Hans-Peter Müller (theologian)

Hans-Peter Müller (born February 21, 1934 in Berlin ; † October 18, 2004 ) was a German Protestant theologian (Old Testament scholar and religious historian).

From 1953 to 1957 he studied theology, oriental studies and philosophy in Berlin and Basel. Formative teachers were the Old Testament scholars Claus Westermann and Walter Baumgartner , the systematist Karl Barth , the Graecist Hildebrecht Hommel , the philosopher Karl Jaspers and later the Old Orientalist Wolfram von Soden . From 1957 to 1964 he was first vicar and then pastor in Berlin, did his doctorate in 1963 with Claus Westermann in Heidelberg and completed his habilitation in 1967 in Münster.

In 1978 Müller took over a professorship for the Old Testament and late Israelite religious history in Hamburg, in 1983 in Münster for the Old Testament including northwest Semitic literatures (later converted into: Old Testament and religious history). In 1999 he retired in Münster.

The chair initially remained vacant and was temporarily administered by colleagues Rainer Albertz and Karl-Friedrich Pohlmann (* 1941). Müller himself remained connected to the faculty institutionally and through diverse interdisciplinary cooperation until his death. a. as a project leader in the SFB 493 ("Functions of Religion in Ancient Societies of the Middle East") in the years 2000–2003 (Project: "Regional Differentiation of the Phoenician, Punic and Ancient Aramic Religions"). It was not until 2006 that the Old Testament scholar Reinhard Achenbach (* 1957) was appointed to succeed Professors Müller and Pohlmann. The seminar for religious studies and intercultural theology, which was set up in 2009 and is headed by Perry Schmidt-Leukel , is - albeit indirectly - a follow-up to his research activities.

In 1996, Müller was accepted into the New York Academy of Sciences for his dialogue with the natural sciences .

Works (selection)

• Origins and structures of Old Testament eschatology (supplements to the Journal for Old Testament Science 109) , Berlin 1969
• The job problem. Its position and origin in the Old Orient and the Old Testament (income from research 84) , Darmstadt 1978
• Paths to the Hebrew Bible. Thinking - Language - Culture. In Memoriam Hans-Peter Müller (FRLANT 228) , ed. Armin Lange / KF Diethard Römheld, Göttingen 2009

Web links

• Literature by and about Hans-Peter Müller in the catalog of the German National Library