Gerd Lüdemann

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Gerd Lüdemann (born July 5, 1946 in Visselhövede ) is a German Protestant theologian . From 1983 to 1999 he taught the New Testament at the Evangelical Theological Faculty of the Georg-August University in Göttingen . From 1999 until his retirement in 2011 he taught there with a special status "History and Literature of Early Christianity " and headed the "Early Christian Studies" department of the "Institute for Special Research" at the university.

Lüdemann was best known for his contributions to historical Jesus research , in which he takes a particularly consistent position. His publications sparked theological controversy as well as a lengthy legal battle. According to Lüdemann, it became clear during the legal dispute that theological scholars cannot conduct their research freely because they are bound by the “guidelines” of religion and state church law .

position

Lüdemann's departure from the prevailing doctrine of theology began with his book The Resurrection of Jesus. History - Experience - Theology , published in 1994. Lüdemann tried to explain the New Testament texts on the resurrection of Jesus historically and psychologically. In the last chapter he asks the question: "Can we still be Christians?"

In March 1998 Lüdemann published the book The Big Fraud. And what Jesus really said and did . In it he undertook an analysis of selected New Testament texts from the canonical Gospels and the Gospel of Thomas to determine which of them came from the historical Jesus of Nazareth and which were subsequently ascribed to him. On the basis of his own criteria for real and inauthentic words of Jesus, he came to the “ empirical ” result that only a small amount of about five percent of the entire Jesus tradition goes back to Jesus himself.

From this result Lüdemann concluded that early Christianity had already begun to “falsify and paint over” Jesus' words and deeds and “made Jesus so that he corresponded to their wishes and interests and how he seemed to be most useful to them in the fight against deviants and those of different faiths ". Among the texts falsified in this way, Lüdemann included New Testament texts on the physical resurrection of Jesus and the atonement theology, such as the Last Supper texts, apocalyptic texts from the Last Judgment and all texts that, in his view, proclaim Jesus as a divine being and assume a belief in revelation . He judged this to be a projection . In his final chapter, entitled "Letter to Jesus", Lüdemann writes:

“No real religion can be built on projections, wishes and visions, not even if it appears as powerful as the Christian Church, which has even elevated you to the rulership of the world and the coming judge. But you are not the lord of the world, as your followers declared you to be as a result of your resurrection, and you also did not want to be. You announced the future kingdom of God, but the church has come. You were mistaken, and your message has been falsified by your followers in their own favor against historical truth. Your teaching was a mistake, because the messianic kingdom failed to materialize. "

Lüdemann thus places himself in the tradition of Hermann Samuel Reimarus : In his writings published by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing from 1774 to 1778, Jesus portrayed Jesus as a political candidate for the Messiah , whose imminent expectation was disappointed, and ascribed the deceptive invention of the resurrection faith to the first Christians. Furthermore, Lüdemann follows Ludwig Feuerbach's criticism of religion , who describes the belief in a God, an incarnation of this God and other, primarily Lutheran-Christian dogmas as psychologically understandable but wishful projections that must be overcome for the progress of humanism .

Lüdemann emerged as a church critic with other books in which he primarily wanted to historically refute the belief in the resurrection ("the tomb of Jesus was full"). His critical review of the book Jesus of Nazareth also belongs in this context . From the baptism in the Jordan to the transfiguration of Pope Benedict XVI. : From an academic point of view, it is an “embarrassing derailment” and an “intellectual scandal”, since it “puts reason in front of the cart of the Roman Catholic faith”.

background

Theologians and laypeople live with a multitude of images of Jesus that cannot be reconciled with the depiction of Jesus in the Bible and the centuries-old theological interpretation. A number of ideas have been developed over the centuries as to how this problem could be solved.

With Luther the criterion of the interpretation of the Bible ( exegesis ) was still the "primary sense of the word". He understood the Gospels as narratives that gave historical facts. According to Luther, the theologians of the Reformation “reduced the Gospels even further to the purely factual-historical sense”.

In the 18th century, Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694–1768) claimed that the resurrection of Jesus was unreasonably incomprehensible. This claim sparked one of the greatest theological debates of modern times. As a result, brisk research activities developed in order to reconstruct a historically reliable picture of Jesus of Nazareth. Ferdinand Christian Baur (1792–1860) came to the conclusion with scientific and historical source research that Christianity only emerged in the course of 300 years of development. In contrast, David Friedrich Strauss (1808–1874) constructed Jesus as a mythical figure. Research into Jesus reached its limits in the 19th century. Every new document, every fact that was previously considered historically true, turned out to be questionable on closer inspection.

Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976) stated that the early Christian communities and their leaders were not interested in the historical Jesus. Paul did not base his theology in terms of content but formally on Jesus of Nazareth. He proposed to rid the biblical texts of questionable content, to demythologize them and to convey an existential approach to the texts.

