Church History Part 10

3. _Sufferings Endured._-In many instances members of the society were disciplined, suspended and deposed. In October, A.D. 1880, _Beesenmeyer_ of Mannheim, on his appointment to Osnabruck, was examined by the consistory. He confessed an economic but not an essential Trinity, the sinlessness and perfect G.o.dliness but not the divinity of Christ, the atoning power of Christ's death but not the doctrine of vicarious satisfaction. He was p.r.o.nounced unorthodox, and so unfit to hold office.

_Schroeder_, a pastor in the consistory of Wiesbaden in A.D. 1871, on his refusing to use the Apostles' Creed at baptism and confirmation, was deposed, but on appealing to the minister of worship, Dr. Falk, he was restored in the beginning of A.D. 1874. The Stettin consistory declined to ordain Dr. _Hanne_ on account of his work "_Der ideale u. d. geschichtl.

Christus_," and an appeal to the superior court and another to the king were unsuccessful. Several members of the church protested against the call of Dr. _Ziegler_ to Liegnitz in A.D. 1873, on account of his trial discourse and a previous lecture on the authority of the Bible, and the consistory refused to sustain the call. The Supreme Church Council, however, when appealed to, declared itself satisfied with Ziegler's promise to take unconditionally the ordination vow, which requires acceptance of the fundamental doctrines of the gospel and not the peculiar theological system of the symbols.

4. The conflicts in _Berlin_ were specially sharp. In A.D. 1872 the aged pastor of the so called New Church, Dr. _Sydow_, delivered a lecture on the miraculous birth of Jesus, in which he declared that he was the legitimate son of Joseph and Mary. His colleague, Dr. _Lisco_, son of the well-known commentator, spoke of legendary elements in the Apostles'

Creed, and denied its authority. Lisco was reprimanded and cautioned by the consistory. Sydow was deposed. He appealed, together with twenty-six clergymen of the province of Brandenburg, and twelve Berlin pastors, to the Supreme Church Council. The Jena theologians also presented a largely signed pet.i.tion to Dr. Falk against the procedure of the consistory, while the Weimar and Wurttemberg clergy sent a pet.i.tion in favour of maintaining strict discipline. The superior court reversed the sentence, on the ground that the lecture was not given in the exercise of his office, and severely reprimanded Sydow for giving serious offence by its public delivery. At a Berlin provincial synod in A.D. 1877, an attack was made by pastor _Rhode_ on creed subscription. _Hossbach_, preaching in a vacant church, declared that he repudiated the confessional doctrine of the divinity of Christ, regarded the life of Jesus in the gospels as a congeries of myths, etc.

Some loudly protested and others as eagerly pressed for his settlement.

The consistory accepted Rhode's retractation and annulled Hossbach's call.

The Supreme Church Council supported the consistory, and issued a strict order to its president to suffer no departure from the confession. The congregation next chose Dr. _Schramm_, a p.r.o.nounced adherent of the same party, who was also rejected. In A.D. 1879 _Werner_, biographer of Boniface, a more moderate disciple of the same school, holding a sort of Arian position, received the appointment. When, in A.D. 1880, the Supreme Church Council demanded of Werner a clear statement of his belief regarding Scripture, the divinity and resurrection of Christ, and the Apostles Creed, and on receiving his reply summoned him to a conference at Berlin, he resigned his office.

5. The conflicts in Schleswig Holstein also caused considerable excitement. Pastor _Kuhl_ of Oldensworth had published an article at Easter, A.D. 1880, ent.i.tled, "The Lord is Risen indeed," in which the resurrection was made purely spiritual. He was charged with violating his ordination vow, sectaries pointed to his paper as proof of their theory that the state church was the apocalyptic Babylon, and pet.i.tions from 115 ministers and 2,500 laymen were presented against him to the consistory of Kiel. The consistory exhorted Kuhl to be more careful and his opponents to be more patient. In the same year, however, he published a paper in which he denied that the order of nature was set aside by miracles. He was now advised to give up writing and confine himself to his pastoral work. A pamphlet by Decker on "The Old Faith and the New," was answered by _Luhr_, and his mode of dealing with the ordination vow was of such a kind as to lead pastor Paulsen to speak of it as a "chloroforming of his conscience."

-- 181. Disputes about Forms of Worship.

During the eighteenth century the services of the evangelical church had become thoroughly corrupted and disordered under the influence of the "Illumination," and were quite incapable of answering to the Christian needs and ecclesiastical tastes of the nineteenth century. Whenever there was a revival in favour of the faith of their fathers, a movement was made in the direction of improved forms of worship. The Rationalists and Friends of Light, however, prevented progress except in a few states. Even the official Eisenach Conference did no more than prepare the way and indicate how action might afterwards be taken.

