Professor of New Testament Studies
Foto: Marc Schlichtner
Contents
Biography
Personal data
- Ruben Zimmermann, born May 10th, 1968, married to Prof. Dr. Mirjam Zimmermann. We have four children: Rahel (born 1995); Josua (born 1996); Rebekka (born 1999); Ruth (born 2001).
Curriculum Vitae
- 1987-89 community service (psychiatric clinic in Wiesloch)
- 1989-1995 university studies – Theology, Philosophy and Diaconal Management at the Universities of Erlangen, Bonn, Santiago de Chile and Heidelberg
- 1995/96 postgraduate course in Diaconal Management with the main focus on medical ethics (diploma in 1996)
- 1996-1997 pastoral training in Karlsruhe (Badische Landeskirche)
- 1997-1997 PhD bursary (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes)
- 1999 PhD graduation, Protestant-Theological Faculty, University of Heidelberg (supervisor Prof. Dr. K. Berger, secondary supervisor: Prof. Dr. G. Theißen)
- 1999 ordination (Badische Landeskirche)
- 1999-2001 pastor in training, Christuskirche Heidelberg
- 2001-2003 postdoctoral bursary (Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG) and (Meyer-Struckmann-Foundation for Humanities)
- 2003 Habilitation, Protestant-Theological Faculty, LMU München (supervisor: Prof. Dr. J. Frey; secondary supervisor: Prof. Dr. F. Hahn)
- Since winter term 2003/04 Adj. Professor (Privatdozent) for New Testament Studies, University of Munich
- SoSe 2004 Substitute Chairholder Institute for NT Theology, Protestant-Theological Faculty, University of Hamburg
- SoSe 2005-2009 W 3-Professorship for Protestant Theology and Didactics with main focus on Old and New Testament, University of Bielefeld
- since SoSe 2009 Professorship for New Testament, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität of Mainz
Hobbies:
- Music (violine) and gardening
Main research interests
- Ethics (historical, theoretical, current issues)
- Methodology and Hermeneutics of the New Testament
- Q-Document and synoptic Problem
- Forms of metaphorical language (Metaphor, Symbol, Myth etc.)
- Jesus/Christology of Early Christianity
- Early Christian miracles stories
- Parables of Jesus
- Johannine Writings (Gospel of John, Letters of John, Apocalypse)
- Tradition-history of the New Testament (Wisdom literature, OT)
- Gender-Studies, History of Sexuality
- Bibledidactics
- Bible und cultural memory
Research projects
Ethics of the New Testament
- Special Research Project „Ethik in Antike und Christentum“ (Ethics in Antiquity and Early Christianity)
- Contexts of New Testament Ethics (WUNT-volumes: (1) F.W. Horn/R. Zimmermann (Hg.), Jenseits von Indikativ und Imperativ (WUNT 238), Tübingen 2009; (2) Jan G. van der Watt/Ruben Zimmermann (Hg.), Moral Language in the New Testament (WUNT 2/296), Tübingen 2010)
- Johannine Ethics (Humboldt-research project, together with Jan van der Watt, Pretoria/South Africa; J. van der Watt/R. Zimmermann, Ethics in the Johannine Writings (WUNT 2/), forthcoming 2011)
- Implicit Ethics in 1 Corinthians (Bibl.-theol. Studies, forthcoming 2012)
- Ethics in Galatians (PhD project: Chun Sunwoo)
- Works (erga) in the Gospel of John (PhD project: Alexander Drews)
- Responsivity. Phenomenological ethics in the Gospel of John (PhD project: Karl Weyer-Menkhoff)
„Miracle Stories in Early Christianity“
- Conference: Miracle Stories, October 2009
- Book project: Kompendium der frühchristlichen Wundererzählungen, 2 vols., Gütersloher Verlag
- Boook project: Hermeneutics of Miracle Stories (WUNT-volume)
Methodology and Hermeneutics in the New Testament
- "Text und Geschichte", group within the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Theologie (together with Prof. Landmesser, Tübingen, 1. Meeting. 7.10.-9.10.200: Programme)
- Book project: Handbook of NT Methodology (with Jörg Frey)
- Book project: Source texts of theological hermeneutics (forthcoming 2012)
Johannine Writings
- Remembering the Future. Eschatology in the Epistles of John (contribution to an edited volume, ed. Van der Watt, 2011)
- Texts and Memory. New perspective on the Historicity of John (Paper at SBL-congress in New Orleans, Nov. 2009)
- The Gospel of John in historical perspective: Summer School (on the historical Jesus with special focus on the 'John, Jesus and History'-Project
Parables of Jesus
- How to understand the Parables of Jesus? A postmodern hermeneutics (monography)
- Analogy and Reference in Parables (PhD project: N.N.)
- Database: Bibliography on Parables of Jesus
The Synoptic Problem and the Q-Document
- Parables in Q (Habilitation project: Dr. Dieter Roth)
- Q and John (Paper at the International Q-Conference, Graz 2011)
- Character analysis in Q parables (Paper at the SBL-Congress, San Francisco 2011)
WiBiLex
- Co-editor: Wissenschaftliches Bibellexikon (WiBiLex), a project initiated by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft; the aim ist to create a comprehensive, constantly updated and free online dictionary of the Bible (http://www.wibilex.de/)
Membership
- Society of Biblical Literature (SBL)
- Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (SNTS since 2009 chairman of the group on 'Johannine Writings')
- Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Theologie, Dept. New Testament
- Rudolf-Bultmann-Gesellschaft für Hermeneutische Theologie (Marburg)
- Akademie für Ethik in der Medizin (Göttingen)
- Hochschulauswahlausschuss der Studienstiftung des Dt. Volkes
Publications (selected)
This is the link to the full chronological list of publications.
Articles with the 
-button can be downloaded from this page