Wilhelm Schneemelcher was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 theologian and expert on the New Testament Apocrypha

New Testament apocrypha

The New Testament apocrypha are a number of writings by early Christians that claim to be accounts of Jesus and his teachings, the nature of God, or the teachings of his apostles and of their lives. These writings often have links with books regarded as "canonical"...

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He obtained through Hans Lietzmann

Hans Lietzmann

Hans Lietzmann was a German theologian and church historian who was a native of Düsseldorf.He initially studied in Jena, and continued his education in Bonn, where he was a student of Hermann Usener...

 a post researching Latin and Greek manuscripts at the Church Fathers Commission, however this came under the Prussian Academy of Sciences so in 1938 Schneemelcher was removed by the Nazi authorities due to being "politically unreliable", due to sympathies with the Confessing Church

Confessing Church

The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:...

, and was forced to turn to making a living as a bookseller's assistant.

In 1939 he was conscripted into the Wehrmacht

Wehrmacht

The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

, and after the war he was a village pastor in Stöckheim near Northeim

Northeim

Northeim is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, seat of the district of Northeim, with, as of 2002, a population of 31 000. It's located on the German Half-Timbered House Road.-History:...

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From 1954 to 1979 he was professor of patristics

Patristics

Patristics or Patrology is the study of Early Christian writers, known as the Church Fathers. The names derive from the Latin pater . The period is generally considered to run from the end of New Testament times or end of the Apostolic Age Patristics or Patrology is the study of Early Christian...

 at the University of Bonn

University of Bonn

The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...

. He was editor of the collection Festschrift für Günther Dehn in honour of the anti-Nazi pastor Günther Dehn.

Works

He completely revised and enlarged the older collection of Edgar Hennecke (1865–1951) to produce the Neutestamentlichen Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung (Tübingen 1959–1997), which was then translated into English at The New Testament Apocrypha (1991) by R. McL. Wilson. As editor he coordinated the work of dozens of scholars including Philip Vielhauer and Georg Streck. His work is today commonly referred to as the "standard edition" of the New Testament Apocrypha. In later years, Schneemelcher's co-editor was Joachim Jeremias

Joachim Jeremias

Joachim Jeremias was a German Lutheran theologian, scholar of Near Eastern Studies and university professor for New Testament studies. He was abbot of Bursfelde, 1968–1971....

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