Peter Lampe | |
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Born | Detmold | 28 January 1954
Nationality | German |
Occupation | Theologian & academic |
Title | Professor of New Testament Studies/History of Early Christianity |
Spouse | Margaret Birdsong |
Children | Two |
Parent | Dr.med. Karl-Heinrich & Helga Lampe |
Awards | German Ecumenical Preaching Award (2003), Honorary Prof. (South Africa, 2008), Scholars Choice award (USA, 1987) |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Bern, University of Göttingen |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of Heidelberg |
Main interests | Social history of early Christianity |
Peter Lampe (born 28 January 1954) is a German Protestant theologian and chaired Senior Professor of New Testament Studies/History of Early Christianity at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.
After studies in theology,philosophy and archaeology at Bielefeld and Göttingen (Germany) and Rome (Italy) he received his Ph.D. and his Dr. habil. at the University of Bern in Switzerland with works about the social history of the early Christians in the city of Rome in the first two centuries and about the concept of unity and community in the Pauline letters. Scholarships of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung) supported his university education and PhD studies. From 1981 on he taught at the University of Bern as assistant professor ("Wissenschaftlicher Assistent") until he was called to a chair of New Testament Studies at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia,USA,in 1986. In 1992,he took the chair of History and Archaeology of Early Christianity and Its Environment at the University of Kiel in Germany,where he also served as dean of the school of theology. In 1999,he accepted a call to a chair at the University of Heidelberg.
In 2005,he co-founded the Research Center for International and Interdisciplinary Theology (FIIT) at the University of Heidelberg,and in 1997 he founded the Societas Theologicum Adiuvantium in Kiel. He has been on the editorial board of international scholarly journals [1] and book series. [2] He is a K.St.J. (Germany),a member of PEN America / PEN International , [3] the international Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (SNTS), [4] the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Theologie (WGTH), [5] and the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). [6] He is an ordained Lutheran minister and has been married to Margaret Birdsong,having two children,Daniel and Jessica.
His works focus on the social history of early Christianity (groundbreaking studies on,for example,early Christianity in Rome in the 1st/2nd centuries,and on Paul's correspondence with Philemon;his work also contributed decisively to the paradigm shift toward a more contextual reading of the Letter to the Romans); [7] on the Hellenistic background of early Christianity;on Pauline studies (including rhetorical studies);on early Christian archaeology and epigraphy;as well as on methodological and hermeneutical questions. He pioneered applying constructivist categories to New Testament exegesis and hermeneutics. [8] Furthermore,he was one of the first to explore the potential of psychological interpretation in his field. [9]
From 2001 to 2008,he directed annual archaeological campaigns in Phrygia,Turkey. During these interdisciplinary campaigns,together with William Tabbernee of Tulsa,numerous unknown ancient settlements were discovered and archaeologically documented. Two of them are the best candidates in the search for the identification of the two holy centers of ancient Montanism,Pepouza and Tymion. Historians such as W. Weiss,T. Gnoli,S. Destephen,M. Ritter,C.M. Robeck,T.D. Barnes,M. Mazza, [10] and the renown classical historian and epigrapher Stephen Mitchell (2023) affirm that Lampe and his team can “claim credit for identifying the location of the Montanist centres Pepuza and Tymion". [11] Scholars had searched for these lost sites since the 19th century. The Montanist patriarch resided at Pepouza,and the Montanists expected the heavenly Jerusalem to descend to earth at Pepouza and Tymion. In late antiquity,both places attracted crowds of pilgrims from all over the Roman Empire.
In 2003, Lampe received the German Ecumenical Preaching Award (Bonn, Germany). In 2008, he was made honorary professor at the University of the Free State in South Africa. In 1987, in the United States his German book Die stadtrömischen Christen was awarded the distinction of Scholar’s Choice (significant current theological literature from abroad). National merit scholarships of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung). To mark his 65th birthday, scholars from five continents co-authored a two-volume festschrift in his honour. [12]
Montanism, known by its adherents as the New Prophecy, was an early Christian movement of the late 2nd century, later referred to by the name of its founder, Montanus. Montanism held views about the basic tenets of Christian theology similar to those of the wider Christian Church, but it was labelled a heresy for its belief in new prophetic figures. The prophetic movement called for a reliance on the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit and a more conservative personal ethic.
The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), one of the Three Forms of Unity, is a Reformed catechism taking the form of a series of questions and answers, for use in teaching Reformed Christian doctrine. It was published in 1563 in Heidelberg, Germany. Its original title translates to Catechism, or Christian Instruction, according to the Usages of the Churches and Schools of the Electoral Palatinate. Commissioned by the prince-elector of the Electoral Palatinate, it is sometimes referred to as the 'Palatinate Catechism.' It has been translated into many languages and is regarded as one of the most influential of the Reformed catechisms. Today, the Catechism is 'probably the most frequently read Reformed confessional text worldwide.'
