Peter Beier
Peter Beier (born December 5, 1934 in Friedeberg , Löwenberg district (Lower Silesia), † November 10, 1996 in Düsseldorf ) was a German Protestant theologian .
life and work
After the Second World War , his family was expelled from Silesia and came to the Rhineland . Peter Beier passed his Abitur in Grevenbroich in 1955 and then studied Protestant theology in Heidelberg , Bonn and Wuppertal . From 1963 to 1989 Beier was pastor of the Evangelical Congregation in Düren and from 1972 to 1989 superintendent of the Jülich church district .
Peter Beier's theology was shaped by Rudolf Bultmann . He advocated new perspectives in the organization of the community and new formulations of confessions.
At the beginning of the 1980s, Beier became involved in the church peace movement , which opposed the plans of the then Federal Government under Chancellor Helmut Schmidt to set up new Pershing II missiles in Germany . Beier had been a member of the regional synod of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland since 1969 and a member of the Synod of the Evangelical Church of the Union since 1980 . The regional synod elected Beier on January 11, 1989 as President of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland. As President he made a special contribution to a renewed relationship between Christians and Jews on the basis of the Rhenish synodal resolution of 1980.
Beier died in the morning hours of November 10, 1996 of complications from a heart attack .
Honors
The Protestant Theological Faculty of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn and Faculty I (Philosophy - Religious Studies - Social Sciences) of the Gerhard Mercator University Duisburg awarded him honorary doctorates .
Peter Beier Prize
The prize was initiated in 1993 as a culture prize of the President of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland by Beier. After his sudden death, the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland named the award after Peter Beier. The prize is endowed with 10,000 euros and is usually awarded every two years to one or more personalities who work for peace, justice and reconciliation, serve the coexistence of Protestantism in Europe or make further reform proposals for the church. The Rhenish President and an advisory board of five people decide on the award. The prize was last awarded in 2007 to Elena Mereacre , founder of the Moldovan initiative Compasiune and Wilhelm Hüffmeier , long-time general secretary of the Leuenberg church community .
Further award winners are
- 1993: Klaus Dörner , head physician at the Westphalian Clinic for Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Neurology
- 1997: Hans Berger , Chairman of the Mining and Energy Industrial Union (IGBE)
- 2000: Martine Millet , pastor of the Eglise Réformée de France and Monika Hauser , doctor and founder of the aid organization medica mondiale
- 2002: Wilhelm Goller and Gabriele Füllkrug-Goller , heads of the Talitha Kumi school in Beit Jala
- 2005: Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul and Zephania Kameeta , Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia
Web links
- Literature by and about Peter Beier in the catalog of the German National Library
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Beier, Peter |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Protestant theologian |
DATE OF BIRTH | December 5, 1934 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Friedeberg , Löwenberg district (Lower Silesia) |
DATE OF DEATH | November 10, 1996 |
Place of death | Dusseldorf |