This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Find sources: "Gerd Theissen" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2025)

Gerd Theissen (Theißen, born 24 April 1943) is a German Protestant theologian and New Testament scholar.^[1][2] As of 2005, he was a professor of New Testament studies at the University of Heidelberg.^{[2][needs update]}

Early life and education

This section needs expansion with: a source-derived description of the usual elements of this section (details on family and early, secondary, and college education). You can help by adding missing information. (September 2025)

Gerd Theissen (spelling in German, Theißen) was born in Rheydt, Germany, today known as Mönchengladbach, Germany, on 24 April 1943.^[2]

He obtained his doctorate from the University of Bonn in 1968, in a study of the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews,^[2] study under the auspices of the faculty of Protestant theology.^{[citation needed]} He then moved on to studying Evangelical Theology there, as well,^{[citation needed]} obtaining his habilitation in 1972, on early Christian miracle stories,^[2] which he approached through form criticism.^{[citation needed]}

Career

This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This section needs expansion with: source-derived description his academic and other positions, and the work, written and otherwise, that have been his products. You can help by adding missing information. (September 2025) This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Awards and recognition

This section contains an excessive amount of intricate detail. Specifically, the extensive quotations from the Brit. Acad. amount to an unnecessary full restatement of the cited award notice. Please help improve it by removing excessive detail that goes against Wikipedia's inclusion policy. (September 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

In 2002, Thiessen was awarded the Burkitt Medal by the British Academy.^[1] It is granted "in recognition of special service to Biblical Studies".^[3] The British Academy's citation states that Theissen is:

...one of the earliest pioneers in the application of the principles and methods of sociology to the study of the New Testament. [His n]otable works in this field are The First Followers of Jesus... [1977] (which concentrated on conditions in Palestine) and The Social Setting of Primitive [sic., Pauline] Christianity [1979] (a Pauline study dealing mainly with Corinth).^[1]

The citation goes on to state that he "is not simply a sociologist... [but] has never ceased to be a theologian... always emphasis[ing] the theological... [and] historical significance of his sociological studies", and that Thiessen had written, specifically, about the "meaning of faith" where it noted his work, On Having a Critical Faith (1979), was "particularly important".^[1] It goes on to highlight his most recent publications as of 2002, which included The Religion of the Earliest Churches (1999) and Gospel Writing and Church Politics (2001), and makes special reference to The Shadow of the Galilean (1986), which it describes as "a most unusual life of Jesus, accessible to any intelligent reader, but based on the strictest critical discipline".^[1]

He has been awarded honorary doctoral degrees, including from The University of Glasgow,^[when?] University of St. Andrews,^[when?] Université de Neuchâtel,^[when?] and Lund^[when?] and Aarhus^[when?] Universities.^[2] In 2005, Thiessen was awarded an honorary doctorate (doctor honoris causa) by the Faculty of Theology of the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, during festivities to celebrate its 150th jubilee.^[4]

Professor Theissen was named a member of the Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften.^[when?][2]

Personal life

As of 2005, Theissen was married to psychologist and psychotherapist Christa Schaible, and they had two children.^[2]

Bibliography

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

THe following are books, in German and in English, by Theissen:^{[according to whom?][citation needed]}

Books translated in English

• The Miracle Stories of the Early Christian Tradition (1974), Fortress Press, 1983, ISBN 0-8006-6205-9
• Sociology of Early Palestinian Christianity (1977), Fortress Press, 1978, ISBN 0-8006-1330-9
  • also published as: The First Followers of Jesus: A Sociological Analysis of the Earliest Christianity (1977), SCM Press, 1978, ISBN 0-334-00479-9
• A Critical Faith: A Case for Religion (1978), Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979, ISBN 0-8006-1373-2
  • also published as: On having a Critical Faith, London: SCM Press 1979
• The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity: Essays on Corinth (1979), Philadelphia: Fortress Press 1982 (reprint: Wipf & Stock, 2004), ISBN 1-59244-871-2
  • also published as: The Social Reality and the Early Christians: Theology, Ethics and the World of the New Testament (1979), Minneapolis: Fortress 1992 (reprint T. & T. Clark, 1999), ISBN 0-567-09618-1
• Psychological Aspects of Pauline Theology (1983), Philadelphia: Fortress Press 1987 (reprint: T. & T. Clark, 1999, ISBN 0-567-09479-0
• Biblical Faith: An Evolutionary Approach (1984), Fortress Press, 1985, ISBN 0-8006-1842-4
• The Shadow of the Galilean: The Quest of the Historical Jesus in Narrative Form (1986), Fortress Press, 1987; Updated edition 2007, ISBN 0-8006-3900-6.
• The Gospels in Context: Social and Political History in the Synoptic Tradition (1989), Minneapolis: Fortress 1991 (reprint: T. & T. Clark, 1999), ISBN 0-567-29602-4
• The Open Door: Variations on Biblical Theme (1990), Fortress Press, 1991, ISBN 0-8006-2561-7
• The Sign Language of Faith. Opportunities for Preaching Today (1994), SCM Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-334-02598-6
• Traces of Light: Sermons and Bible Studies (1994), SCM Press, 1996, ISBN 0-334-02629-6
• Gerd Theissen, Annette Merz, The Historical Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide (1996), Augsburg Fortress, 1998, ISBN 0-8006-3122-6
• Gerd Theissen, Dagmar Winter, The Quest for the Plausible Jesus: The Question of Criteria (1997), Westminster John Knox Press, 2002, ISBN 0-664-22537-3
• Signs of Life (1998), SCM Press, 1998, ISBN 978-0-334-02757-7
• The Religion of the Earliest Churches: Creating a Symbolic World (1999), Fortress Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8006-3179-X
• A Theory of Primitive Christian Religion (2000), SCM Press, 1999, ISBN 0-334-02913-9
• Gospel Writing and Church Politics: A Socio-rhetorical Approach (Chuen King Lecture Series - CKLS 3 Chung Chi College: The Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2001 ISBN 962-7137-29-4
• The New Testament: History, Literature, Religion (2002), T & T Clark, 2003, ISBN 0-567-08949-5
• Wolfgang Stegemann, Bruce J. Malina, Gerd Theissen (eds.), The Social Setting of Jesus and the Gospels, Fortress Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-8006-3452-0
• The Bible and Contemporary Culture (2003), Fortress Press, 2007, ISBN 0-8006-3863-8
• The New Testament: A Literary History (2007), Fortress Press, 2011, ISBN 978-0-8006-9785-3

