Peter Lampe (born 28 January 1954) is a German
Protestant theologian and chaired
Professor of
New Testament Studies/History of Early Christianity at the
University of Heidelberg in Germany.
Life
After studies in
theology,
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
and
archaeology at
Bielefeld and
Göttingen (Germany) and
Rome (Italy) he received his
Ph.D. and his
Dr. habil. at the
University of Bern in Switzerland with works about the social history of the early Christians in the city of Rome in the first two centuries and about the concept of unity and community in the Pauline letters. Scholarships of the
German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung) supported his university education and PhD studies. From 1981 on he taught at the University of Bern as assistant professor ("Wissenschaftlicher Assistent") until, in 1986, he was called to a chair of New Testament Studies at
Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, USA. In 1992, he took the chair of History and Archaeology of Early Christianity and Its Environment at the
University of Kiel in Germany, where he also served as dean of the school of theology. In 1999, he accepted a call to a chair at the
University of Heidelberg.
In 2005, he co-founded the ''Research Center for International and Interdisciplinary Theology'' (FIIT) at the University of Heidelberg, and in 1997 he founded the ''Societas Theologicum Adiuvantium'' in Kiel. He has been on the editorial board of international scholarly journals and book series. He is a
K.St.J. (Germany)
The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of c ...
, an ordained Lutheran minister, being married to Margaret Birdsong and having two children, Daniel and Jessica.
Work
His works focus on the
social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...
of early Christianity (groundbreaking studies on, for example, early Christianity in Rome in the 1st/2nd centuries, and on Paul's correspondence with Philemon; his work also contributed decisively to the paradigm shift toward a more contextual reading of the
Letter to the Romans); on the
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
background of early Christianity; on
Pauline studies (including
rhetorical studies); on early Christian
archaeology and
epigraphy
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
; as well as on methodological and hermeneutical questions. He pioneered applying
constructivist categories to New Testament exegesis and hermeneutics. Furthermore, he was one of the first to explore the potential of
psychological interpretation in his field.
[See, e.g., G.Theißen/P.v.Gemuenden, ''Erkennen und Erleben,'' Guetersloher: Guetersloh 2007, 20-22, 382-383.
]
From 2001 to 2008, he directed annual archaeological campaigns in
Phrygia
In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...
, Turkey. During these interdisciplinary campaigns, together with William Tabbernee of Tulsa, numerous unknown ancient settlements were discovered and archaeologically documented. Two of them are the best candidates so far in the search for the identification of the two holy centers of ancient
Montanism,
Pepouza and
Tymion. The Montanist patriarch resided at Pepouza, and the Montanists expected the
heavenly Jerusalem to descend to earth at
Pepouza and
Tymion. In late antiquity, both places attracted crowds of pilgrims from all over the Roman Empire. Scholars had searched for these lost sites since the 19th century.
Books
*
*
* 1987 + 1989: ''Die stadtrömischen Christen in den ersten beiden Jahrhunderten: Untersuchungen zur Sozialgeschichte,'' Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2/18 (Mohr-Siebeck: Tübingen 1987; 2nd, revised and enlarged edition 1989) , ISSN 0340-9570, , ISSN 0340-9570
* - translation of the 1987 ''Die Anfänge des Christentums: Alte Welt und neue Hoffnung''
* 1995: ''Pocahontas: Die Indianer-Prinzessin am Englischen Hof'' (Diederichs: München 1995)
* 1998: ''Die Briefe an die Philipper, Thessalonicher und an Philemon,'' NTD 8/2 (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: Göttingen 1998) (together with N. Walter and E. Reinmuth) ,
* 2003 ff: ''From Paul to Valentinus: Christians at Rome in the First Two Centuries'' (Fortress: Minneapolis/Continuum: London, 2003; 6th ed. 2010) , , , , E-book (2006) ED001856
* 2004: ''Felsen im Fluss: Schriftworte in provokativer Auslegung zu Themen der Zeit'' (Neukirchener: Neukirchen-Vluyn, 2004)
* 2005: ''Wortglassplitter'' (a book of poetry; Athena: Oberhausen, 2005)
* 2006: ''Die Wirklichkeit als Bild: Das Neue Testament als ein Grunddokument abendländischer Kultur im Lichte konstruktivistischer Epistemologie und Wissenssoziologie'' (Neukirchener: Neukirchen-Vluyn, 2006) .
