Fwd: Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy - after the first of January 2010

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Norman Fiering

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Sep 30, 2010, 7:45:34 PM9/30/10
to Paula Stahmer, John L. Giegerich, Jr., Pastor jimichael Engels, Gottfried Paasche, Giles Jackson, Leon C. Martel, Terry Simmons, Bill Cane, Rev. Robert Pollard, Prof. Darrol Bryant, Edward Casey, Dean C. Allard, Michael E. Moore, Timothy McFarland, Otto Kroesen, Peyton G. Craighill, Wayne Cristaudo, Jeffrey L. Horrell, John Floberg, Stephen Flanders, C. Russell Keep, Ronald D. Guttman, MD, Andrew T. Fields, Father Bruno Barnhart, Richard Feringer, Frank H. Desmond, Feico Houweling, Jason Frank Ewert, Harold Stahmer, Raymond Huessy, Christopher Bodecker, James B. Jordan, Jan Kroeze, Carroll J. Bourg, Wim van der Schee, Leo O. Harris, Frederick A. Stahl, Paul Reist, Paul Lee, Cristian Pennington, Svein Loeng, Robert Castle, Nick Ruiter, Willem Leenman, Malcolm B. Decker, Hugh Heclo, Bruce Boston, E. Christian Kopff, Theodore Weymouth, Hans Huessy, Clinton Gardner, Emeth Hesed, Prof. Donald Pease, John E. Lampe, Paul Mendes-Flohr, Mark Huessy, Andrew Stern, Benjamin Fiering, Donald Wilson, W. D. J. Stoppelenburg, Rick Worrell, Norman Fiering, Rev. Clyde F. Bowie, Alton V. Thorpe, ERH Google, Peter J. Leithart, Bogumil Jarmulak, Paul R. Myers, Anne Smith Easley, John Baldwin, Michael McDuffee, Michael Wells, Jason O. Fiering, Charles Hartman, Howard B. Germain, Helmuth Von Moltke, William A. Lewis, Justin Reynolds, Doug Floyd, Norman Weissman, Fred Berthold, Rev. Kenneth Frazier, Wilford Saunders, Mr. Dana Hussey, David Squire, Glenn A. Moots, David Goldman
To members of the ERH Society of North America:

I am forwarding a message from Eckart Wilkens in Germany, representing some recent thinking among members of the Rosenstock-Huessy Gesellschaft in Germany. 

Norman

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Dr. Eckart Wilkens" <eckart....@koeln.de>
Date: September 30, 2010 5:19:15 PM EDT
To: "'Norman Fiering'" <norman_...@brown.edu>, "'Helmuth Von Moltke'" <hcvm...@gmail.com>, "'Mark Huessy'" <ma...@erhfund.org>, "'Otto Kroesen'" <ottok...@gmail.com>, "'Feico Houweling'" <fe...@xs4all.nl>
Cc: "'Wilmy Verhage'" <wver...@xs4all.nl>, "Andreas Schreck" <schreckschrauber@web.de>, "'"Jürgen K. Müller"'" <juergen...@aim.com>, "'Dreessen, Thomas'" <t.dre...@gmx.net>
Subject: Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy - after the first of January 2010

Dear friends of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy´s life, teaching and impact,
 
The board of the Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy Gesellschaft holds Freya von Moltke´s death to be a major incision in the history of our work: the interim between the bold life of Eugen and Margrit Rosenstock-Huessy after Word War I and the life of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy and Freya von Moltke consecrating the life through the epoch of World War II to a new peace on planet Earth longs for a new impulse. Both were times of love.
 
Where do we find it now?
 
We see a threefold work to be done:
 
1) to keep safe what Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy spoke and wrote and meant,
2) to translate what he meant in our own life to make it true in a new way, and finally
3) to look out for new forms of society in great and small scale to live now what will become general necessity for our grandchildren.
 
But we feel now that the scope of Germany which is the field of force in which the Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy Gesellschaft has to breathe is too small. We look forward to speaking with you all about this bias. Do we have a common goal, a common way, a common spirit? Is there a form in which this speaking together might work and give new spirit to all our activities on a larger scale?
 
As for me I consider it worthwhile to think about what the main pillars of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy´s printed work are, my proposal is, as I said before that these are:
 
Die Hochzeit des Kriegs und der Revolution 1920,
Die Europäischen Revolutionen und der Charakter der Nationen 1931/1951
together with Out of Revolution 1938,
Soziologie in zwei Bänden 1956/1958 and
Die Sprache des Menschengeschlechts 1963/1964 –
 
The concentration of making these works accessible in German, English, Dutch, French and so on might be hard work  enough for us all.
 
The work of translating the new horizon after World War I and World War II into our own life must be done in small groups of three to twelve people in each group – it should be our endeavour to instigate many many such small groups, everywhere.
 
And we should  eagerly try to see how many groups and activities work in the planetary sense in our days to appreciate what they do and how they could profit by knowing more about the motives and clear necessities as Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy saw them.
 
