Klaus Koch (October 4, 1926 – March 28, 2019) was an

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

scholar. Koch first studied in the

Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approximately 32,000 stu ...

and later at the

Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen Eberhard is an old Germanic name meaning the strength or courage of a wild boar. People First name *Eberhard of Friuli (815–866), Duke and key figure in the Carolingian Empire *Eberhard of Béthune (died 1212), Flemish grammarian *Eberhard I, Du ...

. He did his doctoral dissertation at the

Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

under

Gerhard von Rad Gerhard von Rad (21 October 1901 – 31 October 1971) was a German academic, Old Testament scholar, Lutheran theologian, exegete, and professor at the University of Heidelberg. Early life, education, career Gerhard von Rad was born in Nurem ...

. Later, Koch became a Pastor in the Lutheran Church in Prießnitz. He began his teaching career as a professor at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...

. He is

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of Old Testament and History of the Ancient near East Religions at the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Koch has identified

Martin Noth Martin Noth (3 August 1902 – 30 May 1968) was a German scholar of the Hebrew Bible who specialized in the pre-Exilic history of the Hebrews and promoted the hypothesis that the Israelite tribes in the immediate period after the settlement in Can ...

and

as the Fathers of Redaction Criticism in Old Testament Studies. Koch is best known for his assertion that the Old Testament

wisdom literature Wisdom literature is a genre of literature common in the ancient Near East. It consists of statements by sages and the wise that offer teachings about divinity and virtue. Although this genre uses techniques of traditional oral storytelling, it w ...

has no concept of

divine retribution Divine retribution is supernatural punishment of a person, a group of people, or everyone by a deity in response to some action. Many cultures have a story about how a deity exacted punishment upon previous inhabitants of their land, causing th ...

. In his 1983 article, "Is there a Doctrine of Retribution in the Old Testament?", Koch argued for a "deed-consequences" construct, in which human deeds have "automatic and inescapable consequences", meaning that

Yahweh Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he posse ...

does not need to intervene to punish or reward. He died on March 28, 2019.The orbituary of Klaus Koch
/ref>

Selected bibliography

* ''Die Priesterschrift von Exodus 25 bis Leviticus 16'' (1959) *''Was ist Formgeschichte?: Methoden der Bibelexegese: Mit einem Nachwort, Linguistik und Formgeschichte'' (1964; 5th ed. 1989) *''Book of Books: The Growth of the Bible'' (1969) *''The Growth of the Biblical Tradition: The Form-critical Method'' (1969) *''The Rediscovery of Apocalyptic: A Polemical Work on a Neglected Area of Biblical Studies and Its Damaging Effects on Theology and Philosophy'' (1972) *''Um das Prinzip der Vergeltung in Religion und Recht des Alten Testaments (

Wege der Forschung ''Wege der Forschung'' (WdF, ''Ways of Research'') is the name of a historic interdisciplinary book series about topics of humanities, first published by Hermann Gentner Verlag in Bad Homburg, later by Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft in Dar ...

)'' (1972) *''Amos: Untersucht mit den Methoden einer strukturalen Formgeschichte (Alter Orient und Altes Testament)'' (1976) *''Das Buch Daniel (Erträge der Forschung)'' (1980) *''The Prophets I - The Assyrian Period'' (1983) *''The Prophets II - The Babylonian and Persian Periods'' (1984) *''Daniel (Biblischer Kommentar. Altes Testament)'' (1986) *''Deuterokanonische Zusätze zum Danielbuch: Entstehung und Textgeschichte (Alter Orient und Altes Testament)'' (1987) *''Geschichte der ägyptischen Religion: Von den Pyramiden bis zu den Mysterien der Isis'' (1993) *''Die Reiche der Welt und der kommende Menschensohn: Studien zum Danielbuch (Gesammelte Aufsätze)'' (1995) *''Vor der Wende der Zeiten: Beiträge zur apokalyptischen Literatur (Gesammelte Aufsätze)'' (1996) *''Reise durch Indonesien'' (1997) *''Die Schriftrollen von Qumran. Zur aufregenden Geschichte ihrer Erforschung und Deutung'' (1998) * ''From Amos to Jesus - Biblical Eschatology and its Social and Political Implications'', (1999) *''Reclams Bibellexikon. Sonderausgabe'' (2000) (with Eckart Otto and Jürgen Roloff) *''Biblischer Text und theologische Theoriebildung'' (2001) *''Europa, Tausendjähriges Reich und Neue Welt'' (2003) (with Mariano Delgado and Edgar Marsch) *''Der Gott Israels und die Gotter des Orients Religionsgeschichtliche Studien II'', (2006)

References

;Notes ;Further reading *

External links

Full bibliography at the University of Hamburg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koch, Klaus 1926 births 2019 deaths 20th-century German Protestant theologians German Lutheran theologians 20th-century German Lutheran clergy German biblical scholars Old Testament scholars Heidelberg University alumni Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni University of Tübingen alumni Academic staff of the University of Hamburg Academic staff of the University of Kiel German male non-fiction writers Academic staff of the Senate of Serampore College (University) Lutheran biblical scholars 21st-century German Lutheran clergy