Rainer Riesner

Last updated
Rainer Riesner
Rainer Riesner.jpg
Born (1950-06-02) June 2, 1950 (age 73)
OccupationGerman theologian & pastor
SpouseCornelia Riesner
ChildrenFour
Academic work
Institutions TU Dortmund University
Notable worksJesus als Lehrer, Die Frühzeit des Apostels Paulus

Rainer Riesner (born 2 June 1950 in Friedberg) is a German pastor and theologian. He was ordained pastor in 1980, he has taught theology since 1998, with a focus on the New Testament, at TU Dortmund University. [1] Since 1986 he has been married to Cornelia Riesner, a medical doctor. They have four children.

Contents

Riesner's studies on the New Testament have been groundbreaking in multiple areas. His doctoral dissertation was a comparison of Jesus's teaching methods with other contemporary methods. It gave special attention to the amount of memorization required of young boys in the home and the synagogue school. His comprehensive study of ancient Jewish and Christian sources led him to the conclusion that Jesus's followers had the capacity to memorize his teachings almost verbatim and to reliably pass them on in the early Christian gospels. This work was later published under the title Jesus als Lehrer ("Jesus as Teacher"). [2] Riesner has continued to research and write extensively about the origin of the gospels and their value as historical sources. [3]

Riesner's second major contribution was his study of the chronology of the apostle Paul's early work after his conversion to Christianity. This work was published as Die Frühzeit des Apostels Paulus (English translation Paul's Early Period). In addition to many original insights, this book is one of the most comprehensive surveys of scholarly opinions about the chronology of Paul's work and the spread of early Christianity. [4]

Prof Riesner's writings cover many other topics including the geography and archaeology of ancient Palestine, the Essene community (by whom the Dead Sea Scrolls were perhaps written), and the crossroads of Protestant and Roman Catholic belief. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Works

Related Research Articles

Otto Kaiser was a German Old Testament scholar.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franz Delitzsch</span> German Lutheran theologian and hebraist

Franz Delitzsch was a German Lutheran theologian and Hebraist. Delitzsch wrote many commentaries on books of the Bible, Jewish antiquities, Biblical psychology, as well as a history of Jewish poetry, and works of Christian apologetics. Today, Delitzsch is best known for his translation of the New Testament into Hebrew (1877), and his series of commentaries on the Old Testament published with Carl Friedrich Keil.

Hans Conzelmann was a Protestant, German theologian and New Testament scholar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernst Sellin</span> German Protestant theologian

Ernst Sellin was a German Protestant theologian.

Hans-Josef Klauck is a German-born theologian, religious historian, and Franciscan priest. He is Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Early Christian Literature at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

Leonore Siegele-Wenschkewitz was a German church historian and director of the Evangelische Akademie Arnoldshain. She was co-editor of the journal Kirche und Israel and of the issue Arbeiten zur kirchlichen Zeitgeschichte. She was known for her work on anti-Jewish tendencies in Christian theology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilhelm Bousset</span> German theologian and New Testament scholar

Wilhelm Bousset was a German theologian and New Testament scholar. He was of Huguenot ancestry and a native of Lübeck. His most influential work was Kyrios Christos, an attempt to explain the origins of devotion to Christ as the product of second century Hellenistic forces, and is still the most widely influential academic work on early Christology, even if its conclusions are not supported by modern scholarship.

Joachim Begrich was a German biblical scholar and theologian born in Predel, a hamlet now belonging to Elsteraue in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. He was the son of a pastor and the son-in-law of Old Testament scholar Hermann Gunkel (1862–1932).

Hippolytus of Thebes was a Byzantine author of the late 7th or early 8th century. His Chronicle, preserved only in part, is an especially valuable source for New Testament chronology.

Wolfgang Achtner was a theologist who played a key role as an ambassador for the science-and-religion dialogue in Germany.

Joachim Gnilka was a German Roman Catholic theologian, New Testament scholar, exegete, and professor.

Lutz E. von Padberg is a German historian whose specialty is medieval history and in particular the Christianization of the Germanic peoples. He is an expert on Saint Boniface, having written biographies of the saint and studies of his veneration.

Wolfgang Feneberg was a German Roman Catholic, later an Evangelical Lutheran theologian of the New Testament, ex-Jesuit and Parson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria and Professor. Feneberg was the founder of the "Bibelschule in Israel".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermann Spieckermann</span> German theologian

Hermann Spieckermann is a German biblical scholar, historian of ancient Near Eastern religion, and Protestant theologian. He currently holds a chair for Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible, in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Göttingen, in Germany. Through extensive authorial, editorial, and organizational undertakings, Spieckermann has exerted considerable influence on Hebrew Bible research.

Oskar Holtzmann was a German theologian who specialized in New Testament studies.

Heinrich Weinel was a German Protestant theologian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Werner Kümmel</span> German New Testament scholar and academic (1905-1995)

Werner Georg Kümmel was a German New Testament scholar and professor at the University of Marburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul-Gerhard Klumbies</span> German Protestant theologian

Paul-Gerhard Klumbies is a German Protestant theologian and New Testament scholar.

Eckhard J. Schnabel is a German evangelical theologian and professor of the New Testament. He is the author of numerous scholarly books, Bible commentaries, specialist articles and lexical contributions.

References

  1. "TU Dortmund - Fakultät 14, Humanwissenschaften und Theologie - Evangelische Theologie - Univ.-Prof. (i.R.) Dr. Rainer Riesner". evtheo.fk14.tu-dortmund.de. Retrieved 2015-07-19.
  2. "Book Reviews" (PDF). 6 January 2009. Retrieved 2015-07-19.
  3. An up-to-date list can be found at his faculty page at Dortmund
  4. "> Articles > Paul's Early Period: Chronology, Mission Strategy, Theology". denverseminary.edu. January 1998. Retrieved 2015-07-19.
  5. See the list of books and articles on his official page at Dortmund.
  6. "30Giorni | The dividing line runs between trust and skepticism (by Rainer Riesner)". 30giorni.it. Retrieved 2015-07-19.
  7. ""Remembering Martin Hengel" – A conference | Crux Sola". nijaygupta.wordpress.com. 19 January 2010. Retrieved 2015-07-19.
  8. "Themelios". thegospelcoalition.org. Retrieved 2015-07-19.
  9. Pixner, B.; Riesner, R.; Myrick, K.; Randall, S.; Randall, M. (2010). Paths of the Messiah and Sites of the Early Church from Galilee to Jerusalem: Jesus and Jewish Christianity in Light of Archaeological Discoveries. Ignatius Press. ISBN   9780898708653 . Retrieved 2015-07-19.
  10. CenturyOne Foundation, Inc. "Church of the Apostles Found on Mt. Zion - Pixner - BAR and CenturyOne Foundation". centuryone.org. Retrieved 2015-07-19.
  11. "Search Results". online.sagepub.com. Retrieved 2015-07-19.