Pepuza was an ancient town in Phrygia, Asia Minor.
Günther Bornkamm was a German New Testament scholar belonging to the school of Rudolf Bultmann and a Professor of New Testament at the University of Heidelberg. Under Adolf Hitler, he opposed the nazification of the Protestant churches and their unification into the movement of the 'German Christians'. His post-war fame as a scholar rested on his effort to separate fiction from facts in his reconstruction of Jesus' life and in his subsequent treatment of the gospel of Matthew. His brother was the ecclesiastical historian and Luther scholar Heinrich Bornkamm.
Gerd Theißen is a German Protestant theologian and New Testament scholar. He is Professor of New Testament Theology at the University of Heidelberg.
Ernst Adolf Alfred Oskar Adalbert von Dobschütz was a German theologian, textual critic, author of numerous books and professor at the University of Halle, the University of Breslau, and the University of Strasbourg. He also lectured in the United States and Sweden.
Rolf Rendtorff (1925–2014) was Professor of Old Testament at the University of Heidelberg from 1963 to 1990. He was one of the more significant German Old Testament scholars from the latter half of the twentieth-century and published extensively on various topics related to the Hebrew Bible. Rendtorff was especially notable for his contributions to the question of the origins of the Pentateuch, his adoption of a "canonical approach" to Old Testament theology, and his concerns over the relationship between Jews and Christians.
Tymion was an ancient town in Phrygia, Asia Minor. Its site is located at the Turkish village of Şükraniye. From the middle of the 2nd century CE to the middle of the 6th century CE, Tymion was an important town for the ancient Christian church of Montanism. The Montanists, whose church spread all over the Roman Empire, expected the New Jerusalem to descend to earth at Tymion and the nearby town of Pepuza; Pepuza was the headquarters of Montanism and the seat of the Montanist patriarch. One of the founders of Montanism, Montanus, called both towns "Jerusalem." In late antiquity, both places attracted crowds of pilgrims from all over the Roman Empire. Women played an emancipated role in Montanism. They could become priests and also bishops. In the 6th century CE, this church became extinct.
Bernd Moeller was a German Protestant theologian and church historian.
Gabrielle Oberhänsli-Widmer, is Professor of Jewish studies at the University of Freiburg.
Markus Mühling is a Protestant systematic theologian and philosopher of religion whose work focuses largely on the doctrine of God, eschatology, the atonement and the dialogue between the natural sciences and theology.
Martin Leiner is a German Protestant theologian and a professor for applied ethics. He holds a chair in Systematic Theology/Ethics at the Faculty of Theology at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität (FSU) Jena, Germany. He is also the founder and director of the Jena Center for Reconciliation Studies (JCRS).
David Johannes Trobisch is a German scholar whose work has focused on formation of the Christian Bible, ancient New Testament manuscripts and the epistles of Paul.
Reinhard Gregor Kratz is a German biblical scholar, historian of ancient Judaism, and Protestant theologian. He currently serves as professor of Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible, in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Göttingen, in Germany. In his various authorial, editorial, advisory, and administrative capacities, Kratz has had a sizeable impact on research into the Hebrew Bible and ancient Judaism.
Markus Barth was a Swiss scholar of theology. He lived in Bern, Basel, Berlin, and Edinburgh and was the son of the seminal Protestant theologian Karl Barth. From 1940 to 1953 he was a Reformed Pastor in Bubendorf near Basel. In 1947 he received a doctorate in New Testament from the University of Göttingen. Between 1953 and 1972 he held professorships in New Testament at Dubuque Theological Seminary, University of Chicago Divinity School, and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. From 1973 to 1985 he was professor of New Testament at the University of Basel.
Wilhelm Heinrich Neuser was a German Protestant theologian, church historian, professor and a leading scholar in John Calvin research, a founder of International Congress on Calvin Research.
Paul-Gerhard Klumbies is a German Protestant theologian and New Testament scholar.
Horst Dietrich Preuß was a German Protestant theologian, Lutheran pastor, and professor of Old Testament at the University of Göttingen and from 1973 to 1992 at Augustana Divinity School in Neuendettelsau.
Christoph Schwöbel was a German Lutheran Theologian and Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.
Heidrun E. Mader is a German Protestant theologian and historian of early Christianity and its literature, and a professor at the University of Cologne, Germany, holding a chair of Biblical Literature and its Reception History.