Search

[German Version] (Sep 12, 1604, Strehlen, Silesia [now Strzelin, Poland] – Mar 5 [?], 1686, Berlin), Reformed theologian and adviser on religious policy. After schooling at the Schönaichianum Gymnasium in Beuthen [Bytom], he began to study theology in Frankfurt an der Oder in 1626. In 1629 he began working as a private tutor in East Prussia. From 1632 to 1640 he broadened his education by traveling in the ¶ Netherlands (Leiden), England, and France. In 1640 he was appointed pastor in Pilten (Livonia; now Piltene, Latvia). In 1643 he was appointed court chaplain i…

[German Version] Beginning in the 17th century, the early modern notion of progress took on a dynamic that increasingly permeated ethical, religious, and political theory, making the idea of perfectibility a fundamental thought form of the era. In France the word perfectibilité quickly came into use after 1750 and became a guiding principle of the French Revolution. Borrowed into German in the mid-18th century, the concept of anthropological, ethical, and religious perfectibility, extended around 1800 to cultural (Christianity, science…

[German Version] (Dec 22, 1694, Hamburg – Mar 1, 1768, Hamburg), began studying theology, philosophy, and philology at Jena in 1714 and moved to Wittenberg in 1716, where he received his M.A. in 1717 and was appointed adjunct on the philosophical faculty in 1719. From 1720 to 1722 he took a study trip to Leiden, Oxford, and London. After a brief teaching stint in Wittenberg, he was appointed rector of the municipal school in Wismar and in 1728 (not 1727) professor of Hebrew and Oriental languages …

[German Version] (Nov 1, 1714, Tribsees, Swedish Pomerania – May 22, 1804, Berlin). One of the most important Lutheran theologians of the 18th century, revered by his contemporaries as the patriarch of Enlightenment theology for his intellectual honesty, ecclesiastical modernity, and human integrity, Spalding was a pioneer of modern theology. From 1731 to 1733 he studied philosophy and theology in Rostock and afterwards in Greifswald, receiving his Dr.phil. in 1736. From 1745 to 1747 he served as secretary of the Swedish embassy in Berlin, whil…

[German Version] (Jan 20, 1746, Windsheim, Franken – Dec 2, 1792, Jena) became professor of theology and dean in Altdorf in 1772, and professor in Jena in 1782. A proponent of a moderate Enlightenment theology, Döderlein was the only neologist (Enlightenment: II, 4.c) to protest against the Fragmente eines Ungenannten (Anonymous Fragments, 1774–1778) published by G.E. Lessing in writing ( Antifragmente, 1778/79, 21780). Here, he explicitly maintained the resurrection of Jesus as a miraculous proof of his divine commission. His chief work of dogmatics, Institutio theologi christ…

[German Version] (Aug 25, 1740 [not 1741], Bischofswerda – Apr 23, 1792, Nietleben near Halle) studied theology in Leipzig, became lecturer there in 1761, and professor in 1766, followed by Erfurt in 1769 and Gießen in 1771; in 1775, he became director of the Philanthropinum in Marschlins (Graubünden), then General Superintendent of Dürkheim on the Haardt in 1…

[German Version] (c. 1475, Frankfurt am Main – Sep 4, 1537, Mainz) joined the Dominican Order of Preachers (1501), became prior in Frankfurt (1510), received his Dr.Theol. (1515), was again prior in Frankfurt (1516/1517), then regens in Trier (1518), prior in Koblenz (1519), again in Frankfurt (1520–1526) and in Koblenz (from 1527), and finally became professor of theology in Mainz (1532). With the encouragement of J. Cochläus, Dietenberger authored many polemical writings (e.g. Contra temerarium M. Lutheri de votis monasticis iudicium, 1524) and ascetic tractates which did…

[German Version] (Aug 12, 1521, Giengen/Brenz – May 22, 1600, Tübingen), studied philosophy and theology in Wittenberg (1538–1543, with Luther and Melanchthon, among others), became dean in Tübingen (1543), was removed from office (1548; Augsburg Interim), became pastor and superintendent in Herrenberg and received the Dr.theol. (1551), was professor of theology in Tübingen (1557–1598), while also serving as superintendent after 1561, chancellor of the university (1590–1599), provost and ducal adviser. Heerbrand was a signatory to the Confessio Virtembergica (1551) and w…

[German Version] (Jul 9, 1698, Weißenfels – Feb 15, 1767, Berlin), student of theology in Jena (1720–1724, under J.F. Buddeus and J.G. Walch [1]) and tutor (1724–1734, in Vienna, Dresden, et alibi). Influenced by G. Arnold, Edelmann sought contact with various (radical) Pietist communities, such as the Gichtelians (J.G. Gichtel) and Herrnhut Brethren (after 1735; Bohemian and Moravian Brethren). In 1736, he …

[German Version] (Sep 29, 1699, Goslar – Jun 6, 1768, Weimar) gained his M.A. in Jena in 1725, became a Gymnasium teacher in 1737, becoming director in Weimar in 1745. The first of the theological Wolffians (C. Wolff) to do so, Carpov developed his entire dogmatics in a strictly mathematical and demonstrative manner. While in material respects he held fast to orthodox doctrine by explicitly confessing the symbolic books, he wanted to assure the academic standing of theology by applying the methodus scientifica. With the aid of a rational theory of revelation, he sought…

