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[German Version] (Dec 2, 1883, Langenstein, near Halberstadt – Jun 2, 1959, Kassel). Beginning in 1903, Schafft studied theology in Halle, Berlin, and Tübingen; after 1907 he took on various church functions and pastoral ministries, with an emphasis on social service. He was P. Tillich’s closest friend and supported Tillich’s concept of a religious socialism (Religious socialists) based on the elements of autonomy, heteronomy, and theonomy. He was a leading advocate of the Neuwerk movement; the focus of his journalistic work was the periodical Neuwerk, which he edited after 193…

[German Version] (Dec 17, 1825, Stuttgart – Nov 17, 1878, Gießen), was a tutor in Tübingen from ¶ 1851 to1855, and after working as pastor, he became associate professor of New Testament in Zürich in 1860 and professor in Gießen in 1873. He made a name for himself especially through his works on the history of the Reformation in Württemberg. Under the influence of his teachers F. Baur and G. Ewald, he then devoted himself to the NT, giving particular consideration to the Early Church. His influential main opus Geschichte Jesu von Nazara (3 vols., 1867–1872) placed him in the tradition …

[German Version] (Nov 16, 1803, Lüthorst, Solling – Jan 8, 1873, Hannover). After studying at Göttingen from 1824 to 1827, Petri became a pastoral assistant at the Church of the Cross in Hannover, where (giving up his academic career) he was appointed junior pastor in 1837 and senior pastor in 1851. In 1843 he received an honorary doctorate from Erlangen. A theological high churchman, he was one of the most significant figures associated with Neo-Lutheranism. He had affinities with the revival mov…

[German Version] (Jan 22, 1814, Kleinbottward [now part of Steinheim an der Murr] – Mar 19, 1908, Stuttgart) began studying philosophy in 1831 at Tübingen, then changed to theology and found in F.C. Baur a teacher who left a deep impression on him. He received his doctorate in 1836, was appointed lecturer in 1840, and in 1847 became an associate professor of theology at Bern. In 1849 he received a call to a full professorship at Marburg. The administration, however, forced him to move to the philosophical faculty. He taught in Heidelberg from 1862 to 1872 and in Berlin from 1872 to 1894. His Philo…

[German Version] (Mar 30, 1799, Breslau (Wrocław) – Jun 19, 1877, Halle), began studying Arabic and Indology in Breslau in 1816/1817, but transferred to Berlin as early as January, where he also took up the study of theology. J.W.A. Neander became his most important teacher. A closer contact with F.D.E. Schleiermacher did not develop and the latter even hindered his habilitation, which he was nevertheless able to complete in 1821 ( Sufismus sive Theosophia Persarum pantheistica, 1821). In 1823, Tholuck published his most famous work, Die Lehre von der Sünde und vom Versöhner od…

[German Version] (Dec 21, 1813, Dörperlin, Canton Zürich – May 18, 1885, Heidelberg). After studying in Basel and Göttingen, with W.M.L. de Wette, J.K.L. Gieseler, and G.C.F. Lücke as his most influential teachers, the Reformed student received his habilitation from Basel in 1838. In 1841 he was appointed senior pastor in Schaffhausen; he held a variety of other offices. In 1846 he sharply attacked German Catholicism ( Die protestantische Geistlichkeit und die Deutsch-Katholiken, 21846). In 1850 he succeeded de Wette as professor at Basel; in 1851 he moved to Heidelb…

[German Version] (orig. David Mendel; Jan 17, 1789, Göttingen – Jul 14, 1850, Berlin). In 1806, Neander converted from Judaism to Christianity in Hamburg, and in 1809 he graduated there, after studying theology and philosophy in Halle, Göttingen, Wittenberg, and Heidelberg. In 1811, he gained his Habilitation in Heidelberg, where in 1812 he became associate professor of church history and history of doctrine. In 1813, he received an appointment in Berlin, the chief location of his academic activit…

[German Version] (Aug 10, 1801, Leipzig – Sep 19, 1866, Leipzig) studied philosophy in several places, including Leipzig, where he began lecturing in 1823. From 1828 to 1837 he taught there as associate professor of philosophy; after interruptions, he was ¶ appointed full professor in 1845. Dissociating himself from G.W.F. Hegel, he espoused a nuanced theism (II); especially in I.H. Fichte’s Zeitschrift für Philosophie und speculative Theologie, he wrote as a late advocate of Idealistic theorizing. In addition, after critical acceptance of D.F. Strauß’s Leben Jesu, he defended t…

