Rainer Riesner

{{short description|German theologian}}

{{BLP sources|date=May 2010}}

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| name = Rainer Riesner

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1950|06|02}}

| birth_place = Friedberg

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| occupation = German theologian & pastor

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| spouse = Cornelia Riesner

| children = Four

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| workplaces = TU Dortmund University

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| notable_works = Jesus als Lehrer, Die Frühzeit des Apostels Paulus

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Rainer Riesner (born 2 June 1950 in Friedberg) is a German pastor and theologian. He was ordained pastor in 1980, he has taught theology since 1998, with a focus on the New Testament, at TU Dortmund University.{{cite web|url=http://evtheo.fk14.tu-dortmund.de/cms/evtheo/de/personen/emeritiert/riesner.html|title=TU Dortmund - Fakultät 14, Humanwissenschaften und Theologie - Evangelische Theologie - Univ.-Prof. (i.R.) Dr. Rainer Riesner|publisher=evtheo.fk14.tu-dortmund.de|access-date=2015-07-19}} Since 1986 he has been married to Cornelia Riesner, a medical doctor. They have four children.

Riesner's studies on the New Testament have been groundbreaking in multiple areas. His doctoral dissertation was a comparison of Jesus's teaching methods with other contemporary methods. It gave special attention to the amount of memorization required of young boys in the home and the synagogue school. His comprehensive study of ancient Jewish and Christian sources led him to the conclusion that Jesus's followers had the capacity to memorize his teachings almost verbatim and to reliably pass them on in the early Christian gospels. This work was later published under the title Jesus als Lehrer ("Jesus as Teacher").{{cite web|url=http://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-documents/carson/1982_review_Riesner.pdf|date=6 January 2009|title= Book Reviews |access-date=2015-07-19}} Riesner has continued to research and write extensively about the origin of the gospels and their value as historical sources.An up-to-date list can be found at [http://evtheo.fk14.tu-dortmund.de/cms/evtheo/de/personen/emeritiert/riesner.html his faculty page at Dortmund]

Riesner's second major contribution was his study of the chronology of the apostle Paul's early work after his conversion to Christianity. This work was published as Die Frühzeit des Apostels Paulus (English translation Paul's Early Period). In addition to many original insights, this book is one of the most comprehensive surveys of scholarly opinions about the chronology of Paul's work and the spread of early Christianity.{{cite web|url=http://www.denverseminary.edu/article/pauls-early-period-chronology-mission-strategy-theology/|title=> Articles > Paul's Early Period: Chronology, Mission Strategy, Theology|date=January 1998 |publisher=denverseminary.edu|access-date=2015-07-19}}

Prof Riesner's writings cover many other topics including the geography and archaeology of ancient Palestine, the Essene community (by whom the Dead Sea Scrolls were perhaps written), and the crossroads of Protestant and Roman Catholic belief.See the list of books and articles on [http://evtheo.fk14.tu-dortmund.de/cms/evtheo/de/personen/emeritiert/riesner.html his official page at Dortmund].

{{cite web|url=http://www.30giorni.it/articoli_id_77527_l3.htm|title=30Giorni {{pipe}} The dividing line runs between trust and skepticism (by Rainer Riesner)|publisher=30giorni.it|access-date=2015-07-19}}{{cite web|url=http://nijaygupta.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/remembering-martin-hengel-a-conference/|title="Remembering Martin Hengel" – A conference {{pipe}} Crux Sola|date=19 January 2010 |publisher=nijaygupta.wordpress.com|access-date=2015-07-19}}{{cite web|url=http://thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/review/handbook_for_the_study_of_the_historical_jesus|title=Themelios|publisher=thegospelcoalition.org|access-date=2015-07-19}}{{cite book|title=Paths of the Messiah and Sites of the Early Church from Galilee to Jerusalem: Jesus and Jewish Christianity in Light of Archaeological Discoveries|author1=Pixner, B.|author2=Riesner, R.|author3=Myrick, K.|author4=Randall, S.|author5=Randall, M.|date=2010|publisher=Ignatius Press|isbn=9780898708653|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bvhA6IE4VqgC|access-date=2015-07-19}}{{cite web|url=http://www.centuryone.org/apostles.html|title=Church of the Apostles Found on Mt. Zion - Pixner - BAR and CenturyOne Foundation|author=CenturyOne Foundation, Inc.|publisher=centuryone.org|access-date=2015-07-19}}{{cite web|url=http://online.sagepub.com/search/results?submit=yes&src=hw&andorexactfulltext=and&fulltext=riesner&x=0&y=0|title=Search Results|publisher=online.sagepub.com|access-date=2015-07-19}}