SCHÖPFER, AFMILIAN. — Tyrolean politician and sociologist, b. 29 April 1858 in Bressanone, d. 24 March 1936 in Innsbruck.
Ordained a priest in 1880, from 1887 to 1913 he was professor of Sacred Scripture and Oriental languages at the Seminary of Bressanone. Being an active man, he sought to organize various social and cultural works and to spread sound doctrine through the press. In Bressanone he founded the Brixener Chronik, then the Catholic-Political Union for the Press (Cathol.-Polit. Pressverein), in 1892 the journal Tiroler Volksbore, in 1907 the publishing house “Tirolia,” with its own printing press in Innsbruck; in 1913 the journal Alpenländerbote and in 1918 the weekly Neues Reich. Head of the Christian Social Party, S. was a member of the Council of Tyrol (Tiroler Landtag, 1895–1927), and from 1897 to 1923 also of the Imperial Council and subsequently the Austrian National Council (Reichs, then Nationalrat). He distinguished himself especially in the field of agrarian policy.
Writings: Geschichte des Alten Testaments (1893, 6th ed. 1923); Bibel und Wissenschaft (1896, 2nd ed. 1932); Schutz dem Bauernstand (1898); Verschuldungsfreiheit oder Schuldenfreiheit (1904, 2nd ed. 1906); Monarchie oder Republik (1919); Th. V. Aquin als Bahnbrecher der Wissenschaft (1925).