[German Version] (Sep 17, 1771, Küblingen, near Schöppenstedt – Jan 27, 1849, Halle). In 1787 Wegscheider began his studies at Helmstedt, where he was influenced by the rationalist H.P.K. Henke. After working as a private tutor in Hamburg (1705–1805) and a brief period as a lecturer in Göttingen, he was appointed professor of theology and philosophy at Rinteln; in 1810 he went to Halle as professor of theology. On the basis of an extensive adoption of the ideas of I. Kant and a critical analysis of earlier theological traditional and dogmatic structures, in 1815 he published his Institution…

[German Version] (Aug 24, 1791, Egeln near Magdeburg – Feb 14, 1855, Göttingen). After periods of undergraduate and graduate study in Halle an der Saale and Göttingen, Lücke became assistant professor in Berlin (1818), professor of New Testament and church history in Bonn (1819), and of New Testament and systematic theology in Göttingen (1827). In 1839, he joined the Consistorial Council and in 1843 became abbot of Bursfelde Abbey. Lücke may be considered the most important student of F.D.E. Schleiermacher; he published his teacher's Hermeneutik posthumously in 1838. In his Grundriß …

[German Version] (May 2, 1773, Stavanger, Denmark [now Norway] – Feb 13, 1845, Berlin). Beginning in 1790, Steffens studied natural history in Copenhagen and Kiel, where he taught as a lecturer in 1796. In 1798 he traveled to Jena. J.G. Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre (ET: The Science of Knowing, 2005) and especially F.W.J. Schelling’s Ideen zu einer Philosophie der Natur (1797; ET: Ideas for a Philosophy of Nature, 1988) and Von der Weltseele (1798) influenced him deeply. In Freiberg he studied at the Mining Academy and published Beyträge zur innern Naturgeschichte der Erde (1801), dedi…

[German Version] (Mar 29, 1893, Hoirup, North Schleswig – Jan 30, 1981, Schleswig), Protestant theologian. She studied at Kiel, Tübingen, and Münster, and was particularly influenced by A. Schlatter and K. Heim. After passing her faculty examination at Kiel in 1921, she was one of the first women in Germany to receive a licentiate in theology (1924). From 1926 to 1945, she headed the Seminar für kirchlichen Frauendienst (also called the Bibel- und Jugendführerschule) at the Burckhardthaus in Berli…

[German Version] (Jul 30, 1777, Roßbach near Naumburg an der Saale – Jun 15, 1848, Weimar). From 1796 Röhr studied theology in Leipzig, and in 1801 became assistant preacher at the university church, in 1802 assistant teacher in Schulpforta, in 1804 minister in Ostrau near Zeitz, in 1820 senior minister and general superintendent in Weimar, where on Mar 26, 1832 ¶ he delivered the funeral oration at Goethe’s burial. Röhr’s Briefe über den Rationalismus [Letters on Rationalism] (1813) provided a programmatic foundation for Rationalism in its theological and ecclesiast…

[German Version] (Apr 8, 1888, Gnadenfrei, Silesia – Jun 6, 1966, Frankfurt am Main), became a pastor in 1914, and was senior pastor at St. Ägidien in Lübeck from 1921. He was forced into retirement in 1934, worked actively in the Confessing Church, and became pastor of the confessing congregation in Berlin-Friedenau in 1939. He was later professor of practical theology in Mainz (1946–1956) and the founding dean of the faculty, and also served in the administration of the church. His ambitious biography of Erdmuthe Dorothea Gräfin von Zinzendorf appeared in 1915. His Reformationsgeschic…

[German Version] (Sep 27, 1805, Kroppenstedt near Magdeburg – Mar 10, 1898, Bristol) studied in Halle and joined the Awakening movement (Revival/Revival movements). At the suggestion of his teacher F.A.G. Tholuck, he went in 1829 to London, to devote himself to the so-called Jewish Mission. He became a member of the Plymouth Brethren, from whom he had separated by 1849; yet he remained ¶ active as a preacher of the Spirit-led “Open Brethren,” and in May 1830 he was rebaptized. Consciously following A.H. Francke, Müller founded the Scriptural Knowledge Instit…

[German Version] (Kaj Harald Leininger Petersen; Jan 13, 1898, Maribo, Lolland – Jan 4, 1944, near Silkeborg), Danish writer and theologian. After study in Copenha-¶ gen, from 1924 he was a minister in Vedersø, West-Jutland. S.Kierkegaard exercised a lasting influence on him. He was also influenced by H. Ibsen's naturalism and by the social perspective of Martin Andersen Nexø. Prominent in his work, in addition to biblical figures ( Pilatus, 1917), was much material, some borrowed from antiquity, the Nordic medieval milieu, and also from the 19th century, in whic…

[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] (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…