Kurt Aland - Life

Life

Aland was born in Berlin-Steglitz. He started studying theology in 1933 at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Berlin (he also studied philology, archaeology, and history). On March 23 that year, he was examined before the Bruderrat (council of brothers) in the Bekennende Kirche (Confessing Church). During his studies, he worked for the journal of the Confessing Church, Junge Kirche (Young Church). In an ideological brochure, Wer fälscht? (Who is lying?), written against Mathilde Ludendorff, he confirmed the position of the Confessing Church and identified with them. In 1939 he studied for his bachelor's degree under the guidance of Hans Lietzmann. In 1940 he was released from military service; and in 1941, after Lietzmann's death, he took over the responsibilities of editing the theological magazine. He graduated in this same year, and in 1944 was ordained as minister of the parish of Berlin-Steglitz.

After World War II, Aland became a lecturer in the theological faculty of the Humboldt University of Berlin. In 1947 he was appointed Professor ordinarius in Halle (Saale).

Aland disapproved of the Marxist government of East Germany, and was persecuted as a result. In 1953 he was accused of smuggling watches to West Berlin and kept under arrest for three months. Several times Aland spoke out publicly against various forms of state oppression directed at Churches, and demanded freedom of speech in East Germany. In July 1958, he lost his job at the university. However, in September that year, he successfully escaped to West Berlin.

In 1959 became a professor at the University of Münster, Germany. Here he founded the Institute for New Testament Textual Research ("Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung"), which he directed until 1983.

Aland was married twice. First to Ingeborg Aland (they have three children together). In the late 70s he married Barbara Aland. He died in Münster, Germany in 1994.