Gerhard Kittel
From Textus Receptus
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'''Gerhard Kittel''' ([[September 23]], [[1888 AD|1888]], Breslau - [[July 11]], [[1948 AD|1948]]) was a German Protestant theologian and an ardent anti-Semite.<sup>[1]</sup> Kittel was named as an official theologian by the Nazi party and the Nazi's often appealed to some of his works as an excuse for their anti-Semitic eugenic policies. | '''Gerhard Kittel''' ([[September 23]], [[1888 AD|1888]], Breslau - [[July 11]], [[1948 AD|1948]]) was a German Protestant theologian and an ardent anti-Semite.<sup>[1]</sup> Kittel was named as an official theologian by the Nazi party and the Nazi's often appealed to some of his works as an excuse for their anti-Semitic eugenic policies. | ||
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| + | ==Early Life== | ||
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| + | Kittel was the son of [[Old Testament]] Professor [[Rudolf Kittel]], who was an expert on [[Judaism]] of the [[Old Testament]] Period, instructor and, later, a rector of the [[University of Leipzig]] ([[1917]] - [[1919]]).<sup>[1]</sup> He attended the König Albert-Gymnasium in [[Leipzig]] from [[1907]] to [[1912]] where he studied [[Theology]] and oriental languages. He also studied in [[Tübingen]], [[Berlin]] and [[Halle]]. He received his doctorate in [[1913]] in [[Kiel]]. | ||
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| + | During [[World War I]], Killel served as a Navy [[chaplain]]. In [[1917]] he taught privately in Leipzig<sup>[1]</sup> until [[1921]] when he became an [[associate professor]]. During the course of [[1921]], he was called to become a professor at [[Greifswald]] in the [[New Testament]] department, where he stayed until [[1926]].<sup>[2]</sup> He later took over the chair of Adolf Schlatter in [[Tübingen]]. While at Tübingen, he conducted several studies and published articles covering research comparing the history and religion of ancient Judaism and Palestinian early Christianity. At that time, he expressed that he was less interested in the racial or political questions but rather in the religious relationship between [[Israel]], [[Judaism]] and [[Christianity]].<sup>[3]</sup> In [[1933]] he took over the new edition of the [[Theological Dictionary of the New Testament]] from [[Hermann Cremer]] and [[Julius Kögel]]. | ||
==Nazi Involvement== | ==Nazi Involvement== | ||
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== References == | == References == | ||
| - | *1. Ericksen, Robert P. [[1987 AD|1987]]. Theologians Under Hitler. Yale University Press. | + | * 1. Ericksen, Robert P. [[1987 AD|1987]]. Theologians Under Hitler. Yale University Press. |
| + | * 2. [http://www-alt.uni-greifswald.de/~theol/~nt/geschichtliches.html 1] | ||
| + | * 3. Gerhard Friedrich in: ThLZ 74 (1949), 171-175 | ||
| + | * 4. | ||
== External links == | == External links == | ||
Revision as of 22:28, 26 February 2010
Gerhard Kittel (September 23, 1888, Breslau - July 11, 1948) was a German Protestant theologian and an ardent anti-Semite.[1] Kittel was named as an official theologian by the Nazi party and the Nazi's often appealed to some of his works as an excuse for their anti-Semitic eugenic policies.
Contents |
Early Life
Kittel was the son of Old Testament Professor Rudolf Kittel, who was an expert on Judaism of the Old Testament Period, instructor and, later, a rector of the University of Leipzig (1917 - 1919).[1] He attended the König Albert-Gymnasium in Leipzig from 1907 to 1912 where he studied Theology and oriental languages. He also studied in Tübingen, Berlin and Halle. He received his doctorate in 1913 in Kiel.
During World War I, Killel served as a Navy chaplain. In 1917 he taught privately in Leipzig[1] until 1921 when he became an associate professor. During the course of 1921, he was called to become a professor at Greifswald in the New Testament department, where he stayed until 1926.[2] He later took over the chair of Adolf Schlatter in Tübingen. While at Tübingen, he conducted several studies and published articles covering research comparing the history and religion of ancient Judaism and Palestinian early Christianity. At that time, he expressed that he was less interested in the racial or political questions but rather in the religious relationship between Israel, Judaism and Christianity.[3] In 1933 he took over the new edition of the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament from Hermann Cremer and Julius Kögel.