1. _The Hymnbook._-Traces of the vandalism of the Illumination were to be seen in all the hymnbooks. The n.o.ble poet Ernst Moritz Arndt was the first to enter the lists as a restorer; and various attempts were made by Von Elsner, Von Raumer, Bunsen, Stier, Knapp, Daniel, Harms, etc., to make collections of sacred songs answerable to the revived Christian sentiment of the people. These came to be largely used, not in the public services, but in family worship, and prepared the way for official revisal of the books for church use. The Eisenach Conference of A.D. 1853 resolved to issue 150 cla.s.sical hymns with the old melodies as an appendix to the old collection and a pattern for further work. Only with difficulty was the resolution pa.s.sed to make A.D. 1750 the _terminus ad quem_ in the choice of pieces. Wackernagel insisted on a strict adherence to the original text and retired from the committee when this was not agreed to. Only in a few states has the Eisenach collection been introduced; _e.g._ in Bavaria, where it has been incorporated in its new hymnbook.

2. _The Book of Chorales._-In A.D. 1814, Frederick William III. of Prussia sought to secure greater prominence to the liturgy in the church service.

In A.D. 1817, Natorp of Munster expressed himself strongly as to the need of restoring the chorale to its former position, and he was followed by the jurist Thibaut, whose work on "The Purity of Tone" has been translated into English. The reform of the chorale was carried out most vigorously in Wurttemberg, but it was in Bavaria that the old chorale in its primitive simplicity was most widely introduced.

3. _The Liturgy._-Under the reign of the Illuminists the liturgy had suffered even more than the hymns. The Lutherans now went back to the old Reformation models, and liturgical services, with musical performances, became popular in Berlin. Conferences held at Dresden did much for liturgical reform, and the able works and collections of Schoberlein supplied abundant materials for the practical carrying out of the movement.

4. _The Holy Scriptures._-The Calw Bible in its fifth edition adopted somewhat advanced views on inspiration, the canon and authenticity, while maintaining generally the standpoint of the most reverent and pious students of scripture. Bunsen's commentary a.s.sumed a "mediating" position, and the "Protestant Bible" on the New Testament, translated into English, that of the advanced school. Besser's expositions of the New Testament books, of which we have in English those on John's gospel, had an unexampled popularity. The Eisenach Conference undertook a revision of Luther's translation of the Bible. The revised New Testament was published in A.D. 1870, and accepted by some Bible societies. The much more difficult task of Old Testament revision was entrusted to a committee of distinguished university theologians, which concluded its labours in A.D.

1881. A "proof" Bible was issued in A.D. 1883, and the final corrected rendering in A.D. 1886. A whole legion of pamphlets were now issued from all quarters. Some bitterly opposing any change in the Luther-text, others severely criticising the work, so that the whole movement seems now at a standstill.(85)-In England, in May, 1885, the work of revision of the English version of the Bible, undertaken by order of convocation, was completed after fifteen years' labour, and issued jointly by the two universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The revised New Testament, prepared four years previously, had been telegraphed in short sections to America by the representative of the _New York Herald_, so that the complete work appeared there rather earlier than in England. But in the case of the Old Testament revision such freebooting industry was prevented by the strict and careful reserve of all concerned in the work. The revised New Testament had meanwhile never been introduced into the public services; whether the completed Bible will ever succeed in overcoming this prejudice remains to be seen.(86)

-- 182. Protestant Theology in Germany.

The real founder of modern Protestant theology, the Origen of the nineteenth century, is Schleiermacher. His influence was so powerful and manysided that it extended not merely to his own school, but also in almost all directions, even to the Catholic church, embracing destructive and constructive tendencies such as appeared before in Origen and Erigena.

Alongside of the vulgar rationalism, which still had notable representatives, De Wette founded the new school of historico-critical rationalism, and Neander that of pietistic supernaturalism, which soon overshadowed the two older schools of rational and supra-rational supernaturalism. On the basis of Sch.e.l.ling's and Hegel's philosophy Daub founded the school of speculative theology with an evangelical tendency; but after Hegel's death it split into a right and left wing. As the former could not maintain its position, its adherents by-and-by went over to other schools; and the latter, setting aside speculation and dogmatics, applied itself to the critical investigation of the early history of Christianity, and founded the school of Baur at Tubingen. Schleiermacher's school also split into a right and left wing. Each of them took the union as its standard; but the right, which claimed to be the "German" and the "Modern" theology, wished a union under a consensus of the confessions, and sought to effect an accommodation between the old faith and the modern liberalism; whereas the left wished union without a confession, and unconditioned toleration of "free science." This latter tendency, however, secured greater prominence and importance from A.D. 1854, through combination with the representatives of the historico-critical and the younger generation of the Baurian school, from which originated the "free Protestant" theology. On the other hand, under the influence of pietism, there has arisen since A.D. 1830, especially in the universities of Erlangen, Leipzig, Rostock, and Dorpat, a Lutheran confessional school, which seeks to develop a Lutheran system of theology of the type of Gerhard and Bengel. A similar tendency has also shown itself in the Reformed church. The most recent theological school is that founded by Ritschl, resting on a Lutheran basis but regarded by the confessionalists as rather allied to the "free Protestant" theology, on account of its free treatment of certain fundamental doctrines of Lutheranism.-Theological contributions from Scandinavia, England, and Holland are largely indebted to German theology.

1. _Schleiermacher, _A.D._ 1768-1834._-Thoroughly grounded in philosophy and deeply imbued with the pious feeling of the Moravians among whom he was trained, Schleiermacher began his career in A.D. 1807 as professor and university preacher at Halle, but, to escape French domination, went in the same year to Berlin, where by speech and writing he sought to arouse German patriotism. There he was appointed preacher in A.D. 1809, and professor in A.D. 1810, and continued to hold these offices till his death in A.D. 1834. In A.D. 1799 he published five "_Reden uber d. Religion_."

