Gerhard Lohfink


Gerhard Lohfink is a German Catholic priest and theologian. He was born in Frankfurt am Main and was professor of New Testament at the University of Tübingen until 1986. Lohfink works as a theologian in the Catholic Integrated Community. He is the younger brother of Norbert Lohfink, professor of Old Testament.

Life

Lohfink graduated in 1954 from the Heinrich-von-Gagern-Gymnasium. He spent two semesters studying German and Latin at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. From 1955 on he studied philosophy and theology at the Philosophical-Theological College Sankt Georgen. In 1957 he passed the philosophical Final Examination. In 1957 and 1958 he studied theology at the Catholic Theological Faculty of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He passed the theological Final Examination in 1960 at the University of St. Georgen, in the same year he was ordained a priest by Bishop Wilhelm Kempf. From 1961 to 1963 he was chaplain in the parish of St. Ursula in Oberursel.
Bishop Kempf granted him permission for Lohfink to pursue a doctorate in theology with the requirement that he would initially serve as a pastor for a year in Frankfurt. In 1964 he continued his studies in theology at the Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg. In 1971 Lohfink earned his doctorate with the dissertation The Ascension of Jesus: Studies on the Ascension and Exaltation texts in Lukas. He habilitated in 1973 with his work The Collection of Israel: An examination of Lukan Ecclesiology.
In 1973 Lohfink was appointed scientific council and professor of New Testament at the Catholic Theological Faculty of University of Tübingen. In 1976 he was appointed ordinary for New Testament. In 1979 and 1980 he was involved as a deputy of the theological faculty in the ecclesiastical dispute over Hans Küng. At the end Lohfink publicly voted for Küngs’ exclusion from the faculty.
In 1987 he left the university on his own behalf to live in Bad Tölz and work in the Catholic Integrated Community. He continues to research and lecture on ecclesiology and eschatology. His books have been translated into many languages.
Since 2008, Lohfink has been working at the Pontifical Lateran University as Chair of the Theology of the People of God, as well as the postgraduate distance learning program the chair offers since 2016 in German and since 2017 also in English.

Writings (Selection)