift and the Byzantinische Archiv between 1964
and 1977. No one can even count the number of bibliographic notices
he composed. At a time when doctoral students were generally left to
publish their dissertations on their own, he founded the series Miscellanea Byzantina Monacensia to give them that opportunity, though it was
458
biographical memoirs
not restricted only to doctoral theses. Twenty-two titles had appeared
by the time Beck retired from his teaching duties, and he continued to
oversee the series as emeritus. Clearly the project was close to his heart,
for Beck himself printed his annotated translation of the autobiography
of Hieronymus Wolf in the series in 1984.
The entire spectrum of Beck’s research is also reflected in his teaching. His attention to style in writing carried over to the lecture hall,
where he was an inspirational teacher. Twice a week, his lectures began
at eight in the morning, and the room was always packed. He appeared
to be speaking without notes, but in truth he had the contents of his
lecture before him, in stenographic notation. He never repeated the
subject of his lectures. Literature and history were given equal treatment, and although many of the topics reappeared in The Byzantine
Millennium, the magnetism of the spoken word cannot be recaptured
in the printed form. The author of these lines is pleased to recall that
without this direct contact he would scarcely have found his way into
Byzantine studies. The seminar room was a place for both scholarly
and social contact. The prospectus of lectures never divulged the specific theme of the Hauptseminar (one might ascertain the topic just before it started, for Beck himself kept the choice open until the last moment). Well into the 1960s, the students of Heisenberg and Dölger still
gathered in his seminars, transmitting to the younger generation the
great tradition of the Institute, which frequently attracted guests from
abroad and scholars from other parts of the university. It was an honor
and distinction to work here, and the Institute, which under Beck also
received its own section for the study of Byzantine art history as well as
generous additions to the library, was a “seminarium” in the truest
sense of the word. If my recollection is correct, Beck led fifteen doctoral
students through the so-called “Rigorosum” (oral doctoral examination), and four of them went on to the Habilitation.
Hans-Georg Beck was not an easy man to approach on a personal
level. He rarely attended conferences or public lectures. After the death
of his wife, Erni Hamann, in 1988, he retired into an almost monastic
silence. He was cared for by his children and died at home on 25 May
1999, in his ninetieth year.
As far as his attitude toward the field of Byzantine studies was concerned, Hans-Georg Beck remained uneasy. While his inaugural lecture
on the occasion of becoming chair in 1959/60 was entitled “Lebendiges
Byzanz” (Byzantium Is Alive and Well), signaling a general sense of optimism, Beck struck a minor chord with his lecture at the congress in
Athens 1976 (“Byzantinistik heute”), his last appearance on the international stage. He was even more critical in his “Abschied von Byzanz”
hans-georg beck
459
(Farewell to Byzantium, 1990), inspired by Joseph Brodsky’s “Flight
from Byzantium.” In his introduction, he referred to Byzantinists as
“the paupers of world literature.” With his life’s work Hans-Georg Beck
did so much for the “Almshouse” that the generations after him can
find in it a comfortable dwelling-place.
Elected 1988
Peter Schreiner
Professor Emeritus of Byzantine Studies
University of Cologne
Holger A. Klein
Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Art History and Archaeology
Columbia University
Professor Schreiner’s original German version of this essay was published in Byzantinische
Zeitschrift 92 (1999): 812–16. This version, prepared with the assistance of Professor Klein,
is used with the permission of the author and of De Gruyter, the publisher of the journal.