Karl Ludwig Schmidt

Karl Ludwig Schmidt (born February 5, 1891 in Frankfurt am Main , † January 10, 1956 in Basel ) was a German Protestant theologian and professor of the New Testament .

Life

Schmidt, the son of a craftsman, first studied classical philology and then Protestant theology at the universities of Marburg and Berlin from 1909 . In 1913 he did his doctorate (with Adolf Deissmann ) as Lic. Theol. In the First World War he was seriously wounded as a soldier. In 1918 he completed his habilitation in Berlin as a private lecturer for the New Testament (with the study “The framework of the story of Jesus”, which immediately made him famous). In 1921 Schmidt was appointed to the professorship for the New Testament at the University of Giessen . In 1922 he took over the editing of the monthly magazine of the Eisenacher Kartell , which he held until 1937 (renamed "Theologische Blätter"). Here he also published statements on general theological and political questions. Initially a member of the German Democratic Party , he moved under the influence of Paul Tillich to religious socialism and joined the SPD in 1924 . In 1925 he was appointed professor for the New Testament in Jena , and in 1929 he moved to the University of Bonn , where he lived at Heinrich-Brüning-Straße 18 . There, under the impression of Hitler's "seizure of power", he ran for the SPD in March 1933 and was elected to the Bonn city council.

Dismissed in September 1933 on the basis of the law to restore the civil service , Schmidt emigrated to Switzerland and, after serving as a substitute in Seebach near Zurich and Lichtensteig in Toggenburg, became professor of New Testament theology at the University of Basel in 1935 . In addition to research, teaching and lecturing he took over the publication of the newly founded theological journal here in 1945 . Partially paralyzed by a stroke in 1952, he retired in 1953.

meaning

As a specialist scientist, Schmidt's greatest achievement is the establishment of the method of form history within the New Testament exegesis, which replaced the literary criticism that had prevailed until then . At about the same time as Martin Dibelius (1883–1947), in his habilitation, he developed the thesis that the synoptic gospels consist of small "individual pericopes" that are only put together by the evangelists. The exploration of form, genre and “seat in life” of these text units now became the focus of research on Jesus . Schmidt already recognized, however, that the Evangelist Matthew grouped the texts of his templates from theological point of view, and thus became the forerunner of the editorial history .

In addition, Schmidt examined the self-image of the early Christian community and was able on the one hand to trace the early Christian church consciousness back to Jesus , on the other hand to emphasize the togetherness of the church with the Old Testament people of God. On January 14, 1933, he held a public conversation with the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber in the Jüdisches Lehrhaus in Stuttgart , which is considered to be the actual beginning of the Christian-Jewish dialogue , which was not resumed until after 1945 , although Schmidt still traditionally believed that the old one was abolished went out by the new covenant.

family

Karl Ludwig's son Martin Anton Schmidt was also a church historian and long-time professor at the University of Basel.

Fonts (selection)

• The Pentecost count and the Pentecost event . Leipzig: JC Hinrichs, 1919.
• The framework of the story of Jesus: literary-critical investigations into the oldest Jesus tradition . Berlin: Trowitzsch & Son, 1919; 2., unchanged reprographic reprint / Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1969.
• The position of the Gospels in general literary history . In: Eucharistērion. Festschrift for Hermann Gunkel . Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1923, pp. 51-134 (English: The place of the Gospels in the general history of literature . Transl. By Byron R. McCane. Columbia, SC: Univ. Of South Carolina Press 2002).
• The position of the apostle Paul in early Christianity . Giessen: A. Töpelmann 1924 (lectures at the theological conference on Giessen 39).
• The Church of Early Christianity: A Lexicographical and Biblical-Theological Study . Tübingen: JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1932.
• Church, state, people, Judaism. Dialogue [with Martin Buber] in the Jewish Lehrhaus in Stuttgart on January 14, 1933 . In: Theologische Blätter 12, 1933, pp. 257-274.
• Jesus Christ in the testimony of Scripture and the Church. A series of lectures . Munich: Kaiser 1936 (Supplement to Evangelical Theology 2).
• The problem of christianism primitif. Quatre conférences sur la forme et la pensée du Nouveau testament . Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, 1938.
• ekklesia . In: Theological Dictionary for the NT, Vol. III, 1938, pp. 502-539 (English: The church . London: Adam and Charles Black, 1950; 2nd edition 1957; French: Eglise ; trad. De Hélène Alexandre. Genève: Labor et fides, 1967).
• The Polis in Church and World: A Lexicographical and Exegetical Study. Rector's program of the University of Basel for 1939 . Basel: F. Reinhardt, 1939.
• A walk through the letter to the Galatians: life, teaching, leadership in the Holy Scriptures . Zollikon-Zurich: Evangelischer Verlag, 1942.
• The Jewish question in the light of chapters 9-11 of Romans . Zollikon-Zurich: Evangelischer Verlag, 1943 (Theological Studies 13).
• Canonical and Apocryphal Gospels and Acts of the Apostles . Basel: H. Majer, 1944.
• From the Johannes Apocalypse the last book of the Bible . Basel: Heinrich Majer, cop. 1944.
• The Pneuma Hagion as a person and as a charism . Zurich: Rhein-Verl, 1946.
• Nature and task of the church in the world; Negotiations of the Swiss Reformed Parish Association from 23-25. September 1946 in Romanshorn (85th conference) . Zurich: Zwingli-Verlag, 1947.
• The forces of nature and spirit in Pauline knowledge and belief . Zurich: Rhein-Verl, 1947.
• Basileia . London: Adam and Charles Black, 1957.
• New Testament, Judaism, Church. Small writings , ed. on his 90th birthday on February 5, 1981 by Gerhard Sauter . Munich 1981 (Theological Library 69).

