{{Short description|German theologian (1928–2024)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Norbert Lohfink | image = Norbert Lohfink (1b).jpg | alt = Colour photo of elderly, half-smiling, bald and clean-shaven man with wire-framed spectacles | caption = Lohfink, {{circa}} 2000 | birth_date = {{birth date|1928|07|28|df=y}} | birth_place = Frankfurt am Main, Prussia, German Republic | death_date = {{death date and age|2024|09|23|1928|07|28|df=y}} | death_place = Munich, Bavaria, Germany | occupation = {{ubl | Priest | Theologian }} | education = {{ubl | Berchmanskolleg | Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology | Pontifical Biblical Institute }} | organizations = {{ubl | Sankt Georgen | Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome | Catholic Integrated Community }} | module = {{Infobox clergy |child=yes | church = Catholic Church | ordained = 1956 | congregations = }} }}
'''Norbert Lohfink''' SJ (28 July 1928 – 23 September 2024) was a German Catholic priest, theologian and member of the Jesuit Order. He was professor of exegesis of the Old Testament at the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt. He also taught at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, for four years in the 1960s and repeatedly for guest semesters. His works were translated into several languages. He worked on international and ecumenical projects, such as the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project.
== Life and career == Lohfink was born in Frankfurt am Main, the eldest of four siblings in a workers' family;<ref name="Böhler" /> his father was a train driver.<ref name="Limburg" /> He grew up in the {{ill|Kuhwaldsiedlung|de}} in Bockenheim and in the Gallus quarter.<ref name="Limburg" /> He learned a sensibility for the quality of literature early, for example reading in watch shifts as a Luftwaffenhelfer. During the last school year, he had a Brentano scholar for a teacher who taught latest developments in literary studies.<ref name="Schwienhorst-Schönberger" />
He joined the Jesuits shortly after completing school with the ''Abitur'', as a novice at {{ill|Schloss Eringerfeld|de}} in 1947.<ref name="Böhler" /> He studied philosophy at the Berchmanskolleg in Pullach near Munich from 1947 to 1953.<ref name="Böhler" /> During this time he studied also Rilke's ''Duino Elegies'' for a year, and Henri de Lubac's ''Exégèse médiévale''.<ref name="Schwienhorst-Schönberger" /> He then did theology at the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt to 1957. He further studied exegesis at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome where he achieved the doctorate in 1962.<ref name="Böhler" /><!--Paris and Jerusalem he earned the degrees: Lic. Phil. (Munich 1953), Lic. Theol. (Frankfurt 1957), Dr. in re biblica (Rome 1962), and Dr. hc (Vienna 1993).-->
Lohfink was ordained a priest in 1956<ref name="Sankt Georgen" /> at the Frankfurt Cathedral.<ref name="Limburg" /> He taught at Sankt Georgen from 1962, then from 1966 at the Pontifical Biblical Institute for four years, and finally at Sankt Georgen again<ref name="Böhler" /> until 1996.<ref name="Böhler" /><ref name="Sankt Georgen" /> He returned to Rome occasionally for guest semesters.<ref name="Böhler" /> Lohfink became an internationally respected expert, and a teacher who was able to fascinate his audience.<ref name="Böhler" /><ref name="Schwienhorst-Schönberger" />
Lohfink's main areas of research were Deuteronomy, Qoheleth and the Psalms;<ref name="Sankt Georgen" /> his scientific works in those areas are regarded as milestones in research history.<ref name="Schwienhorst-Schönberger" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Levinson |first=Bernard M. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/legal-revision-and-religious-renewal-in-ancient-israel/6C15540D333A89CA590C3F27A4D35692 |title=Legal Revision and Religious Renewal in Ancient Israel |date=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-51344-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=129–32 |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511499029}}</ref> His books were translated into many languages.
