Bernd J. Diebner

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Bernd Jörg Diebner (born May 8, 1939 in Berlin ) is a German Protestant theologian, pastor, Old Testament scholar , church historian and Coptologist .

Life

Bernd Jörg Diebner grew up in the Pomeranian Cammin (now Polish: Pobierowo ). In 1945 he came to Hamburg , where he lived in the Groß Flottbek district and graduated from the state Christianeum in 1957 . He then studied theology, German literature , Christian archeology and Coptology at the universities of Hamburg , Tübingen , Bonn and Heidelberg until 1965 . 1959–1963 he lived in Schmerbroich- Niederpleis near Siegburg . 1961–1962 he was an assistant at the Old Testament scholar Martin Noth in Bonn. 1962–1965 he was assistant to Erich Dinkler in Bonn and Heidelberg. In Heidelberg, Diebner received his doctorate in church history and Christian archeology in 1965 with a work entitled The Orientation of the Early Christian Church Space and Its Theological Justification: Represented Using the Examples of Rome , Syria and Constantinople . From 1965 to 1967 he was a research assistant in Christian archeology in Heidelberg. From 1968 to 1970 he was vicar and pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Hamburg state . Ideally, he belonged to the “emergency vicars” who published a critical church magazine. Until 1972 he had a teaching position in coptology at the University of Hamburg. 1970 to 1972 he received a habilitation grant from the German Research Foundation. In 1970 he was ordained and appointed pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran regional church in the Hamburg state. In 1972 he received a teaching position for the Old Testament at the University of Heidelberg. In 1973 he received a teaching course grant from the Evangelical Institute for Classical Studies in the Holy Land . In 1985 Diebner became a part-time pastor of Dansk Kirke i Sydslesvig . In 1999 he was appointed honorary professor at the University of Heidelberg, where he still teaches after his retirement in 2004.

Through his versatile research and experience, he developed a critical interpretation of the Biblica Hebraica , the Hebrew Old Testament. In 1974 he became co-editor of the Dielheimer Blätter zum Alten Testament , which was called Dielheimer Blätter zur Archeologie und Spätantike (DBAT) from 1984 until it was discontinued in 1999 . In 1976 he became a member of the International Association for Coptic Studies (IACS) in Cairo . In 1982 he became editor of the periodical De Kennung , a magazine for Low German parish work, it is the association organ of the Plattdüütsch in de Kark platform , an amalgamation of eight regional church working groups for Low German proclamation. In 1982 he began teaching Coptic Studies in the Egyptological Institute at the University of Heidelberg, most of which he held together with Claudia Nauerth and Reinhard Grieshammer. 1989–2001 he led Bible studies at the German Evangelical Church Congress (DEKT). In 1991 he became a member of the Christian Archeology Working Group for the study of late antique , early medieval and Byzantine culture . In 1996 he became a regular employee of the Stuttgart Sermon Studies (PStS), later the Pastoral Blätter (PBl) were added.

In 2000 he became a member of the International Society for Dialectology of German (IGDD) in Göttingen . In 2006 he was visiting professor at the Evangelical Theological Faculty of Charles University in Prague . In the same year he took a lectureship in Coptic Studies at the Egyptological Institute of Heidelberg University. In addition to his university activities, Diebner gives lectures in parishes and also gives lectures at pastoral colleges.

Teaching and Research

Diebner began to research the Old Testament; he interpreted the Tanak ( Torah , Neviim and Ketubim ) as ancient Jewish literature of the Hellenistic- Roman epoch and not as a Christian text. Because the differences between Hebrew-Aramaic and the Greek text tradition are great. Today's Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) is based on the high medieval Jewish manuscript, the Codex Leningradensis (Cod. L), and not on older documents that were only found in the 19th and 20th centuries and are available today.

He critically describes historical-critical research on the Old Testament since Rationalism and the Enlightenment as a process of abstraction . In a reducing way, original and good readings would be peeled out, but the Bible texts would also be adapted to our current pseudo-critical reading habits, although we are hardly aware of it. Especially source analysis and redaction criticism secreted from "useless" texts and canceled it wrongly because it lacked self-criticism and criticism of methods in the German university space. The more pragmatic Anglo-Saxons read the texts as such under the label New Literary Criticism and interpret them without having to dissect them. Diebner understands and accepts the Biblica Hebraica as a divine service and religious instruction text of ancient Judaism. As an oriental, anti-Hellenistic text, it was only finally created in Roman times, when Hellenism was already the dominant culture . It is a differentiated and at the same time combative document in ancient culture. The authors of the time had to deal with the prevailing culture and did so in a confrontational and adaptive manner.

Coptology was given a second weight, especially the late antique Coptic papyri with religious content, which consisted of biblical texts and deuterocanonical literature. In Christian archeology he was interested in late antiquity, he limited himself to contributions to the parallel Jewish-late antiquity culture, which manifested itself primarily in the synagogues .

In practical theology he made contributions from the Old Testament to church proclamation in High German and Low German. He also published on the recent history of the German-Danish cultural area in Schleswig .

