Die Rede von “Wiedergeburt” im Neuen Testament

This is a revision of the author’s 2017 Habilitationschrift accepted by the University of Hamburg in 2017. The supervisor was Christine Gerber.The author’s study addresses a problem: the notion of (spiritual) rebirth, or being born again, has been variously understood and defined in scholarship over the past century. Kaiser observes in the literature a lack of distinction between the origin of rebirth, on the one hand, and its goal or outcome, on the other. As a result, vague or imprecise meanings are read into biblical texts that appear to mention or appeal to the “Wiedergeburt” phenomenon. The metaphor is ill understood.Kaiser puts the word in quotation marks throughout the study: (1) to show that she disputes the understandings typically attached to the rebirth notion and (2) to indicate that she is intent on arriving at a new starting point in how the concept should be understood and exegetically unpacked. See pp. 2–4 for detailed explanation; also p. 395. (This review will adopt Kaiser’s convention.)The author seeks to arrive at a more precise definitional starting point drawing from the conceptual domain, not of rebirth or new life or renewal in a broad sense, but of “birth” or “begetting” as described in a relatively narrow range of NT texts which in Kaiser’s view all date to the end of the first century (i.e., passages in Titus, John’s Gospel and 1 John, 1 Peter, and James; see below).The book consists of twelve chapters. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the problem and the methodological approach that will be taken to address it. Kaiser’s own pre-understanding of “Wiedergeburt” is significant. She notes that it is mainly encountered in Eastern religion in connection with reincarnation. Less influential, but still noticeable is “a Christian use” (p. 1). But this is almost completely limited, she avers, to evangelical and charismatic circles, and mainly outside Europe. It has to do with a personal conversion experience and the new life that results. The author's grasp of the understanding of spiritual rebirth outside Europe is explained for the reader by two footnotes (p. 2) drawing on Billy Graham’s 1977 book How to Be Born Again. This signals early a weakness of the book: although it frequently pushes back against a putative popular understanding (whether in the larger world or within German evangelical and charismatic circles), there is little evidence of a grasp of the theological outlook and exegetical basis involved beyond simplistic cliché. Careful interaction, e.g., with the exegesis in Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology (ch. 34: “Regeneration”) would have served both the author and the reader better than some Billy Graham lines.In today’s German state Protestant church, in contrast, “Wiedergeburt” is not spoken about (“ist . . . kein Thema,” p. 2). Nor does it form any prominent part of German systematic theological thought since the Enlightenment (despite its important place in Christian theology prior to that, and among Bible believers worldwide to this hour).The author uses the contrast between (1) a (largely misguided) popular usage on the international scene and (2) complete neglect in scholarly circles and the German Protestant mainline churches associated with them to set up the need for this study: a critical NT investigation that will clarify the biblical foundation, though perhaps in a fashion “other than expected: namely, in the form of a fundamental question about the very concept of ‘Wiedergeburt’” (p. 2).Following the introduction, the study divides into three parts. The first (chs. 2–5) looks back at the scholarly discussion surrounding “Wiedergeburt” over the past 100+ years. Studies by Paul Gennrich, Wilhelm Heitmüller, Adolf von Harnack, Otto Procksch, Friedrich Büchsel, Joseph Deys, William Mounce, Hermann Lichtenberger, Thomas Söding, Jörg Frey, and many others are found to be deficient. The summaries of viewpoints are valuable even if the assessments are contestable.The discrediting of the previous consensus leads in part 2 to a deconstruction of approaches to “Wiedergeburt” that are commonly employed. Part 2 consists of ch. 6 (“‘Wiedergeburt’? Dekonstruktion der Fragestellung”) and ch. 7 (“Neukonstituierung der Fragestellung”). A table extending four pages (pp. 137–40) demonstrates from the writings of many of the scholars mentioned in the previous paragraph that those scholars’ conceptions of “Wiedergeburt” are flawed because they are implicated in the history of dogma and popular usage (p. 142). “Exegetically, however, there is no reason to retain ‘Wiedergeburt’ as a leitmotif” that encompasses other NT expressions such as new creation (2 Cor 5:17), new person (Col 3:9–11), “risen with and made alive” (cf. Col 2:12; Eph 2:6), and other terms implying renewal or birth or childlike status (p. 142). Kaiser wants to limit the definition of “Wiedergeburt” to NT texts which “metaphorically describe a foundational (religious) renewal of life with the help of the domain of origin denoted by BIRTH/BEGETTING [GEBURT/ZEUGUNG]” (p. 149; capital letters original).This sets the stage for slightly more than half of the book, which is part 3: “Die metaphorische Rede von einer GRUNDLEGENDEN ERNEUERUNG DES LEBENS als GEBURT/ZEUGUNG: Die Aussagen der Texte” (Kaiser's caps). Part 3 consists of chs. 8–11. Chapter 8 deals with Titus 3:5, where παλιγγενεσία occurs. Chapter 9 examines the Johannine texts, especially John 1:12–13, John 3:1–12, and 1 John 3:9 along with related passages. Chapter 10 turns to 1 Pet 1:3, 23 and the respective contexts of those verses, along with other 1 Peter passages where the motif of new life reverberates. Chapter 11 takes up Jas 1:18 (chapter title: “‘Er hat uns geboren durch das Wort der Wahrheit”: Die Geburtsmetaphorik in Jak 1,18 in ihrem Kontext”) and gives an amazingly detailed exegesis of Jas 1:13–25 (pp. 337–94).Chapter 12 surveys, rehearses, and extends results. The main contention in this wide-ranging study is that greater conceptual precision is called for in understanding the NT’s “Wiedergeburt” language, limiting it to the (late first century; p. 395) passages that Kaiser has isolated, and dissociating it from more general and widespread terminology regarding renewal or newness of life found in other texts and especially in Paul.Scholars engaged in this research topic or the passages Kaiser majors on will find here a fruitful and substantial discussion partner and source for fresh insights

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