In these it was not biblical and still less ecclesiastical Christianity which he sought with glowing eloquence to address to the hearts of the German people, but Spinozist pantheism. The fundamental idea of his life, that G.o.d, "the absolute unity," cannot be reached in thought nor grasped by will, but only embraced in feeling as immediate consciousness, and hence that feeling is the proper seat of religion, appears already in his early productions as the centre of his system. In the following year, A.D.

1800, he set forth his ethical theory in five "Monologues": every man should in his own way represent humanity in a special blending of its elements. The study and translation of Plato, which occupied him now for several years, exercised a powerful influence upon him. He approached more and more towards positive Christianity. In a Christmas Address in A.D.

1803 on the model of Plato's Symposium, he represents Christ as the divine object of all faith. In A.D. 1811 he published his "Short Outline of Theological Study," which has been translated into English, a masterly sketch of theological encyclopaedia. In A.D. 1821 he produced his great masterpiece, "_Der Chr. Glaube_," which makes feeling the seat of all religion as immediate consciousness of absolute dependence, perfectly expressed in Jesus Christ, whose life redeems the world. The task of dogmatics is to give scientific expression to the Christian consciousness as seen the life of the redeemed; it has not to prove, but only to work out and exhibit in relation to the whole spiritual life what is already present as a fact of experience. Thus dogmatics and philosophy are quite distinct. He proves the evangelical Protestant character of the doctrines thus developed by quotations from the consensus of both confessions.

Notwithstanding his protest, many of his contemporaries still found remnants of Spinozist pantheism. On certain points too, he failed to satisfy the claims of orthodoxy; _e.g._ in his Sabellian doctrine of the Trinity, his theory of election, his doctrine of the canon, and his account of the beginning and close of our Lord's life, the birth and the ascension.(87)

2. _The Older Rationalistic Theology._-The older, so-called vulgar rationalism, was characterized by the self-sufficiency with which it rejected all advances from philosophy and theology, science and national literature. The new school of historico-critical rationalism availed itself of every aid in the direction of scientific investigation. The father of the vulgar rationalism of this age was _Rohr_ of Weimar, who exercised his ingenuity in proving how one holding such views might still hold office in the church. To this school also belonged _Paulus_ of Heidelberg, described by Marheineke as one who believes he thinks and thinks he believes but was incapable of either; _Wegscheider_ of Halle, who in his "_Inst.i.tutions theol. Christ. dogmaticae_" repudiates miracles; _Bretschneider_ of Gotha, who began as a supernaturalist and afterwards went over to extreme rationalism; and _Ammon_ of Dresden, who afterwards pa.s.sed over to rational supernaturalism.

3. The founder of _Historico-critical Rationalism_ was _De Wette_; a contemporary of Schleiermacher in Berlin University, but deprived of office in A.D. 1819 for sending a letter of condolence to the mother of Sands, which was regarded as an apology for his crime. From A.D. 1822 till his death in A.D. 1849 he continued to work unweariedly in Basel. His theological position had its starting point in the philosophy of his friend Fries, which he faithfully adhered to down to the end of his life.

His friendship with Schleiermacher had also a powerful influence upon him.

He too placed religion essentially in feeling, which, however, he a.s.sociated much more closely with knowledge and will. In the church doctrines he recognised an important symbolical expression of religious truths, and so by the out and out rationalist he was all along sneered at as a mystic. But his chief strength lay in the sharp critical treatment which he gave to the biblical canon and the history of the O.T. and N.T.

His commentaries on the whole of the N.T. are of permanent value, and contain his latest thoughts, when he had approached most nearly to positive Christianity. His literary career began in A.D. 1806 with a critical examination of the books of Chronicles. He also wrote on the Psalms, on Jewish history, on Jewish archaeology, and made a new translation of the Bible. His Introductions to the O.T. and N.T. have been translated into English.-_Winer_ of Leipzig is best known by his "Grammar of New Testament Greek," first published in A.D. 1822, of which several English and American translations have appeared, the latest and best that of Dr. Moulton, made in A.D. 1870, from the sixth German edition. He also edited an admirable "_Bibl. Reallexicon_," and wrote a work on symbolics which has been translated into English under the t.i.tle "A Comparative View of the Doctrines and Confessions of the Various Communities of Christendom" (Edin., 1873).-_Gesenius_ of Halle, who died A.D. 1842, has won a high reputation by his grammatical and lexicographical services and as author of a commentary on Isaiah-_Hupfeld_ of Marburg and Halle, who died A.D. 1866, best known by his work in four vols. on the Psalms, in his critical att.i.tude toward the O.T., belonged to the same party.-_Hitzig_ of Zurich and Heidelberg, who died A.D. 1875, far outstripped all the rest in genius and subtlety of mind and critical acuteness. He wrote commentaries on most of the prophets and critical investigations into the O.T.