literature

• Oscar Cullmann : Karl Ludwig Schmidt . In: Ders .: Lectures and Articles 1925–1962 , 1966.
• Peter von der Osten-Sacken : Text and interpretation of the dialogue between Karl Ludwig Schmidt and Martin Buber in the Jewish teaching house in Stuttgart on January 14, 1933 . In: Life as an encounter. A century of Martin Buber (1878–1978) . Berlin 1978, pp. 119-135
• Philipp Vielhauer : Karl Ludwig Schmidt . In: 150 Years of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat in Bonn 1818–1968. Bonn scholars. Contributions to the history of science in Bonn. Evangelical theology . Bonn 1968, pp. 190-214.
• Heiner Faulenbach : Heinrich Josef Oberheid's theological exam in 1932 and the fate of his examiner Karl Ludwig Schmidt in 1933 . In: Jörn-Erik Gutheil, Sabine Zoske (Ed.): «That our eyes are opened ...». Festschrift for Hermann Dembowski on his 60th birthday . Frankfurt / M., Bern a. a. 1989, pp. 57-97. ISBN 3-631-40582-0 .
• Ekkehard W. Stegemann : On the way to a biblical friendship. The dialogue between Martin Buber and Karl Ludwig Schmidt . In: Heinz Kremers , Julius H. Schoeps (ed.): The Jewish-Christian religious conversation . Stuttgart, Bonn 1988, pp. 131-149.
• Otto Schwankl:  Schmidt, Karl Ludwig. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 9, Bautz, Herzberg 1995, ISBN 3-88309-058-1 , Sp. 461-463.
• Andreas Mühling : The early years of the theological journal and its editor Karl Ludwig Schmidt . In: Theologische Zeitschrift 50, 1994, 286-294.
• Andreas Mühling: Karl Ludwig Schmidt: "and science is life" (= work on church history 66). de Gruyter, Berlin 1997.
• David R. Hall: The gospel framework. Fiction or Fact? A Critical Evaluation of “The Frame of the History of Jesus” by Karl Ludwig Schmidt . Carlisle 1998.
• Andreas Mühling: Schmidt, Karl Ludwig . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie 30 (1999), pp. 231-233.
• Andreas Mühling: Karl Ludwig Schmidt . In: Wolf-Friedrich Schäufele , Marcus Vinzent (ed.): Theologians in Exile - Theology of Exile. International Colloquium November 17 to 19, 1999 in Mainz , TASHT 3, 2002, 49–56.
• Alf Christophersen :  Schmidt, Karl Ludwig. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-428-11204-3 , pp. 203 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Anders Gerdmar: Roots of theological anti-Semitism: German biblical interpretation and the Jews, from Herder and Semler to Kittel and Bultmann . Leiden 2009, pp. 331-345.

Web links

• Literature by and about Karl Ludwig Schmidt in the catalog of the German National Library
• Thomas K. Kuhn : Schmidt, Karl Ludwig. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .