Category: Helmut W. Ziefle

Sundays in the Fourth Gospel: Adolf Schlatter on John 1:29

John 1:29 On the next day, John sees Jesus walking towards him, and he says: “See the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Das erste Stück des jüdischen Gottesdiensts, von dem Johannes sagt, daß es neu werden mußte und durch Jesus neu geworden sei, ist das Opfer. Denn die menschliche Verschuldung ist vor allem das, was der Heilung bedarf. Dies ergab sich schon aus der Lage, die durch die Taufpredigt entstanden war. Wenn von Buße und Vergebung die Rede ist, bekommt die Frage nach dem Opfer das größte Gewicht. . . . Nicht von der Sünde der Juden, sondern von „Der Sünde der Welt“ wird gesprochen, weil der Jude nicht als der Gerechte von den anderen Völkern unterschieden wird. Diese stehen nicht in weiter Entfernung unter ihm als die Sünder, und sein Opfer bringt ihm nicht eine Beseitigung seiner Schuld, die ihn über alle anderen erhöhte. . . .

Damit, daß der Täufer sagte, daß esus die Schuld von der Welt wegnehme, hat er Licht in seine Botschaft gebracht, weil er dadurch zeigte, wie es eine Taufe geben könne und bußfertige Umkehr und ein nahes Himmelreich für die, die doch nichts anderes waren und hatten als das, was die Welt allen gibt.1

The first part of Jewish public worship, of which John said had to become new and through Jesus has become new, is the sacrifice. For human indebtedness is above all that which needs healing. This was the consequence of the situation that originated in the baptismal sermon. Whenever there is talk of repentance and forgiveness, the question regarding sacrifice receives greatest weight. . . . The “sin of the Jews” is not discussed, but rather “the sin of the world,” since the Jew did not so much distinguish the righteous person from the other nations. As sinners, the nations do not stand under the righteous at such a far distance, and the sacrifice of the righteous does not bring for her- or himself a removal of guilt, which would raise oneself above everyone else. . . .

With what John the Baptist said that Jesus should take away the sin of the world, he has brought light by his message, since he shows thus how there can be a baptism and repentant conversion and a close kingdom of heaven for those who were and had, after all, nothing else.

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1.  Adolf Schlatter, Der Evangelist Johannes (Stuttgart: Calwer Verlag Stuttgart, 1975), 48–49, repr. in Helmut W. Ziefle, Modern Theological German: A Reader and Dictionary (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997),157–159.

Sunday Quote: Bonhoeffer on Certainty

Gewiß ist, daß wir immer in der Nähe und unter der Gegenwart Gottes leben dürfen und daß dieses Leben für uns ein ganz neues Leben ist; daß es für uns nichts Unmögliches mehr gibt, weil es für Gott nichts Unmögliches gibt; daß keine irdische Macht uns anrühren kann ohne Gottes Willen, und daß Gefahr und Not uns nur näher zu Gott treiben; gewiß ist, daß wir nichts zu beanspruchen haben und doch alles erbitten dürfen; gewiß ist, daß im Leiden unsere Freude, im Sterben unser Leben verborgen ist; gewiß ist, daß wir in dem allem in einer Gemeinschaft stehen, die uns trägt.1

What is certain is that we are always allowed to live in the nearness of and under the presence of God. What is certain is that this life God has made available for us is a completely new life. For us nothing is impossible anymore, because for God nothing is impossible. No earthly power can touch us without God’s will. Danger and trouble only drive us nearer to God. What is certain is that we do not have to demand and yet we are allowed to ask for everything. It is certain is that our joy is hidden in suffering—in death is our life hidden. Certain is that in all those things we are in fellowship, and this fellowship sustains us.

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1. Deitrich Bonhoeffer, “Unser Sinn ist in Jesus” ["Our Meaning is in Jesus"], reproduced in Helmut W. Ziefle, Modern Theological German: A Reader and a Dictionary (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997), 193.[Back]

Theological German a Second Time Around: More Theological German Resources

This semester I resumed theological German. To recap, I had one year of German in a study group at George Fox Evangelical Seminary and one summer of self-study using April Wilson’s German Quickly. I have written on those resources in previous posts. What follows is an update to my journey in theological German, at which I am still a novice. This post will cover my latest resources.