history.-_Ewald_ of Gottingen, A.D. 1803-1875, whose hand was against every man and every man's hand against him, held the position of recognised dictator in the domain of Hebrew grammar, and uttered oracles as an infallible expounder of the biblical books. In his _Journal for Biblical Science_, he held an annual _auto da fe_ of all the biblico-theological literature of the preceding year; and, a.s.suming a place alongside of Isaiah and Jeremiah, he p.r.o.nounced in every preface a prophetic burden against the theological, ecclesiastical, or political ill doers of his time. His exegetical writings on the poetical and prophetical books of the O.T., his "History of Israel down to the Post-Apostolic Age,"

and a condensed reproduction of his "Bible Doctrine of G.o.d," under the t.i.tle: "Revelation, its Nature and Record" and "Old and New Testament Theology," have all appeared in English translations, and exhibit everywhere traces of brilliant genius and suggestive originality.(88)

4. _Supernaturalism_ of the older type (-- 171, 8) was now represented by Storr, Reinhard, Planck, Knapp, and Staudlin. In Wurttemberg Storr's school maintained its pre-eminence down to A.D. 1830. Neander, Tholuck, and Hengstenberg may be described as the founders and most powerful enunciators of the more recent _Pietistic Supernaturalism_. Powerfully influenced by Schleiermacher, his colleague in Berlin, _Neander_, A.D.

1789-1850, exercised an influence such as no other theological teacher had exerted since Luther and Melanchthon. Adopting Schleiermacher's standpoint, he regarded religion as a matter of feeling: _Pectus est quod theologum facit_. By his subjective pectoral theology he became the father of modern scientific pietism, but it incapacitated him from understanding the longing of the age for the restoration of a firm objective basis for the faith. He was adverse to the Hegelian philosophy no less than to confessionalism. Neander was so completely a pectoralist, that even his criticism was dominated by feeling, as seen in his vacillations on questions of N.T. authenticity and historicity. His "Church History," of which we have admirable English translations, was an epoch-making work, and his historical monographs were the result of careful original research.(89)-_Tholuck_, A.D. 1799-1877, from A.D. 1826 professor at Halle, at first devoted to oriental studies, roused to practical interests by Baron von Kottwitz of Berlin, gave himself with all his wide culture by preaching, lecturing and conversing to lead his students to Christ. His scientific theology was lat.i.tudinarian, but had the warmth and freshness of immediate contact with the living Saviour. His most important works are apologetical and exegetical. In his "Preludes to the History of Rationalism" he gives curious glimpses into the scandalous lives of students in the seventeenth century; and he afterwards confessed that these studies had helped to draw him into close sympathy with confessionalism. While always lax in his views of authenticity, he came to adopt a very decided position in regard to revelation and inspiration.-_Hengstenberg_, A.D. 1802-1869, from A.D. 1826 professor in Berlin, had quite another sort of development. Rendered determined by innumerable controversies, in none of which he abated a single hair's breadth, he looked askance at science as a gift of the Danaides, and set forth in opposition to rationalism and naturalism a system of theology unmodified by all the theories of modern times. Born in the Reformed church and in his understanding of Scripture always more Calvinist than Lutheran, rationalising only upon miracles that seemed to detract from the dignity of G.o.d, and in his later years inclined to the Romish doctrine of justification, he may nevertheless claim to be cla.s.sed among the confessionalists within the union. He deserves the credit of having given a great impulse to O.T. studies and a powerful defence of O.T. books, though often abandoning the position of an apologist for that of an advocate. His "Christology of the Old Testament," in four vols., "Genuineness of the Pentateuch and Daniel," three vols., "Egypt and the Books of Moses," commentaries on Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Ezekiel, the Gospel of John, Revelation, and his "History of the Kingdom of G.o.d in the Old Testament," have all been translated into English.

5. The so called _Rational Supernaturalism_ admits the supernatural revelation in holy scripture, and puts reason alongside of it as an equally legitimate source of religious knowledge, and maintains the rationality of the contents of revelation. Its chief representative was _Baumgarten-Crusius_ of Jena. Of a similar tendency, but more influenced by aesthetic culture and refined feeling, and latterly inclining more and more to the standpoint of "free Protestantism," _Carl Hase_, after seven years' work in Tubingen, opened his Jena career in A.D. 1830, which he closed by resigning his professorship in A.D. 1883, after sixty years'

labour in the theological chair. In his "Life of Jesus," first published A.D. 1829, he represents Christ as the ideal man, sinless but not free from error, endowed with the fulness of love and the power of pure humanity, as having truly risen and become the author of a new life in the kingdom of G.o.d, of which the very essence is most purely and profoundly expressed in the gospel of the disciple who lay upon the Master's heart.

The latest revision of this work, issued in A.D. 1876 under the t.i.tle "_Geschichte Jesu_," treats the fourth gospel as non-Johannnine in authorship and mythical in its contents, and explains the resurrection by the theory of a swoon or a vision. In his "_Hutterus Redivivus_," A.D.

1828, twelfth edition 1883, he seeks to set forth the Lutheran dogmatic as Hutter might have done had he lived in these days. This led to the publication of controversial pamphlets in A.D. 1834-1837, which dealt the deathblow to the _Rationalismus Vulgaris_. His "Church History,"

distinguished by its admirable little sketches of leading personalities, was published in A.D. 1834, and the seventh edition of A.D. 1854 has been translated into English.