Books not translated

• Untersuchungen zum Hebräerbrief, Gütersloh: Mohn, 1969
• Jesus als historische Gestalt. Beiträge zur Jesusforschung, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck, 2003
• Gerd Theissen, P.v. Gemünden, M. Konradt, Der Jakobusbrief. Beiträge zur Rehabilitierung der „strohernen Epistel“ , Münster: LIT, 2003
• Die Jesusbewegung. Sozialgeschichte einer Revolution der Werte, Gütersloh: Kaiser, 2004
• Erleben und Verhalten der ersten Christen. Eine Psychologie des Urchristentums, Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2007
• "Regards psychologiques et sociologiques sur le christianisme primitif: cinq études de Gerd Theissen", Études théologiques et religieuses 83 (2008)
• "Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft vor und nach 1945: Karl Georg Kuhn und Günther Bornkamm", Schriften der Philosophisch-historischen Klasse der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften 47, Heidelberg: Winter, 2009
• "Von Jesus zur urchristlichen Zeichenwelt", "Neutestamentliche Grenzgänge“ im Dialog, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck, 2011
• Die Ritualdynamik urchristlicher Sakramente. Von prophetischen Zeichenhandlungen zu geheimnisvollen Riten, = La dinamica rituale dei sacramenti nel cristianesimo primitivo. Da azioni simbolico profetiche a riti misterici, Lectiones Vagagginianae IV, Rom: Cittadella Editrice e Pontificio Ateneo Sant'Anselmo, 2013
• Polyphones Verstehen. Entwürfe zur Bibelhermeneutik, Münster: LIT, 2014
• Transparente Erfahrung: Predigten und Meditationen, Gütersloh, Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2014
• Polyphones Verstehen: Entwürfe zur Bibelhermeneutik, Münster: LIT, 2015
• Gerd Theissen, Petra von Gemünden, Der Römerbrief. Rechenschaft eines Reformators, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck 2016
• Gerd Theissen, Lung Pun Chan, István Czachesz, Kontraintuitivität und Paradoxie. Zum kognitiven Ansatz in der Exegese, BVB 29, Münster: LIT 2017
• Veränderungspräsenz und Tabubruch. Die Ritualdynamik urchristlicher Sakramente, BVB 30, Münster: LIT 2017
• Der Anwalt des Paulus, Gütersloh, Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2017
• Glaubenssätze: ein kritischer Katechismus, Gütersloh, Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2018
• Texttranszendenz, Beiträge zur polyphonen Hermeneutik, Münster: LIT 2019
• Urchristliche Wundergeschichten: ein Beitrag zur formgeschichtlichen Erforschung der synoptischen Evangelien, Gütersloh, Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2019
• Beiträge zu einer polyphonen Bibelhermeneutik, Münster: LIT 2019
• Religionskritik als Religionsdiskurs: Plädoyer für einen postsäkularen Dialog, Stuttgart: Alfred Kröner Verlag 2020
• Resonanztheologie: Gott, Christus, Geist, Münster: LIT 2020
• Gerd Theissen, Sylvia Thonak, Militärseelsorge: das ungeliebte Kind protestantischer Friedensethik? : Konzepte und Probleme, Münster: LIT, 2020
• Kirchenträume - Kirche in urchristlicher Zeit und Gegenwart, Münster: LIT, 2021

Notes

External links

• Theißen, Gerd (2024). "Schriftenverzeichnis [List of publications]". uni-heidelberg.de. Heidelberg, Germany: Gerd Theißen, Theologische Fakultät der Universität Heidelberg. Retrieved 18 September 2025.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Gerd Theissen.