Prof. Dr. Hermut Löhr

Divine Dependency in Ancient Judaism and Emerging Christianity
The project seeks to investigate the relation between experiences, perceptions and imaginations of asymmetrical relationsships between two or more agents (individual or groups) and the description of the relationship between God and human beings in the sources of ancient Judaism and emerging Christianity. Names such as that of the "slave" or "servant of God," of the "son," and of the "children" of God, more generally of widespread family metaphors, or of (royal) anointed ones, some of the names of gods such as kyrios or despotês, or the structures of client-patron or power-powerlessness relationships are prominent examples of this.

So far, scholarship has been particularly interested in the contextual involvement and the traditional history of such designations and ideas, but has shown little or no interest in their relations to contemporary experiences and discourses of social interdependence, their implications and explicates as well as gender differences implied in these relations. The project seeks to fill in this remarkable gap.

Project Phase 2

Charisma and SAD in Ancient Judaism and Emerging Christianity

The project explores the notion(s) of charisma for the reconstruction of different elements of
ancient Jewish and emergent Christian thought, especially with regard to ethics and morality.
It brings into conversation the categories of "charisma" (and its ramifications) and "SAD," with special regard to the dynamics and limits of SAD. It focuses of the notion and the concept of
"charisma" (lit.: "gift of grace") in relation to ancient Judaism and emerging Christianity. Understood initially in terms of "charismatic organization" (R. Sohm), it was then taken up and developed further into "charismatic authority" (M. Weber), and, in this shape, became most influential in social, cultural, and religious studies in the twentieth century.

The project seeks (1) to establish a critical history of research of the concept and its application to ancient Judaism (with a focus on Second Temple Judaism) and emerging Christianity (first and second centuries CE) until the present; (2) to test the usefulness of notions such as charismatic leadership, charismatic organizations, groups, or institutions, charismatic texts, or the "charismatic power of objects" (M. Vedeler) for the reconstruction of Jewish and Christian thought in antiquity, with a focus on ethics and morality; and then (3) to ask for the relevance and impact of different concepts of charisma for the further development of the concept of SAD. The project is especially interested in the dynamics, change, and end of relations of SAD: Can they be reframed in terms of "charisma"? Do the ideas of "charismatic" attraction, authority, or relations between different agents (human and others) help us to enlarge our vision of SAD? Can "charisma" be addressed as a type of SAD?

2001
Habilitation in Protestant Theology/New Testament, University of Bonn, Germany

1993                        
Dr. theol., University of Bonn, Germany

1990–1991            
Doctoral student, University of Strasbourg, France

1983–1989           
Undergraduate and graduate studies in Protestant Theology, History et al. at the Universities of Bonn, Tübingen, and Heidelberg, Germany

since 2017   
Professor for New Testament Studies/Ancient Judaism, University of Bonn, Germany

2007–2017             
Professor for New Testament Studies, University of Münster, Germany

2003–2007       
Professor for New Testament Studies, University of Jena, Germany

2001–2003         
Interim Professor for New Testament Studies at the universities of Duisburg and Bonn, Germany

since 2019     
Studien zu Judentum und Christentum³ (SJC), Paderborn/Leiden: Schöningh/Brill

since 2018      
Ökumenischer Taschenbuchkommentar zum Neuen Testament⁴ (ÖTK), Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus

since 2014      
Revue d'histoire et philosophie religieuses⁵ (RHPhR), Strasbourg

since 2008       
Forschungen zur Literatur und Religion des Alten und Neuen Testaments ⁶(FRLANT), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen

since 2008        
Themen der Theologie⁷, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck

2013–2018    
Area Editor Pauline Epistles for EBR, Berlin et al.: de Gruyter

2010–2013             
New Testament Studies⁸, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press