Dietrich Ritschl

Dietrich Ritschl (born January 17, 1929 in Basel ; † January 11, 2018 ) was a Swiss Protestant Reformed theologian and professor of systematic theology .

Live and act

Dietrich Ritschl was a grandson of the theologian Albrecht Ritschl . After attending schools in various places in Switzerland and Germany, he began studying Protestant theology in Tübingen in 1946 , which he continued in Basel and Bern . After that he was accepted into the vicariate of the Reformed Church and in 1950 became vicar in Ziefen . This was followed from 1952 by a foreign service as a pastor in a German parish in Scotland ( Great Britain ). He was strongly influenced by the influences of Scottish theology and English philosophy . In Edinburgh Ritschl became a doctor of philosophy and later a doctorate in theology doctorate . This was followed by teaching in Montreal, Canada, and then professorships at universities of the Presbyterian Church , most recently at the Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York . A period followed in which he was on ecumenical lecture tours in numerous countries and promoted the Christian-Jewish dialogue and the cooperation of the denominations .

After several years of teaching in Mainz , where he researched closely with his doctoral student Hugh O. Jones, Ritschl was appointed to a professorship for systematic theology at the University of Heidelberg in 1983 , with which the management of the Ecumenical Institute was connected. At the same time, he also became the director of the university's International Science Forum. In 1992 he taught for six months in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University . During these years he also lectured regularly in Melbourne ( Australia ).

Starting from the study of the Church Fathers , Ritschl came to a deep penetration of the basic problems of systematic theology . Above all, his studies on metaphor theory and the investigation of the structure of biblical narratives made him a connoisseur and inspirer of an analytical understanding of church teaching. The building blocks of the "story concept" from Mainz and the "Implicit Axioms" - the title of his inaugural lecture in Heidelberg - he put together in his systematic draft "On the Logic of Theology". He also made a name for himself in medical ethics through lecturing and publishing. He played a key role in the editing of the journal for ethics in medicine . He worked on the boards of various associations that deal with the connection between medicine, creativity and psychology , i.e. the field of psychosomatics , which is still to be worked on . Because for him the most important thing was people as the addressee of the biblical message, he always built a bridge between theology and the neighboring fields of medicine , psychology and culture .

Ritschl was a member of the Christian Peace Conference (CFK), in whose third conference he took part in 1960 in Prague . He was also a member of the First and Second All-Christian Peace Meetings .

Dietrich Ritschl was married to Rosemarie Courvoisier († 2014) from Potsdam since 1952 .

Honors

1969: Right knight of the Order of St. John

1996: Honorary doctorate from the Reformed Theological Faculty in Budapest

1996: Heidelberg University Medal

2007: Honorary doctorate from the Theological Faculty of the University of Basel

Fonts

As an author

About life in the church. Neukirchen: Verl. D. Bookstore d. Educational Association, 1957
- Christ our life. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1960
The homiletic function of the church. Zollikon: Evang. Ed., 1959
A Theology of proclamation. Richmond: John Knox Press, 1960
Just people. Berlin: Vogt, 1962
Athanasius. Zurich: EVZ-Verl., 1964
Education and upbringing, disposition and belief. Frankfurt [Main]: Verlag Evangelischer Presseverb. f. Hessen u. Nassau, 1973
"Story" as the raw material of theology. Munich: Kaiser, 1976
Theology in the New Worlds. Munich: Kaiser, 1981
Concepts. Munich: Kaiser, 1986
Ecumenical existence today. Munich: Kaiser, 1986
The Logic of Theology. London: SCM Press, 1986
with Boris Luban-Plozza : The family: Risks and opportunities. 3., completely redesigned. Edition Basel: Birkhäuser, 1987
On the logic of theology. Brief description of the interrelationships of theological basic ideas. Munich: Kaiser, 1984, 2nd edition 1988.
with Werner Ustorf: Ecumenical Theology - Mission Studies. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1994
Theory and concretion in ecumenical theology, the hermeneutics of trust in the midst of differing semiotic systems? Münster: Lit, 2003
On the theory and ethics of medicine. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 2004
with Martin Hailer : Basic course in Christian theology. Neukirchener, 2006, 2nd edition 2008, 3rd edition 2010, brasilian. Portuguese 2012
Imagery and arguments. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 2008

As editor

Karl Barth : Schleiermacher's theology. Lecture Göttingen winter semester 1923/24 (= complete edition. Vol. 11). Theological Publishing House Zurich, Zurich 1978.
Karl Barth: The theology of Schleiermacher. Lectures at Göttingen, winter semester of 1923/24. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Clark, Edinburgh 1982.

literature

Wolfgang Huber , Ernst Petzold , Theo Sundermeier (Eds.): Implicit Axioms. Deep structures of thinking and acting. Dedicated with gratitude to Dietrich Ritschl, the tireless bridge builder between theology, medicine and philosophy. Kaiser, Munich 1990.
Reinhold Bernhardt , Martin Hailer , Gesine von Kloeden, Ulrike Link-Wieczorek (eds.): Theological seeds. the teacher Dietrich Ritschl on his 65th birthday. Lit, Münster 1994.
Michael Welker : Resurrection. Dietrich Ritschl on his 65th birthday. In: Belief and Learning. Vol. 9 (1994), H. 1, pp. 39-49.
Dietrich Ritschl, Dietrich Ritschl. In: Systematic Theology of the Present in Self-Representations. Edited by Christian Henning / Karsten Lehmkuehler. Mohr & Siebeck, Tübingen, 1998. - (UTB for science / university paperbacks; 2048). - ISBN 3-8252-2048-6 . - pp. 3-23.
Reinhold Bernhardt, Ulrike Link-Wieczorek (Ed.): Metaphor and Reality. The logic of imagery in speaking about God, man and nature. Dietrich Ritschl on his 70th birthday. Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1999.
Fernando Enns , Martin Hailer, Ulrike Link-Wieczorek (eds.): Profiled ecumenism. Remaining important and now urgent. Festschrift for Dietrich Ritschl. Lembeck, Frankfurt am Main 2009.
Dagmar Drüll: Ritschl (from Hartenbach), Dietrich. In: Heidelberger Gelehrtenlexikon 1933–1986. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2009, p. 495 f.

Web links

Literature by and about Dietrich Ritschl in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

^ Obituary notice , Basellandschaftliche Zeitung , January 15, 2018, accessed on January 15, 2018.
↑ International Secretariat of the Christian Peace Conference (ed.): Mein Bund ist Leben und Frieden (Mal. 2.5) Documents and materials from the II. All-Christian Peace Assembly in Prague June 28 to July 3, 1964, Prague 1964
↑ University of Basel celebrates its Dies Academicus 2007: Two honorary doctors and seven honorary doctors , News, University of Basel website, November 30, 2007, accessed on January 13, 2018.

personal data
SURNAME	Ritschl, Dietrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Swiss Protestant theologian
DATE OF BIRTH	January 17, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH	Basel
DATE OF DEATH	January 11, 2018

[1] Obituary notice , Basellandschaftliche Zeitung , January 15, 2018, accessed on January 15, 2018.

[2] International Secretariat of the Christian Peace Conference (ed.): Mein Bund ist Leben und Frieden (Mal. 2.5) Documents and materials from the II. All-Christian Peace Assembly in Prague June 28 to July 3, 1964, Prague 1964

[3] University of Basel celebrates its Dies Academicus 2007: Two honorary doctors and seven honorary doctors , News, University of Basel website, November 30, 2007, accessed on January 13, 2018.