Josef Bohatec (1876–1954) was a prominent Austrian Protestant theologian and professor of Reformed dogmatics, canon law, and the philosophy of religion. He studied in Prague, Vienna, Halle, Berlin, and Erlangen, earning multiple doctorates and becoming a professor in Bonn and later at the Evangelical Theological Faculty in Vienna, where he served as dean three times.
Renowned as a leading Calvin scholar and also recognized for his work on Immanuel Kant, Bohatec dedicated much of his academic life to exploring the theological and legal dimensions of Calvinism. He also played a role in church life as a presbyter in the Reformed Parish of Vienna-Innere Stadt. He was a contributing editor to Philosophia Reformata.
He received honorary doctorates from the universities of Bonn, Amsterdam, and Vienna. In 1982, decades after his death, he became the first Protestant theologian honored on the Catholic Theological Faculty’s honor roll at the University of Vienna, reflecting his lasting academic and ecumenical impact.
Herman Dooyeweerd “Herinneringen Aan Mijn Vriend Josef Bohatec† (1876-1954)” Philosophia Reformata 19 (1954): 49–57. Provisional translation
Select bibliography
Bohatec, Josef “De Organische Idee in de Gedachtenwereld van Calvijn,” Antirevolutionaire Staatkunde: Orgaan van de Dr. Abraham Kuyperstichting terbevordering van de studie der Antirevolutionaire Beginselen 2e Jaargang (Kampen: Kok, 1926), 32–45, 153–64, 362–77.
Provisional English translation: “The organic idea in Calvin’s thought”:
allofliferedeemed 