Search

[German Version] (Dec 21, 1853, Sinferopol, Crimea – Oct 19, 1910, Hamburg), Lutheran pastor and theologian. After studying in Dorpat, he was appointed pastor to the deaconesses’ house in St. Petersburg in 1879; in 1890 he was appointed to the Friedenskirche in Hamburg-Eilbeck. His outstanding social commitment was focused on the notion of community. In response to the social crisis, Ruckteschell called for a restructuring of economic and social life. In Christian socialism he saw a “dangerous blend of natural and religious sensibility” ( Personalgemeinde, 156). The social ques…

[German Version] (Sep 24, 1786, Iserlohn – Jul 19, 1863, Berlin). After studies in Halle and Heidelberg from 1805 to 1808, with C. Daub as his most important teacher, Strauß was appointed pastor in Ronsdorf in 1809 and in Elberfeld in 1814; from 1822 to 1859 he was professor of practical theology in Berlin as well as fourth court chaplain and cathedral preacher (1856 senior court chaplain). He was appointed senior consistorial councilor in 1836 and made a member of the High Consistory in 1850. He was a close ¶ friend of J.W.A. Neander and an outstanding preacher and pastor. With a re…

[German Version] (Apr 11, 1795, Sonneborn, near Gotha – Apr 26, 1860, Heidelberg). After studying philosophy and theology from 1814 to 1817, with J.G. Eichhorn as an outstanding teacher, Umbreit was appointed lecturer in Near Eastern languages at Göttingen in 1818; in 1820 he became associate professor of Old Testament and Near Eastern philology at the faculty of philosophy at Heidelberg and was promoted to full professor in 1823; in 1829 he became professor of OT at the faculty of theology, which…

[German Version] 1. Rudolf (Mar 28, 1853, Eningen unter Achalm, Württemberg – Oct 20, 1929, Leipzig), professor of Old Testament in Breslau (1888–1898) and Leipzig (1898–1923), and the father of 2. In 1905/1906, Kittel published a critical edition of the OT on the basis of the edition by Jacob ben Chayim (1524/1525). The third edition (1929–1937) was based on the Codex Leningradensis (Biblical manuscripts: I, 2.a). Building on his own source studies on Gen to 2 Kgs and 1/2 Chron, Kittel wrote a Geschichte der Hebräer (2 vols., 1888–1892, ET: History of the Hebrews, 1895/1896), which he …

[German Version] (Mar 15, 1796, Epfenbach, Palatinate – Jan 12, 1865, Karlsruhe). A member of the Reformed Church, Ullmann studied at Heidelberg and Tübingen (1812–1816); after some other positions, in 1821 he was appointed associate professor at Heidelberg and full professor in 1826. From 1829 to 1836 he taught at Halle and then returned to Heidelberg, where he became an authoritative proponent of mediation theology. He combined a proclivity for philology with works on church history, history of dogma, and systematic theology; among his writings, Historisch oder mythisch? (1838, 21…

[German Version] In his major work Der christliche Staatsmann (1932, 21932), W. Stapel devised the notion of a Volksnomos (“national or ethnic law”), arguing that the New Testament (and hence Christian) concept of law is not simply the fulfillment of the Old Testament concept but also the fulfillment of all laws of other nations. He described the wealth of national gods metaphorically as the “crypt” of the “Christian cathedral” of redemption. The nomos Germanikos, defined on the basis of racist ideology, gives the German nation its character; it is the embodiment of …

[German Version] (Oct 27, 1882, Calbe – Jun 1, 1954, Hamburg), political commentator and writer. After receiving his Dr.phil. in 1911, Stapel devoted his efforts to anti-modernist, nationalist ideas, becoming a dominant figure in the “conservative revolution.” From 1918 to 1938, he and Albrecht Erich Günther published the journal Deutsches Volkstum; with a Protestant bias and close friendship with E. Hirsch, they championed a program of ethnic nationalism with an anti-Semitic flavor. Especially between 1926 and 1938, Stapel was the dominant voi…

[German Version] (Nov 8, 1775, Copenhagen – Jan 30, 1854, Copenhagen). After theological studies at Copenhagen, which he began in 1790, Mynster worked as a private tutor; in 1802 he became pastor of Spjellerup in South Zealand. In 1811 he was appointed assistant pastor of the Church of Our Lady, the cathedral of Copenhagen. In 1812 he was also appointed lecturer and joint director of the pastoral seminary. In 1817 he became a member of the ministry of higher education. Finally, following a chaplai…

[German Version] (Aug 4, 1792, Braunfels – May 6, 1865, Bremen), Reformed preacher. From 1811 to 1815, he studied in Herborn and Tübingen, and took part in the wars of liberation against Napoleon. In Bremen, he was pastor at St. Michael's from 1817 and at St. Stephen's from 1827. As an anti-rationalist and anti-Hegelian he may be regarded as a figure of the Awakening (Revival/Revival movements). Mallet supported a cooperation between Reformed and Lutherans. His rousing sermons with a focus on soci…

[German Version] (Apr 11, 1789, Glückstadt – Jan 8, 1876, Berlin). Professor of theology and philosophy at Kiel since 1814, in 1835 Twesten succeeded F.D.E. Schleiermacher in Berlin, having been a follower theologically. He published very little. His lectures on dogmatics in the spirit of mediation theology remained incomplete but attained classical status. In them he dissociated himself from rationalism and maintained a position independent of Hegelian speculative theology, nascent confessionalis…