Jonas, Hans

Jonas, Hans

JONAS, HANS. Hans Jonas (1903–1993) was a theologian and philosopher whose intellectual development moved from research into the Gnosticism of late antiquity through a naturalistic philosophy of life and culminated in establishing an ethic of global ecological responsibility. Born in Mönchengladbach, Germany, into the liberal German-Jewish bourgeoisie, Jonas adhered to Zionist convictions early in life. His philosophical studies led him to Edmund Husserl (1859–1938) in Freiburg, then—for a short time—to the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin, and finally into the circle of Martin Heidegger (1899–1976) in Marburg. There Jonas encountered his other influential teacher, Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976), who was developing his method of existential interpretation and "demythologizing" of the New Testament. Bultmann aroused and intensified Jonas's interest in Gnosticism and in Gnostic ontology. On the road to his revolutionary attempt at a comprehensive philosophical interpretation of Gnosticism, the Heideggerian analysis of existence was especially helpful to Jonas, since it led him to a new, modern understanding of this religious-historical phenomenon of antiquity. In 1930, as an outcome of his dialogue with Bultmann and Heidegger, Jonas published the study Augustin und das paulinische Freiheitsproblem, in which he laid the foundation for his later reflections concerning freedom as the basic defining feature of human existence.

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