* 2007: ''Küsste Jesus Magdalenen mitten auf den Mund?: Provokationen, Einsprüche, Klarstellungen'' (Neukirchener: Neukirchen-Vluyn, 2007)
* 2008: ''Pepouza and Tymion: The Discovery and Archaeological Exploration of a Lost Ancient City and an Imperial Estate'' (deGruyter: Berlin/New York, 2008; together with W. Tabbernee) und
* 2008: ''Neutestamentliche Exegese im Dialog: Hermeneutik – Wirkungsgeschichte – Matthäusevangelium'' (Neukirchener: Neukirchen-Vluyn 2008) (ed. together with M. Mayordomo, M. Sato)
* 2010: ''Neutestamentliche Grenzgänge: Symposium zur kritischen Rezeption der Arbeiten Gerd Theißens'' (Göttingen: Vandenhoek and Ruprecht 2010) (ed. together with H. Schwier)
* 2010: ''Paul and Rhetoric'' (New York/London: Clark 2010) (together with J.P. Sampley)
* 2012: ''New Testament Theology in a Secular World: A Constructivist Work in Philosophical Epistemology and Christian Apologetics'' (translated by Robert L. Brawley from the 2006 German edition with substantial subsequent revisions and augmentations by the author; London & New York: T&T Clark/Bloemsbury, 2012)
* 2019: ''Ad ecclesiae unitatem: Eine exegetisch-theologische und sozialpsychologische Paulusstudie'' (437 pp; Habilitationsschrift; Universität Bern: Bern, 1989) online: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg: Heidelberg 2019, DOI: 10.11588/diglit.48669; https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/lampe1989
Awards
In 2003, Lampe received the German ''Ecumenical Preaching Award'' (Bonn, Germany). In 2008, he was made
honorary professor
Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...
at the
University of the Free State in South Africa. In 1987, in the United States his German book ''Die stadtrömischen Christen'' was awarded the distinction of ''Scholar’s Choice'' (''significant current theological literature from abroad''). National merit scholarships of the
German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung).
About Peter Lampe
* E.-M. Becker, ed., ''Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft,'' UTB 2475, Tübingen – Basel: 2003, 167-175; http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/archiv/25282
* Gerd Theißen im Gespräch mit Peter Lampe, ''Jahresheft der Theologischen Fakultät der Universität Heidelberg'' 9 (2013/14), 61-68; http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/archiv/25149
* Ute E. Eisen &
Heidrun E. Mader
Heidrun E. Mader (September 19, 1977) is a German Protestant theologian and historian of early Christianity and its literature, and a professor at the University of Cologne, Germany, holding a chair of Biblical Literature and its Reception History ...
, eds., ''Talking God in Society: Multidisciplinary (Re)constructions of Ancient (Con)texts. Festschrift for Peter Lampe,'' vol. I: Theories and Applications (807 pp.) & vol. II: Hermeneuein in Global Contexts: Past and Present (532 pp.), NTOA 120/1+2, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht/Göttingen: 2020 (vol. I: ISBN Print: 9783525573174, ISBN E-Book: 9783647573175; vol. II: ISBN Print: 9783525573181, ISBN E-Book: 9783647573182); especially vol. I, pp. 9-13 (about Lampe's oeuvre) & vol. II, pp. 495-521 (Lampe's bibliography)
References
External links
Picture, cv and bibliography of Peter Lampe: Webpage of the University of HeidelbergWho’s Who in the World(2003 ff) an
(2003 ff)
*
Peter Lampe in German Wikipedia
*
German Ecumenical Preaching Award
*
Research Center for International and Interdisciplinary Theology
Societas Theologicum Ordinem AdiuvantiumPortrait of Peter Lampe in DIE ZEIT
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lampe, Peter
1954 births
Living people
German biblical scholars
German Christian theologians
20th-century German Protestant theologians
21st-century German Protestant theologians
New Testament scholars
University of Bern alumni
Union Presbyterian Seminary faculty
University of Kiel faculty
Heidelberg University faculty
German male non-fiction writers