Bernhard Christ attended the gymnasium at Münsterplatz[1] and studied at the University of Basel, where he also earned his doctorate. Among other achievements, he was the lawyer for Firestone Switzerland Ltd in the sensational trial following the closure of the tire factory in Pratteln. The trial was about payments for the 600 workers who had been laid off.[2] He later worked as a senior partner at the law firm Vischer in Basel.[3]
Politician
As a politician, Bernhard Christ was a member of the Grand Council of the Canton of Basel-Stadt from 6 November 1979 to 30 April 1988 and from 11 May 1992 to 31 January 2003,[4] and on 10 May 1984 elected President of the Grand Council.[5][6] He was also a member of the canton's constitutional council from 1999 to 2005,[7] president of the Constitutional Council,[8] a member of the cantonal education council and of the board of the Reformed Church[9] and of several charitable foundations.
Translator
Bernhard Christ's translation of Dante's Divine Comedy was published in 2021 to mark the 700th anniversary of the death of the poet by Schwabe,[10][11] Christ translated the text into prose.[12] In the review by Ulrich Klappstein of Bernhard Christ's translation, the controversy of translating into verse or prose is discussed.[13]
Bernhard Christ (2023)
Family
Bernhard Christ has been married to Marie-Isabelle de Pury since 1975,[14] and has three adult children and six grandchildren.
Publications
Die Basler Stadtgerichtsordnung von 1719 als Abschluss der Rezeption in Basel, Basel and Stuttgart 1971 (Dissertation)[15]
Das Kontrollrecht des Kommanditärs, Juristischen Fakultät der Universität Basel, Basel and Stuttgart, 1973, Festgabe zum Schweizerischen Juristentag 1975
Der Darlehensvertrag, in: Schweizerisches Privatrecht, Obligationenrecht, Besondere Vertragsverhältnisse, Basel and Stuttgart 1979, Band VII, 2, Frank Vischer (Hrsg.)
Staatsrechtsgeschichtliche Anmerkungen zu einem Eidgenössischen Staatskalender aus dem Jahre 1718, Basel 1981, Festgabe Adolf Sebass
Reden des Präsidenten des Grossen Rates 1984/85, Basel, 1986, LDP Schriftenreihe 4
Der Grosse Rat von Basel-Stadt, in: Paul Stadlin (Hrsg.) Die Parlamente der schweizerischen Kantone, Zug 1990
Die Loslösung der alten Eidgenossenschaft vom Heiligen Römischen Reich Deutscher Nation, Basel, 2000. In: Wettstein, die Schweiz und Europa, Historisches Museum Basel (Hrsg.), Basel 1998
Symposium für Frank Vischer, herausgegeben von Bernhard Christ und Ernst A. Kramer. Helbing & Lichtenhahn, Basel 2005
Basler Denkmalschutzrecht im Vollzug, in: 25 Jahre Basler Denkmalschutzgesetz – Ein kritischer Rückblick (Freiwillige Denkmalpflege, 2004 -2208) Basel 2008
Der Willensvollstrecker Art. 517 und 518 ZGB, in: Praxiskommentar Erbrecht, Daniel Abt/Thomas Weibel, Helbing Lichtenhahn Verlag, Basel 2009; 5. Aufl. 2023
(translator and commentator) Dante Alighieri, Commedia, übertragen und erläutert von Bernhard Christ, Schwabe Verlag, Basel/Berlin 2021, ISBN 978-3-7965-4420-0
^Bernhard Christ was entered in the commercial register of the Canton of Basel-Stadt until 2009. Source: SHAB No. 127 of 6 July 2009, S. 64, Publ. 5115440. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
^In the introduction, Christ comments on his translation in an unbound form: “Like other translations of the Commedia that have been created in recent decades, this one also dispenses with a poetic adaptation in verses. Unlike the situation seventy years ago, when Wolfgang Schadewaldt published his translation of the Odyssey, this no longer requires any justification. Karl Vossler aptly remarked in the introduction to his 1941 translation, written in flowing but unrhymed verses, that reproducing Dante's terze rime in German rhyming terzines was more of an 'acrobatic than artistic task'.”
^Ulrich Klappstein: Dante lesen - Zur Neuübersetzung von Dantes „Commedia“ durch Bernhard Christ. In: literaturkritik.de. Nr. 1, Januar 2022 Retrieved 30 September 2024.
^“Bernhard Christ was honored for his services to the Karl Barth Archive and his work on the complete edition of Barth's writings, lectures, letters and conversations,” said Lukas Kundert, President of the Church Council of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Basel-Stadt, in his laudatory speech. Source: evangelisch.de of 10 December 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
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