Research into Jesus has long sought to gain a picture of the historical Jesus by distinguishing between genuine and false Jesus words and deeds. The historical-critical methods used for this purpose have continuously differentiated and the authenticity criteria have changed. These have themselves been the subject of intense research debate since the 1950s. In 1953 Ernst Käsemann set up a double criterion for difference: Genuine Jesus material is what cannot be deduced from contemporary Judaism or from early Christianity. On the other hand, the social and religious history plausibility criterion has prevailed among most researchers since around 1973: All traditions that can be explained by Judaism of the time and historical circumstances can be Jesuan.

Theological arguments with Lüdemann

When Lüdemann researched the historical truth of the biblical texts with meticulously and thoroughly refined historical-critical methods, the old disputes broke out again. Theological science predominantly preferred biblical history to the historical-critical approach. For example, belief in the resurrection does not depend on whether Jesus' tomb was empty or not. Lüdemann recalled the Christian commitment to truth and his research results.

New Testament scholars like Wolfgang Stegemann criticize Lüdemanns with the claim of empirical objectivity: By accusing the original Christians - like the first, still naive-optimistic life-Jesus researchers - of fraud, he is turning a current legal term (deliberate damage by pretending false and Distortion or suppression of true facts) on them. He assumes that ancient texts and traditional processes have a narrative strategy that requires modern standards for historical representations. His concept of reality - "really" is only that which can be freed from "overpainting" and turned against the faith of the original Christians - is an anachronism that was arrested in the 19th century and lags far behind today's hermeneutical insights . However, Lüdemann expressly emphasizes that this “overpainting” is by no means based on “fraudulent intentions”, but rather on the belief of the early Christians to act in the service of a “higher truth”, which relativizes Stegemann's criticism.

In his discussion about the resurrection of Jesus , Lüdemann pointed out to Carsten Peter Thiede evidence from which he basically concluded that the Gospels were historically unreliable. According to Lüdemann, the report in the Gospel of Mark states "that no one was present at Jesus' prayer fight in Gethsemane ". Thiede, on the other hand, said that three of Jesus' disciples were very much there and that the report did not say that they slept the whole time; so they could have “noticed enough”. Also Jesus' call on the cross , “why did you leave me?”, Believes Lüdemann to be unhistorical, because “there was no one there who could have heard the prayer”. In contrast, Thiede pointed out the people standing around mentioned in the report, opponents and followers of Jesus. The extent to which a witness could understand a saying depends on how far he is from Jesus and the volume of Jesus' speeches or cries. Lüdemann suspected that the contradiction between Thiede and him was based on their "different assessments of the evangelists".

Looking at the allegedly pseudepigraphic letters of the New Testament, Lüdemann believes that pseudepigraphy was associated with the intent to deceive . That pseudepigraphy implies this is also confirmed by the conservative side, for example by Armin Daniel Baum . In 2001 Baum himself published an extensive study on "pseudepigraphy".

Litigation

According to the book published in 1998, called for Confederation of Protestant Churches in Lower Saxony in Lower Saxony Ministry of Science initially Lüdemanns dismissal from the civil service, later its removal from the Faculty of Theology. When the Philosophical Faculty rejected his admission, Lüdemann remained with a special status at the Theological Faculty. The President of the University of Göttingen Reinhard Jahn converted his denominational chair for “New Testament” into the non-denominational chair for “History and Literature of Early Christianity”. Since then, his events have not been relevant for examinations of the theological faculty, and Lüdemann is not allowed to accept them. Lüdemann funds were also canceled and the C1 assistant position, which had been promised in writing, was withdrawn.

Lüdemann wanted, however, despite his rejection of the officially prescribed Christian faith, to remain employed and authorized to teach at the theological faculty. He justified this by stating that scientific teaching and research would not be restricted “if a no longer Christian teaches and researches together with more than twenty Christians: If the content of the Christian faith is correct, then my superior colleagues may be wrong adjust. If it is not correct, however, it is only an advantage for the students to be able to reorientate in good time. "

Lüdemann therefore took legal action against the decision of the University of Göttingen. His lawsuit was dismissed in the last instance on November 3, 2005 by the Federal Administrative Court. On October 28, 2008, his constitutional complaint against it was rejected by the Federal Constitutional Court . Although it classified Lüdemann's transfer as an “encroachment on academic freedom”, it considered this to be justified. Academic freedom finds its limits in the faculty's right, which is also protected by academic freedom, to maintain its identity as a theological faculty, as well as in the right of self-determination of the religious community concerned. Their right to participate is "a necessary consequence of the decision of the state to teach theology as a denominational science of faith [...] at its universities". It cannot and should not be a matter for the religiously and ideologically neutral state to judge whether theological doctrine is in accordance with its creed.

