Christoph Friedrich von Ammon (January 16, 1766 – May 21, 1850) was a German

theological Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

writer and preacher. He was born at

Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

and died at

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

. He studied at

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian language, Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative d ...

, held various professorships in the philosophical and theological faculties of

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

, succeeded

Franz Volkmar Reinhard Franz Volkmar Reinhard (12 March 1753 – 6 September 1812) was a German Protestant theologian born in Vohenstrauß. Biography In 1780 he became an associate professor of theology and philosophy at the University of Wittenberg, where he se ...

(1753–1812) in 1813 as court preacher and member of the Upper

Consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church *Consistory ...

of the Church of Saxony at Dresden, retired from these offices in 1849.Ammon, Christoph Friedrich
In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, , S. 253 f. (in German) Seeking to establish for himself a middle position between rationalism and supernaturalism, he declared for a "rational supernaturalism," and contended that there must be a gradual development of

Christian doctrine Christian theology is the theology of Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theologians use biblical exegesis, ...

corresponding to the advance of knowledge and science. But at the same time he sought, like other representatives of this school of thought, such as KG Bretschneider and Julius Wegscheider, to keep in close touch with the historical theology of the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

churches. The term ''Offenbarungsrationalismus'' ("epiphanic rationalism") has been used to express Ammon's intermediate views. Eliasfriedhof_dd_ammon1

He was a man of great versatility and extensive learning, a

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

and

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

as well as a theologian, and a very voluminous author. His principal theological work was the "''Fortbildung des Christenthums zur Weltreligion''", in 4 volumes (Leipzig, 1833–1840); "''Entwurf einer reinen biblischen Theologie''" appeared in 1792 (2nd edition, 1801), "''Summa Theologiae Christianas''" in 1803 (other editions, 1808, 1816, 1830); "''Das Geschichte des Lebens Jesu''" in 1842, and "''Die wahre und falsche Orthodoxie''" in 1849. Von Ammon's style in

preaching A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. El ...

was terse and lively, and some of his discourses are regarded as models of

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

treatment of political questions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ammon, Christoph Friedrich von 1766 births 1850 deaths People from Bayreuth German philologists German Christian theologians Academic staff of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Academic staff of the University of Göttingen Members of the First Chamber of the Diet of the Kingdom of Saxony 19th-century German theologians German male non-fiction writers 19th-century male writers