Ralf Meister (born 5 January 1962 in
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
-Neugraben)
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 ...
theologian, former
General Superintendent (regional bishop) of Berlin,
and
Landesbischof
A Landesbischof () is the head of some Protestant regional churches in Germany. Based on the principle of '' summus episcopus'' (), after the Reformation each Lutheran prince assumed the position of supreme governor of the state church in his ter ...
of the
Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover
The Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover () is a Lutheran church body ''(Landeskirche)'' in the northern German state of Lower Saxony and the city of Bremerhaven covering the territory of the former Kingdom of Hanover.
The seat of the Landesb ...
.
Biography
Meister studied at the
University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...
and the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...
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 ...
and
Jewish Studies
Jewish studies (or Judaic studies; ) is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (especially Jewish history), Middle Eastern studies, Asian studies, ...
.
He was ordained at
St. Michaelis Church, Hamburg on 28 May 1992.
In September 2001 he became
Provost
Provost may refer to:
Officials
Ecclesiastic
* Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official
* Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official
Government
* Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...
of the Lübeck district of the
North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church
The North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church (; NEK) was a Lutheran regional church in Northern Germany which emerged from a merger of four churches in 1977 and merged with two more churches in 2012. The NEK largely covered the area of the stat ...
. On
Pentecost
Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...
2008 he was invested as General Superintendent of Berlin at the
Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (), mostly known simply as the Memorial Church (German: ''Gedächtniskirche'' ) is a Protestant church affiliated with the Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia, a regional body ...
,
succeeding
Martin-Michael Passauer, who retired. On 25 November 2010 the Synod of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover elected Meister as
Landesbischof
A Landesbischof () is the head of some Protestant regional churches in Germany. Based on the principle of '' summus episcopus'' (), after the Reformation each Lutheran prince assumed the position of supreme governor of the state church in his ter ...
, winning 64 of 76 votes in the second round. Meister's investment as bishop will be held at the
Marktkirche in
Hanover
Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...
on 26 March 2011.
He succeeded
Margot Käßmann
Margot Käßmann (; born 3 June 1958) is a Lutheran theologian, who was '' Landesbischöfin'' (bishop) of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover in Germany. On 28 October 2009, she was also elected to lead the '' Protestant Church in Germany ...
who stepped down as Landesbischof on 24 February 2010.
On 22 January 2005 he gave the "Wort zum Sonntag" on the
German national television for the first time.
GENERALSUPERINTENDENT RALF MEISTER (EV.) at DasErste.de
/ref>
Ralf Meister is married to Dagmar Ulrich-Meister and has three children, Juval, Lotta and Tom-Lasse.
Demands for resignation in 2024
In early 2024, Meister came under criticism after it had become known that the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover had not evaluated the personnel files as contractually agreed for the large-scale ForuM study on the processing of sexual violence in the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD), but only the disciplinary files. In March 2024, Meister was criticized again after the presentation of a scientific report on the way the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover dealt with a survivor of sexual violence. This report showed that even after 2010, the year in which many survivors of German churches spoke out, Meister’s church tried not to further process the case. The survivor contacted Meister’s church repeatedly, but to no avail and was turned away. This survivor of the Oesede case demanded Meister's resignation which Meister, however, refused, claiming he had searched his conscience thoroughly. He stated that sexualized violence abuse was not the only issue in his church ad referred that there were positive developments in the church which he then claimed were results of his actions. During a press conference in March 2024, Meister admitted that he had prevented contact with survivors of sexual violence in the past. At the beginning of June 2024, more than 200 pastors and other church employees signed an open letter criticizing Meister's handling of sexual abuse cases. In June 2024, the a survivors’ initiative named “Meisterhafte Vertuschung beenden” - a wordplay on Meister’s surname, meaning “end the masterly cover-up”' called for his resignation. In July 2024, the regional church revised the number of victims of sexual violence upwards from 140 to 190 and admitted that more cases were known than had been previously communicated. In fact, survivors themselves had discovered through inspection of files that the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover had not included all cases that were known to it in the official statistics and in the ForuM study. More survivors joined the initiative "End the Masterful Cover-up" and also called for Ralf Meister's resignation. The Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover also admitted that victims of sexual violence who had contacted the regional church with information in the past were regularly turned away.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meister, Ralf
Living people
German Lutheran theologians
1962 births
People from Harburg, Hamburg
Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
University of Hamburg alumni
21st-century Lutheran bishops
German male non-fiction writers
21st-century German Lutheran bishops