Rolf Rendtorff

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Rolf Rendtorff (born May 10, 1925 in Preetz ; † April 1, 2014 in Heidelberg ) was a German Protestant theologian who worked in Heidelberg for many years. He was rector of Heidelberg University for three years .

Life

Rendtorff was born as the son of the theologian Heinrich Rendtorff , who took over a professorship at Kiel University in 1926 . From 1930 to 1933 the family lived in Schwerin , where the father was the regional bishop. After being deposed by the National Socialists, the father took over a pastorate in Stettin.

In the Second World War , Rendtorff served in the Navy from 1942 to 1945 . Most recently he held the rank of lieutenant at sea . After the war, he studied Protestant theology in Kiel , Bethel , Göttingen and Heidelberg from 1945 to 1950 . He received his doctorate in 1950 at the University of Heidelberg with Gerhard von Rad on the subject of The Laws of the Priestly Scriptures. A generic investigation .

Rendtorff qualified as a professor for the Old Testament in Göttingen in 1953 ; his supervisor was Walther Zimmerli . The subject of the habilitation was studies on the history of the victim in the Old Testament . In 1958 he became professor of the Old Testament at the Church University of Berlin . There he worked as rector from 1962/1963 . In 1963 he became a full professor for Old Testament theology at Heidelberg University . In 1964/1965 he was dean of the theological faculty .

Rendtorff was a senator in 1967/1968 and a member of the basic order assembly in 1968/1969, which was supposed to work out a reform of the basic order of the university. From January 1970 to November 1972 he was rector of the university, where he was re-elected in February 1972 after an initial two-year term. As a so-called reform rector, he tried again and again to mediate between conservative professorships (for example, the Bund Freiheit der Wissenschaft ), the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, and the student movement demanding reforms and changes . He got into violent conflicts, especially with the professors and the state authorities, according to which he did not act sharply enough against “radical” activists. These difficulties, which led to a poisoning of the university political atmosphere and boycott actions, ultimately resulted in his resignation from the rectorate.

Before his retirement in 1990, he held visiting professorships in Jerusalem , Pretoria , Chicago and Rome .

His brother Trutz Rendtorff was also a theology professor.

Act

Since his first trip to Israel in 1963, Rendtorff has campaigned intensively for an understanding of Judaism and the State of Israel on a Christian basis. In 1966 he was one of the main founding members of the German-Israeli Society (DIG), in which he - for many years as Vice President - advocated understanding between Israelis and Germans as well as understanding between Palestinians and Israelis. In 1977, together with Reiner Bernstein, he was co-founder and long-time chairman of the German-Israeli working group for peace in the Middle East (DIAK).

Within the Evangelical Church in Germany , he participated intensively in the dialogue between Christianity and Judaism and was for many years chairman of the study commission for Church and Judaism and thus co-editor of the studies Christians and Jews I (1975) and II (1991) and also a member of the study group Jews and Christians of the Protestant Kirchentag .

Honors

Fonts (selection)

  • The becoming of the Old Testament . Berlin, Evangelical Publishing House. 1960.
  • The old testament. An introduction . Neukirchen 5th edition 1995.
  • Old Testament theology. 1. Canonical foundation . Neukirchen 1999.
  • Old Testament theology. 2. Thematic development . Neukirchen 2001.
  • Fathers kings prophets . Kreuz-Verlag Stuttgart, 1967.
  • God's story. A book of hours. The beginning of our path in the Old Testament . Hamburg Furche, 2nd edition, 1964
  • Will the university reform fail? Heidelberg as an example . Together with: Nuissl, Ekkehard, Wolff-D. Webler. Rowohlt 1973
  • Israel and its land. Theological reflections on a political problem ; 1975.
  • Author: Jews, Christians, Israel. A conversation. With a reply from Nathan Peter Levinson . Together with: Helmut Gollwitzer . Radius Verlag, 1978. ISBN 3-87173-533-7
  • Workbook Christians and Jews. To the study of the Council of the EKD . 1979 (4th edition 1989)
  • Leviticus (= Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, Volume III / 1.) Neukirchen-Vluyn, Neukirchener Verlag, 1985.
  • The churches and Judaism. Documents from 1945–1985 . Together with Hans Hermann Henrix. 1988
  • Has God cast out his people? The Protestant Church and Judaism since 1945; A comment . 1989
  • Christians and Jews today. New insights and new tasks . 1998.
  • Continuity in contradiction. Autobiographical reflections . Göttingen 2007.

literature

  • Bernd J. Diebner , Hermann Schult, Konrad Rupprecht: Dielheimer sheets for the Old Testament (DBAT). No. 7–11 (1974–1976), as well as supplement 1: Festschrift for the 50th birthday of Rolf Rendtorff (1975). Dielheim, 1974
  • Erhard Blum , Christian Macholz, Ekkehard W. Stegemann (eds.): The Hebrew Bible and its twofold post-history. Festschrift for Rolf Rendtorff on his 65th birthday. Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1990; ISBN 3-7887-1353-4
  • Jürgen Kegler: Dialogue with Judaism. For Rolf Rendtorff's 65th birthday ; in: Evangelical church newspaper for Baden (Aufbruch), 42, 1990, 5
  • Erhard Blum (Ed.): Mincha. Ceremony for Rolf Rendtorff on his 75th birthday. Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1990; ISBN 3-7887-1809-9
  • Sebastian Grätz , Bernd U. Schipper (ed.): Old Testament science in self-portrayals . Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007; ISBN 978-3-525-03622-8 ; Pp. 19-31

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Arndt Krödel: Rolf Rendtorff: Some too liberal, others too left. Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung online from July 21, 2014, accessed on August 10, 2018 (review mainly from a student perspective).
  2. ^ Eike Wolgast : The University of Heidelberg 1386–1986. Springer-Verlag, Berlin et al. 1986, ISBN 978-3-642-64896-0 , p. 183 (summary rather from the perspective of the professors).
  3. On Rendtorff's role in founding the DIG see Gronauer, Gerhard: The State of Israel in West German Protestantism. Perceptions in church and journalism from 1948 to 1972 (AKIZ.B57). Göttingen 2013. pp. 181-183.
  4. See his autobiographical reflections