Reinhard Thole
Reinhard Thöle (born April 28, 1950 in Osnabrück ) is a Lutheran pastor and theologian and professor emeritus for Eastern Church Studies at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg .
Life
Reinhard Thöle studied Protestant theology and Orthodox theology at the seminary of the Russian Orthodox Church in Düsseldorf with Archbishop Alexij van der Mensbrugghe . He was the first EKD scholarship holder at the Patriarchate of the Romanian Orthodox Church and PhD student with Ene Braniste . From 1979 to 1991 he worked as a parish pastor and military pastor.
From 1991 to 2011 he was a scientific advisor for Eastern Church Studies at the denominational institute in Bensheim, from 1992 to 2008 lecturer at the University of Heidelberg and from 1992 to 2017 consultant for the dialogues of the EKD with the Orthodox Churches. In 1998 he received his doctorate “Doctor of divinity” with the dissertation The Significance of Orthodox Theology for the Community of Churches . In 2000 he became Professor hc for Ecumenical Theology at the Theological Faculty "Patriarch Justinian" at the University of Bucharest . In 2001 he initiated the “Society for the Study of the Christian East” with Thomas Bremer . From 2007 to 2017 he was a member of the scientific management of the "Institute for Evangelical Ascetics and Piety Research" at the Augustana University in Neuendettelsau . From 2011 he was head of the seminar for Eastern Church Studies at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg . In the winter semester 2012/13 he received the in-cumulo habilitation from the theological faculty . On his 65th birthday, the EKD honored him with the commemorative publication Im Dialog mit der Orthodoxie (Supplements to the Ökumenische Rundschau 104, Leipzig 2016), which also contains a list of publications. In 2016 he was a council observer of the EKD at the all-orthodox Great and Holy Synod in Crete. Reinhard Thöle retired from the 2017/18 winter semester.
Focus
As a representative of Eastern Church Studies after the political change, he also took into account the so-called unccanonical Orthodox Churches, the Eastern Churches united with Rome , the independent Orthodox jurisdictions and the Western rites within Orthodoxy. He emphasizes that in interdenominational dialogue efforts for Practical Christianity and for Faith and Order cannot do without equal treatment of liturgy and spirituality. He sees the basis of every inter-church dialogue in the occurrence of an “ apophatic ecumenism”. He means that only in devotional prayer of the churches involved in a dialogue can the hidden unity in the essence of God be communicated, which precedes all church controversies. This ultimately inexpressible experience must be a prerequisite for dealing with theological dissent and formulating consensus. Since 1994 he has devoted himself to the scientific publication and practical-theological justification of the Lutheran worship service in the Byzantine-Slavic rite in the tradition of the Ukrainian Lutheran Church.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Alexij van der Mensbrugghe
- ↑ EKD Orthodoxy Dialogues
- ^ Society for the Study of the Christian East
- ↑ page of the seminar
- ↑ Yearbook for Liturgy and Hymnology , Göttingen 2004 and 2007.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Thöle, Reinhard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Lutheran theologian |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 28, 1950 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Osnabrück |