RIP Dieter Hagedorn (d. 2023). I knew I’d learn this news well afterward and did just discover that Prof. Hagedorn passed away two years ago. Probably not many know who he was. For his day job,…
(The picture is me with them in their home attic where they worked.)
(The picture is me with them in their home attic where they worked.)
he was Professor of the Heidelberg Institute of Papyrology, the first to hold this esteemed position. But I knew him for the work that he and his wife, Ursula, produced over many weekends by collating and editing manuscripts: a critical edition of the oldest catena of Job. ->
When I met them at their home in Köln in 2011, they were retired or “too old” :). Dieter and I had already been corresponding (some days with numerous emails) over readings in Job catena manuscripts (see this post for what that is) for about a year. ->
…ngelicaltextualcriticism.blogspot.com/2017/08/what-i…
…ngelicaltextualcriticism.blogspot.com/2017/08/what-i…
I’ve described their work before but it warrants review. Their end goal was to produce a critical edition of the oldest Job catena. This involved newly collating and editing some 70 catena manuscripts. No small feet in itself. But before they did this, they *wisely* edited… ->
the relevant patristic commentaries to the Job catena: Olympiodorus, Didymus the Blind, John Chrysostom, and Julian the Arian. After such work, they were uniquely positioned to compare catena excerpts with the actual commentaries. They could discern what was authentic from ->
copyist mistakes or even the interventions of the catenist. This was an enormous task.
By the time I met Dieter, he had already done this work. When I asked him questions about any part of this tradition, he was a master of it all. His mastery of paleography and these mss ->
By the time I met Dieter, he had already done this work. When I asked him questions about any part of this tradition, he was a master of it all. His mastery of paleography and these mss ->
was something to behold. I was interested in some real minutiae of this tradition (the hexaplaric remains within it), and he could comment for hours on it. And that brings me to my main takeaway from Prof. Hagedorn’s life: his unselfish use of time and great humility. ->
I still can’t believe what must be the reams of emails that we passed back and forth. So many of my emails to him were very elementary. I received a second education in how to read these mss and how to understand their creation and transmission. ->
But Dieter would answer each one with such care and accuracy, often sharing a scan of the manuscript with his commentary on it. I’m forever grateful for the time and care he took with me, and my hope is that I can follow his example with future students and correspondents.
The world would be a brighter place if it were filled with scholars who are humble and desire to bring others into their craft. Dieter Hagedorn remains a wonderful example of one who not only knew his craft well but multiplied the craftsmen too. May he rest in peace.
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