Lohfink was the founder or co-founder of the series "Stuttgarter Bibelstudien"<ref name="t016">{{cite web | title=Wir über uns | website=Bibelwerk Verlag | url=https://www.bibelwerkverlag.de/footer/wir-ueber-uns | language=de | access-date=25 September 2024}}</ref> and "Stuttgarter Biblische Aufsatzbände", and a co-editor of the "Yearbook for Biblical Theology" and the "Zeitschrift für altorientalische und biblische Rechtsgeschichte".<ref name="Sankt Georgen" /> He translated two books of the Bible for the ecumenical ''Einheitsübersetzung'',<ref name="Sankt Georgen" /> and worked for ten years for the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project of the United Bible Societies.<ref name="Schwienhorst-Schönberger" /> He worked over many years in the international liturgy commission of German-speaking countries (IAG)<ref name="Schwienhorst-Schönberger" /> and collaborated with {{ill|Georg Braulik|de}} on a Deuteronomy commentary for the ''Hermeneia'' series of Fortress Press.<ref name="Sankt Georgen" />
Lohfink worked towards understanding, dialogue and collaboration of Christians and Jews who share the same texts.<ref name="Schwienhorst-Schönberger" /><ref name="Vatican News" /> In a 1987 collection, ''Das Jüdische am Christentum. Die verlorene Dimension.'', he pointed at the Jewish ''Welthaftigkeit'', an openness towards the world which is specific to the Old Testament: faith as origin of wanting to transform the world.<ref name="Schwienhorst-Schönberger" />
=== Personal life === Lohfink was the brother of Gerhard Lohfink. He and his brother belonged to the Catholic Integrated Community. He moved to the Pedro Arrupe community for seniors in Unterhaching in 2021.<ref name="Böhler" /><ref name="Vatican News" /><ref name="Kirche und Leben" />
Lohfink died in Munich on 23 September 2024, at the age of 96.<ref name="Böhler" /><ref name="Vatican News" /><ref name="Kirche und Leben" />
== Honorary doctorates == * 1992–93 University of Vienna<ref name="z616">{{cite web | title=Norbert Lohfink, SJ | website=650 plus Universität Wien | date=7 February 2017 | url=https://geschichte.univie.ac.at/en/persons/norbert-lohfink | access-date=26 September 2024}}</ref>
== Writings == === Dissertation === * {{Cite thesis |last=Lohfink |first=Norbert |year=1963 |title=Das Hauptgebot eine Untersuchung literarischer Einleitungsfragen zu Dtn 5–11 |url=https://archive.org/details/dashauptgebotein0000lohf |language=de |publication-place=Rome |publisher=E Pontificio Instituto Biblico |oclc=655384712}}
=== In German === Lohfink's bibliography was published by the Sankt Georgen University.<ref name="Bibliography" />
* {{Cite book |last=Lohfink |first=Norbert |title=Hinter den Dingen ein Gott |publisher=Herder |publication-place=Freiburg |date=1978 |isbn=978-3-451-18226-6 |language=de}} * {{Cite book |last=Lohfink |first=Norbert |author-mask=2 |title=Kohelet |publisher=Echter |publication-place=Würzburg |date=1980 |isbn=978-3-429-00655-6 |language=de}} * {{Cite book |last=Lohfink |first=Norbert |author-mask=2 |title=Das Jüdische am Christentum |publisher=Herder |publication-place=Freiburg |date=1987 |isbn=978-3-451-20994-9 |language=de}} * {{Cite book |last=Lohfink |first=Norbert |author-mask=2 |title=Kirchenträume |publisher=Herder |publication-place=Freiburg; Basel; Vienna |date=1988 |isbn=978-3-451-21254-3 |language=de}} * {{Cite book |last=Lohfink |first=Norbert |author-mask=2 |title=Der niemals gekündigte Bund |publisher=Herder |publication-place=Freiburg; Basel; Vienna |date=1989 |isbn=978-3-451-21597-1 |language=de}} * {{Cite book |last=Lohfink |first=Norbert |author-mask=2 |title=Im Schatten deiner Flügel |publisher=Herder |publication-place=Freiburg; Basel; Vienna |date=1999 |isbn=978-3-451-27176-2 |language=de}} * {{Cite book |last1=Braulik |first1=Georg |last2=Lohfink |first2=Norbert |author-mask2=2 |last3=Bücken |first3=Erwin |title=Osternacht und Altes Testament |publisher=Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften |publication-place=Frankfurt |date=2003 |isbn=978-3-631-51819-9 |language=de}} * {{Cite book |last1=Braulik |first1=Georg |last2=Lohfink |first2=Norbert |author-mask2=2 |title=Die Rhetorik der Moserede in Deuteronomium 1 - 4 |publisher=Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften |publication-place=Berlin; Bern; Bruxelles; New York; Oxford; Warsaw; Vienna |date=19 January 2022 |isbn=978-3-631-87348-9 |language=de}} * {{Cite book |last1=Braulik |first1=Georg |last2=Lohfink |first2=Norbert |author-mask2=2 |title=Kommentar Zu Deuteronomium 1 |publisher=Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften |publication-place=Berlin; Bruxelle; Chennai; Lausanne; New York; Oxford |date=10 July 2024 |isbn=978-3-631-89521-4 |language=de}}
=== In English === * {{Cite book |last=Lohfink |first=Norbert |title=The Covenant Never Revoked |publication-place=New York; Mahwah, NJ |publisher=Paulist Press |date=1991 |isbn=978-0-8091-3228-7}} * {{Cite book |last=Lohfink |first=Norbert |author-mask=2 |title=Theology of the Pentateuch |publisher=Burns & Oates |date=1994 |isbn=978-0-567-29251-3}} * {{Cite book |last=Lohfink |first=Norbert |author-mask=2 |title=Church Dreams |publisher=D & F Scott Publishing Incorporated |publication-place=North Richland Hills, Tex |date=2000 |isbn=978-0-941037-91-4}} * {{Cite book |last=Lohfink |first=Norbert |author-mask=2 |title=The God of Israel and the Nations |publisher=Liguori |publication-place=Liguori, Mo |date=2000 |isbn=978-0-7648-0575-2}} * {{Cite book |last=Lohfink |first=Norbert |author-mask=2 |title=Qoheleth |publisher=Continental Commentaries |date=2003 |isbn=978-0-8006-9604-7}}
=== Other languages === * {{Cite book |last=Lohfink |first=Norbert |title=Un Dio dietro le cose |trans-title=Hinter den Dingen ein Gott |publisher=Ancora |date=1997 |isbn=978-88-7610-575-3 |language=it}} * {{Cite book |last=Lohfink |first=Norbert |author-mask=2 |title=Qohelet |date=1997 |publisher=Morcelliana |isbn=978-88-372-1646-7 |language=it}} * {{Cite book |last=Lohfink |first=Norbert |author-mask=2 |title=Álmok az egyházról |trans-title=Kirchenträume |publisher=Agapé |publication-place=Szeged |date=2004 |isbn=978-963-458-280-9 |language=hu}} * {{Cite book |last=Lohfink |first=Norbert |author-mask=2 |title=A la sombra de tus alas |trans-title=Im Schatten deiner Flügel |publisher=Desclée de Brouwer |publication-place=Bilbao |date=2002 |isbn=978-84-330-1692-8 |language=es}}
==References== <references>
<ref name="Böhler">{{cite web | last = Böhler | first = Dieter | url = https://www.jesuiten.org/news/p-norbert-lohfink-sj-in-muenchen-verstorben | title = P. Norbert Lohfink SJ in München verstorben | website = jesuiten.org | date = 24 September 2024 | language = de | access-date = 24 September 2024 }}</ref>
<ref name="Schwienhorst-Schönberger">{{cite magazine | last = Schwienhorst-Schönberger | first = Ludger | url = https://www.herder.de/stz/hefte/archiv/144-2019/1-2019/ein-exeget-ortet-seine-wissenschaft-norbert-lohfink-sj-zum-90-geburtstag/ | title = Ein Exeget ortet seine Wissenschaft: Norbert Lohfink SJ zum 90. Geburtstag. | magazine = Stimmen der Zeit | date = 2019 | language = de | pages = 17–27 | access-date = 25 September 2024 }}</ref>
