Pinchas Lapide

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Pinchas Lapide (1967)

Pinchas Lapide (born November 28, 1922 in Vienna ; died October 23, 1997 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a Jewish religious scholar. On the Christian side, his knowledge of the New Testament and his commitment to Judeo-Christian dialogue were valued.

Life

Pinchas Lapide was born in 1922 to a Jewish family in Vienna , one of the great centers of Jewish culture in Europe. Since the end of the First World War, however, representatives of political parties as well as the Catholic Church had come out against Jews and Judaism . In 1925, for example, Bishop Waitz of Innsbruck warned of the global danger of greedy, usurious, infidel Judaism, whose power had increased tremendously. The Christian Social Party of Austria partly openly used anti-Semitic clichés in the election campaign. In the course of the global economic crisis of 1929, there was repeated talk of Jewish “raffling” (speculative) capital as opposed to non-Jewish “creative” capital. The Austrofascism from 1934 urged Jews in the organization of the Catholic " Corporate State Austria " to the edge of society (see, clerical fascism ). Don't buy from Jews became a well-known slogan, but it was hardly effective.

After Austria's annexation to the German Reich on March 11, 1938 , the systematic and radical destruction of Jewish culture and the elimination of Jews from all walks of life in Austria began (see State Crimes in Austria during the National Socialist Period ). Pinchas Lapide, just 16 years old, was arrested along with 6,500 Jews and taken to a concentration camp, from which he was able to escape. He then fled to the United Kingdom via Czechoslovakia and Poland . From there he reached the British Mandate of Palestine by ship in 1940 .

During the Second World War , Lapide fought with around 27,500 Jewish soldiers from Palestine voluntarily in the British Army , as Hitler's Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel was advancing rapidly along the Mediterranean coast to the east during the Africa campaign in February 1941 and Palestine feared that he might win next month.

After the Second World War, Lapide studied Romance studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem . From 1951 to 1969 he worked as a diplomat and head of the press office for the Israeli government in Jerusalem (at times, from 1956 to 1958, he was also the Israeli consul in Milan ). During the 1950s he also found his future wife Ruth Lapide in Jerusalem , who, as a Jewish religious scholar, increasingly became a connoisseur of the First and Second Testaments and thus exceptional in that most religious scholars limit themselves to either one or the other, ergo either argue Jewish or Christian. In August 1961 she gave birth to his only son, Yuval Lapide .

In addition to his diplomatic service, Pinchas Lapide completed his doctorate in Jewish studies at the University of Cologne .

From 1969 to 1971 Lapide took his 8-year-old son Yuval with him to the Federal Republic of Germany , where he did reconciliation work: He paved the way for a Judeo-Christian dialogue in Europe.

In 1972 Lapide received a teaching position at the Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan .

After Pinchas and Ruth Lapide received several teaching positions as Jewish religious scholars around the world, especially in the USA and Germany, they both decided in 1974 to finally return to German-speaking countries and chose Frankfurt am Main as their new adopted home. According to his wife's statements, the decision matured with the feeling “If not us, then who will, to enlighten the people there where the root of the evil was and where a reconciliation between Christians and Jews is needed more urgently than ever to avoid such an evil never repeat ".

Together with his wife, Lapide wrote more than 35 books that were translated into twelve languages ​​and published under his name alone. He pioneered the Judeo-Christian dialogue to gain insight into an urgently needed correction of grossly incorrect translations in the Bible, to facilitate understanding between the Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Israel, and to bring the three major religions closer together.

Pinchas Lapide received the Great Federal Cross of Merit in 1993 .

After his death, his widow Ruth Lapide and his son Yuval continue to work for his cause.

honors and awards

Pinchas Lapide has received many awards, including from

Works

  • The Prophet of San Nicandro . German version: Katharina Spann, Vogt 1963; ISBN 3-7867-1249-2
  • Rome and the Jews. Pope Pius XII and the persecution of the Jews. Hess Verlag, 1967 (1997 3 , 2005 3 ); ISBN 978-3-873362413
  • After the divine eclipse. An ecumenical kaleidoscope. Schriftenmissions-Verlag Gladbeck, 1970
  • The use of Hebrew in the Christian religious communities with special reference to the land of Israel. Diss. Cologne: Kleikamp, ​​1971
  • Resurrection. A Jewish experience of faith. Calwer Verlag Stuttgart, 1977 (1991 6 ); as a paperback in the series Pinchas Lapide - Trailblazing Texts for Judeo-Christian Dialogue , Vol. 1, ed. by Yuval Lapide, 1st edition, Lit Verlag 2010; ISBN 978-3-643-10840-1
  • He preached in their synagogues. Jewish interpretation of the Gospel. Gütersloher publishing house, 1980 (2004 8 ); ISBN 978-3-579014005
  • He did not walk on the sea. A Jewish theologian reads the Gospels. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1984 (2005 6 ); ISBN 978-3-579014104
  • Learning to hope from failure. Experiences of the Jewish Faith for Today's Christians. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1985 (1988 2 ); ISBN 978-3-579014135
  • Is the Bible Translated Correctly? Volumes 1 and 2 (a combination of the volumes published in 1986 and 1994), Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2004 ISBN 3-579-05460-0
  • Who was to blame for Jesus' death? Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1987 (2000 4 ); ISBN 978-3-579014197
  • Isn't that Joseph's son? Jesus in today's Judaism. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1988 (1999 5 ); ISBN 978-3-579014081
  • together with Helmut Gollwitzer : A refugee child. Interpretations to Lk 2. Christian Kaiser Verlag, Munich 1990, ISBN 978-3-459013791
  • The Jew Jesus. Theses of a Jew. Answers from a Christian. Patmos Publishing Group, 1979 (2003 3 ); ISBN 978-3-545250451
  • Paul between Damascus and Qumran. Misinterpretations and translation errors. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1993 (1993 2 , 2001 4 ); ISBN 978-3-579014258
  • From Cain to Judas. Unfamiliar insights into sin and guilt. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1994 (2004 3 ); ISBN 978-3-579054704
  • Life Before Death - Life After Death? A dialogue. With an afterword by Rita Süssmuth . Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1998; ISBN 978-3579014463

literature

  • In the Spirit of Humanity, a portrait of Pinchas Lapide . In: German Comments: review of politics and culture , 32nd volume (1993), No. 10 (October); ISSN  0722-883X
  • Jews and Christians in dialogue. Pinchas Lapide on his 70th birthday (= Kleine Hohenheimer Reihe , issue 25). Academy of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, 1993; ISBN 3-926297-52-2
  • In memoriam Pinchas Lapide - Voice of Reconciliation . In speeches, speeches, defenses , volume 8, Catholic Academy Hamburg, 1999; ISBN 3-928750-56-9
  • Ruth Lapide : Pinchas Lapide - life and work , p. 23 in: Viktor E. Frankl : God search and question of meaning ; Gütersloher publishing house, 2005; ISBN 3-579-05428-7

Web links

Wikiquote: Pinchas Lapide  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Election poster of the CS, 1920 ( Memento of March 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ cf. Ruth Lapide in an interview with Henning Röhl for Bibel TV "Lauf des Lebens"
  3. ↑ cf. Ruth Lapide in an interview with Henning Röhl for Bibel TV "Lauf des Lebens"
  4. ↑ Office of the Federal President
personal data
SURNAME Lapide, pinchas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Jewish religious scholar
DATE OF BIRTH November 28, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH October 23, 1997
Place of death Frankfurt am Main