Günter Lüling
* Varna (Bulgaria), 1928
† Erlangen (Germany), 1914
Lived in: Erlangen
Arabist
Dr.Dr. Günter Lüling was born as the youngest son (he had four siblings) of a protestant missionary in Bulgaria. The family returned to Germany in 1936; during 1942/43, Günter, then 14 years old, faced a trial for his refusal to lead a Hitlerjugend group, which ended with a mild sentence. From January 1944 until the end of the World War II, Lüling served as soldier and was made prisoner, but luckily escaped. He underwent training as a bricklayer in Western Germany until 1947; in 1949 he was able to finish secondary school and from 1950 onwards studied Protestant Theology besides Latin, Greek and German Philology; in order to specialize on the Old Testament, he learnt Arabic and Aramaic as well. He reached his Theology degree in Göttingen in 1954 with an excellent result.
As Lüling had made already public his criticism of Trinity, following A. Schweitzer and Martin Werner, he had little chances to choose a job inside the Church or to achieve a higher degree in Theology. Therefore he studied once more, this time Political Sciences together with Sociology and Islam, and took his degree in 1957. Once more, ideological reasons obstructed his career. In 1960 he married Hannelore, who accompanied him henceforth as a wholehearted co-worker.
From 1962 to 1965, Lüling worked as director of the Goethe-Institut in Aleppo (Syria). It was there where he learned the modern Arabic language, a knowledge that was later important for his studies of the Primitive Koran. Later he worked at the University of Erlangen in Germany and finally offered a thesis about the interpretation of certain suras of the Koran as ancient Christian songs. Although this research was granted the highest possible qualification, he was dismissed from University in 1972. An extended version, offered for dissertation, was refused in 1974 and Lüling published it as a book by his own means. After six years of trial, his dismissal from University was confirmed by the Court, in spite of the positive views of foreign scientists.
Lüling worked throughout the next 13 years with a very limited income and retired in 1991. His book about the Primitive Koran was never accepted for printing in Germany. Finally he managed to publish an English version in India in 2003, but although his work has been discussed in other countries, during decades nobody dared to take a public position on this subject nor tried to refute in a scientific way Lülings views that “essential parts of the Koran are much older than the Prophet”. Since 1982, Lüling has returned to subjects related to the Old Testament and the Ancient History. Until his death he was writing an “Ancient History of the Hebrews” which he announced to be “liberal-theological” and “critical” and as laying the ground for a long-term conciliation of Jews, Christians and Muslims. Some parts of this extense work have already been published in small newsletters.
Books
- 1974: Über den Ur-Qur’an. (self-published. 2. ed. 1993. Erlangen).
Translated into English as: “A Challenge to Islam for Reformation“, 2003: Motilal Banarsidas Publ., Delhi, India. - 1981: Die Wiederentdeckung des Propheten Mohammed
- 1982: Das Passahlamm und die Altarabische Mutter der Blutrache, die Hyäne. [ZRGG 34 130-147.]
- 1984: Archaische Wörter und Sachen im Wallfahrtswesen am Zionsberg.[Dielheimer Blätter z. AT (DBAT) 20 (1984), 52-59]1982
- 1985: Sprache und archaisches Denken. (Erlangen)
- 1992: Der christliche Kult an der vorislamischen Kaaba((Erlangen)
- 1995: Semitisch “Repha’im” und “Teraphîm” sowie griechisch “Orpheus” Zeitensprünge 1-95, 31-35. (Gräfelfing)
- 1995: Europäische Investitur und archaisches semitisches Maskenwesen Zeitensprünge 4-95, 432-449 (Gräfelfing)
- 1999: Das Blutrecht (die Blutrache) der archaisch-mythischen Stammesgesellschaft. Zum schriftkulturellen Staatsrecht Zeitensprünge 2-99, 217-227 (Gräfelfing)
- 2000: Das Problem Hebräer Zeitensprünge 2-00, 180-193. (Gräfelfing)