Gerd Lüdemann (July 5, 1946–May 23, 2021) was a German biblical scholar and historian. He taught first Jewish Christianity and Gnosticism at McMaster University, Canada (1977–1979) and then New Testament at Vanderbilt Divinity School, U.S.A. (1979–1982). In 1983, he was appointed to the chair in New Testament Studies in the Evangelical Theological Faculty at the University of Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen), Germany, and taught New Testament until 1999. In the same year, his chair in “New Testament” was renamed “History and Literature of Early Christianity” in the Institute for Special Research (Institut für Spezialforschungen) at the University. Thus, he was removed from the professorship to train future Protestant pastors and stayed in the new department until his retireme