Martin Nicol

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Martin Nicol

Martin Nicol (born March 3, 1953 in Munich ) is a German Evangelical Lutheran theologian. He is pastor of the Bavarian regional church (ELKB) and since 1995 professor for practical theology at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). His focus is on homiletics , liturgy and poimenics .

Life

Martin Nicol was born in 1953 in Munich as the son of a pastor and church musician. From 1972 to 1978 he studied Protestant theology in Erlangen, Tübingen , Rome and Toulouse . At the same time as his basic studies, Nicol passed the C-exam at the church music school in Esslingen in 1975 .

Martin Nicol then worked as an assistant at the Institute for New Testament in Erlangen (chair Jürgen Roloff ) until 1982 . During this time he was mainly responsible for Greek courses for theology students and worked on his dissertation on "Meditation with Luther". In 1983 Martin Nicol received his doctorate.

After the vicariate in a parish in Nuremberg-Großreuth , he returned to Erlangen as an academic adviser to the Institute for Systematic Theology (chair Friedrich Mildenberger ) and qualified as a professor in 1989 in practical theology with "Conversation as Pastoral Care". In addition to his university activities, he completed basic training in logotherapy and existential analysis according to Viktor E. Frankl in Vienna and a six-week course in clinical pastoral training (KSA) in Bamberg.

From 1989 to 1994 he worked as a private lecturer at FAU. At the same time he worked as a pastor in the dean's office in Erlangen (1990–1992) and in the catechetical office in Heilsbronn (today the religious education center) Heilsbronn (1992–1994). In the spring of 1994 Martin Nicol took over a professorship at the Protestant Theological Institute in Sibiu (Romania). He then completed the “Doctor of Ministry in Preaching” program in Chicago / USA (Association of Chicago Theological Schools) .

Since 1995 Martin Nicol has held the chair for practical theology in the theology department at FAU, where he still teaches today. In March 2001 he was visiting professor at the Facoltà Valdese di Teologia of the Waldensians in Rome . In the same year he turned down the call to the C4 professorship for practical theology with a focus on homiletics and liturgy at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (successor to Rainer Volp).

Martin Nicol is married and has three children.

Teaching and Research

For Martin Nicol, practical theology takes place between event and criticism, between perception and reflection. For this reason, his teaching at the university is always characterized by an experimental search movement towards practice.

Practical theology - classic

Homiletics - putting each other in the picture

Inspired by his research stays at the Chicago Theological School and the New Homiletic Current, Nicol developed the dramaturgical homiletics . With students and in his own preaching practice, he tried out this new homiletic approach and described his basic insights in 2002 in the monograph “Put one another in the picture”. The model of the dramaturgical homiletics is presented in it. The second version of the book was published in Germany as early as 2005 and translated into Hungarian and Finnish.

In the same year, the practical book on dramaturgical homiletics “Im Wechselstufe zur Kanzel”, which Martin Nicol developed together with Alexander Deeg , was published. It explains the basic insights of this homiletic approach using practical examples.

He was also involved in founding the “Atelier Sprache e. V. ”at the Theological Center of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Braunschweig in 2002 and has been giving regular training there ever since.

From 2007 to 2011, Martin Nicol was editor-in-chief of the Göttingen Sermon Meditations , for which he also wrote numerous contributions himself.

In order to promote didactic work in homiletic training, further education and training, Martin Nicol initiated the “Predigital” project in 2010 together with Alexander Deeg and the Church Service Institute of the ELKB. This contains sermons in text, sound and images, which are analyzed with the help of the dramaturgical homiletics and prepared for didactic use. The German Business Sermon Prize has supported the project as a sponsor since 2012.

Since October 1, 2015, Martin Nicol has held the office of university preacher at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg.

Liturgy - way in mystery

In 2009 Martin Nicol published the monograph “Path in Secret. Plea for the Evangelical Worship Service ”. Based on observations in Sunday services, Nicol strengthens the service as a place where "God's time" and "world time" meet. Nicol describes the task of the liturgist as "liturgical contemporary art", i. H. shaping the difference between the two times. Nicol regularly holds training courses and impulse days for pastors, e.g. B. at the Worship Institute in Nuremberg.

Poimenik - conversation as pastoral care

Martin Nicol completed the clinical pastoral training (KSA) in 1986 and was involved in the "Interseel", the permanent conference of the institutions involved in pastoral training and further training in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. In 1989 he completed his habilitation with the monograph “Conversation as Pastoral Care”, in which he emphasized the value of pastoral discussions during simple encounters at the garden fence.

