I was born in Nuremberg in 1961, the eldest of five twins. Both my parents were teachers. After studying veterinary medicine and earning my doctorate, I initially worked as an assistant veterinarian and then completed further training to become a specialist veterinarian for horses. Since 1997, I have been in private practice, am married, and have four children.

 

Personal tragedies in my youth led me to an intense engagement with life's existential questions. My Christian faith was significantly shaped by the example of my mother, who died of cancer in 1975, and profoundly shaken by the sudden accidental death of my youngest brother on Christmas Eve 1980. This severe life crisis forced me to completely re-examine my beliefs. The story of Jacob and Esau in Genesis opened up a new approach to the Bible and a new understanding of its message. Being a twin myself, and also professionally connected to the itinerant shepherd Jacob as a veterinarian, I was captivated by this story. The many unresolved questions within it, especially the conflict between the two unequal brothers and the mysterious encounter at the Jabbok River with a mysterious man whom Jacob identified as God, immediately before the brothers' reconciliation, proved to be pivotal for me. And just as Jacob in Genesis wrested blessing from the mysterious divine being, I have dared, in my own life, to wrest blessing, first for myself personally, from the most important book in human history. Birth, with its five principles and five perspectives, has proven to be the key and the benchmark. For the image of birth is more than a mirror of reality; it is universally valid and, above all, thoroughly positive. Even the negative aspect, the pain of childbirth, thus acquires meaning.

 

In my book JACOB'S PUZZLE OF LIFE – BORN IN TWO, I essentially piece together my personal life puzzle without focusing on my own life. Despite its lighthearted style, it possesses depth and perfectly captures the fundamental principle of life: Two are always born.