The 74‐year‐old philosopher, who teaches at the University of Freiburg in West Germany, was prevented by illness from attending. Today the theologians here found themselves talking more about Dr. Jonas than Dr. Heidegger.

Dr. Jonas, who received his doctorate under Dr. Heidegger in 1928 and had to flee Germany in 1933 when Hitler took power, quoted from Heidegger statements—one ending with “Heil Hitler!”—made during World War II. He sought to show how the philosopher's system would lead to such a position.

Dr. Jonas received a standing ovation in the Great Hall of the School of Theology after his talk.

Hermeneutics, the subject of the meeting, is the branch of theology dealing with the interpretation of the Christian message to the ordinary man.

The assumption of the meeting, based on Dr. Heidegger's examination of language, is that the presentation of Christianity has lost its force because the church has stopped speaking, or is just speaking words whose meanings have become corrupted or instrumentalized.

Dr. Heidegger's belief is that man has divorced himself from reality by the “objectification” of words and things—man stands at the center of the universe and commands the world to be what he wants it to be.