Josef Koch (born in ) was a German professor, historian of Philosophy and theologian. In 1950 he founded the Thomas-Institut at the University of Cologne. Biography Koch was the son of a Gymnasium teacher. Starting in 1903, he studied Theology, Philosophy and Classical philology in the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg, the University of Strasbourg and the University of Bonn, where he obtained a doctoral degree in 1915 under the supervision of Adolf Dyroff. In 1908 he was ordained as a Catholic priest. In 1925 he obtained a doctoral degree in Catholic Theology under the supervision of Bernhard Poschmann at the University of Breslau (now University of Wrocław), and the same year at the same university obtained the Habilitation in systematic Theology. In 1933 he was appointed professor of Fundamental Theology at the University of Breslau. In 1945 he had to flee Breslau, losing his personal book collection and scientific documents. After the war he was guest professor at the University of Bonn and in 1947 was appointed professor of Scholastic Philosophy and Philosophy of Religion in Göttingen. In 1948 he moved to a newly created position of Professor of Medieval Philosophy at the University of Cologne, where in 1950 he founded the Thomas-Institut. Koch retired in 1956 and died in 1967 in a hospital in Cologne. His grave is located in the Melaten Cemetery (Flur 36 Nr. 171/172). Selected Publications Karl Bormann (ed.): Kleine Schriften. 2 Bände (= Storia e letteratura. Raccolta di studi e testi. Band 127). Rom 1973. Durandus de S. Porciano O. P., Forschungen zum Streit um Thomas von Aquin zu Beginn des 14. Jahrhunderts. 1927. Platonismus im Mittelalter (= Kölner Universitätsreden. Band 4). 1948. Die Thomistenschule am Ende des 13. und zu Beginn des 14. Jahrhunderts. In: B. Geyer: Die patristische und scholastische Philosophie. 1928; Neudruck 1964, S. 528–551. Giles of Rome, Errores philosophorum, Critical text with Notes and Introduction. English translation by J. O. Kiedl. 1944. Nikolaus von Cues und seine Umwelt. In: Sitzungsberichte Heidelberger Akad. Wiss., Phil.-Hist. Klasse. 1948. Nicolai de Cusa Opera Omnia, III: De coniecturis. Herausgeber J. Koch und C. Bormann. Verlag J. G. Senger, 1972. Nikolaus v. Kues. In: Theodor Heuss (Hrsg.): Die Großen Deutschen I. 1956, S. 275–287. as editor: Humanismus, Mystik und Kunst in der Welt des Mittelalters (= Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters. Band 3). Leiden/Köln 1973. as editor: Artes liberales. Von der antiken Bildung zur Wissenschaft