He did his doctoral dissertation at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg under Gerhard von Rad.
He is Professor Emeritus of Old Testament and History of the Ancient near East Religions at the University of Hamburg, Germany.
[2] Koch has identified Martin Noth and Gerhard von Rad as the Fathers of Redaction Criticism in Old Testament Studies.
[3] Koch is best known for his assertion that the Old Testament wisdom literature has no concept of divine retribution.
",[4] Koch argued for a "deed-consequences" construct, in which human deeds have "automatic and inescapable consequences", meaning that Yahweh does not need to intervene to punish or reward.