Walter Klaiber

Walter Klaiber

Walter Klaiber (born April 17, 1940 in Ulm ) is a theologian , bishop i. R. of the United Methodist Church (UMC) in Germany and was chairman of the Working Group of Christian Churches in Germany until the beginning of March 2007 .

Life

Studies and academic career

Walter Klaiber studied Protestant theology at the Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Methodist Church (UMC) in Reutlingen, at the University of Tübingen and at the University of Göttingen . From 1969 to 1971 he was a research assistant at Ernst Käsemann in Tübingen. Klaiber his doctorate there in 1972 on Significance of iustificatio impii for the ecclesiology of Paul .

Pastoral Service

1966 Klaiber became the pastor of the Evangelical Association ordained . In 1968 the Evangelical Community united with the Methodist Episcopal Church to form the Methodist Church (UMC). From 1971 to 1989 he was a lecturer in New Testament and Greek at the Theological Seminary in Reutlingen and was appointed director in 1977.

Episcopate

In 1989 Walter Klaiber was elected bishop of the United Methodist Church in Germany and West Berlin and in 1992 he was elected bishop of the UMC in what was now a unified Germany. From 1986 to 1992, until the first UMC central conference in Germany after reunification , Rüdiger Minor was bishop of the UMC in the GDR .

In his capacity as bishop Klaiber represented the United Methodist Church in Germany (56,000 Methodists) at the World Council of Methodist Churches . The World Council of Methodist Churches includes 76 Methodist churches in 132 countries, with a total of about 70 million people. Methodism is one of the world's largest evangelical denominations.

From 1989 to 2005 Walter Klaiber was a member of the Presidium of the Association of Evangelical Free Churches and its President for nine years. From 1989 to 2007 he was a member of the board of the Working Group of Christian Churches in Germany and was its chairman between 2001 and March 2007. From 1999 to 2009 he was President of the German Bible Society .

On March 31, 2005, Bishop Klaiber retired. His successor was Bishop Rosemarie Wenner on April 1, 2005 .

Working as a theologian

Walter Klaiber is the author of works on contemporary evangelical theology, especially Methodism . For many years he has been co-editor of the ecumenical exposition With the Bible Through the Year. It is the standard work of practical ecumenical interpretation of the Bible for Christian life today (1st edition 1994). The interpretations with short prayers for each day follow the ecumenical Bible plan and are written by Catholic, Protestant and Evangelical Free Church authors. He is the founder and editor of the commentary series "The Message of the New Testament".

In spring 2009 he taught as a visiting professor at Emory University in Atlanta (USA). In 2012 he was awarded the publisher's ecumenical preaching prize for the German economy for his life's work.

Bishop Klaiber is involved in ecumenism . He is a member of the board of trustees at ProChrist , the organizer of an evangelical event with an evangelical orientation that is close to the YMCA .

Private

Walter Klaiber is married to the doctor Annegret Klaiber. The couple has three children and eight grandchildren and lives in Tübingen .

Works

Theological writings

• The importance of the iustificatio impii for Paul's ecclesiology. Dissertation. 1971.
• Justification and church. An investigation into the Pauline understanding of the church. 1982, ISBN 3-525-53296-2 .
• Call and answer. Biblical foundations of evangelism theology. 1990, ISBN 3-7675-7742-9 .
• History of Israel. German Bible Society, 1996, ISBN 3-438-06206-2 .
• Built on rock. The Sermon on the Mount. 2001, ISBN 3-438-06216-X .
• The Scriptures of the Bible. 1996, ISBN 978-3-438-06207-9 .
• Justification and church. An investigation into the Pauline understanding of the church. 1996, ISBN 3-525-53296-2 .
• Where life is life again. Conversion, rebirth, justification, sanctification: dimensions of a life with God. 1984, ISBN 3-7675-3214-X .
• Who is in charge of the Church? Church and community leadership in the United Methodist Church. 1996, ISBN 3-7675-9105-7 .
• Righteous before God. 2000, ISBN 3-525-61386-5 .
• Share life. 2000, ISBN 978-3-7675-7069-6 .
• Justification from a free church and a Roman Catholic point of view. 2003, ISBN 978-3-7675-7071-9 .
• Creation. 2005, ISBN 978-3-525-61589-8 .
• What concerns me - views and insights. 2005, ISBN 3-7675-7075-0 .
• Lived grace. 2nd Edition. 2006, ISBN 978-3-7675-9497-5 .
• The Bible in the Life of the Church. 2007, ISBN 978-3-7675-7121-1 .
• Controversial Bible in just language. (With Martin Rösel ), 2008, ISBN 978-3-374-02642-5 .
• How much faith can it be? Religion and Mission in our Society. (With Sabine Plonz as editor), 2008, ISBN 978-3-7831-3045-4 .
• Jesus death and our life. What the cross means. 2011, ISBN 978-3-374-02845-0 .
• Methodist churches. 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-87202-4 .
• Called to freedom: the 10 commandments - instructions for a successful life. 2012, ISBN 978-3-87982-979-8 .
• The Biblical Foundations of the Doctrine of Justification (Editor) 2012, ISBN 978-3-374-03083-5 .
• Editor of the exhibition series "The Message of the New Testament", Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen:
  • The letter to the Romans . 2009, ISBN 978-3-7887-2378-1 .
  • The Gospel of Mark . 2010, ISBN 978-3-7887-2454-2 .
  • The first letter to the Corinthians . 2011, ISBN 978-3-7887-2540-2 .
  • The second letter to the Corinthians . 2012, ISBN 978-3-7887-2576-1 .
  • The letter to the Galatians . 2013, ISBN 978-3-7887-2713-0 .
  • The Gospel of Matthew. Volume 1: Mt 1,1-16,20 . 2015, ISBN 978-3-7887-2894-6 .
  • The Gospel of Matthew. Volume 2: Mt 16.21-28.20 . 2015, ISBN 978-3-7887-2928-8 .
  • The Gospel of John. Volume 1: Joh 1,1-10,42 . 2017, ISBN 978-3-7887-3121-2 .
  • The Gospel of John. Volume 2: Joh 11,1-21,25 . 2018, ISBN 978-3-7887-3123-6 .
  • The Revelation of John . 2019, ISBN 978-3-7887-3391-9 .

Hymns

Walter Klaiber has several hymns of the Methodist hymnal translated from English to German. The 2002 edition shows him as a lyricist for 10 songs.

Web links

• Literature by and about Walter Klaiber in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Walter Klaiber  in the German Digital Library
• Walter Klaiber in the German biography
• Working group of Christian churches in Germany

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Former Methodist Bishop Walter Klaiber is 80 , idea.de, report from April 17, 2020.
2. ^ Klaiber: Sermon Prize 2012; Vita , predigtpreis.de
3. ↑ The New Testament Message. Edited by Walter Klaiber