Professional Documents
Culture Documents
January 16,1966
Fr. Reiner Schurmann OP
Care of Mrs. Hofmann
Lorettostrasse 42
78 Freiburg
Dear Mr. Heidegger,
Owing to Professor Welte's encouragement, I take the liberty of
addressing a request for a conversation to you. I am a Dominican,
belong to the order's French district, and am at this time interrupting
my studies at the order's school, Le Saulchoir near Paris, in order to
begin doctoral work on the "unknown God in the thought of Meister
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February 4, 1966
Martin Heidegger
Rotebuck 47
Freiburg im Breisgau - Zahringen
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SCHORMANNIHEIDEGGER VISIT
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Freiburg, March 11 [1966]
The event that I awaited eagerly and with stage-fright has just
taken place: I have just returned from Heidegger's house. It was a real
late-afternoon reception about the mystery of being .... To begin with
the folkloric aspect of the visit, I had my fill and more: a pious inscription above the door to the house ("God bless you ... "); a small man,
who looked like a peasant, let me in and ushered me nearly without
saying a word into a room that looked rather like a blockhouse; two
glasses and a bottle on a small tray; and, especially, a two-hour long
discussion which ended up, at least outwardly, in complete darkness. I
knew that among things country he had a fondness for those that are
traditional: his writings speak of the pitcher of cool water, of the peasant's rough hands, of mud-caked clogs, and such. I now know that he
also likes discussions in the dark. However, the man is so shrewd, and,
above all, he has such a listening ability (in this respect, I have never
met anyone as heedful of what one says) that it felt like my meager
schoolboy questions were received by warm and reassuring hands.
I should note first that Hans Urs von Balthasar, to whom I had written a short letter in order to introduce myself (I have resolutely taken
on the role of the monk from the East who goes from father to father)
and who responded very nicely, has, for all that, somewhat disheartened me, as regards this particular issue. In his view, Heidegger hides
behind an anti-Christian polemic, and by means of his general epistemology hammers down any mystical impulse, and cannot thus be of
any help in finding answers to such questions as are raised by, say,
Meister Eckhart. It is somewhat of a pity that he said that. I take it
that his own passions lie elsewhere.
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SCHURMANNIHEIDEGGER VISIT
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Welte was extremely happy about the day he spent at the Saulchoir.
He told me: "If I were your age, that would be my monastery of choice."
His maid is even worried that he is going to become Dominican. "They
have a very candid, free, and open way about them; I was presented
with intelligent questions which the theology students from here would
never raise; one senses that this place has caliber." Congratulations:
you seduced him.
Reiner
TRANSLATOR'S NOTES
1. 'Reserve' is to be taken in the sense of 'supply' or 'stock'. It translates
'Bestand'.
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