Tribute to a Mentor: Martin Hengel July 6, 09
Last Thursday I received the sad news that Martin Hengel, my Humboldt Scholarship host in Germany, had died after a battle with cancer at the age of 82. My three sabbaticals in Tübingen were special because of him. He was a mentor in every sense of the word. He pushed for thoroughness and excellence. He encouraged. He dialogued. He cared about the state of Christianity in the world.
Last Thursday I received the sad news that Martin Hengel, my Humboldt Scholarship host in Germany, had died after a battle with cancer at the age of 82. My three sabbaticals in Tübingen were special because of him. He was a mentor in every sense of the word. He pushed for thoroughness and excellence. He encouraged. He dialogued. He cared about the state of Christianity in the world. His death is a great loss to the world of New Testament studies as well as to the study of ancient Judaism. I am not alone. He mentored several people like me around the world.
To get a glimpse of him as I knew him I have provided a link where you can see him interviewed by an Australian. In one of the interviews when asked about the four gospels, he paused and got that gleam in his eye as he answered slowly and clearly, "They are unique." Simple and on target, yet backed up with great learning. Enjoy the glimpse of this great scholar who we lost last week. At least he is in a better place.
The interviews can be found at: http://publicchristianity.org/Videos/hengel.html
9 Comments
Michael Whitenton
Thank you for this Dr. Bock.
Thank you for this Dr. Bock. I’m looking forward to watching the interviews. For now, though, the link is down.
bock
Link dlb
Michael:
I think the link is back up.
dlb
Brett Williamss
Hengel
Dr. Bock:
What are your thoughts on Hengel’s belief that the Gospels were written in the second century?
bock
Hengel dlb
Brett:
I do not think that is his view. His view is the superscriptions in our manuscripts that name the authors goes back to a tradition from the early second century, if not earlier.
dlb
Brett Williamss
Dr. Bock:
I may have
Dr. Bock:
I may have incorrect information, but according to my reading, Hengel believes that the superscriptions were part of the autographs. He also gives John (Hengel does not believe the disciple John wrote this) a possible date of 110 C.E., and Matthew a date as late as 100 C.E. (and he does not believe the disciple Matthew wrote this gospel).
I listened to the above link and the very first answer Hengel gives seems to say that the autographs were written “in the second century.” Is that what he’s saying?
However, perhaps we can just focus in on the fact that he has John written as late as 110, meaning, if it was written in 110, someone wrote this gospel who was not an Apostle, and with no Apostles around, there could not have been an inspired document written, right? Where was your biggest disagreement with Hengel in relation to the Inspiration and Inerrancy issues?
Brett
bock
Dating dlb
I see all of these dates as likely to be earlier (Synoptics all pre- AD 70), although Hengel could be right about Mark , in which case I see Matthew and Luke in the seventies. John I place in the nineties. I also hold to the traditional authors.
We did discuss inerrancy. I spent an entire afternoon talking about American Evangelicalism with him and its roots in terms of bibliology. Obviously we did not agree, but the conversation focused on how trustworthy the Bible is. Hengel was comfortable seeing himself as an evangelical in the European sense and in recent years became a member of the Institute for Biblical Research, an evangelical scholarly group that meets at the Society of Biblical Literature meetings.
Rob MacEwen
Hengel’s dating of the Gospels
Hengel’s dating of canonical Gospels is found in a chronological table in his 2000 book “The Four Gospels and the One Gospel of Jesus Christ,” pp. 208-9 (2008 German edition “Die vier Evangelien und das eine Evangelium von Jesus Christus,” pp. 354-56). The dates are:
69-70 Mark
c. 75-85 Luke
c. 90-100 Matthew
c. 100-110 “Editing of the Johannine corpus”
c. 120-130 Mark 16:9-20
Rob M.
Daniel Oehler
Hengel about parthians an messianic hopes in Israel
It must be 20 years ago, right before Darell and I went to Romania with an old truck.
Hengel had a lecture about historical backgrounds of the New Testament.
He told his students about jewish life under Roman rule:
A jewish teacher had been asked about the time the Messiah would come.
The answer was: When you see a parthian rider on the horizon.
I mentioned this some months ago in a discussion with a former Mossad officer. He clearly stated the traditional freindship between Persia (Parthia, now Iran) and Israel.
By the way: Hengel’s home town Tübingen is under Green rule. Mayor Boris Palmer has jewish forfathers. Right now he is under fire because of supporting the decoration of an antiisraeli jewish lady with Germany’s highest decoration, the “Bundesverdienstkreuz”.
bock
Romanian Trip dlb
Daniel:
How great to hear from you. I trust all is well. I still remember that relief trip fondly. Do contact me directly.
Thanks for the update on the city. I will be on sabbatical there again in a year.
dlb