6. _Speculative Theology._-Its founder was _Daub_, professor at Heidelberg from A.D. 1794 till his death in A.D. 1836. Occupying and writing from the philosophical standpoints of Kant, Fichte, and Sch.e.l.ling successively, he published in A.D. 1816 "Judas Iscariot," an elaborate discussion of the nature of evil, but pa.s.sed over in A.D. 1833, with his treatise on dogmatics, to the Hegelian position. He exerted great influence as a professor, but his writings proved to most unintelligible.-_Marheineke_ of Berlin in the first edition of his "Dogmatics" occupied the standpoint of Sch.e.l.ling, but in the second set forth Lutheran orthodoxy in accordance with the formulae of the Hegelian system.-After Hegel's death in A.D. 1831 his older pupils _Rosenkranz_ and _Goschel_ sought to enlist his philosophy in the service of orthodoxy. _Richter_ was the first to give offence, by his "Doctrine of the Last Things," in which he denounced the doctrine of immortality in the sense of personal existence after death.

_Strauss_, A.D. 1808-1874, represented the "Life of Jesus," in his work of A.D. 1835, as the product of unintentional romancing, and in his "_Glaubenslehre_" of A.D. 1840, sought to prove that all Christian doctrines are put an end to by modern science, and openly taught pantheism as the residuum of Christianity. _Bruno Bauer_, after pa.s.sing from the right to the left Hegelian wing, described the gospels as the product of conscious fraud, and _Ludwig Feuerbach_, in his "Essence of Christianity,"

A.D. 1841, set forth in all its nakedness the new gospel of self-adoration. The breach between the two parties in the school was now complete. Whatever Rosenkranz and Schaller from the centre, and Goschel and Gabler from the right, did to vindicate the honour of the system, they could not possibly restore the for ever shattered illusion that it was fundamentally Christian. Those of the right fell back into the camps of "the German theology" and the Lutheran confessionalism; while in the latest times the left has no prominent theological representative but Biedermann of Zurich.

7. _The Tubingen School._-Strauss was only the advanced skirmisher of a school which was proceeding under an able leader to subject the history of early Christianity to a searching examination. _Fred. Chr. Baur_ of Tubingen, A.D. 1792-1860, almost unequalled among his contemporaries in acuteness, diligence, and learning, a pupil of Schleiermacher and Hegel, devoted himself mainly to historical research about the beginnings of Christianity. In this department he proceeded to reject almost everything that had previously been believed. He denied the genuineness of all the New Testament writings, with the exception of Revelation and the Epistles to the Romans, Galatians, and Corinthians; treating the rest as forgeries of the second century, resulting from a bitter struggle between the Petrine and Pauline parties. This scheme was set forth in a rudimentary form in the treatise on "The So-called Pastoral Epistles of the Apostle Paul," A.D. 1835. His works, "Paul, the Apostle," and the "History of the First Three Centuries," have been translated into English. He had as collaborateurs in this work, Schwegler, Zeller, Hilgenfeld, Volkmar, etc.

_Ritschl_, who was at first an adherent of the school, made important concessions to the right, and in the second edition of his great work, "_Die Entstehung d. alt-kath. Kirche_," of A.D. 1857, announced himself as an opponent. _Hilgenfeld_ of Jena, too, marked out new lines for himself in New Testament Introduction and in the estimate of early church doctrine, modifying in various ways the positions of Baur. The labours of this school and its opponents have done signal service in the cause of science.

8. _Strauss_, who had meanwhile occupied himself with the studies of Von Hutten, Reimarus, and Lessing's "Nathan," feeling that the researches of the Tubingen school had antiquated his "Life of Jesus," and stimulated by Renan's "Life of Jesus," written with French elegance and vivacity, in which he described Christ as an amiable hero of a Galilaean village story, undertook in 1864 a semi-jubilee reproduction of his work, addressed to "the German people." This was followed by a severe controversial pamphlet, "The Half and the Whole," in which he lashed the halting attempts of Schenkel as well as the uncompromising conservatism of Hengstenberg. He now pointed out cases of intentional romancing in the gospel narratives; the resurrection rests upon subjective visions of Christ's disciples. His "Lectures on Voltaire" appeared in A.D. 1870, and in A.D. 1872 the most radical of all his books, "The Old and the New Faith," which makes Christianity only a modified Judaism, the history of the resurrection mere "humbug," and the whole gospel story the result of the "hallucinations" of the early Christians. The question whether "we" are still Christians he answers openly and honourably in the negative. He has also surmounted the standpoint of pantheism. The religion of the nineteenth century is _pancosmism_, its gospel the results of natural science with Darwin's discoveries as its bible, its devotional works the national cla.s.sics, its places of worship the concert rooms, theatres, museums, etc. The most violent attacks on this book came from the _Protestantenverein_. Strauss had said, "If the old faith is absurd, then the modernized edition of the '_Protestantenverein_' and the school of Jena is doubly, trebly so. The old faith only contradicts reason, not itself; the new contradicts itself at every point, and how can it then be reconciled with reason?"(90)