Lüdemann no longer calls himself a Christian , but remained a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hanover in order to be able to continue his profession at the faculty.

Private

Lüdemann is married and has four daughters.

Works (selection)

1994
  • The resurrection of Jesus. History, experience, theology . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, ISBN 3-525-53523-6 .
1995
1997
  • The heretics' Bible. The Gnostic Scriptures from Nag Hammadi - First complete German translation. With Martina Janßen. Radius, Stuttgart, ISBN 3-87173-128-5 .
    Translation of the Nag Hammadi writings .
1998
  • "The Big Fraud". And what Jesus really said and did. (4th edition 2002) To Klampen, Springe, ISBN 3-924245-70-3 .
  • In the stranglehold of the church. For the freedom of theological science. To Klampen, Springe, ISBN 3-924245-76-2 .
2001
2002
  • The raising of Jesus from the dead. Origin and history of a self-deception. To Klampen, Springe, ISBN 3-934920-20-9 .
2004
  • The unholy in the Scriptures. The dark side of the Bible. 3. Edition. To Klampen, Springe, ISBN 3-934920-03-9 .
  • Jesus after 2000 years. What he really said and did. With contributions by Frank Schleritt and Martina Janßen. 2nd, improved edition. To Klampen, Springe, ISBN 3-934920-48-9 .
  • The intolerance of the gospel. Explains selected New Testament scriptures. To Klampen, Springe ISBN 3-934920-44-6 .
2006
  • Old Testament and Christian Church. Attempt at enlightenment. To Klampen, Springe, ISBN 3-934920-96-9 .
  • The Gospel of Judas and the Gospel of Mary. Two Gnostic writings from the early days of Christianity. Radius, Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-87173-366-6 .
2007
  • The Pope's picture of Jesus. About Joseph Ratzinger's bold handling of the sources. 1st and 2nd edition. To Klampen, Springe, ISBN 978-3-86674-010-5 .
2008
  • The invented Jesus. False words of Jesus in the New Testament. To Klampen, Springe, ISBN 978-3-86674-022-8 .
  • Virgin birth? The story of Mary and her son Jesus. Completely revised and expanded new edition. To Klampen, Springe, ISBN 978-3-86674-028-0 .
  • Working translation of the New Testament. With Frank Schleritt. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, ISBN 978-3-8252-3163-7 .
2009
2010
  • The grossest forgery of the New Testament. The second letter to the Thessalonians. To Klampen, Springe, ISBN 978-3-86674-090-7 .
2011
2012
2013
  • The real Jesus - His historical deeds and words. A reader. To Klampen Verlag Springe, ISBN 978-3-86674-186-7

literature

  • Alexander Bommarius (Ed.): Did the resurrection really take place? A discussion with Gerd Lüdemann. With contributions by G. Lüdemann, K. Berger, H. Staudinger, M. Murrmann-Kahl, A. Bommarius, Düsseldorf / Bonn 1995.
  • Christoph Türcke : election and rejection. Review: G. Lüdemann, “The Unholy in the Holy Scriptures”. Stuttgart 1996 In: Die Zeit , March 28, 1997.
  • Udo Hahn : Gerd Lüdemann - Farewell to the misunderstood Jesus. In: Rheinischer Merkur , March 20, 1998.
  • Ulrich Schmidhäuser: On the way to the unity of truth. [Commentary on the Lüdemann case]. In: SZ, 23./24. May 1998.
  • Christoph Türcke : In the stranglehold of the church. Does a theologian have to be a Christian? The Lüdemann case - an example. In: Die Zeit, October 1, 1998.
  • Painful mistake: The Protestant theologian Gerd Lüdemann finally says goodbye to Christianity - with a letter to Jesus. In: Der Spiegel. No. 11, 1998.
  • Christoph Türcke : The man has to go. The state willingly gave in to the church's demand to remove the unbelieving theology professor Lüdemann from his chair. In: Die Zeit , March 25, 1999.
  • Jan-Martin Wiarda: Researchers without apprentices. The renegade professor Lüdemann wants to continue testing theologians. In: SZ, May 18, 1999.
  • Jan-Martin Wiarda: "So, Lord Jesus, end of all that". The unbelieving theologian Lüdemann in dispute with the church. In: Der Tagesspiegel , February 18, 2000.
  • Gerhard Isermann : Lüdemann's obscure files. Another "Life of Jesus" in a special offer. In: The signs of the times. Lutheran monthly notebooks, 2000.
  • Theologians against Lüdemann's suspension. In: Berliner Morgenpost , March 28, 2000.
  • Rudolf Walther: The God of Reason. About Gerd Lüdemann's criticism of the Bible. In: taz, February 16, 2009. (online)

