Barbara Aland
{{Short description|German theologian and professor (1937–2024)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox academic
| name = Barbara Aland
| image = Barbara_Aland.jpg
| caption = Aland in 1998
| era =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1937|04|12|df=y}}
| birth_place = Hamburg, Germany
| death_date = {{death date and age|2024|11|10|1937|04|12|df=y}}
| death_place = Herdecke, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
| discipline = Biblical studies
| sub_discipline = New Testament studies
| notable_ideas = Categories of New Testament manuscripts
}}
Barbara Aland (née Ehlers, 12 April 1937 – 10 November 2024) was a German theologian and professor of New Testament Research and Church History at the University of Münster until 2002. She was internationally recognized for her work on the Novum Testamentum Graece and the Greek New Testament, which she undertook with her husband, Kurt Aland.
Life and career
File:Barbara and Kurt Aland (1988).png
Barbara Ehlers was born in Hamburg on 12 April 1937. After completing her degree in Theology and Classical Philology in Frankfurt, Marburg, and Kiel, she received her Ph.D. (dissertation on the Socratic Aeschines) in 1964 in Frankfurt. In 1969, she earned her licentiate from the Oriental faculty of the Pontificio Istituto Biblico in Rome.
In 1972, she completed her habilitation in Göttingen on the Syrian Gnostic Bardesanes of Edessa. From 1972, she worked as a lecturer at the University of Münster. She was appointed professor of Church History and New Testament research, with a focus on the Christian Orient, at the Protestant Theological Faculty there in 1980.
In 1983, she became director of the Institute for New Testament Textual Research, founded in 1959 by her husband, Kurt Aland, as well as of the associated Bible Museum Münster. The institute gained worldwide significance through its publication of the Novum Testamentum Graece, known as the Nestle–Aland, and the UBS Greek New Testament. Until her retirement, Aland also directed the {{ill|Hermann Kunst-Stiftung|de|Hermann Kunst-Stiftung zur Förderung der neutestamentlichen Textforschung}} to promote New Testament research. She retired in 2002 but continued to head the institute until 2004.
Relevance
Aland gained an international profile through her work on the Novum Testamentum Graece and the Greek New Testament, which she conducted with her husband, Kurt Aland. Together, they collaborated extensively with an international and interfaith group of theologians to update the Novum Testamentum Graece and the Greek New Testament. These editions, published by the institute in Münster, serve as foundational texts for education and research worldwide.
In 1997, she published the first installments of the Editio Critica Maior. This edition was the first to be based on the complete tradition of Greek manuscripts, patristic citations, and ancient versions.
In 1999, she became a founding member of the Academia Platonica Septima Monasteriensis, which focuses not only on the works of Plato but also on the writings of his early interpreters, spanning from ancient times to the Renaissance. The academy's goal is to promote the study of Platonist writings.{{cite web |last=Lakmann |first=Raimund |url=http://www.academia-platonica.de/index-en.html |title=Academia Platonica |website=Academia-platonica.de |access-date=14 March 2017 |language=de}}
Honours
File:Barbara Aland 2 BVK 11 07 2011 BezReg Arnsberg.JPG, 2011]]
Aland achieved the following honorary doctoral degrees:
- 1988: "D.Litt." (Doctor of Literature), Wartburg College (Waverly/Iowa)
- 1989: "D.D." (Doctor of Divinity), Mount Saint Mary's College (Emmitsburg/Maryland)
- 2008: "Dr. theol. h.c.", (Doctor of Theology), University of Halle-Wittenberg, GermanyWas ist Gnosis? Studien zum frühen Christentum, zu Marcion und zur kaiserzeitlichen Philosophie / Barbara Aland,2009, footnote page 25
