Abstract
Access to German theological culture cannot be acquired adequately by reading the relatively few texts that have been translated. As the author of this excellent textbook comments in the Preface: ‘Reading German scholarship in the original language opens the reader to a new way of thinking’ (p. vii). At a time when anglophone insularity is creating a major crisis in foreign language learning in schools and universities, Carolyn Roberts Thompson has created a first-class tool to remedy this deficiency for theologians.
The merit of the book is its limited but high ambition. Designed for postgraduate students, it will not enable them to order a meal or engage in conversation, but it will help them progress from beginner level to comprehend long sentences with multiple subordinate clauses in systematic theologians and dictionary articles. Its focus is on one-way comprehension (German to English, not English to German), and it offers salutary warnings: this is a long haul; there are no shortcuts to learning conjugations and declinations; don’t rely on Google translations; write vocabulary lists by hand; read a little each day. The book provides a basis for individuals to teach themselves, or for class learning.
The book is structured in a series of 43 readings that illustrate German vocabulary and grammar by their usage, in order of increasing complexity, with comprehension assignments. English translations and a reference grammar and glossary are provided in an extensive appendix, and there is a table of the principal abbreviations. The first 16 readings are helpfully from Amos and the Gospels, with which students will already be familiar. There follow extracts from commentaries, the encyclopaedic Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart (including paragraphs on Luther, Calvin and Zwingli) and twentieth-century theologians. Each reading is followed by a vocabulary and a clear analysis of word order, case endings and sentence structure. The final set consists of nine test pieces – readings without explanation. The majority of theologians quoted are Protestant, the exceptions being Klauck and Grillmeier.
I have only two criticisms. The explanation of some usages is laboured and misses their colloquial flavour: for example, the word list on p. 97 translates the verb bekennen as ‘to confess, avow, espouse’, whereas the phrase es ist bekannt in the reading just means ‘it is well known’. Also, the explanation of the subjunctive mood on pp. 78–9 overlooks its common usage to indicate reported speech. The other point is that it would have been good to include basic liturgical forms such as the Lord’s Prayer, the creed and the eucharistic institution narrative to add an element of oral memorizing and to encourage students to join in German-language worship.
Otherwise I have nothing but admiration for this book, which should become an essential and actively used textbook for all serious theological libraries. It would be good if ecumenical bodies such as the Meissen Commission could also promote it to encourage German theological literacy among suitably qualified clergy and teachers at the local level.