Rudolf Schnackenburg


Rudolf Schnackenburg was a German Catholic priest and New Testament scholar. Joseph Ratzinger referred to him as "probably the most significant German-speaking Catholic exegete of the second half of the twentieth century."

Life

Schnackenburg spent his childhood in Liegnitz and finished secondary school there in 1932. He then studied philosophy and theology at the universities of Breslau and Munich. In 1937 he earned his doctoral degree from the University of Breslau for a dissertation written under Friedrich Wilhelm Maier on "faith" in the Gospel of John. In the same year, he was ordained a priest by Adolf Cardinal Bertram and began pastoral work in Silesia until he was expelled from there in 1946, after World War II. He then earned his Habilitation in New Testament Exegesis in 1947 with the work "Das Heilsgeschehen bei der Taufe nach dem Apostel Paulus". His Habilitation was also completed under Friedrich Wilhelm Maier, now at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and Schnackenburg was then made Privatdozent there in 1948. From 1952 he was Lecturer in New Testament Exegesis at the Philosophisch-Theologischen Hochschule Dillingen. In 1955, Schnackenburg was made full professor in Bamberg. From 1957 until 1982, he was Professor of New Testament at the University of Würzburg. After his retirement, he provided pastoral care in a retirement home and also worked with the Community of Sant'Egidio.

Work

Schnackenburg was a member of the International Theological Commission, wrote numerous books and worked on the translation of the German Einheitsübersetzung of the Bible.

Select Publications

Commentaries
Other Publications