Erwin Fahlbusch

Erwin Fahlbusch (born May 26, 1926 in Frankfurt am Main ; † August 10, 2007 in Montouliers , Département Hérault , France) was a scientific advisor at the denominational institute in Bensheim and an honorary professor in the field of systematic theology of the Protestant theology department at the University of Frankfurt .

Life

Erwin Fahlbusch was born on May 26, 1926 as the only child of the married couple Friedrich and Helma Fahlbusch in Frankfurt am Main. He was baptized Catholic there, went to first holy communion and was confirmed there. On March 25, 1940, he was confirmed by the Protestant parish priest, as he also attended Protestant religious instruction.

From 1932 to 1942 he first attended elementary school in Frankfurt am Main and then middle school, which he completed with a secondary school leaving certificate. He then began training as an engineer, which he was unable to finish because he was called up for military service in May 1944. In September 1944 he was taken prisoner by the Americans in Normandy, from which he returned to Frankfurt am Main in July 1946.

Even before he was called up for military service, but especially after his experiences in the war and as a prisoner of war, Fahlbusch experienced his inner calling as a theologian. In the summer semester of 1947, he began studying theology as a guest student at the seminar of the Church of Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and then took his school-leaving examination in Frankfurt am Main, in order to be able to study at the theological faculties of the universities of Mainz, Erlangen and Göttingen. He passed the first theological exam in September 1952; the dissertation The doctrine of the revolution with Friedrich Julius Stahl joined the course. The rapporteurs were Professors Hans Joachim Iwand and Otto Weber . In addition to writing the dissertation, Fahlbusch worked as a repetitee at the Theological Monastery in Göttingen and later at the Theological Faculty.

In addition, from 1953 to 1959, Fahlbusch was the editorial secretary for the first edition of the Evangelical Church Lexicon, for which he also wrote several articles of his own.

In May 1959, Fahlbusch went to Bocholt as a full-time religion teacher at elementary, secondary and vocational schools and from March 1960 as a synodal vicar in the Westphalian diaspora community of Mesum . He passed his second theological exam on March 25, 1960 in Bielefeld and was ordained in Mesum in September 1960 . On April 29, 1962, he took up his position as pastor in Bochum-Weitmar . In April 1964 he moved to the denominational institute in Bensheim, where he was responsible for the Catholica area until his retirement in 1991.

In addition to this work at the Denominational Institute, Erwin Fahlbusch was a lecturer at the Comenius Faculty in Prague, the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium, at the University of Basel and at the theological faculties in Budapest and Debrecen (Hungary). From 1984 he was honorary professor (at times also representative of a C-4 professorship) for systematic theology at the University of Frankfurt am Main.

Erwin Fahlbusch retired in May 1991; he held lectures at the University of Frankfurt am Main until the winter semester 1992/1993. He died on August 10, 2007 in Montouliers, Herault, France.

Positions

In the fifties and sixties, Erwin Fahlbusch, as a so-called "baptismal dispenser", took the view that child baptism , as it was also practiced in the Evangelical Church, had no biblical basis, but that a person should only be baptized when he or she found faith have. As a pastor, however, he complied with the parents' wish to have children baptized.

With regard to the Volkskirche , including the Protestant one, Erwin Fahlbusch took the view that it was in need of reform. In particular, it does not leave a pastor enough opportunities for theological work. Rather, a pastor is more like the "functionary of a powerful religious institution". His opinion, which differed from the general church view, led to discussions with the Westphalian church leadership, but also with believers in his community in Bochum-Weitmar.

In his last papers from 1998 and 2001, which have not yet been published, he called for a paradigm shift in theology. The starting point of the theological work should no longer consist in a revealed truth, but it must be thought of the concrete everyday situation, "what salvation, redemption, liberation, humanity must have as its content."

Honors

Erwin Fahlbusch was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Reformed Theological Academy in Budapest in 1970 .

Fonts

• The doctrine of the revolution from Friedrich Julius Stahl . Göttingen 1954 ( dissertation at the Theological Faculty of the University of Göttingen May 8, 1955).
• Church studies of the present . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Berlin / Cologne / Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-17-001082-4 .
• Unity of the Church - a critical look at ecumenical dialogue . The reception of the Lima Declaration on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (=  Theological existence today . No. 218 ). Kaiser, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-459-01520-9 .
• Co-author, Jan Milič Lochman , John S. Mbiti : Evangelisches Kirchenlexikon (EKL) . International Theological Encyclopedia. 5 volumes. 3rd, revised edition. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1986, ISBN 3-525-50144-7 (English: The encyclopedia of Christianity, Grand Rapids, Michigan; also as an electronic resource Directmedia Publishing Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89853-498-7 ).
• Co-author: Taschenlexikon Religion und Theologie . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, ISBN 3-525-50122-6 (4th edition, without year, also as an electronic resource, Berlin 2002).