Hermann Dietzfelbinger

Hermann Dietzfelbinger (right) with Reinhard Wester (center) and Wilhelm Henke (left) at the General Synod of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany ( VELKD ) in Kiel in 1965

Hermann Dietzfelbinger (born July 14, 1908 in Ermershausen , † November 15, 1984 in Munich ) was a German Protestant pastor , theologian and Bavarian regional bishop .

Life

Dietzfelbinger's signature on a postcard from 1974

Hermann Dietzfelbinger was born as the son of pastor Wilhelm Dietzfelbinger and his wife Magdalene. He studied theology in Erlangen , Tübingen and Greifswald . His teachers included personalities such as Otto Procksch , Werner Elert , Karl Heim , Karl Fezer , Friedrich Baumgärtel , Rudolf Hermann and Hermann W. Beyer .

In 1931 he became a Protestant pastor in Rüdenhausen , and later in Munich. In 1943 he began his work as a student pastor in Munich, in 1945 he became director of the preachers' seminary in Erlangen, and later in Nuremberg . He held this post until 1953, before he became head of the deaconess mother house in Neuendettelsau .

From 1955 to 1975 Hermann Dietzfelbinger was regional bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria and from 1956 to 1975 he was also Catholica representative of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany (VELKD) . From 1967 to 1973 he also held the office of Council Chairman of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) .

Dietzfelbinger is considered to be one of the most important conservative bishops of the post-war period. As such, he was a critic of the ordination of women and the Leuenberg Agreement . His daughter Eva Leipprand was Augsburg's cultural advisor from 2002 to 2008 and was elected national chairwoman of the Association of German Writers (VS) in 2015.

Awards

• 1954: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 1958: Bavarian Order of Merit
• 1973: Large Cross of Merit with Star of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 1976: Large Cross of Merit with Star and Shoulder Ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Golden Ring of Honor of the City of Bayreuth

Works (selection)

• The light of the people. Review of passages from the Gospel of John , 1946.
• He pulled his street happily. A christening book, 1953.
• The Christian Creed in Church Education , 1953.
• God's way to the cross in the old covenant. Meditations , 1956.
• One Church and the Reformation , 1961.
• Authority of the Church , 1963.
• Jonah - A Servant of God , 1965.
• Christ present. Lectures, essays, sermons , 1968.
• The reality of the word. Lectures. Sermons. Bible studies , 1969.
• The solving word in the moment of crisis. Two reports on the subject of "Faith Struggle" , 1971.
• Hear like disciples hear. Call and answer as a possibility in life , 1975.
• Oberstdorf talks. Questions of faith and life meditated biblically , 1977.
• Jesus Christ - And the Wise Men from the West , 1978.
• Future with the Lord's Prayer. Perspectives for the eighties , 1980.
• Change and Persistence. Memories , 1984.
• Your word moves the heart of the heart. Bible studies and lectures , ed. by Otto Steiner and Walter Rupprecht , 1988.

literature

• Obedient to the word. Regional Bishop Hermann Dietzfelbinger on his 65th birthday , Munich 1973.
• J. Jürgen Seidel:  Hermann Dietzfelbinger. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 24, Bautz, Nordhausen 2005, ISBN 3-88309-247-9 , Sp. 509-514.
• Hans-Walter Schmuhl / Ulrike Winkler: In the age of the world wars. The Diakonissenanstalt Neuendettelsau under the rectors Hans Lauerer (1918-1953) and Hermann Dietzfelbinger (1953-1955) , Neuendettelsau 2014.

Web links

• Literature by and about Hermann Dietzfelbinger in the catalog of the German National Library

predecessor	Office	successor
Hans Meiser	Regional Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria 1955–1975	Johannes Hanselmann