Prof. Dr. Ferdinand R. Prostmeier

University of Freiburg
New Testament Literature and Exegesis

Rector’s Fellow
April 2016 – September 2016

E-Mail: theophilos@theol.uni-freiburg.de

Last Update: 31.08.2016

Curriculum Vitae

Ferdinand R. Prostmeier is Full Professor of »Neutestamentliche Literatur und Exegese« at the University of Freiburg, Germany. In the field of New Testament Literature his research focuses on First Peter and the Synoptics. In addition, a research focused on the history, culture and literature of Early Christianity. His interest is the question of how to connect the scriptures, institutions and daily life and habits of the early Christian communities as well as the continuity and innovation of biblical Jewish tradition and Hellenistic-Roman culture under the auspices of reception and transformation. Ferdinand R. Prostmeier studied Social Social-Pedagogy, Philosophy and Catholic theology at colleges in the Monastery in Benediktbeuern (Bavaria/Germany). He received a graduate scholarship at the University of Regensburg and received his doctorate there in 1989 with a thesis on »Handlungsmodelle im ersten Petrusbrief.« From 1989 to 1997 he was a Research Assistant at the chair of Biblical Theology at the University of Regensburg, Germany. After his habilitation with a translation and a commentary on the »Barnabasbrief« in 1997 he got the position of an Assistant Professor in the subjects »Exegese des Neuen Testaments« and »Alte Kirchengeschichte und Patrologie« until 2002. In 2003 he was appointed Full Professor of »Bibelwissenschaften – Neutestamentliche Exegese« at the Justus-Liebig-University of Gießen, Germany. In 2009 he was appointed professor of »Neutestamentliche Literatur und Exegese« at the Albert –Ludwigs-University in Freiburg. Ferdinand R. Prostmeier is chief editor of two series of commentary on early Christian literature (Kommentar zu den Apostolischen Vätern »KAV«, Kommentar zu frühchristlichen Apologeten »KfA«). He is member of several international research communities, e.g. »Studiorum Novi Testamentum Societas (SNTS)« and »Association Internationale d’Études Patristiques (AIEP)«, he is head of the »Internationalen Arbeitsgemeinschaft Zweites Jahrhundert (IAG)« and member of the board of the »Vetus Latina Foundation«. For his research project on Theophilus of Antioch, he obtained the »opus magnum grant« from the Volkswagen Foundation in 2013.

Selected Publications

Der Barnabasbrief. Übersetzung und Kommentar. In: Kommentar zu den Apostolischen Vätern (Ergänzungsreihe zum Kritisch-exegetischen Kommentar über das Neue Testament), Bd. 8, hrsg. von Norbert Brox, Georg Kretschmar und Kurt Niederwimmer. Göttingen: Verlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1999. – In preparation: Aktualisierte dt. Neuauflage (Verlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen) & Translation to English im (Verlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht LLC, Oakville, CT).
Kleine Einführung in die synoptischen Evangelien. Freiburg u.a.: Verlag Herder 2006. – Italian Translation: Breve introduzione ai Vangeli sinottici. Brescia: Editrice Queriniana 2007.
Symposion – Begegnung – Rettung. Lukas und seine narrative Theologie. In: Jesus als Bote des Heils. Heilsverkündigung und Heilserfahrung in frühchristlicher Zeit (FS Detlev Dormeyer), hrsg. von Linus Hauser, Ferdinand R. Prostmeier und Christa Georg-Zöller. Stuttgart: Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk 2008, 95–121.
Der Logos im Paradies. Theophilos von Antiochia und der Diskurs über eine zutreffende theologische Sprache. In: Logos der Vernunft – Logos des Glaubens (Millennium Studies in the culture and history of the first millennium C.E.), hrsg. von Ferdinand R. Prostmeier und Horacio E. Lona. Berlin / New York: Verlag Walter De Gruyter 2010, 207–228.
Gen 1–3 in Theophilos von Antiochia ‚An Autolykos‘. Beobachtungen zu Text und Textgeschichte der Septuagintagenesis. In: Textgeschichte und Schriftrezeption im frühen Christentum / Textual History and the Reception of Scripture in Early Christianity (SBL.SCS 60), hrsg. von Johannes de Vries / Martin Karrer. Atlanta (GA): Scholars Press for the Society of Biblical Literature 2013, 359–393.

FRIAS Project

Theophilos von Antiochia »An Autolykos« – Übersetzung und Kommentar.

Subject of my research project are the three books of Theophilus of Antioch called »Ad Auto- lycum«. This late 2nd century AD trilogy is one of the most comprehensive œuvres in the Corpus Apologeticum. Concerning the link between the Early Christianity and the Greco-Roman culture the trilogy is one of the key works. First of all it will newly be translated into German Secondly it will be scholarly researched completely for the first time worldwide.

With works like the three books »Ad Autolycum« Early Christianity takes an active part in the cultural and religious discourse of the Caesarean era. The books are to be understood as »An Introduction to Christianity for Elite« concerning content and form as well as argumenta- tion in detail and arrangement. Firstly, Theophilus wants to elucidate the chance of an applicable discourse about God and the Christian notion of God (Autol. I 2). Secondly, he wants to provide convincing evidence for the reasonability of the Christian hope for resurrection (Autol. I 13). Any questions of the protrepticus will be discussed on the basis of the resources, which are proved relevant and representative. For this Theophilus takes advantage of the – according to antique opinion – relationship between the greater age of the source and the notable authenticity of its content. Thus, he proves the Greek translations of the Bible to be the most authoritative source. In his opinion the biblical story of Creation is the point of origin for the applicable and convincing discourse about the »Achsenthemen«, according to the philosophical and religious discourse in the Caesarean era: God and salvation. Framed by quotations taken from the Greco-Roman tradition, whereof several are exclusively passed on in this trilogy, Theophilus formulates answers to all questions of his introduction to Christianity within the limits of the oldest Christian exegesis of »The Six Days of Creation«. Finally, in the third book, he tries to confirm the validity of the claim to truth by means of the construction of the oldest Christian chronicle in the world.

The research interest focuses on the specification of the trilogy’s importance in terms of History of Christian theology and its part on the inculturation of Christianity into the Greco-Roman world. Therefore the project is not only important for theology and Christian community but also has an eminent historico-cultural relevance, not least for the balancing act between Christian traditions and modern civil societies.