Jörg Zink

Jörg Zink (born November 22, 1922 in Elm ; † September 9, 2016 in Stuttgart ) was a German Protestant theologian , pastor , publicist and one of the best-known spokesmen for the peace and ecology movement .

biography

Jörg Zink was born in 1922 on the Habertshof , a Christian Bruderhof near Schlüchtern . His parents died very early (1925/1926). After graduating from the humanistic grammar school in Ulm , he served in the Air Force as a radio operator. On March 8, 1944, on the return flight from a mission in Algiers to the Istres air base, he saw what he described as “the sky of my life” from the aircraft glass dome as part of an existential experience. On 11 April 1944 he survived the downing of his plane by British forces, and came into 1945 US captivity . He had survived as one of three from the squadron of 400 men.

After his release, Zink studied philosophy and theology at the University of Tübingen , among others with Romano Guardini and Eduard Spranger . From 1952 to 1955 he was a repetiteur at the Evangelical Monastery in Tübingen and finally did his doctorate with Helmut Thielicke in Hamburg on the subject of compromise as an ethical problem .

After two years as pastor in Esslingen am Neckar , he worked from 1957 to 1961 as director of the Burckhardthaus in Gelnhausen , the West German focus of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA); from there he maintained contacts with the Protestant churches in the GDR . For almost twenty years, Jörg Zink was the television representative of the Württemberg regional church in the Süddeutscher Rundfunk and spoke the word for Sunday on ARD over a hundred times .

The approximately three hundred religious non-fiction books he wrote achieved a circulation of more than 17 million copies, plus foreign licenses in 20 languages. His translation of the New Testament into German, the Jörg Zink Bible , published from 1965 onwards, has received much attention . He was attacked for this translation, it was considered "the sacrilege of Luther's formative language". His song text The evening comes was included in the regional edition of Württemberg's Evangelical Hymnal . A characteristic of his texts is the use of traditional Christian leitmotifs that are placed in a new context, e.g. B. in the New Ten Commandments or The Seven Last Days of Creation .

Since 1970, Zink has been a regular speaker at the German Evangelical Church Days. He usually did morning Bible studies there , which were well attended. At the Evangelical Church Congress in Hamburg in 1981, for example , he and the flautist Hans-Jürgen Hufeisen did a Bible study in front of 15,000 listeners. "The Bible studies were important to me because a church convention cannot be without reference to the Bible," said Zink when he left this work in 2011. His last appearance at the church convention was broadcast to the audience via video and a big screen, as he was after a serious operation could not even take part in the Kirchentag. Matthias Morgenroth quotes him as saying: "The Kirchentag is the best that the church has to offer people today."

Since the 1970s, Zink has toured countries in the Middle East , particularly Israel , and produced films and books on the religious history and culture of these countries. From 1980 he did this as a freelance journalist after he was given leave of absence from the church service. In 1980, Zink joined the Greens and became a “Protestant inspirer of the peace and environmental movement in the 1980s”, as Matthias Drobinski wrote in his obituary. On November 7, 1996, Zink received the Wilhelm-Sebastian-Schmerl-Prize for his services to Protestant journalism .

Zink was married and had three daughters and a son and four grandchildren.

Appreciations

Jörg Zink was one of the most important spokesmen for the peace and ecological movement and was awarded the Federal Nature Conservation Prize in 1983 . In 2004 he was awarded the Preaching Prize of the Verlag für die Deutsche Wirtschaft (Bonn) for his life's work . In 2012 he was awarded the Gold Staufer Medal by the State of Baden-Württemberg.

In 2015, Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann made zinc a professor (honorary title in Baden-Württemberg) . Kretschmann praised Zink's work in the peace movement and in founding the Green Party. In doing so, the honoree had made a decisive contribution to turning a protest movement into a serious political force in the midst of society.

Works (selection)

