Gert Hummel

Gert Hummel (born March 8, 1933 in Sindelfingen , Württemberg ; † March 15, 2004 in Tbilisi , Georgia ) was a Protestant theologian and bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia .

Career

Gert Hummel studied theology, philosophy and German literature in Tübingen , Heidelberg and Lund , Sweden from 1953 to 1961 . In Tübingen he became a member of the Normannia Association . In 1961 he received his doctorate in Lund as a licentiate in theology (lic. Theol.) And at the same time in Tübingen as a Dr. phil. From 1961 to 1964 he practiced religious education and from 1964 to 1969 he was a research assistant at the Institute for Protestant Theology at Saarland University in Saarbrücken .

1970 followed the habilitation at the theological faculty of the University of Heidelberg . From 1970 to 1972 as a private lecturer, he taught from 1972 to 1998 as a professor for systematic theology at the University of Saarbrücken until his retirement.

Through the town twinning between Saarbrücken and Tbilisi, Gert Hummel came into contact with the descendants of German emigrants in Georgia. He learned to love the country and its people. After his retirement, he and his wife sold their house in Saarbrücken and, together with donations from friends and acquaintances, built a church in Tbilisi with a community center, old people's home and social stations. Hummel participated in the development of the Lutheran congregations in Georgia, which were still working in the background and were affected by great poverty .

In 1999 he became Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia and held this office until his sudden death in 2004. His successor was Andreas Stökl . From 2001 to 2004, Hummel also looked after the Lutheran congregation in Baku , Azerbaijan and helped it to be recognized by state authorities.

Gert Hummel died on March 15, 2004 in Tbilisi at the age of 71. His grave is in the forest cemetery in Stuttgart . He left behind his wife Christiane (who is today the chairwoman of the Evangelical Lutheran Diaconal Work in Tbilisi) and two adult children.

Other activities / offices

Long-term president of the Paul Tillich Society
Long-term chairman of the Philosophical Faculty Conference
For almost two decades he was the representative of the President of Saarland University for cooperation with scientific institutes in Central and Eastern Europe. Under the sometimes difficult conditions of the Cold War, he helped establish partnerships with universities such as Sofia , Warsaw , Tbilisi and Prague .

Honors

Carrier of the Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Carrier of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland in the rank of commander

Commander of the Ballei Deutsch-Lorraine of the Order of St. George

Honorary doctorates from the Universities of Tbilisi, Sofia and Prague

literature

Joachim Conrad: HUMMEL, Gert. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 28, Bautz, Nordhausen 2007, ISBN 978-3-88309-413-7 , Sp. 836-854. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
Evangelical Lutheran Church (ed.), Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Central Asia: 1994-1999 , St. Petersburg 2000.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Evangelical Lutheran Church (ed.), Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Central Asia: 1994-1999 , St. Petersburg 2000, pp. 119–121.

personal data
SURNAME	Hummel, Gert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Protestant theologian and bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia
DATE OF BIRTH	March 8, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH	Sindelfingen
DATE OF DEATH	March 15, 2004
Place of death	Tbilisi , Georgia

[1] Evangelical Lutheran Church (ed.), Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Central Asia: 1994-1999 , St. Petersburg 2000, pp. 119–121.