Markus Vinzent
| Markus Vinzent | |
|---|---|
| Born |
12 April 1959 Saarbrücken, Germany |
| Occupation | Academic |
| Spouse(s) | Dr. Jutta Vinzent |
| Children | Cyril, Charlotte |
| Parent(s) | Dr. Otwin Vinzent, Elisabeth Vinzent |
Markus Vinzent (born 1959) is Professor of the History of Theology (with a specialty in Patristics) in the Department of Theology & Religious Studies at King's College London, London, UK.
Dr. Vinzent studied philosophy, theology, Jewish studies, ancient history, and archaeology at the Universities of Eichstätt, Paris (Diplom, Philosophy and Theology, 1978–83), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany (Ph.D., 1987–91), and Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg, Germany (Postdoctoral research, Habilitation, 1991-5). He worked as a pastor between 1984 and 1991, and from the 1990s onward he has also been a serial entrepreneur (IT, Internet, HR, Energy, Waste, Utilities and Infrastructure).
Dr. Vinzent has held academic posts as Senior Research Fellow at King's College, Cambridge (1991-3), Senior Research Fellow at the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaft (tenure), Berlin (1993-5), C4-Professor (non-tenure) for History of Theology in the times of the Reformation and Modernity, University of Mainz, Germany (1996-7), C4-Professor for History of Theology (tenure), University of Cologne, Germany (1997-9), HG Wood Professor of Theology, University of Birmingham (1999-2010), including a stint as Head of Department (1999-2001). He joined the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King's College London in September 2010.
Since 2003 he has served as one of the Directors of the International Conference on Patristic Studies, is Editor-in-Chief of Studia Patristica, the conference's official publication, and the editor of the series Eckhart: Texts and Studies. Together with Professor Allen Brent he is directing the major research project on 'Early Christian Iconography and Epigraphy', a project generously funded by the British Academy (2011–12).
In a series of monographs he has published on early Christian beliefs (Monarchianism, Trinity, Apostles' Creed) and their reception in the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment and in contemporary theology. His main contribution to the field of historical theology is his radical attempt to read sources non-anachronistically. As a result, Christianity is seen as a religion which developed its contours much later than previously assumed. In his recent monograph on the Resurrection, he argues that its foundational writings, especially the canonical and non-canonical Gospels, all stem from the middle of the second century, and even Paul's letters, written around the mid first century, only became influential a hundred years later. The Roman teacher and businessman Marcion of Sinope is identified as one of the key thinkers and founders of Christianity. Key concepts like Christianity as a separate 'religion', being based not only on sayings of a Rabbi Jesus, but on the exemplary life of a divine messenger and saviour Jesus Christ who died on the cross and rose again, the 'Gospel' as a new literary genre that encapsulates the novelty of Christ's message and of Christianity, the 'New Testament' as the title of the collection of the foundational writings of this new religion (in antithesis to the 'Old Testament' of the Jewish law and the prophets), the introduction of sacraments, new ways of fasting and asceticism all go back to this Roman teacher.
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