Rolf Rendtorff facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rolf Rendtorff
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Rendtorff around the age of 65
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| Born | 10 May 1925 Preetz, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
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| Died | 1 April 2014 (aged 88) Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
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| Nationality | German |
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| Occupation | Professor of Old Testament |
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Notable work
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The Problem of the Process of Transmission in the Pentateuch (English: 1990; German: 1977) Canon and Theology: Overtures to an Old Testament Theology (English: 1993; German: 1991) The Canonical Hebrew Bible: A Theology of the Old Testament (English: 2005; German: 1999–2001) |
| Parent(s) | Heinrich Rendtorff (Father) |
| Awards | Buber-Rosenzweig-Medal (2002) |
| Scientific career | |
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| Thesis | "Die Gesetze in der Priesterschrift: Eine gattungsgeschichtliche Untersuchung" ("The Laws in the Priestly Scripture: A Genre-historical Investigation") (1950) |
| Doctoral advisor | Gerhard von Rad |
| Influences | Gerhard von Rad, Walther Zimmerli, Claus Westermann, Brevard Childs |
Rolf Rendtorff (1925–2014) was a famous German professor. He taught about the Old Testament at the University of Heidelberg from 1963 to 1990. He was one of the most important German scholars studying the Hebrew Bible in the late 1900s. He wrote many books and articles on different Bible topics.
Rendtorff was especially known for his ideas about how the first five books of the Bible, called the Pentateuch, were written. He also used a "canonical approach" to understand the Old Testament. This means he looked at the Bible as a complete book. He also cared a lot about how Jews and Christians relate to each other.
About Rolf Rendtorff
Rolf Rendtorff was born in Preetz, Germany, on May 10, 1925. After serving in the German Navy during World War II, he went to college. He studied theology from 1945 to 1950. He attended universities in Kiel, Göttingen, and Heidelberg.
He finished his first doctoral degree in 1950 with Gerhard von Rad as his guide. Then, he went back to Göttingen to complete another advanced degree, called a habilitation, in 1953. This degree allowed him to teach as a professor.
Rendtorff's first teaching job was at the Berlin Church University. He was a professor of Old Testament there from 1958 to 1963. He even served as the head of the university, called a rector, from 1962 to 1963.
In 1963, he became a professor at the University of Heidelberg. He worked in the Old Testament department with other important scholars like Gerhard von Rad and Claus Westermann. He stayed at this job for 27 years until he retired in 1990. During his time there, he held several leadership roles. He was the dean of the theology department from 1964 to 1965. He also served as the university's rector from 1970 to 1972. Rolf Rendtorff passed away on April 1, 2014.
His Important Work
Rendtorff wrote many books and articles about the Old Testament. One of his most famous books was Das überlieferungsgeschichtliche Problem des Pentateuch. It was published in German in 1977 and in English in 1990. The English title is The Problem of the Transmission of the Pentateuch.
This book looked at how the Pentateuch was written. The Pentateuch includes the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Book of Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
His book came out around the same time as two other important books by other scholars. These three books started a big discussion among experts. They questioned the main idea at the time about how the Pentateuch was written. This idea was called the Documentary Hypothesis. Many people consider Rendtorff's work to be "certainly one of the most important contributions to Old Testament scholarship in the twentieth century."
