Walther Theodor Zimmerli (20 January 1907 – 4 December 1983) was a Swiss academic theologian in the

Reformed tradition Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calv ...

and an Old Testament scholar.

Life

After finishing secondary school in

Schiers Schiers is a Swiss village in the Prättigau and a municipality in the political district Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden. The first concrete girder bridge ever built, Salginatobel Bridge, is located in Schiers. Designed by R ...

, Zimmerli studied theology at the universities of Zurich,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

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 ...

. After passing his practical exams at the end of April 1930, he worked in the Theological Faculty at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

as the assistant to Professors Hemperl and Rahlfs and earned his Licentiate in Theology (lic. theol.) in 1932. When the Nazi Party came to power in Germany, Zimerli returned to Switzerland and, in August 1933, became a pastor in Aarburg in the

Canton of Aargau Aargau, more formally the Canton of Aargau (german: Kanton Aargau; rm, Chantun Argovia; french: Canton d'Argovie; it, Canton Argovia), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capit ...

. But already in 1935 he was called to be a Lecturer by the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

and in 1938 was made full professor of Old Testament,

History of Religions The history of religion refers to the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BC). The prehistory of religion involves th ...

and

Oriental Languages A wide variety of languages are spoken throughout Asia, comprising different language families and some unrelated isolates. The major language families include Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Caucasian, Dravidian, Indo-European, Afroasiatic, Tur ...

. After further teaching in

and Montpellier, he was called, in 1951, to be Professor of Old Testament at the

. He remained there until he retired, and also served as

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the university from 1964–1966. In 1964–65 he initiated and was president of the first of the Confederation of European Union Rectors' Conferences, which was held in Göttingen. Zimmerli was active in the academic division of the Council of Europe, served on the board of the World Rectors' Conference and was in the senate of the

Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...

. Between 1970 and 1978 he was president of the Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen (the Göttingen Academy of Sciences), and he also served as the president of the "Konferenz der deutschen Akademien der Wissenschaften" (the "Conference of estGerman Academies of Science"). In 1940 Zimmerli founded the "Reformierte Theologenhaus" in Zurich and after 1945 further Reformed houses of study for students in all disciplines. In 1949,

Claus Westermann Claus Westermann (7 October 1909 – 11 June 2000) was a German Protestant Old Testament scholar.Luther Seminar Word & World (1/2) 1981 He taught at the University of Heidelberg from 1958 to 1978. Born to African missionaries, he finished his stud ...

earned his doctoral degree in Zurich under Zimmerli for his dissertation "Das Loben Gottes in den Psalmen" ("Praise of God in the Psalms"). Zimmerli was a highly regarded and well known representative of his discipline and was therefore invited to be a guest professor at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, granted many honorary doctorates (from

, Zurich, Strasbourg and

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

) and was the 1972 recipient of the

Burkitt Medal The Burkitt Medal is awarded annually by the British Academy "in recognition of special service to Biblical Studies". Awards alternate between Hebrew Bible studies (odd years) and New Testament studies (even years). It was established in 1923 and h ...

of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...

. In addition to his academic achievements, notable too was Zimmerli's unwavering opposition, from the very beginning, to

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...

. He contested Swiss neutrality during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, served in

active duty Active duty, in contrast to reserve duty, is a full-time occupation as part of a military force. In the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations, the equivalent term is active service. India The Indian Armed Forces are considered to be o ...

from 1940 as a

military chaplain A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations. Although the term ''cha ...

in the Swiss Army (a post in which he remained until 1951, serving more than 300 days in

) and staunchly took a stand opposing pogroms against Jews and euthanasia. At the same time, after 1945, he was one of the first academics to attempt to re-establish contact with Germany, and did not hesitate to accept the call to Göttingen in 1951. There, Zimmerli became one of the most loved teachers in the Göttingen Theological Faculty of the twentieth century. During his time as a student in Göttingen, Zimmerli married Irmgard von der Ropp, with whom he had six children. One of his sons is the philosopher Walther Christoph Zimmerli.

Work

The significance of Walther Zimmerli lies first and foremost in his academic work. He wrote fundamental commentaries on Genesis and Ecclesiastes, and one of his most important works is his two-volume commentary on Ezekiel in the series "Biblischer Kommentar zum Alten Testament" (translated into English for the Hermeneia commentary series). This commentary laid an entirely new foundation for understanding

Book of Ezekiel The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Tanakh and one of the major prophetic books, following Isaiah and Jeremiah. According to the book itself, it records six visions of the prophet Ezekiel, exiled in Babylon, during ...

. Zimmerli's scholarship is embodied in his ''Grundriß der alttestamentlichen Theologie'' (''Old Testament Theology in Outline''), which has appeared in numerous editions since its first publication.

References

Bibliography

;Festschriften * Herbert Donner, ed., ''Beiträge zur alttestamentlichen Theologie: Festschrift für Walther Zimmerli zum 70. Geburtstag'' (Göttingen 1977) ;Lexicon articles *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmerli, Walther 1907 births 1983 deaths Swiss Calvinist and Reformed theologians Swiss biblical scholars Old Testament scholars University of Göttingen alumni University of Göttingen faculty University of Zurich alumni University of Zurich faculty Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Swiss military chaplains 20th-century Swiss military personnel 20th-century Swiss writers