[German Version] (Dec 23, 1597, Bunzlau, Silesia – Aug 20, 1639, Danzig), late Humanist poet and diplomat. Opitz studied jurisprudence and philosophy in Frankfurt an der Oder (1618) and Heidelberg (1619), and in 1620 fled, at the approach of Spanish troops, to the Netherlands; in 1621 he moved to Jutland, in 1622 he was a teacher in Weissenburg, Transylvania (Alba Iulia, Romania), in 1623 counselor at the court of the dukes of Liegnitz and Brieg, in 1625 crowned poeta laureatus, between 1626 and 1632 diplomat in the service of Karl Hannibal, count of Dohna, a Catholic impe…

[German Version] (Dec 9, 1724, Berlin-Charlottenburg – Jan 26, 1774, Frankfurt an der Oder). In 1739 Toellner was awarded a scholarship at the Francke schools in Halle. In 1741 he began studying philosophy and theology in Halle (encouraged and influenced by S.J. Baumgarten). After 1745 he served as a domestic tutor in Pomerania and Berlin; in 1748 he was appointed military chaplain in Frankfurt an der Oder. In 1756 be was appointed associate professor of philosophy in Frankfurt and in 1760 full pr…

[German Version] 1. Romanus (Feb 21, 1703, Leipzig – Apr 5, 1750, Leipzig), began studying philosophy and theology in Leipzig in 1719, receiving his M.A. in 1721. In 1723 he was appointed catechist at the church of St. Peter and in 1727 Saturday preacher at the church of St. Thomas, both in Leipzig. In 1730 he was appointed deacon at the church of St. Maximus in Merseburg, in 1731 catechist at the church of St. Peter, in 1737 deacon, and in 1745 pastor of St. Thomas in Leipzig. After receiving his B…

[German Version] (Dec 15, 1721, Berlin – Jan 14, 1797, ibid.), private tutor in Berlin in 1744, deacon in 1748, archdeacon in 1751, pastor of St. Mary's (Berlin) in 1754, and senior consistorial councilor in 1770. Diterich, a student of S.J. Baumgarten, was a respected proponent of the theological Enlightenment (II) in Berlin (a member of the “Wednesday Society” and sometime father confessor to the queen). He promoted the neological renewal of church life through his preaching, catechetical writings ( Unterweisung zur Glückseligkeit nach der Lehre Jesu [Instruction on happiness a…

[German Version] (Apr 10, 1730, Stendal – Mar 8, 1792, Berlin) studied theology in Halle an der Saal, initially with S.J. Baumgarten, then, after participating in the Seven Years War as a chaplain, under the definitive influence of J.A. Nösselt. In 1765, he became deacon, then archdeacon at St. Nicholas (Berlin). Through his writings and, even more, through his many contributions to F. Nicolai's Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek ( Comprehensive German Library, nearly 1000 reviews), Lüdke became an important proponent of neology (Enlightenment, The: II, 4, c). His ess…

[German Version] 1. Hermann Daniel (Jan 24, 1731, Piaseczno [Petznick], Poland – Nov 12, 1807, Kiel[?]), the brother of 2. Hermes studied in Halle from 1750 before teaching in Berlin and serving as a pastor in Dierberg from 1756 and in Zossen from 1760. He became a professor at a Gymnasium in 1766, provost in 1771, and senior councilor of the consistory in Breslau in 1787. Called to Berlin as a councilor of the consistory in 1791, he became president of the Geistliche Immediat-Examinationskommission there in 1792.…

[German Version] (Aug 14, 1755, Hiltpoltstein – Jan 13, 1806, Heidelberg). From 1789 professor of eloquence, oriental studies, and ethics and from 1793 professor of Biblical Exegesis at Altdorf. From 1805 professor of oriental studies and practical exegesis; and member of the church council in Heidelberg. Within the theology of the Enlightenment, Bauer was the most important exponent of a strictly historical “biblical theology.” He was the first to call this approach programmatically “historical-critical” ( Historisch-kritische Einleitung in das Alte Testament, 1794, 31806). …

[German Version] (Mar 18, 1733, Berlin – Aug 1, 1811, Berlin), bookseller and writer. After attending the Gymnasium in Joachimsthal, the Latin school of the Halle orphanage (1745–1748), and Hecker’s Realschule in Berlin (1749) he went to Frankfurt an der Oder in 1749 to learn his father’s bookselling business, continuing his education as an autodidact. In 1752 he joined the staff of the Berlin bookstore and in 1758 took over as director. There he became one of the most important representatives of the (Berlin) Enlightenment …

[German Version] (Aug 24, 1736, Magdeburg – Jan 6, 1822, Quedlinburg), was raised in the Pietist tradition in Bergen monastery under the abbot Johann Adam Steinmetz, but turned to the Enlightenment during his studies in Halle. Beginning in 1757 he held various pastoral positions in Mecklenburg and in 1765 became provost in Waren. His neological restatement of the doctrine of justification, presented in his Wöchentliche Beiträge zur Beförderung der Gottseligkeit [weekly contributions for the promotion of godliness] (2 vols., 1771f.) led in 1773 to conflict with th…

[German Version] (“the three impostors”). In continuation of the religion-critical motif of deceit, known since antiquity, the claim that the three religion-founders Moses, Jesus, and Muḥammad deceived humanity has been in circulation since the Middle Ages (thus in the charge brought by Gregory IX against Emperor Frederick Hohenstaufen). In the late Middle Ages, rumors concerning the existence of a tractate entitled De tribus impostoribus began to spread, leading to numerous attributions and suspicions. The first attested text is the pamphlet De impostoris religionum, which w…