Peter Steinacker

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Last Supper at a service in the Dreikönigskirche (Frankfurt am Main) under the direction of Peter Steinacker (2007)

Peter Steinacker (born December 12, 1943 in Frankfurt am Main ; † April 14, 2015 there ) was a German Protestant theologian and from 1993 to 2008 church president of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau .

Career

Peter Steinacker was born as the son of the Frankfurt lawyer Fritz Steinacker . He passed the Abitur in his hometown and studied Protestant theology and philosophy in Frankfurt , Tübingen and Marburg . In Marburg he did his doctorate on The Relationship of Ernst Bloch's Philosophy to Mysticism and took up an assistant position at the local theological faculty. In 1975 he switched to an assistant position at the University of Wuppertal . His focus there were the Old Testament and systematic theology . His 1980 habilitation thesis in Marburg was entitled Marks of the Church . He was ordained in the Rhenish Church and from 1985 worked as a parish pastor in the Evangelical parish Unterbarmen-Mitte in Wuppertal .

He was married to the psychotherapist Inge Steinacker . The couple have a daughter.

activities

In 1993 Steinacker was elected Church President by the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau. After his re-election in 2000, his term of office lasted until the end of 2008, when he was succeeded by Volker Jung .

Peter Steinacker held an honorary professorship for systematic theology at the University of Marburg and a teaching position at the University of Frankfurt.

During Steinacker's tenure, the reform of the “middle level” to strengthen and concentrate the deaneries, the church reform process “Perspective 2025” and the cooperation process with the Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck brought about important structural changes within the church. He initiated a study program in which pastors of the EKHN regularly spend a year of study at the al-Azhar University in Cairo to study Islamic theology. A focus of his tenure was to strengthen the relationship with the partner churches of the EKHN in Africa and Asia as well as in the signing of a partnership agreement with the United Church of Christ in 2008. In the successor of his predecessor as church president Helmut Hild Steinacker was responsible for the third and fourth EKD survey on church membership as editor.

Steinacker was a member of the Presidium of the German Evangelical Church Congress and was the patron of the controversial project Bible in Just Language .

A special focus of Steinacker was on the theological interpretation of Richard Wagner's work . In annual lectures at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt , he commented on Wagner's operas theologically.

Steinacker was a member of the jury of the Schlappekicker Prize awarded annually by the Frankfurter Rundschau , which is awarded, among other things, to individuals, groups and associations with a social and integrative effect.

Hessian Culture Prize

Peter Steinacker was awarded the Hessian Culture Prize 2009 together with Karl Cardinal Lehmann , Fuat Sezgin and Salomon Korn , because these personalities have made a contribution to the dialogue between the religions. After Sezgin's rejection, the writer and Islamic scholar Navid Kermani was selected , initially with the consent of Steinacker, Lehmann and Korn . Steinacker and Lehmann later stated that because of an article by Kermani in the NZZ it was no longer possible for them to accept the award together with Kermani, since Kermani, according to Steinacker, had stated that he considered the theology of the cross “to be blasphemy and close to Pornography is advancing ”. As a result, the Hessian state government initially withdrew the award of the award to Kermani; later the entire award ceremony was postponed. The matter met with wide press coverage, which was mostly negative, especially for Lehmann, but also for Steinacker. A "thought movement" towards the cross was referred to in Kermani's article. Ultimately, after a conversation with Kermani, Steinacker and Lehmann decided to jointly accept the award, which was finally awarded to the four winners on November 26, 2009.

Honors

The Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main awarded Steinacker an honorary doctorate for his services to scientific theology.
On November 26, 2009 Steinacker was awarded the Hessian Culture Prize 2009, which was initially suspended by a moratorium .

Works (in selection)

  • Richard Wagner and religion . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2008, ISBN 978-3-534-21438-9 .
  • Absolute claim and tolerance: systematic-theological contributions to the encounter between religions . Lembeck, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 978-3-87476-510-7 .
  • Church in the diversity of life. The fourth EKD survey on church membership . Edited by Johannes Friedrich, Wolfgang Huber, Peter Steinacker. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2006, ISBN 978-357-905527-5 .
  • Why the Christian religion is good for a country: Using the example of Christian festivals . Spenner, Kamen 2003.
  • Foreign home church. The third EKD survey on church membership . Edited by Klaus Engelhardt, Hermann von Löwenich, Peter Steinacker. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1997, ISBN 978-357-902363-2 .
  • The Marks of the Church: A Study of Her Unity, Holiness, Catholicity, and Apostolicity . de Gruyter, Berlin and New York 1981, ISBN 3-11-008493-7 , also habilitation thesis Philipps-Universität Marburg 1980.
  • The relationship between Ernst Bloch's philosophy and mysticism . Philipps University of Marburg, dissertation 1973.
  • Theology and church leadership: Festschrift for Peter Steinacker on his 60th birthday . Edited by Hermann Deuser, Gesche Linde and Sigurd Rink, Marburger Theologische Studien, Vol. 75. Elwert, Marburg 2003, ISBN 3-7708-1243-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Former EKHN President Peter Steinacker has died
  2. ^ A church president with a passion for thinking and creating , FAZ of December 10, 2003, accessed on March 2, 2015
  3. ↑ Frankfurter Rundschau e. V. - SCHLAPPEKICKER Prize and Prize Winner
  4. ↑ Navid Kermani: Bildansichten: Why did you leave us? Guido Reni's “Crucifixion” , NZZ of March 13, 2009, accessed on May 27, 2009
  5. ↑ Peter Steinacker: Aggravated in a hurtful way , FAZ from May 18, 2009, accessed on May 26, 2009
  6. ^ Christa Tilmann: Hessian State Prize. Religions on the Cross , Zeit online, Tagesspiegel from May 15, 2009, accessed on May 26, 2009
  7. ^ Ulrich Gutmair: Tragedy for the Hessian Culture Prize. He could believe in a cross , taz from May 15, 2009, accessed May 26, 2009
  8. ^ Friedrich Wilhelm Graf: Kant taught the same thing as Kermani , FAZ of May 21, 2009, accessed on May 26, 2009
  9. ↑ Lorenz Jäger: Scandal about the culture award. A German tragedy , FAZ from May 14, 2009, accessed on May 26, 2009
  10. ^ Ralf Euler, Stefan Toepfer: Hessian Culture Prize. Koch apologizes to Kermani , www.faz.net, November 26, 2009, accessed on November 27, 2009

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Steinacker, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian
DATE OF BIRTH December 12, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 2015
Place of death Frankfurt am Main