Practical theology - in the focus of the arts

literature

In 1995 Nicol initiated the research project "Biblical Traces in German-Language Poetry after 1945" at his chair. His continued interest in this work made it a long-term project. The biblical traces that can be identified in the poems are recorded in an Internet database. The results can be viewed online. With the help of this project, the diverse interplay between the Bible and poetry for research and teaching is illuminated.

Martin Nicol offers courses on the subject of “Bible & Poetry”, gives lectures (e.g. about “evangelical education”) and further training for pastors (e.g. about the Bavarian Worship Institute).

In December 2005 Nicol was one of the founding members of the Interdisciplinary Center for Contemporary Literature and Culture at FAU. music

In addition to literature, music plays an important role in Martin Nicol's work: he deals with the interplay between music and pastoral care, music and sermon, music and worship in numerous essays.

Since 2008 he has also been concerned with the religious reception of Beethoven's piano sonatas since the 19th century. In addition, he spent several research stays in the Beethoven House in Bonn. He presented his first insights in lectures (e.g. celebratory lecture on the ten-year anniversary of the Atelier Sprach e.V.) and lectures.

Publications (a selection)

  • Angels in the coffee house. For scriptural interpretation through poetry. In: Hans Klein, Berthold W. Köber u. Egbert Schlarb (Ed.): Church - History - Faith. FS Hermann Pitters, Erlangen 1998, 310-319.
  • Put each other in the picture. Dramaturgical homiletics. Göttingen 2002. (2nd edition 2005).
  • Event and criticism. Practical theology as a high school of the art of God. In: ZThK 99 (2002), 226-238.
  • Conversation as pastoral care. Theological Fragments on a Culture of Conversation. Göttingen 1990. (= habilitation thesis).
  • God's sound and fingering. Beethoven's piano sonatas as a religious experience. Bonn 2015.
  • Basic knowledge of practical theology. A work book. Stuttgart u. a. 2000.
  • I'm finished and ready. Sound speech as pastoral care. In: Manfred Josuttis, Heinz Schmidt u. Stefan Scholpp (ed.): On the way to a pastoral church. Theological building blocks. FS Christian Möller, Göttingen 2000, 72-84.
  • together with Alexander Deeg : Stepping over to the pulpit. Practice book Dramaturgische Homiletik. Göttingen 2005.
  • Karl May as interpreter of the Bible. Observations on the "Old Surehand" trilogy. In: Claus Roxin, Helmut Schmiedt u. Hans Wollschläger: Yearbook of the Karl May Society. Husum 1998, 305-320.
  • Cult of the Bible and culture of reading. In: Rudolf Freiburg, Markus May u. Roland Spiller (Ed.): Cult books. Würzburg 2004, 1–13.
  • Living with the Hidden God. The Individual's Suffering in Modern Poetry. In: Rudolf Freiburg u. Susanne Gruss (Ed.): But Vindicate the Ways of God to Man. Literature and Theodicy. ZAA Studies 20, Tübingen 2004, 441–454.
  • Meditation with Luther. FKDG 34, Göttingen 1984 (2nd edition 1991) (= dissertation).
  • Musical hermeneutics. Reference to the event in the scriptural interpretation. PTh 80 (1991) 230-238.
  • Read polyphonically. Biblical traces in German-language poetry after 1945. LS 55 (2004) 98–103.
  • Preaching from Within Homiletic navigation lights from North America. In: PTh 86 (1997) 295-309. (= Inaugural lecture)
  • Rudolf Bohren, Interpretation and Oratory. With the collaboration of Roger Schmidt ed. u. initiated v. Martin Nicol, = edition bohren 3, Waltrop 2005.
  • together with Alexander Deeg u. Tanja Gojny: Networked texts. The interplay between the Bible and modern poetry. In: PrTh 37 (2002) 298-311.
  • Way in secret. Plea for the Evangelical Worship Service. Göttingen 2009 (3rd edition 2011).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Event and Criticism. Practical theology as a high school of the art of God . In: Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche 99 (2002), pp. 226–238.
  2. ↑ Homepage of the Divine Service Institute . February 28, 2013.
  3. ↑ Research project "Predigital" (since 2010)
  4. ↑ Michael Strauss: Ten Years Atelier Language ( Memento from December 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). February 28, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Nicol, Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Evangelical Lutheran theologian and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich