Thielicke, Helmut

(1908–66)

   Theologian.

   Thielicke was educated at Griefswald, Erlangen, Marburg and Bonn. As a Lutheran minister, he was a prominent opponent of Nazism. After the Second World War, he taught theology at the University of Tübingen and later at Hamburg. He was an outstanding preacher, presenting Christianity as a creed for a time of crisis. He was the author of the monumental Theologische Ethik and a dogmatic theology, Der Evangelische Glaube. Although clearly influenced by Karl barth, he presented his evangelical message within the listener’s own personal situation and he saw the gospel as the one stay against the nihilism of the modern age.

   R. Higginson, ‘Thielicke: Preacher and theologian’, Churchman, xc (1976);

   R. Klann, ‘Helmut Thielicke appraisal: A review essay’, Concordia Journal, vi (1980).