Reinhart Hummel (26 January 1930 – 9 February 2007[1]) was a German theologian and long-term leader of the Evangelische Zentralstelle für Weltanschauungsfragen (EZW). The EZW (Protestant Centre for Questions on World Views) is a subdivision of the Evangelical Church in Germany. Located in Berlin, it professes to function as a centralized research, documentation and information center on new religious movements. Hummel is also the author of many books about new religious movements.
Hummel studied Protestant theology and received his Ph.D. in 1963 for the thesis "Die Auseinandersetzung zwischen Kirche und Judentum im Matthäusevangelium" (literally "The dialog between Church and Judaism in the Gospel of Matthew"). Subsequently, he worked as a pastor in Schleswig Holstein. From 1966 until 1972 he led the Lutheranian theological college in Orissa, India. Back in Germany he received a request to research Indian guru movements at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg. He received the right to lecture with his work "Indische Mission und neue Frömmigkeit im Westen. Religiöse Bewegungen in westlichen Kulturen“, (literally: "Indian mission and new piety in the West: religious movements in western cultures") that was published by Kohlhammer Verlag.
From 1981 until 1994 he was director of the EZW. In his work he disagreed with the concept and explanatory model of Jugendreligion (literally: "youth religion") for new religious communities, as it was popularized by among others the German author Friedrich-Wilhelm Haack (1935–1991). In the beginning he fully rejected the controversial use of the German word "sekte" (that is translated sometimes with "cult" but also as "sect" in English), but in his later works he recognized the justification of the concept in differentiated use.
He asserted that some of the groups monitored by the EZW had developed both in the society as well as in interfaith dialogue in a positive way, i.e. that they had decreased their original potential for conflict. This assertion was both respected and rejected. It would be especially applicable for the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Unification Church, and ISKCON. In spite of this, the Unification Church is still very critical about his assessment of the church.
References
Notes
^Hempelmann, Reinhard (February 13, 2007). "Die EZW trauert um ihren langjährigen Leiter Reinhart Hummel (1930-2007)". Press release (in German). Evangelische Zentralstelle für Weltanschauungsfragen. Archived from the original on 2007-03-30. Retrieved 2007-04-22. Der evangelische Missionstheologe und Experte für neureligiöse Bewegungen Reinhart Hummel verstarb am 9. Februar im Alter von 77 Jahren in Stuttgart. 14 Jahre (1981-1995) war er als Leiter der Evangelischen Zentralstelle für Weltanschauungsfragen (EZW) tätig und stand mit Kompetenz und Glaubwürdigkeit prägend an der Spitze dieser Einrichtung der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland (EKD)
Arweck, Elisabeth Researching New Religious Movements. Responses and redefinitions, London/New York 2006, 227-253 ISBN0-415-27755-8
Joneleit-Oesch, Silja Die Kirche und die Gurus. Die Geschichte der Evangelischen Zentralstelle für Weltanschauungsfragen mit der Hare-Krishna- und der Osho-/Bhagwan-Bewegung, Frankfurt am Main 2003 ISBN3-87476-433-8
Pöhlmann, Matthias Kampf der Geister. Die Publizistik der "Apologetischen Centrale" (1921–1937), KoGe 16, Stuttgart u.a. 1998 ISBN3-17-015461-3
Pöhlmann, Matthias and Hans-Jürgen Ruppert, Reinhard Hempelmann, Die EZW im Zug der Zeit. Beiträge zu Geschichte und Auftrag evangelischer Weltanschauungsarbeit, EZW-Texte 154, Berlin 2000.
Hempelmann, Reinhard and Ulrich Dehn, Andreas Fincke, Michael Nüchtern, Matthias Pöhlmann, Hans-Jürgen Ruppert and Michael Utsch (Hg.), Panorama der neuen Religiosität. Sinnsuche und Heilsversprechen zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts, Gütersloh 2001, ²2005 ISBN3-579-02320-9
Selected bibliography
German
Indische Mission und neue Frömmigkeit im Westen. Religiöse Bewegungen in westlichen Kulturen, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN3-17-005609-3
Hindu-Gurus heute Wien : Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Österr. Seelsorge Seelsorgeämter, Referat für Weltanschauungsfragen, 1992
Religiöser Pluralismus oder christliches Abendland? Herausforderungen an Kirche und Gesellschaft, Darmstadt 1994, ISBN3-534-11717-4
Gurus, Meister, Scharlatane Freiburg im Breisgau : Herder, 1996
Vereinigungskirche die "Moon-Sekte" im Wandel Neukirchen-Vluyn : Bahn, 1998 ISBN3-7615-4979-2
Reinkarnation Freiburg im Breisgau : Herder, 1999
Dialog und Unterscheidung Berlin : EZW, 2000
Östliche Religionen und evangelischer Glaube / Bd. 1. Einführung und Unterrichtsentwürfe 2001
