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HARNACK, ADOLF (1851– )

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 10 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HARNACK, ADOLF (1851– ) , See also:German theologian, was See also:born on the 7th of May 1851 at Dorpat, in See also:Russia, where his See also:father, See also:Theodosius Harnack (1817–1889), held a professorship of See also:pastoral See also:theology. Theodosius Harnack was a staunch Lutheran and a prolific writer on theological subjects; his See also:chief See also:field of See also:work was See also:practical theology, and his important See also:book on that subject, summing up his See also:long experience and teaching, appeared at See also:Erlangen (1817–1878, 2 vols.). The See also:liturgy of the Lutheran See also:church of Russia has, since 1888, been based on his Liturgische Formulare (1872). The son pursued his studies at Dorpat (1869–1872) and at See also:Leipzig, where he took his degree; and soon afterwards (1874) began lecturing as a Privatdozent. These lectures, which dealt with such See also:special subjects as See also:Gnosticism and the See also:Apocalypse, attracted considerable See also:attention, and in 1876 he was appointed See also:professor extraordinarius. In the same See also:year he began the publication, in See also:conjunction with O. L. von Gebhardt and T. Zahn, of an edition of the See also:works of the Apostolic Fathers, Patrum apostolicorum See also:opera, a smaller edition of which appeared in 1877. Three years later he was called to See also:Giessen as professor ordinarius of church See also:history. There he collaborated with Oscar See also:Leopold von Gebhardt in Texte and Untersuchungen zur Geschithte der altchristlichen Litteratur (1882 sqq.), an irregular periodical, containing only essays in New Testament and patristic See also:fields. In 1881 he published a work on See also:monasticism, Das Monchtum, See also:seine Ideate and seine Geschichte (5th ed., 'goo; See also:English See also:translation, Igor), and became See also:joint-editor with Emil See also:Schurer of the Theologische Literaturzeitung. In 1885 he published the first See also:volume of his See also:epoch-making work, Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte (3rd ed. in three volumes, 1894–1898; English translation in seven volumes, 1894–1899).

In this work Harnack traces the rise of See also:

dogma, by which he understands the authoritative doctrinal See also:system of the 4th See also:century and its development down to the See also:Reformation. He considers that in its earliest origins See also:Christian faith and the methods of See also:Greek thought were so closely intermingled that much that is not essential to See also:Christianity found its way into the resultant system. Therefore Protestants are not only See also:free, but See also:bound, to criticize it; indeed, for a See also:Protestant Christian, dogma cannot be said to exist. An abridgment of this appeared in 188g with the See also:title Grundriss der Dogmengeschichte (3rd ed., 1898). In 1886 Harnack was called to See also:Marburg; and in 1888, in spite of violent opposition from the conservative See also:section of the church authorities, to See also:Berlin. In 1890 he became a member of the See also:Academy of Sciences. At Berlin, somewhat against his will, he was See also:drawn into a controversy on the Apostles' Creed, in which the patty antagonisms within the Prussian Church had found expression. Harnack's view is that the creed contains both too much and too little to be a satisfactory test for candidates for ordination, and he would prefer a briefer See also:symbol which could be rigorously exacted from all (cf. his Das apostolische Glaubensbekenntnis. Ein geschichtlicher Buick nebst einem Nachworte, 1892; 27th ed., 1896). At Berlin Harnack continued his See also:literary labours. In 1893 he published a history of See also:early Christian literature down to Euseblus, Geschichte der altchristl. Litteratur bis See also:Eusebius (See also:part 2 of vol. i., 1897); and in 1900 appeared his popular lectures, Das Wesen See also:des Christentums (5th ed., 19o1; English translation, What is Christianity?

1901; 3rd ed., 1904). One of his more See also:

recent See also:historical works is See also:Die See also:Mission and Ausbreitung des Christentums in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten (1902; English translation in two volumes, 1904–1905). It has been followed by some very interesting and important New Testament studies (Beitrage zur Einleitung in das neue Testament, 1906 sqq.; Engl. trans.: See also:Luke the Physician, 1907; The Sayings of Jesus, 1908). Harnack, both as lecturer and writer, was one of the most prolific and most stimulating of See also:modern See also:critical scholars, and trained up in his " Seminar" a whole See also:generation of teachers, who carried his ideas and methods throughout the whole–of See also:Germany and even beyond its See also:borders. His distinctive See also:character= istics are his claim for See also:absolute freedom in the .study of church history and the New Testament; his distrust of speculative theology, whether orthodox or liberal; his See also:interest in practical Christianity as a religious See also:life and not a system of theology. Some of his addresses on social matters have been published under the heading " Essays on the Social See also:Gospel (1907).

End of Article: HARNACK, ADOLF (1851– )

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