Gerhard Ebeling

Gerhard Ebeling (born July 6, 1912 in Berlin ; † September 30, 2001 in Zurich ) was a German Protestant theologian . Along with Ernst Fuchs , he is considered a leading exponent of hermeneutic theology in the 20th century.

Life

Ebeling studied in Marburg v. a. with Rudolf Bultmann and Wilhelm Maurer , in Zurich especially with Emil Brunner and in Berlin. The encounter with Dietrich Bonhoeffer at the Finkenwalde seminary was formative for him. From spring 1937 to summer 1938, he wrote at the Theological Faculty of the University of Zurich at Fritz Blanke his dissertation Evangelical Gospels interpretation about Luther Gospels interpretation to return after graduation right back to Germany. In May 1939 he married Kometa Richner in Zurich's Grossmünster , with whom he had a daughter, Charitas.

From 1939 to 1945 he was pastor of the Confessing Church in Berlin. Since August 1945 - at Helmut Thielicke's mediation - he was an assistant at Hanns Rückert and in 1947 he qualified as a professor. On October 7th of the same year, Ebeling began his independent academic teaching with the inaugural lecture on church history and canon law as a professor of church history at the University of Tübingen . In 1954 he became professor of systematic theology in Tübingen , succeeding Helmut Thielicke, who was appointed rector of the University of Hamburg, from 1956 he taught in the chair for dogmatics , the history of dogmas and symbolism in Zurich , and back in Tübingen from 1965. From 1968 to 1979 he was professor of fundamental theology and hermeneutics in Zurich. From 1985 to 1997 he was chairman of the board of trustees of the Luther Academy in Ratzeburg .

Together with others, Ebeling published the complete critical editions of Martin Luther's works ( Weimar edition ) and Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher . He influenced Luther research and Christology . His most important achievements lie in the problem area of ​​hermeneutics and in Luther research. He saw Christian theology as rooted in the church's mission to proclaim (as its clarification and deepening), the focus of theology should be in the sermon as "speech before and from God".

He responded in a reflective way to Dietrich Bonhoeffer's question about a non-religious Christianity and developed the distinction between belief and religion in his and Karl Barth's tradition . Similar to Friedrich Gogarten in his interpretation of Luther, Ebeling recognized in Luther's teaching of law and gospel the distinction between the proclamation of the message of justification and human reality. Following on from this, Ebeling discovers Luther's “relational ontology” in Luther's lectures, which crystallizes in the conscience in the interweaving of the relationships coram Deo and coram mundo .

Honors

Ebeling has been awarded several honorary doctorates , including a. from the University of Bonn (1952), the University of Uppsala , the University of Edinburgh , the University of Neuchâtel and the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen (1997). Since 1977 he has been a corresponding member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences .

Works

• Evangelical Gospel interpretation. An investigation into Luther's hermeneutics . 1942 (= Ebeling's dissertation)
• The essence of the Christian faith. 1959
• Word and Faith , 4 volumes. 1960-1995
• Word of God and tradition. Studies on a hermeneutics of denominations . 1964
• Luther. Introduction to his thinking . 1964; ISBN 3-16-143581-8 (p.)
• Luther studies , 3 volumes (in 5 sub-volumes). 1971-1989.
• Introduction to theological language teaching . 1971; ISBN 3-16-132511-7
• Dogmatics of the Christian Faith , 3 volumes. 1979, 4th edition 2012; ISBN 978-3-16-151028-1
• Sermons by an “illegal” from 1939–1945 . 1995; ISBN 3-16-146371-4
• Luther's pastoral care. Theology presented in the variety of life situations in his letters . 1997; ISBN 3-16-146712-4

literature

• Jürgen Werbick , The Aporetic of the Ethical and the Christian Faith. Studies on Fundamental Theology by Gerhard Ebeling (= contributions to ecumenical theology, Volume 12) Verlag Schöningh, Munich-Paderborn-Vienna 1976, (also Hochschulschrift, Munich, Univ., 01 - Department of Catholic Theology, Diss., 1973), ISBN 978- 3-506-70762-8 .
• Pierre Bühler , Philipp Stoellger , Andreas Mauz (Red.): Gerhard Ebeling. Mein theologischer Weg , Zurich: Institute for Hermeneutics and Philosophy of Religion 2006 (Hermeneutische Blätter, special edition 2006), online resource (pdf; 1.0 MB) (commemorative booklet on the fifth anniversary of Gerhard Ebeling's death; includes the autobiographical text Mein theologischer Weg (1999) and Paul Ricœur introductory essay by Gerhard Ebeling. Return to Reformation and Word Events [1967])
• Philipp Stoellger, Andreas Mauz (Red.): Gerhard Ebeling. Zurich: Institute for Hermeneutics and Philosophy of Religion 2003 (Hermeneutische Blätter, special issue) online resource (pdf; 988 kB)
• Franz Gmainer-Pranzl: Faith and history in Karl Rahner and Gerhard Ebeling: a comparison of transcendental and hermeneutic theology. Innsbruck; Vienna: Tyrolia 1996 ISBN 3-7022-2044-5
• Albrecht sachet : Gerhard Ebeling. A biography. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-16-150447-1 . Online resource (PDF; 2.88 MB)
• Hans Christian Knuth , Winfrid Krause: Thanks and a lasting commitment - a brief tribute to the Luther researcher and former academic director of the Luther Academy . In: Rainer Rausch (Ed.): Faith and reason. How reasonable is reason? (= Documentation of the Luther Academy, conference volume 11). Lutherisches Verlagshaus, Hanover 2014, pp. 167-170, ISBN 978-3-7859-1167-9

Web links

• Literature by and about Gerhard Ebeling in the catalog of the German National Library
• Eberhard Jüngel : Doctor ecclesiae. On the death of the theologian Gerhard Ebeling (NZZ October 2, 2001) (pdf; 17 kB)
• Winfrid Krause: A great Lutheran. Gerhard Ebeling would have turned 100 in July . Internet archive of the Lutheran Convention in the Rhineland, accessed on August 13, 2015.