<ref name="Bibliography">{{cite web | url = https://www.sankt-georgen.de/fileadmin/user_upload/personen/Lohfink/lohfinkbibliogr.pdf | title = Bibliography von Norbert Lohfink / 1954–2008 | work = Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology | date = 2008 | language = de | access-date = 26 September 2024 }}</ref>
<ref name="Kirche und Leben">{{cite web | title = Bekannter Alttestamentler Norbert Lohfink ist tot | work = Kirche und Leben | date = 25 September 2024 | url = https://www.kirche-und-leben.de/artikel/alttestamentler-norbert-lohfink-tot-jesuiten | language = de | access-date = 25 September 2024 }}</ref>
<ref name="Limburg">{{cite web | url = https://bistumlimburg.de/beitrag/mit-gott-ein-ganzes-leben/ | title = Mit Gott – Ein ganzes Leben | work = Diocese of Limburg | date = 26 July 2015 | language = de | access-date = 17 September 2023 }}</ref>
<ref name="Sankt Georgen">{{cite web | url = http://www.sankt-georgen.de/lehrstuehlelehrende/emeriti/norbert-lohfink-sj/ | title = Emeriti / Norbert Lohfink SJ | work = Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology | date = 24 September 2024 | language = de | access-date = 24 September 2024 }}</ref>
<ref name="Vatican News">{{cite web | url = https://www.vaticannews.va/de/kirche/news/2024-09/norbert-lohfink-theologie-trauer-deutschland-jesuit-verstorben.html | title = Trauer um den Theologen Norbert Lohfink | work = Vatican News | date = 25 September 2024 | language = de | access-date = 25 September 2024 }}</ref>
</references>
== Further reading == * {{Cite book |last1=Braulik |first1=Georg |last2=Gross |first2=Walter |last3=McEvenue |first3=Sean E. |title=Biblische Theologie und gesellschaftlicher Wandel |publisher=Herder |publication-place=Freiburg |date=1993 |isbn=978-3-451-23236-7 |language=de}} * {{Cite book |last=Zenger |first=Erich |title=Der Psalter in Judentum und Christentum |publisher=Herder GmbH |publication-place=Freiburg/Br. |date=1998 |isbn=978-3-451-26664-5 |language=de}} * {{Cite book |last=Hossfeld |first=Frank-Lothar |title=Psalmen: 51-100 |publisher=Herder |publication-place=Freiburg |date=2000 |isbn=978-3-451-26827-4 |language=de}} * {{Cite book |last=Frevel |first=Christian |author2=Universität Tübingen |title=Selbst Gott hat eine Geschichte : vom Vergessen der Geschichte und der Notwendigkeit einer geschichtlichen Dimension in der Exegese – am Beispiel der Frühgeschichte des Gottes Israels; Norbert Lohfink zum 90. Geburtstag |date=2018 |doi=10.15496/PUBLIKATION-86236}}
=== Obituaries === * {{Cite web |title=Die AGAT trauert um Prof. Dr. Norbert Lohfink SJ ✝ 23.9.2024 – AGAT |website=AGAT – Arbeitsgemeinschaft der deutschsprachigen katholischen Alttestamentlerinnen und Alttestamentler |url=https://agat-online.org/?page_id=1108 |language=de |access-date=26 September 2024}} * [https://sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/Lohfink_Tribute2.pdf "In Memoriam Norbert Lohfink SJ,"] by Bernard M. Levinson. Society of Biblical Literature In Memoriam Archive. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
== External links == * [https://tobias-lib.uni-tuebingen.de/xmlui/browse?type=author&value=Lohfink%2C+Norbert Digitalised publications by Norbert Lohfink]—Tübingen University library * [http://www.kathpedia.com/index.php?title=Norbert_Lohfink Norbert Lohfink]—kathpedia.com * [https://www.domradio.de/artikel/alttestamentler-norbert-lohfink-wird-95-jahre-alt Schon 27 Jahre emeritiert] (in German)—{{ill|Domradio|de}}, 28 July 2023
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lohfink, Norbert}} Category:1928 births Category:2024 deaths Category:20th-century German Catholic theologians Category:Clergy from Frankfurt Category:German biblical scholars Category:20th-century German Jesuits Category:Old Testament scholars Category:Roman Catholic biblical scholars