9. _The Mediating Theology._-This tendency originated from the right wing of the school of Schleiermacher, still influenced more or less by the pectoralism of Neander. It adopted in dogmatics a more positive and in criticism a more conservative manner. It earnestly sought to promote the interests of the union not merely as a combination for church government, but as a communion under a confessional consensus. Its chief theological organs were the "_Studien und Kritiken_," started in A.D. 1828, edited by Ullmann and Umbreit in Heidelberg, afterwards by Riehm and Kostlin in Halle, and the "_Jahrbucher fur deutsche Theologie_" of Dorner and Leibner, A.D. 1856-1878.-Although the mediating theology sought to sink all confessional differences, denominational descent was more or less traceable in most of its adherents. Its leading representatives from the _Reformed church_ were: _Alexander Schweizer_, who most faithfully preserved the critical tendency of Schleiermacher, and, in a style far abler and subtler than any other modern theologian, expounded the Reformed system of doctrine in its rigid logical consistency. In his own system he gives a scientific exposition of the evangelical faith from the unionist standpoint, with many pious reflections on Scripture and the confession as well as results of Christian experience, based upon the threefold manifestation of G.o.d set forth without miracle in the physical order of the world, in the moral order of the world, and in the historical economy of the kingdom of G.o.d.-_Sack_, one of the oldest and most positive of Schleiermacher's pupils, professor at Bonn, then superintendent at Magdeburg, wrote on apologetics and polemics. _Hagenbach_ of Basel, A.D.

1801-1874, is well-known by his "Theological Encyclopaedia and Methodology," "History of the Reformation," and "History of the Church in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries," all of which are translated into English.-_John Peter Lange_ of Bonn, A.D. 1802-1884, a man of genius, imaginative, poetic, and speculative, with strictly positive tendencies, widely known by his "Life of Christ" and the commentary on Old and New Testament, edited and contributed to by him.-_Dr. Philip __ Schaff_ may also be named as the transplanter of German theology of the Neander-Tholuck type to the American soil. Born in Switzerland, he accepted a call as professor to the theological seminary of the German Reformed church at Mercersburg in 1843. He soon fell under suspicion of heresy, but was acquitted by the Synod of New York in 1845. In 1869 he accepted a call to a professorship in the richly endowed Presbyterian Union Theological Seminary of New York. Writing first in German and afterwards in English, his works treat of almost all the branches of theological science, especially in history and exegesis. He is also president of several societies engaged in active Christian work.

10. Among those belonging originally to the _Lutheran church_ were Schleiermacher's successor in Berlin, _Twesten_, whose dogmatic treatise did not extend beyond the doctrine of G.o.d, a faithful adherent of Schleiermacher's right wing on the Lutheran side; _Nitzsch_, professor in Bonn A.D. 1822-1847, and afterwards of Berlin till his death in A.D. 1868, best known by his "System of Christian Doctrine," and his Protestant reply to Mohler's "Symbolism," a profound thinker with a n.o.ble Christian personality, and one of the most influential among the consensus theologians. _Julius Muller_ of Halle, A.D. 1801-1878, if we except his theory of an ante-temporal fall, occupied the common doctrinal platform of the confessional unionists. His chief work, "The Christian Doctrine of Sin," is a masterpiece of profound thinking and original research.

_Ullmann_, A.D. 1796-1865, professor in Halle and Heidelberg, a n.o.ble and peace-loving character, distinguished himself in the domain of history by his monograph on "Gregory n.a.z.ianzen," his "Reformers before the Reformation," and most of all by his beautiful apologetical treatise on the "Sinlessness of Jesus."-_Isaac Aug. Dorner_, A.D. 1809-1884, born and educated in Wurttemberg, latterly professor in Berlin, applied himself mainly to the elaborating of Christian doctrine, and gave to the world, in his "Doctrine of the Person of Christ," in A.D. 1839, a work of careful historical research and theological speculation. The fundamental ideas of his Christology are the theory favoured by the "German" theology generally of the necessity of the incarnation even apart from sin (which Muller strongly opposed), and the notion of the archetypal Christ, the G.o.d-Man, as the collective sum of humanity, in whom "are gathered the patterns of all several individualities." His "System of Christian Doctrine" formed the copestone of an almost fifty years' academical career. Christ's virgin birth is admitted as the condition of the essential union in Him of divinity and humanity; but the incarnation of the Logos extends through the whole earthly life of the Redeemer; it is first completed in his exaltation by means of his resurrection; it was therefore an operation of the Logos, as principle of all divine movement, _extra __ carnem_. His "System of Christian Ethics" was edited after his death by his son.(91)-_Richard Rothe_, A.D. 1799-1867, appointed in A.D. 1823 chaplain to the Prussian emba.s.sy at Rome, where he became intimately acquainted with Bunsen. In A.D. 1828 he was made ephorus at the preachers' seminary of Wittenberg, and afterwards professor in Bonn and Heidelberg. Rothe was one of the most profound thinkers of the century, equalled by none of his contemporaries in the grasp, depth, and originality of his speculation.

