Reimund Bieringer | |
---|---|
![]() Reimund Bieringer in 2018 | |
Born | 1957 (age 67–68) |
Nationality | German |
Title | Professor Doctor |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | KU Leuven |
Thesis | "Lasst euch mit Gott versöhnen": Eine exegetische Untersuchung zu 2 Kor 5,14-21 in seinem Kontext, (1986) |
Doctoral advisor | Jan Lambrecht |
Academic work | |
Discipline | New Testament scholar |
Sub-discipline | Pauline studies,Anti-Judaism in the New Testament,Johannine studies,feminist theology |
Institutions | KU Leuven |
Doctoral students | Archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplany Virginia Rajakumari |
Reimund Bieringer (born 1957) is a German theologian,biblical scholar,Professor Emeritus (with formal duties) of New Testament Exegesis at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies,KU Leuven,Belgium,and a Roman Catholic priest of the Diocese of Speyer in Germany. The main areas of his research include the Second Letter to the Corinthians (exegesis and theology),the Gospel of John (Anti-Judaism and the Gospel of John;Mary Magdalene and the Noli me tangere ),and biblical hermeneutics (normativity of the future).
Bieringer first studied theology at the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology,and then continued his studies at the Faculty of Theology of the KU Leuven,Belgium,where he defended his doctorate in 1986. [1] His doctoral dissertation presents an exegesis of 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 in its epistolary context [2] and is partially published in Studies on 2 Corinthians. [3]
In 1988 he was ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Speyer,and served in a parish in Rodalben as assistant priest until 1990,when he was appointed as a full-time staff member of the Faculty of Theology (now Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies) at KU Leuven. [1] Between 2008 and 2012 he served as vice-dean for research of that faculty. Since 2014 he has been the coordinator of the Biblical Studies Research Unit. [4] He was also the co-founder and is currently the head of the Faculty's Centre for Women's Studies Theology. [5] He also chairs the Research Group Exegesis,Hermeneutics and Theology of the Corpus Paulinum and Corpus Johanneum. Since 2011,he has been serving as the secretary of the Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense . [1]
Between 2012 and 2015 Bieringer served as the president of the European Association of Biblical Studies [6] and is currently the president of the Flemish Bible Society. He is also the secretary of Colloquium Oecumenicum Paulinum,and in 2010 served as its president.
The theology and the background of Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians have belonged to Bieringer's main research interests since the beginning of his academic career. He is known to be one of the long-standing defenders of the letter's unity and integrity. [7] [8]
In his doctoral work, [2] supervised by Jan Lambrecht,and in subsequent publications,he has argued that the genesis of Paul's use of the concept of reconciliation in reference to the divine-human relationship in 2 Cor 5:14-21 is to be sought in Paul's theological reflection on his personal experience of an initial reconciliation with the Corinthians. [9] [10] Bieringer has also suggested that,as opposed to the traditional understanding of καταλλάγητε(katallagēte) in 2 Cor 5:20d as passive,the verb has here a reflexive meaning and thus could be translated as "reconcile yourselves to God" rather than "be reconciled to God". [11]
In a paper presented at the 2008 Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting in Boston,Bieringer proposed the term "theology in the making" to refer to the process whereby Paul's everyday life experiences and the resources at his disposal led to the development of Paul's profound theological insights. [12] This paper constituted also an introduction to the series of seminar sessions on Second Corinthians:Pauline Theology in the Making,to take place every year at the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meetings,from 2008 to 2019.
Some of Bieringer's insights on reconciliation in 2 Corinthians were taken over and developed in a doctoral dissertation by Ivar Vegge,published subsequently in the WUNT series. [13]
In 1996 Bieringer began to develop an eschatologica l-oriented biblical hermeneutics,which came to be known as the normativity of the future approach. [14] In dialogue with the theologian Mary Elsbernd (1946-2010) from Loyola University (Chicago) and their respective students,they elaborated this approach in the publication Normativity of the Future:Reading Biblical and Other Authoritative Texts in an Eschatological Perspective. [15] The normativity of the future approach is rooted in a dialogical perspective on God's revelation,both through the Scriptures and the "signs of the times". Incorporating a variety of scholarly biblical methodologies,it focuses subsequently on the world behind,the world of,and especially the world in front of the text.
The approach traces the explicit or implicit eschatological vision(s) in a given biblical passage (such as the kingdom of God,the new heaven and the new earth,etc.) and seeks out the moral qualities of the text:its inclusive and exclusive dimensions,its pneumatological clues,its traces of the virtue of hope and its ethica l demands. The normativity of the future approach also incorporates the hermeneutical meta-questions regarding the interpreter,the interpretive process and results,and their impact on communities,especially those who are oppressed. [16]
To date,Bieringer continues to cultivate this approach,researching how Scriptures are used in various ways,such as in religious education in Australia [17] and in interdisciplinary theologizing in a contextual manner.
