Udo Schaefer

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Udo Schaefer

Udo Schaefer (born October 19, 1926 in Heidelberg ; † August 30, 2019 ) was a lawyer and one of the most important contemporary theologians of the Baha'i community .

Life

Schaefer came from a family of musicians. In 1948 he converted to the Bahaitum. Schaefer studied musicology , classical philology and jurisprudence at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg . In 1957 he received his doctorate on the basics of the Baha'i municipal code. From 1958 to 1988 Schaefer worked in the Baden-Württemberg judicial service, initially as a judge and later as a senior public prosecutor . Between 1957 and 1995 he was a member of the board of the German Baha'i community for a total of fifteen years.

Act

Udo Schaefer contributed significantly to the theological and religious studies research into Baha''ity. His work deals with central topics of Baha'i theology, especially the understanding of religion (1997, 2002a) and the image of man (2000a, 2006). His main goal is to create a foundation on which a serious interreligious dialogue  - one of his main concerns in recent years - can take place. The Writings on Islam (1968, 1977, 2002b), as well as ostensibly apologetic works (1995) also serve this purpose . Another central question of Schaefer is the tension between morality and legality. This is reflected in his work on law (2000b, 2001, 2004) and ethics (2007, 2009). His critical work on community theology and understanding of the Baha'i community (1995, 2002c) is also in this context. His work on Baha'i law was an essential basis for the Baha'i ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court.

Since 1970, Schaefer has played a key role in almost all German-language translations of Bahāʾullāh's writings , most of which were based on the English version: for example Ährenlese (1980, 1999), Messages from Akka (1982), Hidden Words (1983, 1997, 2001), and prayers and Meditations (1992), Kitab-i-Iqan (2000), Kitab-i-Aqdas (2000), Claim and Annunciation (2007), Gems of Divine Mysteries (2007), The Tabernacle of Unity (2012). Later on, Schaefer was also involved in a project of new translations directly from Arabic and Persian.

So far unpublished are Schaefer's autobiographical memoirs (2012) and Arcana (2014); the latter are a summary of his critical analyzes of the community theology and understanding of the Baha'i and the current Baha'i institutions and the resulting consequences for the reality of the community.

Publications (selection)

Book publications

German

  • The misunderstood religion. The Occident and the Post-Biblical Religions . Bahá'í-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1968.
  • The Bahá'ís in the modern world. Structures of a new belief . Bahá'í-Verlag, Hofheim 1981, ISBN 3-87037-098-X .
  • Ethical Aspects of Smoking. A contribution to Bahá'í ethics . Bahá'í-Verlag, Hofheim 1992, ISBN 3-87037-263-X .
  • Freedom and its barriers. On the concept of freedom in Bahá'u'lláh's Kitáb-i-Aqdas . Bahá'í-Verlag, Hofheim 1994, ISBN 3-87037-305-9 .
  • together with Nicola Towfigh and Ulrich Gollmer : Disinformation as a method. The Bahá'ísmus monograph by F. Ficicchia . In: Religious Studies Texts and Studies . tape 6 . Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim, Zurich, New York 1995, ISBN 3-487-10041-X .
  • The mystical unity of religions. For interreligious dialogue on a global ethic . Bahá'í-Verlag, Hofheim 1997.
  • Belief world Islam. An introduction . In: Religious Studies Texts and Studies . tape 7 . Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim, Zurich, New York 2002, ISBN 3-487-10159-9 .
  • Salvation history and paradigm shift. Two contributions to Bahá'í theology . In: Studies on Bahá'ítum . tape 1 . Bahá'í-Verlag, Hofheim 2002, ISBN 3-87037-389-X .
  • what is the human? Man and humanity in the writings of Bahá'u'lláh . In: Studies on Bahá'ítum . tape 2 . Bahá'í-Verlag, Hofheim 2003, ISBN 3-87037-395-4 .
  • Basics of the Bahá'í community order . In: Studies on Bahá'ítum . tape 3 . Bahá'í-Verlag, Hofheim 2003, ISBN 3-87037-404-7 .

English

  • The Light Shineth in Darkness . George Ronald Publisher, Oxford 1977, ISBN 978-0-85398-072-8 .
  • Doctrinal Fundamentals . In: Bahá'í Ethics in Light of Scripture . tape 1 . George Ronald Publisher, Oxford 2007, ISBN 978-0-85398-505-1 .
  • Virtues and Divine Commandments . In: Bahá'í Ethics in Light of Scripture . tape 2 . George Ronald Publisher, Oxford 2009, ISBN 978-0-85398-518-1 .

As editor

  • The constitution of the Bahá'í community. The statutes of the elected institutions . Bahá'í-Verlag, Hofheim 2000, ISBN 3-87037-358-X .

Essays

  • Bahá'u'lláh's Unity Paradigm: A Contribution to Interfaith Dialogue on a Global Ethic ; in Dialogue and Universalism, Warsaw Volume 6.11-12 / 1996, pp 23-41
  • Universal peace? - Perspectives from the message of Bahá'u'lláh ; in: Detlef Kröger (Ed.): Religious peace as a prerequisite for world peace ; Osnabrück, 2000b
  • The Law of the Bahá'í Religious Community: Foundations, Principles, Structures ; in: Church and Law ; Neuwied: Luchterhand Fachverlag , 4/2001
  • Infallible Institutions? ; in: Seena Fazel, John Danesh: Reason & Revelation, New Directions in Bahá'í Thought ; Los Angeles: Kalimat Press 2002c, pp. 3-37
  • An Introduction to Bahá'í Law: Doctrinal Foundations, Principles and Structures ; in: Journal of Law and Religion 18/2 (2002-2003); Saint Paul, Minnesota: Hamline University School of Law

literature

  • Christian Cannuyer: Review of “Disinformation as a Method” ; in: Mélanges de Science Religieuse, T 54/1, 1997, pp. 116–118 (PDF; 96 kB)
  • Roshan Danesh: The Politics of Delay - Social Meanings and the historical Treatment of Baha'i Law ; in: World Order 35/3 (2004), pp. 33-45
  • Ulrich Gollmer : Article Schaefer, Udo: La lumière luit dans les ténèbres. Cinq études sur les Révélations après Jésus-Christ. (The Light Shineth in Darkness. Five studies in revelation after Christ, 1977) ; in: Encyclopédie Philosophique Universelle 3/2 (1992); Paris 1992; P. 3716 f.
  • William S. Hatcher : The Quest for the Metaphysical Jesus ; in: World Order 12/4 (1978); Pp. 35-42
  • Manfred Hutter : Review of “Disinformation as a Method” ; in: Journal of Contemporary Religion 12.3 (1997); P. 437–439 (PDF; 83 kB)
  • Heshmat Moayyad: Review of “Disinformation as a Method” ; in: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 8.4 (1998); Pp. 451-454

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ulrich Gollmer : Udo Schaefer passed away. In: bahaitum.de. August 30, 2019, accessed August 30, 2019 .
  2. ↑ New translations. In: bahaitum.de. December 2014, accessed August 30, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Chapter 10 (“Understanding Law and Justice”) of the Arcana deals with basic questions of religious and secular law. An abridged version is available on Schaefer's website.
personal data
SURNAME Schaefer, Udo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer and Baha'i theologian
DATE OF BIRTH October 19, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Heidelberg
DATE OF DEATH August 30, 2019