Though influenced by Schleiermacher, Neander, and Hegel, he for a long time withdrew like an anch.o.r.et from the strife of theologians and philosophers, and took up a position alongside of Oetinger in the chamber of the theosophists. His mental and spiritual const.i.tution had indeed much in common with that great mystic. In his first important work, "_Die Anfange der chr. Kirche_," he gave expression to the idea that in its perfected form the church becomes merged into the state. The same thought is elaborated in his "Theological Ethics," a work which in depth, originality, and conclusiveness of reasoning is almost unapproached, and is full of the most profound Christian views in spite of its many heterodoxies. In his later years he took part in the ecclesiastical conflicts in Baden (-- 196, 3) with the _Protestantenverein_ (-- 180, 1), and entered the arena of public ecclesiastical life.(92)-_Beyschlag_ of Halle, in his "_Christologie d. N. T._," A.D. 1866, carried out Schleiermacher's idea of Christ as only man, not G.o.d and man but the ideal of man, not of two natures but only one, the archetypal human, which, however, as such is divine, because the complete representation of the divine nature in the human. From this standpoint, too, he vindicates the authenticity of John's Gospel, and from Romans ix.-xi. works out a "Pauline Theodicy."-_Hans La.s.sen Martensen_, A.D. 1808-1884, professor at Copenhagen, Bishop of Zealand and primate of Denmark, with high speculative endowments and a considerable tincture of theosophical mysticism, has become through his "Christian Dogmatics," "Christian Ethics," in three vols., etc., of a thoroughly Lutheran type, one of the best known theologians of the century.

11. Among _Old Testament exegetes_ the most distinguished are: _Umbreit_, A.D. 1795-1860, of Heidelberg, who wrote from the supernaturalist standpoint, influenced by Schleiermacher and Herder, commentaries on Solomon's writings and those of the prophets, and on Job; _Bertheau_ of Gottingen, of Ewald's school, wrote historico-critical and philological commentaries on the historical books; and _Dillmann_, Hengstenberg's successor in Berlin, specially distinguished for his knowledge of the Ethiopic language and literature, has written critical commentaries on the Pentateuch and Job.-Among _New Testament exegetes_ we may mention: _Lucke_ of Gottingen, known by his commentary on John's writings; _Bleek_, the able New Testament critic and commentator on the Epistle to the Hebrews; _Meyer_, A.D. 1800-1873, most distinguished of all, whose "Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament," begun in A.D. 1832, in which he was aided by Huther, Lunemann, and Dusterdieck, is well-known in its English edition as the most complete exegetical handbook to the New Testament; _Weiss_ of Kiel and Berlin, author of treatises on the doctrinal systems of Peter and of John, "The Biblical Theology of the New Testament," "Life of Christ," "Introduction to New Testament," revises and rewrites commentaries on Mark, Luke, John, and Romans, in the last edition of the Meyer series.-A laborious student in the domain of New Testament textual criticism was _Constant. von Tischendorff_ of Leipzig, A.D.

1815-1874, who ransacked all the libraries of Europe and the East in the prosecution of his work. The publication of several ancient codices, _e.g._ the _Cod. Sinaiticus_, a present from the Sinaitic monks to the czar on the thousandth anniversary of the Russian empire in A.D. 1862, the _Cod. Vatica.n.u.s N.T._, a new edition of the LXX., the most complete collection of New Testament apocrypha and pseudepigraphs, and finally a whole series of editions of the New Testament (from A.D. 1841-1873 there appeared twenty-four editions, of which the _Editio Octava Major_ of 1872 is the most complete in critical apparatus), are the rich and ripe fruits of his researches. A second edition, compared throughout with the recensions of Tregelles and Westcott and Hort, was published by _Von Gebhardt_, and a third volume of Prolegomena was added by C. R. Gregory.

As a theologian he attached himself, especially in later years, to the Lutheranism of his Leipzig colleagues, and on questions of criticism and introduction took up a strictly conservative position as seen in his well known tract, "When were our Gospels written?"

12. Among the university teachers of his time _John Tob. Beck_, A.D.

1804-1878, a.s.sumed a position all his own. After a pastorate of ten years he began in A.D. 1836 his academical career in Basel, and went in A.D.

1843 to Tubingen, where he opposed to the teaching of Baur's school a purely biblical and positive theology, with a success that exceeded all expectations. A Wurttemberger by birth, nature, and training, he quite ignored the history of the church and its dogmas as well as modern criticism, and set forth a system of theology drawn from a theosophical realistic study of the Bible. He took little interest in the excited movements of his age for home and foreign missions, union, confederation, and alliances, in questions about liturgies, const.i.tution, discipline, and confessions, in all which he saw only the form of G.o.dliness without the power. Better times could be hoped for only as the result of the immediate interposition of G.o.d. His "Pastoral Theology" and "Biblical Psychology"

have been translated into English.

13. _The Lutheran Confessional Theology._-_Sartorius_, A.D. 1797-1859, from A.D. 1822 professor in Dorpat, then from A.D. 1835 general superintendent at Konigsberg, made fresh and vigorous attacks upon rationalism, and supported the union as preserving "the true mean" of Lutheranism. He is best known by his "Doctrine of Divine Love."

