Gerhard Johannes Botterweck (25 April 1917, in Rheydt – 15 Ajpril 1981, in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

) was a German

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

scholar and dean of the Catholic Theological Faculty of the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

. He is best known for his multi volume work the ''Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament''.

Life and work

Botterweck studied

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Catholic theology Catholic theology is the understanding of Catholic doctrine or teachings, and results from the studies of theologians. It is based on canonical scripture, and sacred tradition, as interpreted authoritatively by the magisterium of the Catholi ...

, and

oriental studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studie ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. In 1944 he received his doctorate in Vienna, Ph.D. and the same year was ordained a priest. While a military chaplain on the

Eastern Front (World War II) The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

he lost a leg. He was chaplain and religion teacher at

Viersen Viersen (; ) is the capital of the Viersen (district), district of Viersen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Viersen is situated approximately 8 km north-west of Mönchengladbach, 15 km south-west of Krefeld and 20 km ...

( Diocese of Aachen). In 1950, his doctoral (PhD) promotion was followed by a Doctorate of Divinity, and in 1953

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

in Bonn. From 1953 to 1959 he was professor of Old Testament at

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, 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 (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

, then from 1960 to 1981 in Bonn. His scientific interests were concerned with the

semantics Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...

and the philology of the biblical languages, the social criticism of the

Prophets In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the ...

and the theology of the

Psalm The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of H ...

s. Among the pupils of Botterweck were Heinz-Josef Fabry, who completed his dictionary, Manfred Görg, Eric Kettenhofen, Joseph Plöger and Franz-Josef Stendebach.

Works

* ''Die Bibel und ihre Welt. Eine Enzyklopädie zur Heiligen Schrift in zwei Bänden''; * ''Alttestamentliche Studien. Friedrich Nötscher zum sechzigsten Geburtstage 19. Juli 1950''; ed. by Hubert Junker und Gerhard Johannes Botterweck. Hanstein, Bonn 1950 * ''„Gott erkennen“ im Sprachgebrauch des Alten Testaments''; BBB 2. Hanstein, Bonn 1951; Dissertation of 3 July 1950 at the Catholic Faculty of the University of Bonn * ''Der Triliterismus im Semitischen. Erläutert an den Wurzeln gl, kl, ql''; BBB 3. Hanstein, Bonn 1952 * ''Festschrift für Prof. Dr. Viktor Christian. Gewidmet von Kollegen und Schülern zum 70. Geburtstag''; ed. Viktor Christian, Kurt Schubert, Gerhard Johannes Botterweck. Notring der Wissenschaftlichen Verbände Österreichs, Wien 1956 * ''Apokalyptik''; ed. G. Cornefeld and Gerhard Johannes Botterweck; in: BIW 1; Bergisch Gladbach: 1969; S. 59–67 * ''Auslegung von Maleachi 1,2-10; 2,1-16; 3,13-21''. In: ''BiLe'' 1 (1960), S. 28–38, 100–109, 179–185, 253–260 * ''Form- und überlieferungsgeschichtliche Studie zum Dekalog''. In: Conciliurn 1 (1965), S. 392–401 * ''Israels Errettung im Wunder am Meer. Glaube und Geschichte in den Auszugstraditionen von Ex 13,17-14,31''. In: ''BiLe'' 8 (1967), S. 8–33 * ''Das Zelt der Begegnung. Untersuchung zur Gestalt der sakralen Zelttraditionen Altisraels''; hrsg. von Gerhard Johannes Botterweck und H. Zimmermann. BBB 27, Bonn 1967 * ''Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Alten Testament'' (in trans. ''Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament''), 10 Bände; hrsg. von Gerhard Johannes Botterweck und Helmer Ringgren. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart u. a. 1973–2001 * ''Mix halam''. In: ''TWAT'' II, S. 989.

Literature

* ''Bausteine biblischer Theologie. Festgabe für G. Johannes Botterweck zum 60. Geburtstag dargebracht von seinen Schülern''. Hanstein, Köln und Bonn 1977 * ''

Kürschners deutscher Gelehrten-Kalender ''Kürschners Deutscher Gelehrten-Kalender'' (English: "Kürschner's Encyclopedia of German Scholars"), formerly subtitled ''Lexikon der lebenden deutschsprachigen Wissenschaftler'' ("Encyclopedia of Living German-Speaking Scholars"), is a German ...

''. de Gruyter, Berlin 1980, 13th ed., p. 387. * Heinz-Josef Fabry: ''Botterweck, Gerhard Johannes''. In: '' LThK³'', Bd. 2, Sp. 614 * Helen Schüngel-Straumann: ''Meine Wege und Umwege. Eine feministische Theologin unterwegs. Autobiografie.'' Paderborn u.a. 2011.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Botterweck, Johannes 1917 births 1981 deaths German biblical scholars German Roman Catholics Roman Catholic biblical scholars