Brill | Schöningh
The "Brill | Schöningh" imprint has belonged to Brill Deutschland GmbH, a subsidiary of Brill, since 2017. For more than 170 years, Brill | Schöningh has published qualified academic publications on topics in history, theology, pedagogy and linguistics and literature.
History
The imprint has its origins in the Catholic book and art shop Ferdinand Schöningh, which was opened in Paderborn by the Meppen bookseller Ferdinand Schöningh in 1847. In the years that followed, the company initially developed into a successful newspaper and magazine publisher with its own print shop. A little later, the program expanded to include scientific, mainly theological, philosophical and educational books as well as fiction. Even after the death of Ferdinand Schöningh (I) in 1883, the publishing house remained in the hands of the Schöningh family.
After Ferdinand (II), his son Eduard took over the management of the publishing house in 1925, as his brother Ferdinand (III) had been killed in the First World War. Eduard, like his father and grandfather, was able to continue the economic success of the publishing house. However, his publishing work became increasingly difficult after 1933 due to his critical stance towards National Socialism, and the publishing house fell victim to expropriations and bans. In 1945 all the publishing buildings and technical operations were destroyed by bombs and the inventory was destroyed. However, publishing activities could resume soon after the end of the war. The focus of the program was now primarily on textbook literature.
After Eduard Schöningh's death, a Ferdinand took over the publishing house again with his son in 1966. Ferdinand (IV) continued the course of expansion: During his time, he co-founded the textbook series Uni-Taschenbücher (utb) in 1970 and took over the Munich-based Wilhelm Fink Verlag in 1974. In 1998 Ferdinand (IV) handed over the management to his son Ferdinand (V). The 1990s are marked by a significant expansion of the humanities program, especially the history program. In the course of extensive restructuring, the textbook division was sold in 2002, so that from then on, the publishing house concentrated on academic publications and scientific non-fiction. The acquisition by Brill in 2017 finally succeeded in making Schöningh's tradition-rich program available internationally and in digital form.
Program profile
The theological publications traditionally focus on church and religious history, dogmatics, theology of images and Christian social ethics. In recent years, the program has also increasingly opened up to cross-community issues and to dialogue between Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The area of church and religious law is also worth mentioning.
Brill | Schöningh's historical program focuses primarily on the field of modern and contemporary history. The publishing house has long been a leader in publications on National Socialism, the history of violence and perpetrator research, as well as military and war history. Further focal points are the areas of Eastern European history, Russia and the Soviet Union. The range of publications includes book series, monographs, source editions and international academic journals.
The program also focuses on linguistics, literature and pedagogy. In linguistics and literary studies, the publishing house is particularly renowned in connection with Romantic studies.