Gerd Theissen

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Gerd Theissen
Born24 April 1943 Edit this on Wikidata
Employer
Awards
Position heldprofessor emeritus (Heidelberg UniversityEdit this on Wikidata

Gerd Theißen (or Theissen; born 24 April 1943) is a German

University of Heidelberg.[1]

Early life and education

Theissen obtained his doctorate in theology in Protestant theology from the University of Bonn in 1968. He then took a position studying Evangelical Theology at the University of Bonn. He obtained his habilitation in 1972 in Bonn, with a form-critical work on early Christian miracle stories.[1]

Academic career

He was a lecturer at the

Heidelberg Academy of Sciences
.

In 2002, he was awarded the Burkitt Medal by the British Academy. It is granted 'in recognition of special service to Biblical Studies'.[2]

Personal life

Theissen is married to psychotherapist Dr. Christa Schaible. They have two children.[1]

Work

His Sociology of early Palestinian Christianity (1978) is useful for interpreting intertestamental literature.[3]

Theissen received the Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies in 2002 from The British Academy. According to the British Academy's citation, Theissen is:

"... one of the earliest pioneers in the application of the principles and methods of sociology to the study of the New Testament. Notable works in this field are The First Followers of Jesus: A Sociological Analysis of the Earliest Christians (which concentrated on conditions in Palestine) and The Social Setting of Primitive Christianity (a Pauline study dealing mainly with Corinth)."

the citation goes on to say that

"... Prof. Theissen is not simply a sociologist. He has never ceased to be a theologian, who has always emphasised the theological as well as the historical significance of his sociological studies and has written specifically on the meaning of faith. A Critical Faith and Biblical Faith: an Evolutionary Approach are particularly important in this respect. But his recent publications also include The Religion of the Earliest Churches, Gospel Writing and Church Politics: a Socio-rhetorical Approach, and The Shadow of the Galilean. This last is a most unusual life of Jesus, accessible to any intelligent reader, but based on the strictest critical discipline."

His works are translated into more than ten languages, both European and Asian languages.[1]

Bibliography

Books translated in English
Books not translated
  • Untersuchungen zum Hebräerbrief, Gütersloh: Mohn, 1969
  • Jesus als historische Gestalt. Beiträge zur Jesusforschung, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck, 2003
  • Gerd Theissen, P.v. Gemünden, M. Konradt, Der Jakobusbrief. Beiträge zur Rehabilitierung der „strohernen Epistel“ , Münster: LIT, 2003
  • Die Jesusbewegung. Sozialgeschichte einer Revolution der Werte, Gütersloh: Kaiser, 2004
  • Erleben und Verhalten der ersten Christen. Eine Psychologie des Urchristentums, Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2007
  • "Regards psychologiques et sociologiques sur le christianisme primitif: cinq études de Gerd Theissen", Études théologiques et religieuses 83 (2008)
  • "Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft vor und nach 1945: Karl Georg Kuhn und Günther Bornkamm", Schriften der Philosophisch-historischen Klasse der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften 47, Heidelberg: Winter, 2009
  • "Von Jesus zur urchristlichen Zeichenwelt", "Neutestamentliche Grenzgänge“ im Dialog, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck, 2011
  • Die Ritualdynamik urchristlicher Sakramente. Von prophetischen Zeichenhandlungen zu geheimnisvollen Riten, = La dinamica rituale dei sacramenti nel cristianesimo primitivo. Da azioni simbolico profetiche a riti misterici, Lectiones Vagagginianae IV, Rom: Cittadella Editrice e Pontificio Ateneo Sant'Anselmo, 2013
  • Polyphones Verstehen. Entwürfe zur Bibelhermeneutik, Münster: LIT, 2014
  • Transparente Erfahrung: Predigten und Meditationen, Gütersloh, Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2014
  • Polyphones Verstehen: Entwürfe zur Bibelhermeneutik, Münster: LIT, 2015
  • Gerd Theissen, Petra von Gemünden, Der Römerbrief. Rechenschaft eines Reformators, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck 2016
  • Gerd Theissen, Lung Pun Chan, István Czachesz, Kontraintuitivität und Paradoxie. Zum kognitiven Ansatz in der Exegese, BVB 29, Münster: LIT 2017
  • Veränderungspräsenz und Tabubruch. Die Ritualdynamik urchristlicher Sakramente, BVB 30, Münster: LIT 2017
  • Der Anwalt des Paulus, Gütersloh, Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2017
  • Glaubenssätze: ein kritischer Katechismus, Gütersloh, Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2018
  • Texttranszendenz, Beiträge zur polyphonen Hermeneutik, Münster: LIT 2019
  • Urchristliche Wundergeschichten: ein Beitrag zur formgeschichtlichen Erforschung der synoptischen Evangelien, Gütersloh, Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2019
  • Beiträge zu einer polyphonen Bibelhermeneutik, Münster: LIT 2019
  • Religionskritik als Religionsdiskurs: Plädoyer für einen postsäkularen Dialog, Stuttgart: Alfred Kröner Verlag 2020
  • Resonanztheologie: Gott, Christus, Geist, Münster: LIT 2020
  • Gerd Theissen, Sylvia Thonak, Militärseelsorge: das ungeliebte Kind protestantischer Friedensethik? : Konzepte und Probleme, Münster: LIT, 2020
  • Kirchenträume - Kirche in urchristlicher Zeit und Gegenwart, Münster: LIT, 2021

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Balla, Prof. Dr. Peter. "Laudatio for Professor Gerd Theissen, on the occasion of awarding him the title of doctor honoris causa" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  2. ^ "BURKITT MEDAL FOR BIBLICAL STUDIES 2002". Prizes and medals. British Academy. Archived from the original on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  3. Harris, Stephen L.
    , Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. p. 251.

External links