Web links

Single receipts

  1. Author profile from Verlag zu Klampen , accessed on May 21, 2011. “Gerd Lüdemann, born in 1946, is professor for the history and literature of early Christianity at the University of Göttingen. He heads the department »Early Christian Studies« at the Institute for Special Research and the archive »Religious History School« of the Göttingen Theological Faculty. "
  2. ^ Personnel directory of the Theological Faculty , accessed on May 31, 2013, see under "Retired Professors".
  3. Cf. Gerd Lüdemann: Theology between free science and religious specifications. An experience report. In: Helmut Ortner, Stefana Sabin (ed.): Politics without God. How much religion can our democracy take? Springe 2014, pp. 62–69 ( PDF )
  4. Gerd Lüdemann: The Resurrection of Jesus. History, experience, theology. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1994, ISBN 3-525-53523-6 , p. 216 ff.
  5. Gerd Lüdemann: The great fraud , to Klampen Verlag 1998, foreword, p. 7
  6. Gerd Lüdemann. The great fraud , 1998, p. 121f.
  7. Gerd Lüdemann: The great fraud , to Klampen Verlag 1998, excerpt: "Letter to Jesus" ( Memento of the original from October 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / wwwuser.gwdg.de
  8. The sentence “You announced the future kingdom of God, but the Church has come” is based on the French Catholic theologian Alfred Loisy , who wrote in 1902: Jésus anonçait le royaume, et c'est l'Eglise qui est venue. (In: L'Evanglie et l'Eglise , Paris 1902, p. 111.)
  9. "The word lie is quite appropriate for the Bible" Conversation with Gerd Lüdemann, December 24, 2009 (PDF).
  10. Pope Benedict's Jesus Book: An Embarrassing Derailment Review by Gerd Lüdemann, in: Der Spiegel, April 26, 2007
  11. Cf. Werner Kelber: The historical Jesus. Concerns about the current discussion from the perspective of medieval, modern, and postmodern hermeneutics. In: Jens Schröter, Ralph Brucker (ed.): The historical Jesus: tendencies and perspectives of current research. Berlin / New York 2002, p. 21.
  12. Andreas Lindemann: Jesus as the Christ with Paul and Luke. Considerations on the relationship between creed and historical knowledge in New Testament Christology. In: Jens Schröter, Ralph Brucker (ed.): The historical Jesus: tendencies and perspectives of current research. Berlin / New York 2002, pp. 456/7.
  13. Wolfgang Stegemann: Jesus and his time. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2010, p. 93 f.
  14. What Jesus Never Said
  15. Carsten Peter Thiede (versus) Gerd Lüdemann: The Resurrection of Jesus - Fiction or Reality? A dispute . Basel 2001, p. 52.
  16. Thiede (versus) Lüdemann: Die Auferstehung Jesu, 2001, p. 108 f.
  17. Thiede (versus) Lüdemann: Die Auferstehung Jesu, 2001, p. 53.
  18. Thiede (versus) Lüdemann: The Resurrection of Jesus, 2001, p. 115 f.
  19. Thiede (versus) Lüdemann: Die Auferstehung Jesu, 2001, p. 128.
  20. Baum in a review by Lüdemann: Die coarsest falsification… , 2010, in: Novum Testamentum 54 (2012), p. 298 f. - However, he does not consider any of the NT letters to be pseudepigraph.
  21. Jost Müller-Neuhof (Tagesspiegel, February 19, 2009): Pope critic loses dispute over religious teacher training
  22. a b c Church and Criticism: The Lüdemann Case Presentation by Michael Schmidt-Salomon and an interview with Gerd Lüdemann, in: MIZ 2/2000, documented on schmidt-salomon.de
  23. ^ Order of the First Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court of October 28, 2008 , 1 BvR 462/06
  24. a b Press release of the Federal Constitutional Court of February 18, 2009
  25. The term “Faith Science” is contradicting and misleading. As early as 1756, Johann Christoph Gottsched used the more sophisticated term “doctrine of faith”, which he separated from the term science. As a “doctrine of faith”, theology leaves the level of strict scientific argumentation and is therefore “not a synthetically proven science” (Johann Christoph Gottsched, First Reasons of Entire World Wisdom , Leipzig 1756, p. 508 ).
  26. ^ Resolution of the First Senate of October 28, 2008, guideline 3 and paragraph no. 59 f.
  27. Complete online version (PDF; 1.2 MB) and online version (HTML) ( Memento from September 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) of the book The Heretics' Bible. The Gnostic Scriptures from Nag Hammadi , accessed October 21, 2012
  28. ^ Book Description of the publishing house