Honors

  • Peter Zenger Prize for the best Hamburg school magazine in 1957.
  • Honorary member of the Working Group of Low German Pastors in Lower Saxony and Bremen in 2014.
  • Honorary letter from the Fritz Reuter Society in Neubrandenburg 2014

Publications (selection)

  • The orientation of the early Christian church space and its theological justification: illustrated using the examples of Rome, Syria and Constantinople. Dissertation, Heidelberg, 1965.
  • Dielheimer Blätter zum Old Testament (DBAT). No. 7–11 (1974–1976), and supplement 1: Festschrift for the 50th birthday of Rolf Rendtorff (1975). Co-editors: Hermann Schult and Konrad Rupprecht, Dielheim, 1974.
  • Critical literary problems of the Zephaniah apocalypse. In: Robert McLachlan Wilson (ed.): Nag Hammadi and Gnosis, Papers Read at the First International Congress of Coptology Cairo, 1976 (= NHS 14), Leiden 1978, pp. 152-167.
  • Considerations on "Exodus". In: H. Altenmüller, D. Wildung (ed.): Festschrift for Wolfgang Helck (= SAK 11), Hamburg 1984, pp. 595–630.
  • Dielheimer sheets on the Old Testament and its reception in the Old Church. No. 21. Edited with Claudia Nauerth, DBAT, Heidelberg, 1985.
  • The biblical texts of the Hamburg Papyrus bilinguis 1 (Cant, Lam co., Eccl. Gr. Et co.) In their relationship to the text of the Septuagint, especially Codex B (Vat.gr. 1209): observations and methodological remarks. In: Tito Orlandi , Fr. Wisse (ed.): Acts of the 2nd International Congress of Coptic Studies , Roma 1980. CIM, Roma 1985, pp. 59-74.
  • Hamburger Papyrus bilinguis 1 , Coptic - Greek. CahOr 18, Genève 1989.
  • "The Low German has homeland rights with us too!" On the role of Low German in the German-language press in North Schleswig during the Nazi era. In: K. Dohnke, N. Hopster, J. Wirrer: Low German in National Socialism. Hildesheim, 1994, pp. 441-492.
  • Judah and Israel: On the hermeneutical significance of the tension between Judea and Samaria for the understanding of the TNC as literature. In: Martin Prudký (editor): Festschrift for Jan Heller on his 70th birthday . Kampen and Prag 1995, pp. 86-132.
  • Ecclesiological aspects of a canon hermeneutics of the Hebrew Bible (TNK). The Power of Right Hermeneutics Simply as Entertainment. Lectures on the occasion of Rochus Zuurmond's retirement on January 26, 1996. DBAT.B 14a, Heidelberg, 1996.
  • German dialects at the turnaround? Editor: Rudolf Lehr , Odenwälder, Heidelberg 1996, ISBN 3-929295-18-0 .
  • Gen 17 as the middle of a Passover cycle in the Torah. In: Communio Viatorum. 40, 1998, pp. 101-125.
  • 'Pontius Pilatus' in post-canonical literature: A contribution to the function and reception of the figure of history who has been mentioned for the last 2000 years. In: Hermann Lichtenberger , GS Oegema (Hrsg.): Jüdische Schriften in their antique-Jewish and early Christian context (= JSHRZ. St. 1), Gütersloh 2002, pp. 429–448.
  • Zephaniah's apocalypses . Coptic Zephaniah Apocalypse Fragments. Jewish writings from the Hellenistic-Roman period JSHRZ publication V / 9, Gütersloher Verlagshaus , Gütersloh 2003, ISBN 3-579-03945-8
  • De Wiehnachsgeschicht op platt. Ut'n Greek text überdroogen by Pastor Bernd J. Diebner. Editors: Walter Sauer , Naumann, Nidderau 2000, ISBN 3-933575-39-7 .
  • With Ludwig Thoma: Hilly night. Naumann, Nidderau 2002, ISBN 3-933575-97-4 .
  • Since when has "that Israel" existed? Collected Studies on TNK and Ancient Judaism - Contributions to Understanding the Bible 17. Editors: Benedikt Hensel , Frank Zeidler and Veit Dinkelaker . LIT Verlag 2011, ISBN 978-3-643-10832-6 .
  • Dat Oole Testament locked op Platt. Plattdüütsch Opsätz in Utwohl. Bible Studies 2012, ISBN 978-3-643-11763-2 .
  • with Heinrich Kröger and Manfred Mergel : dialect in the church. Possibilities and limits. LIT-Verlag 2014, ISBN 978-3-643-12322-0 .
  • A testament to the Old Testament: unexpected exegetical perspectives. (Bible studies; Vol. 16) Lit-Verlag 2016, ISBN 978-3-643-13206-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Diebner on the website of the theological faculty of Heidelberg University ( memento from February 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Matthias Schulz: The empty throne. In: Der Spiegel . December 21, 2002.
  3. ↑ Course correction: Plea for a different approach to the «Old Testament». In: Transparent. 2003, No. 69, pp. 3-18, ( PDF file ( Memento of March 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ))
  4. ↑ Information on Zephaniah's apocalypses at Randomhouse
personal data
SURNAME Diebner, Bernd J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Diebner, Bernd
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian, Old Testament scholar, church historian, coptologist and language specialist for Low German
DATE OF BIRTH May 8, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin