Heinrich Bedford-Strohm speaking Brandmauer demo Berlin 2 Feb 2025

Heinrich Bedford-Strohm (born 30 March 1960 in

Memmingen Memmingen (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Memmenge'') is a town in Swabia (Bavaria), Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is the economic, educational and administrative centre of the Danube-Iller region. To the west the town is flanked by the Iller, the ...

) is a German

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Life

His father was a Lutheran priest in Memmingen. Bedford-Strohm studied Lutheran

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

Erlangen Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

and

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

. In 1997, he became a pastor. From 2004 until 2011, he worked at the

University of Bamberg The University of Bamberg () in Bamberg, Germany, specializes in the humanities, cultural studies, social sciences, economics, and applied computer science. Campus The university is partly housed in historical buildings in Bamberg's Old Town. ...

. In 2011, he became bishop of the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria () is a Lutheran member church of the Protestant Church in Germany in the German state of Bavaria. The seat of the church is in Munich. The '' Landesbischof'' (bishop) of the church is Heinrich Bedford ...

. From 2014 to 2021 he was the chairman of the council of

Evangelical Church in Germany The Evangelical Church in Germany (, EKD), also known as the Protestant Church in Germany, is a federation of twenty Lutheranism, Lutheran, Continental Reformed Protestantism, Reformed, and united and uniting churches, United Protestantism in Ger ...

, succeeding

Nikolaus Schneider Nikolaus Schneider (born 3 September 1947) was from 9 November 2010 to 10 November 2014 president of the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). Life Born in Duisburg, Schneider studied in Wuppertal, Göttingen and Münster and ...

. In 1985, he married Deborah Bedford and they had three sons.

Works

* ''Vorrang für die Armen. Auf dem Weg zu einer theologischen Theorie der Gerechtigkeit.'' Gütersloher Verlags-Haus, Gütersloh 1993, . (Heidelberg, Universität, Dissertation, 1992). * ''Gemeinschaft aus kommunikativer Freiheit. Sozialer Zusammenhalt in der modernen Gesellschaft. Ein theologischer Beitrag.'' Gütersloher Verlags-Haus, Gütersloh 1999, . (Heidelberg University, Habilitation thesis, 1998). * ''Schöpfung'' (Ökumenische Studienhefte 12). Göttingen 2001. * ''Position beziehen. Perspektiven einer öffentlichen Theologie'', Munich 2012, * ''Leben dürfen – Leben müssen. Argumente gegen die Sterbehilfe'', Munich 2015, . * ''Funkenflug. Glaube neu entfacht''. adeo, Aßlar 2015, . * ''mit-ge-fühl. Ein Plädoyer'', Munich 2016 * ''Alles ändert sich. Die Welt im Licht von Weihnachten''. Patmos, Ostfildern, 2016, .

Awards

* 2015: Hans Ehrenberg Award * 2016: Herbert Haag Award * 2017:

Bavarian Order of Merit The Bavarian Order of Merit () is the Order of Merit of the Free State of Bavaria. It is awarded by the Minister-President of Bavaria as a "recognition of outstanding contributions to the Free State of Bavaria and the Bavarian people". The or ...

* 2019: Oswald von Nell-Breuning Award

References

External links

* * * * 21st-century German Lutheran bishops German Lutheran theologians 1960 births People from Memmingen Presidents of the Council of the Protestant Church in Germany Academic staff of the University of Bamberg Living people {{Germany-reli-bio-stub