Please consider our call for help and answer as soon as possible!
 
With best wishes,
Eckart Wilkens
 

Norman Fiering
(Director and Librarian, Emeritus
John Carter Brown Library)
Correspondence should be directed to:
P. O. Box 603233, Providence, RI 02906

Norman Fiering

unread,
Oct 2, 2010, 3:48:16 PM10/2/10
to Paula Stahmer, John L. Giegerich, Jr., Pastor jimichael Engels, Gottfried Paasche, Giles Jackson, Leon C. Martel, Terry A. Simmons, Bill Cane, Rev. Robert Pollard, Prof. Darrol Bryant, Edward Casey, Dean C. Allard, Michael E. Moore, Timothy C. McFarland, Otto Kroesen, Peyton G. Craighill, Wayne Cristaudo, Jeffrey L. Horrell, John Floberg, Stephen Flanders, C. Russell Keep, Ronald D. Guttman, MD, Andrew T. Fields, Father Bruno Barnhart, Richard Feringer, Frank H. Desmond, Feico Houweling, Jason Frank Ewert, Harold Stahmer, Raymond Huessy, Christopher Bodecker, James B. Jordan, Jan Kroeze, Carroll J. Bourg, Wim van der Schee, Leo O. Harris, Frederick A. Stahl, Paul Reist, Paul Lee, Cristian Pennington, Svein Loeng, Robert Castle, Nick Ruiter, Willem Leenman, Malcolm B. Decker, Hugh Heclo, Bruce Boston, E. Christian Kopff, Theodore Weymouth, Hans Huessy, Clinton Gardner, Emeth Hesed, Prof. Donald Pease, John E. Lampe, Paul Mendes-Flohr, Mark Huessy, Andrew Stern, Benjamin Fiering, Donald K. Wilson, W. D. J. Stoppelenburg, Rick Worrell, Norman Fiering, Rev. Clyde F. Bowie, Alton V. Thorpe, ERH Google, Peter J. Leithart, Bogumil Jarmulak, Paul R. Myers, Anne Smith Easley, John Baldwin, Michael McDuffee, Michael Wells, Jason O. Fiering, Charles Hartman, Howard B. Germain, Helmuth Von Moltke, William A. Lewis, Justin M. Reynolds, Doug Floyd, Norman Weissman, Fred Berthold, Rev. Kenneth Frazier, Wilford Saunders, Mr. Dana Hussey, David Squire, Glenn A. Moots, David Goldman
Peyton Craighill wrote to me about Eckart Wilkens' thoughts from Germany. Peyton authorized me to distribute his comment to the Society as a whole, which is below, including my initial response to him. 

Included in my response is a hint of concern about low registration for the conference on Nov. 12 and 13. I hope that some of the readers of this message will be registering soon. 

Norman



Begin forwarded message:

From: Norman Fiering <norman_...@brown.edu>
Date: October 1, 2010 1:23:19 PM EDT
To: "Peyton Craighill" <peyt...@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy - after the first of January 2010

Dear Peyton, 

I don't think our fledgling Society has a defined mission other than a very general one, which is as it should be. Some are interested in interpreting ERH's thought; others want to implement it. There is a following of strongly committed Christians, who focus their efforts in that realm primarily, and some who are secular-minded. The conference we have organized for Nov. 12 and 13 is focused on social action  and could in fact be inspiring to some people to become engaged in this direction or that––if we have an audience.

I don't think it is hard to identify issues today that would have drawn commentary from ERH, although he was always surprising.  He was always appalled by unemployment, treating its effects as as much spiritual as material, to take one example.  One topic at the conference is adult education, and those present will learn quite a bit about ERH's experience and teachings as an educator of adults. The topic is a good example of how first understanding ERH's thought can then lead to action. As in most of what he did and said, he was fresh and original on the subject, and profound. 

If the ERH Society here is to be effective in any way, its members should be talking to each other. You wrote to me alone, and I hesitate to forward your message to another 90 people without your permission. Yet your thoughts do deserve a larger audience.

Norman

 


On Oct 1, 2010, at 12:26 PM, Peyton Craighill wrote:

Dear Norman,
 
I hope this proposal from our German brothers and sisters will stir us into action on our side of the Atlantic. As you know, my chief complaint about our ERH Society is that we have become a museum for the preservation and display of the thought of ERH, rather than serving as a dynamic center for the engagement of his thought with the major issues of our time. To embalm ERH is the worst thing we can do.
 
In response to this challenge, can we identify the major issues of our time that ERH would most have liked to address? Then in the spirit of his thought, can we respond to those issues in ways that would be most helpful to the people of our time? And would our German brothers and sisters be interested in working with us on this project? They have identified the books by ERH that they regard as most relevant to our day. Can we find in them the wisdom that speaks to the salient issues of our time?
 
Peyton Craighill 
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