 |
Gerd Theissen | |
|---|---|
| Born | 24 April 1943 |
| Academic background | |
| Education | University of Bonn |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | sociology; theology; history |
| Institutions | University of Heidelberg |
Main interests | New Testament |
Gerd Theissen (Theißen, born 24 April 1943) is a German Protestant theologian and New Testament scholar. He is Professor Emeritus of New Testament studies at the University of Heidelberg.
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Gerd Theissen (spelling in German, Theißen) was born in Rheydt, Germany, today known as Mönchengladbach, Germany, on 24 April 1943.
He obtained his doctorate from the University of Bonn in 1968, in a study of the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews, study under the auspices of the faculty of Protestant theology.[citation needed] He then moved on to studying Evangelical Theology there, as well,[citation needed] obtaining his habilitation in 1972, on early Christian miracle stories, which he approached through form criticism.[citation needed]
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Thiessen is reported to have been a lecturer at the University of Bonn from 1973 to 1978.[according to whom?][citation needed] As described by a colleague on the occasion of an honorary doctorate, Thiessen worked "as a secondary school teacher, teaching religion and German language" from 1976 to 1978.
He served as a professor of the New Testament at the University of Copenhagen, from 1978-1980. In 1980 he became a professor of "New Testament studies" at the University of Heidelberg, a post which he held for over 25 years.
From 2007 to September 2009 Thiessen served as secretary of the Philosophical class of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences.[citation needed]
Theissen is a German Protestant theologian and New Testament scholar. His academic work, as of 2005, was being described as covering "wide fields in New Testament studies" through publication of 15 sole-author books, co-authoring of 3 more, as well as contributing 110 articles (including reviews), chapters, or essays in lexicons, books, and journals.[needs update] His works[clarification needed] have been translated into more than ten languages, European and Asian.
 | This section contains an excessive amount of intricate detail. Specifically, the extensive quotations from the Brit. Acad. amount to an unnecessary full restatement of the cited award notice. (September 2025) |
In 2002, Thiessen was awarded the Burkitt Medal by the British Academy. It is granted "in recognition of special service to Biblical Studies". The British Academy's citation states that Theissen is:
...one of the earliest pioneers in the application of the principles and methods of sociology to the study of the New Testament. [His n]otable works in this field are The First Followers of Jesus... [1977] (which concentrated on conditions in Palestine) and The Social Setting of Primitive [sic., Pauline] Christianity [1979] (a Pauline study dealing mainly with Corinth).
The citation goes on to state that he "is not simply a sociologist... [but] has never ceased to be a theologian... always emphasis[ing] the theological... [and] historical significance of his sociological studies", and that Thiessen had written, specifically, about the "meaning of faith" where it noted his work, On Having a Critical Faith (1979), was "particularly important". It goes on to highlight his most recent publications as of 2002, which included The Religion of the Earliest Churches (1999) and Gospel Writing and Church Politics (2001), and makes special reference to The Shadow of the Galilean (1986), which it describes as "a most unusual life of Jesus, accessible to any intelligent reader, but based on the strictest critical discipline".
He has been awarded honorary doctoral degrees, including from The University of Glasgow in 1990, and the University of St. Andrews in 1997. In 2005, Thiessen was awarded an honorary doctorate (doctor honoris causa) by the Faculty of Theology of the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, during festivities to celebrate its 150th jubilee.
Professor Theissen is a member of the Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften.
As of 2005, Theissen was married to psychologist and psychotherapist Christa Schaible, and they had two children.
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THe following are books, in German and in English, by Theissen:[according to whom?][citation needed]
