Thomas Kaufmann (church historian)

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Thomas Kaufmann (2015)

Thomas Kaufmann (born March 29, 1962 in Cuxhaven ) is a German Protestant theologian and church historian specializing in the Reformation and the early modern period .

Life

Thomas Kaufmann graduated from high school in Cuxhaven in 1981. From 1981 to 1987 Kaufmann studied Protestant theology in Münster , Tübingen and Göttingen . In 1987 he passed the first theological exam in Hanover . From 1988 to 1989 he was a repetitionist at the regional church at the Evangelical Theological Faculty in Göttingen. From 1989 to 1993 he was a research assistant at Bernd Moeller in Göttingen. There he received his doctorate in 1990 with his thesis The Theology of the Last Supper of the Strasbourg Reformers until 1528 . From 1993 to 1994, Kaufmann was a research assistant at the Evangelical Theological Faculty in Göttingen. The habilitation took place in 1994 for church history in Göttingen.

In 1996 he became professor for church history at the University of Munich . Kaufmann succeeded Bernd Moeller in 2000 and has taught as a professor of church history at the University of Göttingen ever since. In the academic year 2000/1 he was Directeur d'études at the École pratique des Hautes Études . Kaufmann was Dean of the Faculty of Theology there in 2003/05 . He declined appointments to professorships for church history at the University of Basel (2005) and the University of Erlangen (2011). Kaufmann is a full member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences . From 2012 to 2016 he was its first vice-president and chairman of the philological-historical class. Since 2011 he has been chairman of the Association for the History of the Reformation . On May 5, 2016, Kaufmann took over the office of Abbot of the Bursfelde Monastery from Joachim Ringleben , which is provided by a theology professor from Göttingen.

He is married to Antje Roggenkamp and has three children.

Research priorities

Thomas Kaufmann in Oxford 2017 in discussion with students at a book history seminar

His main research interests are the history of churches, theology and Christianity in the Reformation and early modern times . Kaufmann published a biography about Martin Luther , a history of the Reformation in Germany and, under the title Redeemed and Damned, a history of the Reformation in Europe, which was on the Spiegel bestseller list for several weeks in 2017 . During the Reformation Decade (2008–2017), Kaufmann commented critically on the course of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and, in his opinion, pushed for appropriate historical classifications. He was a sought-after commentator and interview partner for the public media and numerous newspapers and magazines.

Research into the relationship between Christianity and Judaism and Islam in the early modern period has been a special concern of Kaufmann for years. On Luther's relationship with the Jews, he published well-respected books that have been translated into several European foreign languages.

Honors

On January 13, 2017, Kaufmann was awarded an honorary theological doctorate at the Det teologiske Menighetsfakultet , the Norwegian School of Theology, in Oslo . He was honored by the Oslo University of Applied Sciences for his research on the history of the Reformation. In the Scandinavian region, Kaufmann's concept of interpretation of the Lutheran confessional culture was particularly well received. In September 2017 he also received an honorary doctorate in philosophy from the University of Oslo. The three-part " Terra X " series, "The Great Beginning - 500 Years of Reformation", which he accompanied as a specialist advisor and which was broadcast for the Luther year, was awarded the German TV Prize in 2018 in the "Best Infotainment" category. Kaufmann received a Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize for 2020 . In the same year he was elected to the British Academy as a foreign member .

Fonts (selection)

  • The Last Supper theology of the Strasbourg reformers until 1528 (= contributions to historical theology. Volume 81). Mohr, Tübingen 1992, ISBN 3-16-145817-6 (also: Göttingen, Universität, Dissertation, 1990).
  • University and Lutheran denomination. The Rostock theology professors and their contribution to theological education and ecclesiastical organization in the Duchy of Mecklenburg between 1500 and 1675 (= sources and research on the history of the Reformation. Volume 66). Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1997, ISBN 3-579-01734-9 (also: Göttingen, University, habilitation paper, 1994).
  • The end of the Reformation. Magdeburg's "Herrgotts Chancellery" (1548–1551 / 2) (= contributions to historical theology. Volume 123). Mohr, Tübingen 2003, ISBN 3-16-148171-2 .
  • The beginning of the Reformation. Studies on the contextuality of theology, journalism and staging of Luther and the Reformation movement (= late Middle Ages, humanism and Reformation. Volume 67). Mohr, Tübingen 2012, ISBN 3-16-150771-1 .
  • Denomination and Culture. Lutheran Protestantism in the second half of the Reformation century (= late Middle Ages and Reformation. Texts and studies. Volume 29). Mohr, Tübingen 2006, ISBN 3-16-149017-7 .
  • "Türckenbüchlein". On the Christian perception of "Turkish" religion in the late Middle Ages and the Reformation (= research on the history of the church and dogma. Volume 97). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-525-55222-3 .
  • History of the Reformation. 2nd Edition. Publishing house of world religions in Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 2010, ISBN 978-3-458-71024-0 . ( Friedrich Wilhelm Graf : Review. In: Die Zeit , No. 1/2010).
  • New edition supplemented and expanded by an epilogue: History of the Reformation in Germany. Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-518-42541-1 .
  • Martin Luther. 5th edition. Beck, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-406-50888-2 .
  • Luther's "Judenschriften". A contribution to their historical contextualization. 2nd revised edition. Mohr, Tübingen 2013, ISBN 978-3-16-150772-4 .
  • Luther's Jews. 3rd revised edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 3-15-010998-1 .
  • Redeemed and damned. A story of the Reformation. 4th edition. Beck, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-406-69607-7 .
  • Reformation. 100 pages. 2nd Edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-15-020430-6 .

Web links

Commons : Thomas Kaufmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ See the review by Peter Opitz in: Zwingliana 21 (1994), pp. 195–196 ( online ).
personal data
SURNAME Kaufmann, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Lutheran church historian
DATE OF BIRTH March 29, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Cuxhaven