In collaboration with Didier Pollefeyt,Reimund Bieringer further developed the normativity of the future approach in the context of Jewish-Christian dialogue. Their joint project on the alleged anti-Jewish tendencies in the Fourth Gospel (esp. in John 8:31-59) resulted in the Leuven colloquium on Anti-Judaism and the Fourth Gospel in 2000 and has remained a research focus ever since. [18] [19] [20] [21] In 2016 their project in collaboration with Peter De Mey resulted in an expert seminar about The Spirit,Hermeneutics and Dialogues (Leuven,25–27 May 2016). [22] [23]
Bieringer's research in John's Gospel and his use of a feminist lens in biblical studies paved the way for an interdisciplinary research project on John 20:1-17 entitled "Mary Magdalene and the Touching of Jesus. An Intra- and Interdisciplinary Investigation of the Interpretation of John 20:17 in Exegesis,Iconography and Pastoral Care,Research Foundation Flanders,2005-2008." The research results were distributed through several articles and an edited volume on the topic,as well as radio interviews,lectures,debates and an exhibition on the image of Mary Magdalene and the iconography of the Noli me tangere . [24] [25] [26]
Bieringer's research also focuses on the question of continuity and discontinuity between Judaism and Christianity in Paul's time. The interdisciplinary project "New Perspectives on Paul and the Jews" investigated the role of Pauline theology in the process of Christian self-definition with respect to the Judaism of its time and dealt with the implications for present day Jewish-Christian dialogue. [27]
Antisemitism and the New Testament is the discussion of how some Christians' views of Judaism in the New Testament have contributed to discrimination against Jewish people throughout history and in the present day.
Noli me tangere is the Latin version of a phrase spoken, according to John 20:17, by Jesus to Mary Magdalene when she recognized him after His resurrection. The original Koine Greek phrase is Μή μου ἅπτου. The biblical scene has been portrayed in numerous works of Christian art from Late Antiquity to the present. The phrase has also been used in literature, and later in a variation by military units since the late 18th century.
Craig L. Blomberg is an American New Testament scholar. He is currently the Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the New Testament at Denver Seminary in Colorado where he has been since 1986. His area of academic expertise is the New Testament, including subjects relating to The Law's fulfillment in Christ, parables, miracles, the historical Jesus, Luke-Acts, John, 1 Corinthians, James, the historical trustworthiness of Scripture, financial stewardship, gender roles, the Latter Day Saint movement, hermeneutics, New Testament theology, and exegetical methods, involving understanding the ancient's robust literary toolkit including thematic-structural chiams. Blomberg has written and edited multiple books.
Richard N. Longenecker was a New Testament scholar. He held teaching positions at Wheaton College and Graduate School ; Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1963-72); Wycliffe College ; University of St. Michael’s College ; and McMaster Divinity College. His education included B.A. and M.A. degrees from Wheaton College, and a Ph.D. from New College in the University of Edinburgh.
Richard John Bauckham is an English Anglican scholar in theology, historical theology and New Testament studies, specialising in New Testament Christology and the Gospel of John. He is a senior scholar at Ridley Hall, Cambridge.
Proto-Gnosticism or pre-Gnosticism refers to movements similar to Gnosticism during the first century of Christianity. Proto-Gnostics did not have the same full-fledged theology of the later Gnostics, but did prefigure some of their views. There is, however, some debate regarding the existence of proto-Gnosticism in the first century.
William David Davies (1911–2001), often cited as W. D. Davies, was a Welsh Congregationalist minister, theologian, author and professor of religion in England and the United States.
Christopher M. Tuckett is a British biblical scholar and Anglican priest. He holds the Title of Distinction of Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Oxford and is a Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford.
Craig S. Keener is an American Wesleyan theologian, Biblical scholar and professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary.
Didier Pollefeyt is a Belgian catholic theologian, full professor at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies and vice rector for education policy at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
John Painter, is an Australian academic, New Testament scholar, and Christian theologian specializing in Johannine literature. He is currently Professor of Theology at Charles Sturt University in Canberra.
Clemens Thoma was a Swiss theologian.
Lieven Boeve [‘li:vən ‘bu:və] is a Belgian Catholic theologian, and is full professor of Systematic Theology at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Since 2012 he is also the chair of the Centre for Academic Teacher’s Training, KU Leuven. On 1 August 2014 he became the Director General of the Flemish Secretary for Catholic Education, a position which he held for two five-year terms, until 2024.
Francis Watson is an English theologian and New Testament scholar. He commenced his career at King's College London before being appointed to the Kirby Laing Chair of New Testament Exegesis at the University of Aberdeen in 1999. In 2007 he took up his current position as Professor in the Department of Theology and Religion at the Durham University.
Michael J. Gorman is an American New Testament scholar. He is the Raymond E. Brown Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology at St. Mary's Seminary and University, where he has taught since 1991. From 1995 to 2012 he was dean of St. Mary's Ecumenical Institute.
Beverly Roberts Gaventa is Distinguished Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Baylor University and Helen H.P. Manson Professor of New Testament Literature and Exegesis Emerita at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Barbara Baert is a Belgian art historian who is professor of art history at KU Leuven. In 2016, Baert received the scientific prize Francquiprijs, which is yearly awarded by the Francqui-Stichting to a scientist in human, exact and biological-medical sciences.
Jan Lambrecht was a Belgian Catholic priest of the Society of Jesus, Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Biblical Greek at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium and a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission. As a theologian, biblical scholar, and prolific author, he contributed numerous studies on almost all the books of the New Testament, but focused especially on the Gospels and the Pauline letters. His publications included books and articles written in English, Dutch, and French.
Frank Edward Shaw is a retired professor and the originator of the theory that there was no single original form of writing of the name of God in the Greek Bible, instead of Ιαω, transliterations in square Hebrew characters, in paleo-Hebrew characters, Greek characteres ΠΙΠΙ, Θεὀς or, contrary to the more common opinion, of an original κύριος.
Virginia Rajakumari Sandiyagu is a Biblical scholar belonging to Congregation of Sisters of St. Anne, Bangalore (SAB). She teaches Sacred Scriptures at Kristu Jyoti College, Krishnarajapuram, Bangalore. Rajakumari is known for Biblical hermeneutics, especially her research on re-reading scriptures that hitherto relegated women to the background. Her re-interpretation has shed new light on importance of women in Old Testament and New Testament.
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