Frederick “Fritz” Wagner: An Appreciation (John von Heyking)

The editors of Voegelinview wish to pay tribute to the founding editor of our journal, Mr. Frederick “Fritz” Wagner. Few people have been more instrumental over the past 25 years in bringing Voegelin’s ideas to the broader public.

Mr. Wagner (not to be confused with the German historian of the same name with whom Voegelin had some correspondence) graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1962 with a B. A. in English Literature, and in Fall 1960 he took a political science class with Voegelin. Wagner describes his discovery of Voegelin:

“As an undergraduate at Notre Dame more than forty years ago, I enrolled in a political science survey course entitled ‘The New Science of Politics.’ The professor was visiting from Munich and his little book bearing the same title, was the class text. It immediately became apparent that this man was different from any other teacher I had ever had. His breadth of knowledge, his depth of understanding, his clear exposition and his passion for truth affected me in many ways.”

Wagner went on to earn a law degree from the University of Wisconsin where Voegelin had spent some time in the 1920s, and then practiced law in Columbus, Ohio, until retirement. But the example of Voegelin’s ideas and teachings left their indelible mark on him. He wrote, with some understatement, of his response to Voegelin’s influence:

“So how does an amateur express his appreciation for what Eric Voegelin has done? I thought it would be good to put some of his more memorable insights here for those who might be interested. Perhaps some will want to read his books.”

Wagner refers here to his website, www.fritzwagner.com, which, dating back to the early 2000s, was one of the earliest Internet sources for Voegelin. Before that in 1999 he had founded the evForum listserv, which ran continuously until a couple of years ago when it was moved over to Googlegroups ([email protected]).

Wagner understood early the importance of the Internet for the dissemination of ideas, and from the very start he published materials on and by Voegelin (with permission from publishers) on his website. As a forerunner for Voegelinview, his personal website remains a treasure trove of Voegelin materials, including photo essays of previous EVS meetings.

Wagner’s expertise in media was not restricted to harnessing the power of the Internet. In 2008 he published the video disc of Voegelin in Toronto, under the company name Wagner Columbus Publishing, showing Voegelin participating in a conference at York University in November 1978 titled “Hermeneutics and Structuralism: Merging Horizons”; the other participants included Allan Bloom, Bernard Lonergan, Hans-Georg Gadamer, and Frederick Lawrence. The DVD includes discussions by Voegelin with the other panelists, as well as Voegelin’s own lecture, “Structures of Consciousness.” Wagner produced and marketed the DVD at great personal expense and effort.

Wagner founded Voegelinview in 2009 and served as its editor until 2013. It is now established as the “home” for Voegelin studies on the Internet, and the central communications hub for members of the Eric Voegelin Society.  Since 2012 (when we first kept count), the readership has grown 274%, from 8,000 views per month in 2012 to 31,000 views today in 2020.  I had the privilege to serve as Book Review Editor during Wagner’s tenure as editor, and appreciated the energy and dedication he put into building the online journal from the ground up, with very few resources and teaching himself online publishing to get the job done.

Ron Srigley replaced Wagner as editor in 2013, and then current editor Lee Trepanier took over in 2016. Trepanier told me:

“When I moved to the editorship of VoegelinView, I found Fritz invaluable in guiding me about the website: its vision, its operation, and its potential. Always gracious and good humored, Fritz was patient and encouraging in my efforts as editor of VoegelinView. His love for Voegelin and his ideas were evident throughout and the establishment of VoegleinView is not only a lasting testament to Voegelin’s own thought but to Fritz’s too.”

Members of the Eric Voegelin Society owe a great debt of gratitude to Fritz Wagner. Today we all rely on the communications infrastructure that he created, including Voegelinview and the Voegelin listserv and their forerunners. The editors of Voegelinview extend our thanks to our Founding Editor and for everything he has done.

Please see tributes from Paul Caringella, Glenn Hughes, David Walsh, and Harald Bergbauer.

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