She received following awards:
- 1998: {{ill|Paulus-Plakette|de}} of Münster{{cite web|url=https://www.uni-muenster.de/Rektorat/muz/muz80642.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329041313/http://www.uni-muenster.de/Rektorat/muz/muz80642.htm|url-status=dead|title=MUZ – Münster Universität-Zeitung, Ausgabe 06/98|archive-date=29 March 2010|access-date=10 June 2019}}
- 2005: Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge[http://www.mohr.de/nc/theologie/fachgebiete/alle-buecher/reiter/buch/was-ist-gnosis/autor.html Barbara Aland] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724055442/http://www.mohr.de/nc/theologie/fachgebiete/alle-buecher/reiter/buch/was-ist-gnosis/autor.html |date=24 July 2011 }} Mohr Siebeck
- 2006: Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences{{cite web|url=https://www.knaw.nl/nl/leden/buitenlandse-leden/7167 |title=Barbara Aland |language=nl |publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |access-date=14 July 2015}}
- 2011: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany{{cite web |url=http://www.bezreg-arnsberg.nrw.de/presse/2011/07/103_11/index.php |title=Bezirksregierung Arnsberg – Regierungspräsident zeichnet verdiente Bürgerinnen und Bürger aus |website=Bezreg-arnsberg.nrw.de |access-date=14 March 2017 |archive-date=18 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318234641/http://www.bezreg-arnsberg.nrw.de/presse/2011/07/103_11/index.php |url-status=dead }}
- 2016: Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies{{cite web|url=http://www.britac.ac.uk/burkitt-medal-biblical-studies |title=Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies | British Academy |website=Britac.ac.uk |access-date=14 March 2017}}
Works
Dissertation
- (as Barbara Ehlers): Eine vorplatonische Deutung des sokratischen Eros. Der Dialog Aspasia des Sokratikers Aischines. Dissertation. Frankfurt am Main 1964, published 1966 ({{ill|Zetemata|de}}, issue 41).{{cite journal | last1=Neumann | first1=Harry | last2=Ehlers | first2=Barbara | title=Eine vorplatonische Deutung des sokratischen eros. Der Dialog Aspasia des sokratikers Aischines | journal=The American Journal of Philology | volume=89 | issue=3 | date=1968 | doi=10.2307/293462 | page=383| jstor=293462 }}
Monographs
- (with Kurt Aland): Der Text des Neuen Testaments. Einführung in die wissenschaftlichen Ausgaben sowie in Theorie und Praxis der modernen Textkritik, 1982.{{cite book | last1=Aland | first1=Kurt | last2=Aland | first2=Barbara | title=Der Text des Neuen Testaments: Einführung in die wissenschaftlichen Ausgaben sowie in Theorie und Praxis der modernen Textkritik | publisher=Dt. Bibelges | publication-place=Stuttgart | date=2006 | isbn=978-3-438-06025-9 | language=de | page=}}
- English translation: The text of the New Testament. An introduction to the critical editions and to the theory and practice of modern textual criticism. 1987.{{cite book | last1=Aland | first1=Kurt | last2=Aland | first2=Barbara | title=The Text of the New Testament | publisher=Brill Archive | publication-place=Grand Rapids Leiden | date=1 January 1987 | isbn=978-90-04-08367-7 | page=}}
- Erziehung durch Kirchengeschichte? Ein Plädoyer für mehr Kirchengeschichte im Religionsunterricht. Published: Idea e.V., 1984. {{OCLC|74630516}}
- Frühe direkte Auseinandersetzung zwischen Christen, Heiden und Häretikern. 2005. {{ISBN|978-3-11-018912-4}}
- Was ist Gnosis? Studien zum frühen Christentum, zu Marcion und zur kaiserzeitlichen Philosophie. 2009 {{ISBN|978-3-16-149967-8}}
Editions of the New Testament
- A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament. A Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies Greek New Testament (third edition) by B. M. Metzger on behalf of and in cooperation with the Editorial Committee of the United Bible Societies Greek New Testament K. Aland, M. Black, C. M. Martini, B. M. Metzger and A. Wikgren, 1971. {{ISBN|978-3-438-06010-5}}