_Rudelbach_,-a Dane by birth and finally settled in Copenhagen, occupying the same ground, became a violent opponent of the union.-_Guericke_ of Halle, beginning as a pietist, pa.s.sed through the union into a rigorous Lutheran, and joined Rudelbach in editing the journal afterwards conducted by Luthardt of Leipzig.-Alongside of these older representatives of Lutheran orthodoxy there arose a _second generation_ which from A.D. 1840 has fallen into several groups. Their divergencies were mainly on two points: (1) On the place and significance of the clerical order, some viewing it as based on the general priesthood of believers and resting on the call of the congregation for the orderly administration of the means of grace, others regarding it as a divine inst.i.tution, yet without adopting the Romanizing and Anglican theory of apostolic succession; and (2) On the more important question of biblical prophecy, where one party maintained the spiritualistic, widely favoured since the time of Jerome, and another party, attaching itself to Crusius and Bengel, insisted upon a realistic interpretation.-At the head of the _first group_, which maintained the old Protestant theory of church and office and looked askance at chiliastic theories, supporting the old doctrines by all available materials from modern science, stands _Harless_, A.D. 1806-1879, professor in Erlangen and Leipzig, the chief ecclesiastical commissioner in Dresden, and finally at Munich. His theological reputation rests upon his "Commentary on Ephesians," A.D. 1835, his "Christian Ethics," A.D.

1842. Alongside of him _Thomasius_ of Erlangen, A.D. 1802-1875, wrought in a similar direction.-_Keil_, A.D. 1807-1888, from A.D. 1833 professor in Dorpat, since A.D. 1858 living retired in Leipzig, of all Hengstenberg's students has most faithfully preserved his master's exegetical and critical conservatism. He began in A.D. 1861 in connexion with Delitzsch his "Old Testament Commentary" on strictly conservative lines. We have an English translation of that work, and also of his "Introduction to the Old Testament" and his "Old Testament Archaeology."-_Philippi_, A.D. 1809-1882, son of Jewish parents, during his academic career in Dorpat, A.D.

1841-1852, exercised a powerful influence in securing for strict Lutheranism a very widespread ascendency among the clergy of Livonia. From A.D. 1852 till his death in A.D. 1882 he resided in Rostock. As exegete and dogmatist, he has, like a John Gerhard and Quenstedt of the nineteenth century, reproduced the Lutheran theology of the seventeenth century, unmodified by the developments of modern thought. He is known to English readers by his "Commentary on Romans." His chief work is "_Kirchl.

Glaubenslehre_," in six vols.-Alongside of him, and scarcely less important, stands _Theodosius Harnack_, who went from Dorpat in A.D. 1853 to Erlangen, but returned to Dorpat in A.D. 1866, and retired in A.D.

1873. He has written upon the worship of the church of the post-apostolic age, on Luther's theology, and practical theology.

14. At the head of the _second group_, characterized by a decided biblical realism and inclined to a biblical chiliasm, stands _Von Hofmann_ of Erlangen, A.D. 1810-1877, whose "_Weissagung und Erfullung_," 1841, represents the very antipodes of Hengstenberg's view of the Old Testament, placing history and prophecy in vital relation to one another, and studying prophecy in its historical setting. In his "_Schriftbeweis_" we have an entirely new system of doctrine drawn from Scripture, the doctrine of the atonement being set forth in quite a different form from that generally approved, but vindicated by its author against Philippi as "a new way of teaching old truth." In his commentary on the New Testament, he takes up a conservative position on questions of criticism and introduction.-_Franz Delitzsch_, in Rostock, A.D. 1846, Erlangen, A.D.

1850, in Leipzig since A.D. 1867, more intimately acquainted with rabbinical literature than any other Christian theologian, became an enthusiastic adherent of Hofmann's position. His theology, however, has a more decidedly theosophical tendency, while his critical att.i.tude is more liberal. He is well known by his "Biblical Psychology," commentary on Psalms, Isaiah, Solomon's writings, Job, Hebrews, and a new commentary on Genesis in which he accepts many of the positions of the advanced school of biblical criticism.-_Luthardt_ of Leipzig in the domain of New Testament exegesis and dogmatics works from the standpoint of Hofmann. His "Commentary on John's Gospel," "Authorship of Fourth Gospel," and "Apologetical Lectures on the Fundamental, Saving and Moral Truths of Christianity," are well known.-Hofmann's conception of Old Testament doctrine is admirably carried out by _Oehler_, A.D. 1812-1872, with learning and speculative power, in his "Theology of the Old Testament,"

and in various important monographs on Old Testament doctrines.-The most important representatives of the _third group_, which strongly emphasizes the extreme Lutheran theory of the church and office, are _Kliefoth_ of Schwerin, liturgist and biblical commentator; and _Vilmar_, who opened his academic career at Marburg, in 1836, with a controversial programme ent.i.tled "The Theology of Facts against the Theology of Rhetoric."

Vilmar's lectures, able, though sketchy and incomplete, were published after his death in A.D. 1868 by some of his disciples. To the same school belonged _Von Zezschwitz_ of Erlangen, A.D. 1825-1886, whose "_Catechetics_" is a treasury of solid learning.

15. Among Lutheran theologians taking little or nothing to do with these controversial questions, _Kahnis_, A.D. 1814-1888, from A.D. 1850 professor at Leipzig, occupied a strict Lutheran confessional standpoint, diverging only in the adoption of a subordinationist doctrine on the person of Christ, a Sabellian theory of the Trinity, and a theory of the Lord's supper in some points differing from that of the strict Lutherans.