Manfred Punge

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Manfred Punge (born January 26, 1931 ; † August 13, 2014 ) was a German Protestant theologian and head of the Theological Studies Department of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR and an advocate for homosexuals in the church.

Live and act

After receiving his university entrance qualification, Punge studied Protestant theology in Berlin . One of his theological teachers was the New Testament scholar Werner Schmauch . In Greifswald , Manfred Punge wrote a dissertation on a subject from the New Testament and was awarded a doctorate in theology in 1962 : "Final events and salvation history in the Gospel of Matthew". He then worked in institutions for church training. He was particularly interested in overcoming the rejection and marginalization of homosexually oriented believers in the church. To this end, he also sought contacts and exchanges with medical and psychological experts in this field.

Manfred Punge took part in the 2nd All- Christian Peace Assembly in Prague in 1964, which was convened by the Christian Peace Conference .

The conference of the Evangelical Academy Berlin-Brandenburg on February 9, 1982 on homosexuality, led by Punge, triggered a new beginning for an overarching gay and lesbian movement in the GDR. In his article “One should talk about it”, Punge reported on this conference that he had prepared and called for meetings in Berlin, from which the “Discussion Group on Homosexuality” became. These events prompted the rapid formation of gay groups. As part of the Evangelical Student Communities (ESG), stable groups have developed in various cities, first in Leipzig , then in Karl-Marx-Stadt , Magdeburg , Jena , Eisleben , Rostock , Brandenburg and East Berlin . In 1983 the first publications appeared in the church press, further conferences and events followed.

In May 1984, the Theological Studies Department published the study “Homosexuals in the Church?” Written by its colleague Manfred Punge, which originally came from a commission from the Saxon Church. The study became a plea based on human science for the acceptance of homosexuality in the church, gave theological reasons for this and called for "the ominous history of the condemnation and persecution of homosexuals no longer to be continued."

Punge was involved in the dialogue with state officials and "Christian circles" of the National Front of the GDR , even if he described this dialogue in retrospect from 2009 as "not really open". At the same time he was grateful for mediation efforts by SED comrades, so that the gay work in the church could be done "relatively unchallenged". In a discussion group called “Talk in the Tower” he expressed his appreciation that in discussions with state representatives it was possible to overcome deficits in trust.

According to Gerhard Besier , Punge was to be won over as an unofficial employee “Manfred” for the “clearing up of hostile activities”.

Fonts

  • On my own behalf. Thinking in a new context; from the Theological Studies Department at the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR to the Berlin study and meeting place of the Evangelical Church in Germany , Berlin 1992
  • Homosexuals in church? , in: Federation of Evangelical Churches in the German Democratic Republic; Theological Studies Department, Berlin, 1984 and again as homosexuals in the church? : a text from the theological study department at the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR , Berlin: Action Reconciliation / Peace Services, Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR, 1985
  • Werner Schmauch , Berlin: Union-Verlag, 1981, 1st edition.
  • “ Final events and salvation history in the Gospel of Matthew ” (dissertation), Greifswald, 1962

As a co-author

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Günter Grau: Socialist morality and homosexuality. The politics of the SED and homosexual criminal law 1945 to 1989. In: Grumbach, D., Die Linke und das Laster. Gay emancipation and left prejudice, pp. 85–141, Hamburg 1995, p. 131
  2. ↑ The Church No. 8/1982
  3. ↑ Ehrhart Neubert : History of the Opposition in the GDR 1949–1989, ed. Federal Agency for Civic Education Berlin 1998, p. 462, ISBN 3-89331-294-3
  4. ^ Kurt Starke, Bert Thinius, Eduard Stapel: Schwuler East: Homosexual men in the GDR , Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin, 1998, ISBN 978-3-86153-075-6 .
  5. ↑ Ehrhart Neubert: loc. P. 615
  6. ↑ http://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/144774.talk-im-turm.html
  7. ↑ Gerhard Besier, Stephan Wolf (ed.): 'Pastors, Christians and Catholics'. The Ministry for State Security of the former GDR and the churches, Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1991, p. 277, ISBN 3-7887-1416-6
personal data
SURNAME Punge, Manfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian and academy director
DATE OF BIRTH January 26, 1931
DATE OF DEATH August 13, 2014