Ernst Käsemann
| Ernst Käsemann | |
|---|---|
| Born |
12 July 1906 Bochum |
| Died | 17 February 1998 (aged 91) Tübingen |
| Nationality | German |
| Occupation | Professor of New Testament |
| Known for | New Quest for the Historical Jesus |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Marburg (PhD) |
| Doctoral advisor | Rudolf Bultmann |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Biblical studies and theology |
| Sub discipline | New Testament |
| Institutions |
Mainz Göttingen Tübingen |
| Notable works | commentary on the Epistle to the Romans |
| Notable ideas | double criterion of difference on the reliability of the synoptic gospels |
Ernst Käsemann (12 July 1906 – 17 February 1998) was a Lutheran theologian and professor of New Testament in Mainz (1946–1951), Göttingen (1951–1959) and Tübingen (1959–1971).
Käsemann was born in Bochum. He obtained his PhD in New Testament at the University of Marburg in 1931, having written a dissertation on Pauline ecclesiology, with Rudolf Bultmann as his doctoral supervisor. Käsemann was one of Bultmann's more well-known politically left-of-centre 'pupils'.
Käsemann joined the Confessing Church movement in 1933; in the same year, he was appointed pastor in Gelsenkirchen, in a district populated mainly by miners. During the autumn of 1937 he spent a few weeks in Gestapo detention for publicly supporting communist miners.
During 1939, he completed his habilitation, which qualified him to teach at German universities; his dissertation was on the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews.
Käsemann was later drafted as a soldier. He returned to his theological work in 1946 after several years in the army and as a prisoner of war.
Käsemann was involved with what is known as the 'New Quest for the historical Jesus', a new phase of scholarly interest in working out what could possibly be ascertained historically about Jesus. Käsemann effectively started this phase when he published his famous article "The Problem of the Historical Jesus" during 1954, originally his inaugural lecture as Professor in Göttingen in 1951.
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