Erich Sauer (1898–1959) was a German

dispensationalist Dispensationalism is a system that was formalized in its entirety by John Nelson Darby. Dispensationalism maintains that history is divided into multiple ages or "dispensations" in which God acts with humanity in different ways. Dispensationali ...

Christian theologian associated with the

Plymouth Brethren The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and non-conformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where they originated from Anglicanism. The group emphasizes ...

. His various books have sold around one million copies.

Early life

Sauer was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

in 1898, his mother was already a Christian and he attended Open Brethren congregations.

Theological views

Sauer's theology was influenced by the political climate of Germany during the rule of

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

. Despite the fact that some

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

periodicals ridiculed the Israel-centered theology of Sauer, he saw Hitler's rise to power as "God's gift of providence" and viewed him as the instrument through which God would bring the Jews to their holy land. Sauer's

soteriology Soteriology (; el, σωτηρία ' "salvation" from σωτήρ ' "savior, preserver" and λόγος ' "study" or "word") is the study of religious doctrines of salvation. Salvation theory occupies a place of special significance in many religio ...

has been often associated with

Free Grace theology Free grace is a Christian soteriological view that rejects the necessity of good works in salvation, Free Grace advocates believe that good works are not the condition to merit (as with Catholics), maintain (as with Arminians), or to prove (as wit ...

, he argued that although justification is a free gift of

grace Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...

, the degree of one's glorification depends upon one's good deeds in this life. Sauer believed in the

inerrancy of scripture Biblical inerrancy is the belief that the Bible "is without error or fault in all its teaching"; or, at least, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact". Some equate inerrancy with biblical i ...

and

dispensational premillennialism Dispensationalism is a system that was formalized in its entirety by John Nelson Darby. Dispensationalism maintains that history is divided into multiple ages or "dispensations" in which God acts with humanity in different ways. Dispensationali ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sauer, Erich 1898 births 1959 deaths 20th-century evangelicals 20th-century German male writers 20th-century German non-fiction writers 20th-century German Protestant theologians Dispensationalism Evangelical theologians German Evangelical writers German male non-fiction writers German Plymouth Brethren German religious writers