Michael Lattke, Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity Studies and Emeritus Professor at UQ, will be fondly remembered not only by his family but also by his colleagues (especially in Studies in Religion) and many friends and acquaintances at the University of Queensland. His loss will also be felt by the wider international academic community, among whom he enjoyed a reputation as a first-rate translator and commentator.
Michael Stephen Lattke was born in Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin in Poland). He was brought up in Solingen and, after attending the Volksschule Wittkuller Straße and Humboldt-Gymnasium before completing his Abitur at Gymnasium Schwertstraße, studied at Bonn, Tübingen, Münster, Augsburg and München. In spite of his Roman Catholic background, at Tübingen he also studied Protestant theology, especially under the leading Protestant New Testament scholar Ernst Käsemann. He received his Dipl.-Theol. from Tübingen in 1968, a Dr. theol. from Freiburg in 1974, and a Dr. theol. habil. from Augsburg in 1979.
In 1981, Lattke settled in Brisbane, Australia and began teaching at the University of Queensland, where he also received a D.Litt. in 1992. In 1994 he became Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity Studies, and in 1997 was awarded an Australian Research Council Professorial Fellowship. Since October 2007, he was emeritus professor at The University of Queensland.
Lattke published widely on the New Testament, Early Christianity, Early Judaism, Early Christian hymns, and Gnosticism, and he established himself as the world’s foremost authority on the pseudepigraphical Odes of Solomon—a collection of first- or second-century writings, probably of Christian origin, that bears some resemblance to the better-known Dead Sea Scrolls. In his comprehensive study of the Odes, Lattke argued that they were written originally in Greek (and not in Syriac). His German commentary on the Odes was translated into English by Marianne Ehrhardt for the Hermeneia series (published 2009 by Fortress Press). He also wrote a commentary on the Apology of Aristides—another early Christian source, first discovered in the nineteenth century—for the series "Kommentar zu frühchristlichen Apologeten" (published by Herder Verlag). These publications have made a significant contribution to our understanding of the origins of Christianity.
In 2001, the Australian Government awarded Lattke a Centenary Medal for his contribution to the field of Early Christian studies. In 2007, he was presented with the Festschrift, I Sowed Fruits into Hearts (Odes Sol. 17:13): Festschrift for Professor Michael Lattke, edited by Pauline Allen, Majella Franzmann and Rick Strelan (Strathfield: St Pauls, 2007).
Lattke was a member of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (SNTS), a life member of the Society for the Study of Early Christianity (SSEC), and an Honorary Fellow in the Centre for Early Christian Studies at the Australian Catholic University (ACU), and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Since 2020, the University of Queensland has offered the Michael Lattke Studies in Religion Scholarship.
Professor Lattke was the partner of Dr Irmtraud Petersson who taught in the field of Australian Literature at the University of Queensland between 1986 and 2000 and remained an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Communication and Arts. Dr Petersson passed away on 9 September 2022.
Michael Lattke was a generous friend, an exacting but supportive mentor, and an outstanding scholar who leaves behind an important legacy of humanities research.
