Wolfgang Pax

Wolfgang Elpidius Pax OFM (born April 22, 1912 in Breslau ; † April 14, 1993 in Lippstadt ) was a German linguist and Catholic theologian .

Life

Wolfgang Pax came from a Protestant family. His father was the marine biologist Ferdinand Albert Pax (1885–1964), his mother Marie b. Serbian. Wolfgang Pax attended the Johannesgymnasium Breslau , where Willy Cohn was one of his teachers, and then studied Classical Philology , Classical Archeology , Comparative Linguistics and Philosophy at the University of Breslau . The Indo-Europeanists Wilhelm Havers and Otto Strauss (1881–1940) shaped him most . In February 1936 he was awarded a Dr. phil. doctorate , in July 1937 he passed the state examination for higher teaching post. He then taught as a lecturer in Breslau and became a member of the German Oriental Society . From October 1, 1939, he worked as a volunteer at the Leipzig University Library .

During the Second World War , Pax served as a meteorologist in the Air Force . The war experience brought him to a spiritual conversion. After the end of the war he converted to the Catholic Church and entered the Franciscan Order on April 30, 1946 in the monastery of Rietberg ( Westphalia ) , where he took the religious name Elpidius. From 1947 to 1950 he studied Catholic theology. He was ordained a priest on July 30, 1950 in Warendorf . He then went to the University of Munich , where he studied biblical studies until 1953 and obtained a Dr. theol. received his doctorate. From 1953 to 1955 he worked as prefect of a Catholic boarding school in Hildesheim, from 1955 to 1959 as a pastor in Berlin-Lichtenrade .

After a year of study at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome (1959/60), Pax went to the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem as a professor of biblical exegesis and Jewish studies , where he taught until his retirement in 1982. From 1973 he also taught New Testament and Judaic Studies in the theological academic year Jerusalem of the Benedictine Dormition Abbey on Mount Zion .

On December 20, 1967, Pax received the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class, for his pastoral work .

Wolfgang Pax's scientific work was entirely dedicated to linguistics in the first phase of his life. He initially dealt with the etymology of the Indo-European languages . After his conversion, he turned increasingly to biblical topics, often using the methods of linguistics. He has written numerous studies on Catholic theology, biblical exegesis, the history of concepts and religions, as well as articles for the real encyclopedia of classical antiquity (RE), the real dictionary for antiquity and Christianity (RAC) and the dictionary for theology and the church (LThK). From the 1970s onwards, he also published popular articles, including the travel guide The Holy Places. In the footsteps of Jesus (1970) and numerous quiz questions about the New Testament in the magazine In the Land of the Lord .

Fonts (selection)

• Comparative language studies on the etymology of the word ἀμφίπολος . In: words and things . Volume 18 (1937), pp. 1–88 (linguistic dissertation)
• Ἐπιφάνεια. A contribution to the history of religion in biblical theology . Munich 1955 (theological dissertation)
• Observations on the biblical language taboo . In: Liber Annuus . Vol. 12 (1962), pp. 66-112
• Syntactic semitisms in the New Testament. A general consideration . In: Liber Annuus . Volume 13 (1962/63), pp. 136-162
• The holy places. In the footsteps of Jesus . Jerusalem / Olten 1970. Numerous new editions
  • Translation into English: In the Footsteps of Jesus . Tel Aviv 1970
  • Translation into Portuguese: Nos Passos de Jesus . Rio de Janeiro 1972
  • Translation into Swedish: I Jesu Fotspar . Vällingby 1978
  • Translation into French by Martin Stoll: Avec Jésus en Terre Sainte . Paris 1979
• In the footsteps of Paul . Freiburg / Olten 1977

literature

• Giovanni Claudio Bottini: In memoriam Elpidius Wolfgang Pax, Ofm. In: Liber Annuus 1993, pp. 615-628.
• Ottokar Mund:  Pax, Wolfgang Elpidius. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 7, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-048-4 , Sp. 109-115.