“Theodula and I” – A debater writes about a journey, his grandaunt and belief
Florian Neuhann, finalist of the first ZEIT DEBATTEN tournament, wrote a book: “Theodula and I“ (“Theodula & ich”). There, he tells about his grandaunt Agnes who as a young woman joined a missionary congregation and assumed the name Theodula. She lived and worked for almost sixty years in South Africa as a missionary.
Florian, who was president of Debattierclub München in 2003/2004, visited his aunt in 2007 in South Africa to pen her biography. The nun had led a fascinating live: As a young woman, she had been committed in a resistance group to fight National Socialism, as professor she taught ordinands, later, she wrote numerous books, fought Apartheid and agitated for reforms in her congregation and in the Catholic church. Florian’s book, however, has become more than a mere account of her live – it shows the encounter of two people as distinct as Florian and Theodula.
Debating is not at all a subject matter of this book though much debated issues play a role: Institutionalized racism, women’s rights in the church and sex morals are to name but a few. In the process, the book becomes very personal and private in discussing the matter of belief:
“I observe how I shrink back from dealing with the essential questions of life. Even now, travelling with the nun, I do not let these touch myself. Why do we humans exist? What will be after death? Is there a deeper meaning to life?
Maybe it is because these questions do not reflect any relevance in my everyday life. It doesn’t bother me that I do not have any answers to these questions. What matters is the here and now and I assume it’s the same with my friends. Already, belief is no issue in my daily grind. I discuss a lot of issues with my closest friends, often very controversially. Politics is such a matter or religious education as a compulsory subject in schools. But we never talk about belief itself. Maybe we resile because it is way to private?
When was the last time I asked someone sincerely if or in what they believe? Apart from my grandaunt I don’t recall anyone. ‘To most Christians it is easier to talk about sex than about praying’, the German newspaper DIE ZEIT writes. According to my experience, they are right.”
Florian Neuhann, born in 1980, has already been a debater at the very first ZEIT DEBATTEN tournament that was hosted by Tübingen’s debating society Streitkultur in 2001. He and his team partner made it to the final. On top of that, Florian organized the first ZEIT DEBATTEN competition in Munich in 2003 where he also presented the final. He was student at the renowned Deutsche Journalistenschule, an academy for journalists in Munich. He studied also political science, communication science and European law in Munich and Bologna. Since 2006, Florian works for ZDF, a German public broadcaster, and reports from the German federal state of Baden-Würtemberg and neighboring Switzerland. Through DDG, the German alumni association for debaters, Florian Neuhann is still in touch with the German debating circuit.
glx / apf
