Alois M. Haas, a Germanicist linked to the University of Zurich for much of his academic career and an intellectual of recognized prestige in the study of theology, the history of religions and mysticism, has recently passed away, at the age of 90.

Professor Haas had special ties with Pompeu Fabra University, since he donated his private book collection, catalogued as the Haas Collection, which is preserved in the Dipòsit de les Aigües building, at the Ciutadella Library/CRAI.

The Haas Library, a spiritual treasure located in the Dipòsit de les Aigües

The Bibliotheca Mystica et Philosophica Alois M. Haas (Haas Library), was inaugurated in 2003 and has expanded over the years. It consists of some 45,000 volumes donated by Haas at different times between 2001 and 2019. The main themes of the collection are theology, philosophy, aesthetics and theory of the arts, and philology. It is one of the most in-demand bibliographic collections at Pompeu Fabra University by the interlibrary loan service.

The collection is of great bibliographic value and includes editions of classic works and reference books in the respective fields that are of high quality and enormous scientific interest. It is a highly specialized resource for the study of the spiritual traditions of humanity and, most especially, of Western traditions. In 2013, the catalogue of Selected Works of the Haas Library was published, revealing the thematic wealth and uniqueness of the collection.

Alois M. Haas, invested doctor honoris causa by UPF

Six years after the inauguration of the Haas Library, on 1 December 2009, Alois M. Haas was awarded an honorary doctorate by UPF, at the proposal of the University Institute of Culture and with the endorsement of the Faculty and the Department of Humanities. The ceremony was presided over by the then rector Josep Joan Moreso, and Haas’ sponsor was Victoria Cirlot, a full professor of Romance Philology with the Department of Humanities.

The laudatio for the doctoral student was given by Amador Vega, a full professor of Aesthetics and Art Theory at UPF. Towards the end of his laudatio, Amador Vega stated: “Haas’ life has been dedicated to making the finest seeds of what John of the Cross called ‘mystical intelligence’ grow in the field of university knowledge, so that present and future generations may find a reason to give meaning to their lives in the freest possible way, far from merely instrumental knowledge; young generations that will come to enjoy the meaning of a knowledge ‘without a why’ (âne warumbe), born in the light of reason and that will continue to engender with the force of the word, since they too will have been born in the truth of their hearts”.

After the acceptance speech by Alois M. Haas, in his closing speech, Josep Joan Moreso defined Alois M. Haas as “a historian of ideas, a connoisseur of a school of thought and of one of the modes of knowledge present throughout the history of the West and, in fact, throughout the history of humanity, the knowledge of mysticism”. Rector Moreso said that “by making professor Haas an honorary doctor of our University, we pay tribute to truth and justice. And we do so because, on the one hand, Professor Haas’ academic career has deepened the knowledge of mystical thought, also seeking to understand how medieval thinkers have influenced the way contemporary thought is constructed”.

Alois M. Haas, inspiring research and the dissemination of religions and spirituality at UPF

Inside the Centre for Aesthetics, Religion and Contemporary Culture (CERCCA) of the UPF Department of Humanities, we find the Haas Research Group in Poetics of Knowledge, of which Amador Vega is the principal investigator, and which is inspired by the person and the work of Haas. It conducts research on the spiritual traditions of the West and the East and also on the intellectual movements that emerged from secularization. It proposes new objectives in dialogue with modern and contemporary philosophical thought, psychoanalysis, the art scene, literary movements, as well as new models of knowledge conveyance based on the most recent theories on thought around the media.

Indeed, since 2004, UPF has held nine editions of the Alois M. Haas Lectures, promoted by the Friends of the Haas Library Association. These are academic-artistic colloquia that welcome researchers and artists from all over the world to present their reflections and creations on topics related to the subjects of the collection: the history of religions and spirituality, aesthetics and the links between the medieval and contemporary, western and eastern worlds.

A lengthy, prolific academic career

Alois M. Haas (Zurich, 1934-2025), after studying German and Medieval Studies and History in Zurich, Berlin, Paris and Munich, received his doctoral degree in 1963. He was a professor in the Department of German Studies at McGill University in Montreal (1969-1971), and in 1971 he became a full professor of German Literature at the University of Zurich, where in 1999 he became an emeritus professor. He was a Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin between 1988 and 1989 and 5taught and lectured at various universities in America, Europe and Asia.

A doctor honoris causa in Theology from the University of Freiburg (1978), within his extensive work his comparative studies of Christian mysticism and Zen Buddhism stand out. The following of his works have been translated into Spanish: Visión en azul. Estudios de mística europea, transl. V. Cirlot and A. Vega (Siruela, 1999), Maestro Eckhart, una figura normativa de la vida espiritual (Herder, 2002), Viento del absoluto. ¿Existe una sabiduría mística de la posmodernidad? (Siruela, 2009) and Horizontes abiertos. Dios, los ángeles y el ser humano (Siruela, 2023).

Complete album of Alois M. Hass’ investiture as doctor honoris causa by UPF