  • K. Roald Bergethon and Ellis Finger, Grammar for Reading German: Form C, rev. ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1979), 207 pages. [Out of print.]
  • Susie Beattie, Collins German Concise Dictionary, 5th ed. (New York: Collins, 2010), 873 pages [dict.] + 252 pages [grammar guide].

GRAMMAR

Bergethon and Finger’s Grammar began as material for academic German reading classes at Brown University. It is meant for those with at least a grasp on basic German. I want to stress this point because, according to Bergethon, the German in the exercises are as difficult as one finds in higher-level German literature (iii). This is not to say that someone without German familiarity cannot use the Grammar and be successful at reading more difficult German; the authors have supplied a grammatical appendix that covers all the basics, as well as an answer key to the exercises. One, however, would get the most from this particular resource is there is an existing foundation in German.

Grammar consists of 16 chapters divided into three sections of Grammar, Exercises, and Working Vocabulary. The authors’ approach “is strictly from the viewpoint of the English-speaking reader” (iii). Whether this approach is the best is another discussion, but Bergethon and Finger’s approach so far has been helpful from a novice translator’s standpoint. For instance, Bergethon writes that “the student is not told how to form the future or passive; instead he is told what possibilities must be kept in mind when a form of werden occurs” (iii). In such an area as complex theological German, I have found that determining the possibilities and non-possibilities has been more than helpful.

Overall, Grammar has been thus far a valuable resource in translating German. Even the first chapter on determining what can and cannot be subject, verb, and object or predicate nominative has made German translation easier for me almost overnight. This grammar would work as a supplement to Wilson’s textbook, or it could even replace Wilson’s as a second year grammar.

DICTIONARY

I already own three German dictionaries:

  • Collins German Unabridged Dictionary, 7th ed.;
  • Helmut W. Ziefle, Dictionary of Modern Theological German;
  • The Concise Oxford-Duden German Dictionary, 2nd ed.

So why a fourth? The answer is simple: portability and breadth (approximately 190,000 words). The Collins German Concise is portable compared to the next concise dictionary I have (the Duden). It is true that Ziefle’s dictionary is much smaller, but it is geared primarily toward theological German. Much of the work with German that I am doing is from at least the mid-twentieth century, so some of the vocabulary falls outside of what I can find in Ziefle. The only bothersome point with this dictionary is that some of the words found in less extensive dictionaries are not found in Collins German Concise. One example would be rabbi/rabbiner: While one would not expect rabbinat (“rabbinic authority”) to appear in anything less than a theological or unabridged dictionary, one would expect the simpler word to appear in a general reference.

Nevertheless, as to help with translation work, I have found Collins German Concise to be sufficient for much of what I translate. Because of that, I tend to turn to it before Ziefle or the vocabulary list in Manton. The short examples for each entry also help one to get a better sense of the word.

Sunday Quote: Bonhoeffer on Meaning

Alles, was wir mit Recht von Gott erwarten, erbitten dürfen, ist in Jesus Christus zu finden. Was ein Gott, so wie wir ihn uns denken, alles tun müßte und könnte, damit hat der Gott Jesu Christi nichts zu tun. Wir müssen uns immer wieder sehr lange und sehr ruhig in das Leben, Sprechen, Handeln, Leiden und Sterben Jesu versenken, um zu erkennen, was Gott verheißt  und was er erfüllt.1

Everything we dare ask for—all we expect with good reason from God—is found in Jesus Christ. If there is a god that we imagine to be—a god that must and could do everything—the God of Jesus Christ has nothing to do with our conception of that god. We must always engross ourselves very long and quietly in the life, speech, activity, suffering, and dying of Jesus in order to know what God promises and what He brings to pass.

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1. Deitrich Bonhoeffer, “Unser Sinn ist in Jesus” ["Our Meaning is in Jesus"], reproduced in Helmut W. Ziefle, Modern Theological German: A Reader and a Dictionary (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997), 193.[Back]