- Novum Testamentum Graece post Eberhard Nestle et Erwin Nestle communiter ed. K. Aland, M. Black, C. M. Martini, B. M. Metzger, A. Wikgren, apparatum criticum recens. et editionem novis curis elaborav. K. Aland et B. Aland una cum Instituto studiorum textus Novi Testamenti Monasteriensi (Westphalia), 26th edition, 1979. {{ISBN|978-3-438-05158-5}}
- Novum Testamentum Latine. Novam Vulgatam Bibliorum Sacrorum Editionem secuti apparatibus titulisque additis ediderunt Kurt Aland et Barbara Aland una cum Instituto studiorum textus Novi Testamenti Monasteriensi, 1984. {{ISBN|978-3-438-05300-8}}
- Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der frühchristlichen Literatur by Walter Bauer. 6th edition, Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung Münster, with Viktor Reichmann, ed. by Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, 1988. {{ISBN|978-3-11-010647-3}}
Publications
- Gnosis. Festschrift für Hans Jonas, with Ugo Bianchi, ed. by Barbara Aland, 1978. {{ISBN|978-3-525-58111-7}}
- Günther Zuntz: Lukian von Antiochien und der Text der Evangelien. ed. Barbara Aland and Klaus Wachtel. With an obituary for the author by Martin Hengel, 1995. {{ISBN|978-3-8253-0342-6}}
- Die Weltlichkeit des Glaubens in der Alten Kirche. Festschrift für Ulrich Wickert zum siebzigsten Geburtstag. With Barbara Aland and Christoph Schäublin, ed. by Dietmar Wyrwa, 1997. {{ISBN|978-3-11-015441-2}}
- Literarische Konstituierung von Identifikationsfiguren in der Antike, ed. by Barbara Aland, 2003.{{cite book | title=Literarische Konstituierung von Identifikationsfiguren in der Antike | publisher=Mohr Siebeck | date=2020 | isbn=978-3-16-158669-9 | doi=10.1628/978-3-16-158669-9 | doi-access=free | language=de | page= | editor-last1=Hahn | editor-last2=Aland | editor-last3=Ronning | editor-first1=Johannes | editor-first2=Barbara | editor-first3=Christian }}
References
{{reflist
| refs =
| last = Becker
| first = Eve-Marie
| title = Vom Eros zum Logos
| url = https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/buecher/neutestamentlerin-barbara-aland-gestorben-110104257.html
| access-date = 11 November 2024
| publisher = FAZ
| date = 11 November 2024
}}
| last = Schmidt
| first = Alexander
| url = https://www.lwl.org/pipermail/westfaelische-geschichte/2007-April/002397.html
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120307132635/https://www.lwl.org/pipermail/westfaelische-geschichte/2007-April/002397.html
| url-status = dead
| archive-date = 7 March 2012
| title = Zum 70. Geburtstag von Barbara Aland
| date = April 2007
| access-date = 10 June 2019
| language = de
}}
| title = Mourning for Prof. a.D. Dr phil. Dr theol. h.c. Barbara Aland D.D. (USA), D. Litt. (USA) (1937–2024)
| url = https://www.uni-muenster.de/INTF/en/barbara_aland_gestorben.html
| publisher = University of Münster
| access-date = 11 November 2024
| date = 11 November 2024
}}
}}
External links
{{Commons category|Barbara Aland}}
- Willker, Wieland: [https://web.archive.org/web/20100308003247/http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/~wie/texte/Nestle-Aland.html Ausgaben des griechischen Neuen Testaments] (editions) University of Bremen 2008
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aland, Barbara}}
Category:20th-century Christian biblical scholars
Category:20th-century German Protestant theologians
Category:20th-century German women
Category:Women Christian theologians
Category:German biblical scholars
Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Category:New Testament scholars
Category:Academic staff of the University of Münster
Category:Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany