Eta Linnemann (October 19, 1926 in

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

– 9 May 2009 in

Leer (Ostfriesland) Leer may refer to: * Leer, Lower Saxony, town in Germany ** Leer (district), containing the town in Lower Saxony, Germany ** Leer (Ostfriesland) railway station * Leer, South Sudan, town in South Sudan ** Leer County, an administrative division ...

) was a German Protestant theologian. In her last years, she broke completely with the theology of her teacher

Rudolf Bultmann Rudolf Karl Bultmann (; 20 August 1884 – 30 July 1976) was a German Lutheran theologian and professor of the New Testament at the University of Marburg. He was one of the major figures of early-20th-century biblical studies. A prominent criti ...

Life

Eta Linnemann studied Protestant theology in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximat ...

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

from October 1948 to July 1953. She passed her first and second state examinations in August 1953 and in August 1957, respectively. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover commissioned Linnemann to write interpretations of biblical texts for religious education. From this work arose her dissertation on the parables of Jesus - ''Gleichnisse Jesu, Einführung und Auslegung'' - with which she was promoted to a doctor of theology ''summa cum laude'' in July 1961 at the Church University Berlin-Zehlendorf. Between 1961 and 1966 she taught at the seminar for church service in Berlin-Zehlendorf, in 1967 she was appointed as Visiting Professor at Braunschweig University of Technology. In February 1970, Eta Linnemann worked in

with Rudolf Bultmann and Ernst Fuchs on studies on the Passion story. On 10 August 1971, she was awarded an honorary professorship of New Testament at the Theological Faculty of the Philipps-University Marburg. The following year, the Braunschweig University of Technology appointed her to the chair of theology and methodology of religious education. Linnemann was a member of the international society Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas. Following a conversion experience in 1977, Linnemann caused a stir in 1978 when she to renounced the historical-critical method in 1978 and asked readers to destroy her previous publications. From 1983, at the age of 60, she departed Germany for Indonesia to train pastors at the Theological University of the Indonesian Mission community in Batu. In 2007, she cited Ernst Käsemann and an unnamed ear witness, that Rudolf Bultmann on his death bed had recanted his critical views. Eta Linnemann lived her last years in the Loga district of Leer.

Influence

Linnemann rejected

Markan priority Marcan priority is the hypothesis that the Gospel of Mark was the first of the three synoptic gospels to be written, and was used as a source by the other two ( Matthew and Luke). It is a central element in discussion of the synoptic problem; the ...

and favored the Independence View of the synoptic gospels. One of Linnemann's views to find support among conservative English speaking scholarship, notably F. David Farnell, was her rejection of a Q (source) for the

synoptic Gospels The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical wording. They stand in contrast to John, whose ...

in favour of an explanation following the Jewish requirement of Deuteronomy 19:15 that "on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed".Robert L. Thomas ''Three views on the origins of the Synoptic Gospels'', 2002 p. 255, and p. 322 "Farnell 's third axiom notes, quoting Linnemann, that the reason for four independent Gospels stems from the legal principle of Deuteronomy 19:15b: " the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.""

Selected publications

* ''Bibel oder Bibelkritik?'' (The Bible or biblical criticism?), Nuremberg 2007 * ''Historical Criticism of the Bible: Methodology or Ideology? Reflections of a Bultmannian Turned Evangelical'', (translated by Robert W Yarbrough), Grand Rapids 2001, Kregel Publications, * ''Gibt es ein synoptisches Problem?'' (Is there a synoptic problem?), Nuremberg 1999, 4 revised edition. 3rd edition translated into English. * ''Wissenschaft oder Meinung?'' (Science or opinion?), Nuremberg 1999, 2 extended edition * ''Bibelkritik auf dem Prüfstand''. (Biblical criticism to the test), Nuremberg 1998, 1 Edition * ''Studien zur Passionsgeschichte''. (Studies on the Passion story), Göttingen, 1970 * ''Gleichnisse Jesu - Einführung und Auslegung''. (The Parables of Jesus - introduction and interpretation), Göttingen 1964, 3rd enlarged edition

References

External links

Literature of and about Eta Linnemann in the catalog of the German National Library
* Eta Linnemann
''Original oder Fälschung. Historisch-kritische Theologie im Licht der Bibel''
Bielefeld 1999 (''Original or fake. Historical-critical theology in the light of the Bible'', in German, PDF file, 531 kB) * Robert W. Yarbrough
Eta Linnemann - Friend or Foe of Scholarship
The Master's Seminary Journal 8 (1997), p. 163-189 (English, PDF file, 182 kB) {{DEFAULTSORT:Linnemann, Eta 20th-century German Protestant theologians Women Christian theologians 1926 births 2009 deaths