• The concept of compromise, its place, its rank and its transformation in theological ethics, a contribution to the problem of the worldliness of the Christian. Action , Hamburg 1955, DNB 480,587,574 (Dissertation, University of Hamburg, Faculty of Protestant Theology, November 22, 1955, 244 pages).
• What we can live with . Kreuz-Verlag , Stuttgart 1963-2009, ISBN 978-3-7831-3284-7 .
• The last seven days of the earth . Poster text for Bread for the World with graphics by Heinz Giebeler, Stuttgart 1973.
• Experience with God . Kreuz-Verlag, Stuttgart 1974-2008. ISBN 978-3-7831-3123-9 .
• Light over the waters . Kreuz-Verlag, Stuttgart 1978–1988, ISBN 978-3-7831-0551-3 .
• What remains, the lovers provide . Kreuz-Verlag, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-7831-0581-1 .
• Precious earth. Biblical speeches about our dealings with creation. Kreuz-Verlag, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-7831-0617-6
• The well of the past is deep . Kreuz-Verlag, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 978-3-7831-0937-5 .
• Look at the stars - watch out for the alleys . Kreuz-Verlag, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-7831-1201-X (autobiography)
• New Ten Commandments . Kreuz-Verlag, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-7831-1396-2 .
• Where the saving grows . Kreuz-Verlag, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-7831-1467-5 .
• Everyone is invited to the Lord's Supper. Why do the churches draw borders? Kreuz-Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-7831-1583-3 .
• On the bank of silence . Kreuz-Verlag 2001, ISBN 978-3-7831-2002-8 .
• The walk to the source - about baptism . Verlag am Eschbach, Eschbach 2001, ISBN 978-3-88671-238-0 .
• Take it easy - a conversation with people getting older . Verlag am Eschbach, Eschbach 2002, ISBN 3-88671-252-4 .
• Close to the heart . Verlag am Eschbach, Eschbach 2002, ISBN 978-3-88671-244-1 .
• The primordial power of the sacred . Kreuz-Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 978-3-7831-2327-2 .
• A few steps by your side - For those who grieve . Kreuz-Verlag 2005, ISBN 978-3-7831-2535-1 .
• Belief in creation . Kreuz-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-7831-2778-2 .
• Grief has healing powers . Kreuz-Verlag, Stuttgart 1985 (1st edition) - 2005 (17th edition); New edition: Herder Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 2014, ISBN 978-3-451-31262-5 .
• Bank thoughts . Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2007, ISBN 978-3-579-06460-4 .
• Ten wishes for today and tomorrow . Verlag am Eschbach, Eschbach 2008, ISBN 978-3-88671-941-9 .
• On the Waters of Babel - How Faith in the One God Came into the World . Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2008, ISBN 978-3-579-06463-5 .
• Look at the stars - watch out for the alleys. Memories . New edition. Kreuz-Verlag, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-7831-3129-1 .
• Twelve nights. What Christmas means. Verlag am Eschbach, Eschbach (Markgräflerland) , revised new edition 2009, ISBN 978-3-88671-979-2 .
• From the spirit of early Christianity [knowing the origin - not missing the goal] . Kreuz-Verlag, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-451-61018-9 .
• The silence of time [thoughts on getting older] . Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2012. ISBN 978-3-579-06580-9 .
• Upright under the sky . Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2012, ISBN 978-3-579-06582-3 .
• The children's Bible , with pictures by Pieter Kunstreich. Nikol, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-86820-163-5 .
• The open banquet . Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2013, ISBN 978-3-579-06592-2 .
• Your ways are getting shorter - do not be afraid! Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2013, ISBN 978-3-579-06594-6 .
• What Christians Believe . Gütersloher publishing house, supplemented new edition 2014, ISBN 978-3-579-08505-0 .
• How we can pray . Kreuz-Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau, revised new edition 2015, ISBN 978-3-451-61342-5 .

Bible translations

→ Main article : Jörg Zink Bible

literature

• Matthias Morgenroth : Jörg Zink. The biography. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2013, ISBN 978-3-579-06591-5 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Jörg Zink in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Jörg Zink  in the German Digital Library
• Website by Jörg Zink / Gütersloher publishing house
• Jörg Zink's personal website
• Review of the work "Twelve Nights: What Christmas Means" , extensive additional information
• Jörg Zink: The last seven days of creation
• Honorary professorship 2015

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Joergzink.de - Personal website of Jörg Zink. In: www.joergzink.de. Retrieved September 11, 2016 . 
2. ↑ dpa: Jörg Zink (†): This man spoke the “Word for Sunday” more than 100 times. September 11, 2016, accessed September 12, 2016 . 
3. ↑ Biographical data of Jörg Zink in: Wer ist Wer - Das deutsche Who's Who 2000/2001 . 39th edition, Schmidt-Römhild, Verlagsgruppe Beleke, Lübeck 2000, ISBN 978-3-7950-2029-3 , p. 1580.
4. ^ Matthias Morgenroth: Jörg Zink. The biography. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2013, ISBN 978-3-579-06591-5 , p. 85.
5. ↑ Jörg Zink is dead. Boersenblatt.net, accessed on September 14, 2016.
6. ^ Matthias Morgenroth: Jörg Zink. The biography. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2013, ISBN 978-3-579-06591-5 , p. 19.
7. ↑ Evangelisches Gesangbuch, Edition Württemberg, Stuttgart 1996, No. 673.
8. ^ Matthias Morgenroth: Jörg Zink. The biography. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2013, ISBN 978-3-579-06591-5 , p. 197.
9. ↑ Der Sonntag , weekly newspaper for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony - special edition for the 33rd German Evangelical Church Congress on June 4, 2011, p. 4.
10. ↑ Kirchentag.de Archived copy ( Memento from May 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
11. ^ Matthias Morgenroth: Jörg Zink. The biography. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2013, ISBN 978-3-579-06591-5 , p. 193.
12. ↑ Matthias Kamann: Spiritual and concerned - God's true green. welt.de, November 21, 2011, accessed April 7, 2013.
13. ↑ TV priest Jörg Zink shows the flag for the Greens: May the world and the people not become deserted. In: Die Zeit , February 8, 1980, No. 07/1980.
14. ↑ Matthias Drobinski: He was so free. sueddeutsche.de, September 12, 2016, accessed on September 14, 2016.
15. ↑ Sermon Prize: Prize Winner 2004
16. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of February 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on February 18, 2015