Nazi Involvement
He wrote Nazi-influenced articles about Christianity and until his disclosure of or conversion to anti-Semitism, he had been a well respected scholar. He was so well-respected that secular and Christian Liberals within the academy denied or obscured his Third Reich work until Robert P. Ericksen's published work on Kittel, Theologians Under Hitler, in 1985 made such liberal denialism no longer possible.
Herbert Lowewe, a Cambridge University professor, wrote this to Kittel in August 1933:
- “ It gives me great pain to find that so great an authority and leader of thought should give expression to such views. I have read your previous books with pleasure and profit, and I have learned much from them. ... your present pronouncement is quite incompatible with your previous teaching, and it is as unjust to Christianity as it is to Judaism. ... It is a grievous disillusionment to find that one's idol has feet of clay.
Hitler wanted Kittel, Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda to do a new German Bible translation to replace Martin Luther’s Bible, which at that time most German’s still used at that time. After the Second World War, Kittel was jailed for his Nazi war crimes. During his war crimes trial, Kittel claimed that his acts were “imposed on him by God,” and Gerhard Kittel argued that “agreement with the State and with the Fuhrer was obedience towards the law of God.”
Biblical literature
Kittel and his father Rudolf, are responsible for what have become the two most eminent works in Theology over the past century, the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, which is a retranslation of the Old Testament Hebrew, parting from the traditional Masoretic Text.
OT Biblia Hebraica is the foundation of every Modern Bible Translation, coupled with the Nestle-Aland Greek, including even the Jewish New Testament. Given that the main thrust of Kittel's academic career centered around the translation of the Stuttgartensia
Kittel wrote a 10 volume Biblical Greek Lexicon Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the NT. The first 7 volumes were written while Kittel was Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, while the last three volumes of his Biblical Greek Lexicon were done while he was in jail for his War Crimes.
He was a son of Rudolf Kittel.
Literary works
- Die Oden Salomos überarbeitet oder einheitlich, 1914
- Jesus und die Rabbinen, 1914
- Jesus als Seelsorger, 1917
- Rabbinica; Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1920
- Das Religionslehrer-Seminar in Leipzig. Aufbau und Ziele im Auftrag des Christl. Volksdienstes dargestellt; Berlin: Reuther & Reichard, 1921
- Die religiöse und die kirchliche Lage in Deutschland. Dörffling & Franke, Leipzig 1921
- Seelsorge an jungen Mädchen, 1925
- Die Probleme des palästinensischen Spätjudentums und das Urchristentum, 1926
- Urchristentum, Spätjudentum, Hellenismus, 1926
- Jesus und die Juden; Berlin: Furche, 1926
- Die Religionsgeschichte und das Urchristentum, 1932
- An editor of the "Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament", 5 vols., after 1933
- Die Judenfrage, 1933
- Ein theologischer Briefwechsel mit Karl Barth, 1934
- Christus und Imperator, 1939
- Die historischen Voraussetzungen der jüdischen Rassenmischung, 1939
- Dichter, Bibel und Bibelrevision, 1939
- Zus. mit Eugen Fischer: Das antike Weltjudentum. Tatsachen, Texte, Bilder; Forschungen zur Judenfrage des "Reichsinstituts zur Geschichte des Neuen Deutschlands von Walter Frank, Forschungsabteilung Judenfrage, Band 7; Hamburg: Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt, 1943
- Meine Verteidigung. Neue, erweiterte Niederschrift, 1946
- Der Jakobusbrief und die Apostolischen Väter. Aus dem Nachlaß veröffentlicht von Karl Heinrich Rengstorf; in: ZNW 43 (1950/51), S. 54-112
References
- 1. Ericksen, Robert P. 1987. Theologians Under Hitler. Yale University Press.
- 2. 1
- 3. Gerhard Friedrich in: ThLZ 74 (1949), 171-175
- 4.
External links
Online works
- Der "historische Jesus" (1932)
- Greek language, Biblical -- Dictionaries German (no date)
- Greek language, Biblical -- Dictionaries German (1960)
