Gerd Theißen (or Theissen; born 24 April 1943) is a German Protestant theologian and New Testament scholar.
He obtained his habilitation in 1972 in Bonn, with a form-critical work on early Christian miracle stories.
[3] Theissen received the Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies in 2002 from The British Academy.
According to the British Academy's citation, Theissen is: "... one of the earliest pioneers in the application of the principles and methods of sociology to the study of the New Testament.
Notable works in this field are The First Followers of Jesus: A Sociological Analysis of the Earliest Christians (which concentrated on conditions in Palestine) and The Social Setting of Primitive Christianity (a Pauline study dealing mainly with Corinth)."