Ernst Käsemann (12 July 1906 – 17 February 1998) was a German Lutheran theologian and professor of New Testament in Mainz (1946–1951), Göttingen (1951–1959) and Tübingen (1959–1971).
He obtained his PhD in New Testament at the University of Marburg in 1931, having written a dissertation on Pauline ecclesiology, with Rudolf Bultmann as his doctoral supervisor.
During 1939, he completed his habilitation, which qualified him to teach upper level seminars and advise graduate students at German universities; his dissertation was on the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews.
Käsemann effectively started this phase when he published his famous article "The Problem of the Historical Jesus" during 1954, originally his inaugural lecture as Professor in Göttingen in 1951.
His daughter, Elisabeth Käsemann, who had become a revolutionary while living in Argentina, was abducted by security forces during the Dirty War, tortured, and subsequently 'disappeared'.