Johann Karl Ludwig Gieseler,
KH (3 March 1792 – 8 July 1854) was a
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 ...
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
church historian.
Biography
He was born at
Petershagen
Petershagen is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It lies on the Westphalian Mill Route. The core is formed by the districts of Petershagen and Lahde, located opposite each other on the Weser.
Geograph ...
, near
Minden
Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detm ...
, where his father, Georg Christof Friedrich, was preacher. In his tenth year he entered the orphanage at
Halle, from which he duly passed to the university, his studies being interrupted in October 1813 by a period of military service, during which he was enrolled as a volunteer in a regiment of chasseurs. On the conclusion of peace (1815) he returned to Halle, and, having in 1817 taken his degree in
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
, he became assistant head (Conrector) of the Minden gymnasium, and in 1818 was appointed director of the gymnasium at
Cleves
Kleve (; traditional en, Cleves ; nl, Kleef; french: Clèves; es, Cléveris; la, Clivia; Low Rhenish: ''Kleff'') is a town in the Lower Rhine region of northwestern Germany near the Dutch border and the River Rhine. From the 11th century ...
.
Here he published his earliest work (''Historisch-kritischer Versuch über die Entstehung u. die frühesten Schicksale der schriftlichen Evangelien''), a treatise which had considerable influence on subsequent investigations as to the origin of the gospels. In 1819 Gieseler was appointed a professor ordinarius in
theology
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 ...
in the newly founded
University of Bonn
The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...
, where, besides lecturing on church history, he made important contributions to the literature of that subject in
Ernst Friedrich Karl Rosenmüller Ernst Friedrich Karl Rosenmüller (10 December 1768 in Heßberg (Hildburghausen) – 17 September 1835 in Leipzig) was a German Orientalist and Protestant theologian.
Biography
He was the eldest son of the rationalist theologian Johann Georg Ro ...
's ''Repertorium'',
KF Stäudlin and
HG Tschirner's ''Archiv'', and in various university "programs."
The first part of the first volume of his well-known ''Church History'' appeared in 1824. In 1831 he accepted a call to
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 ...
as successor to
GJ Planck. He lectured on church history, the history of
dogma
Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...
, and dogmatic theology. In 1837 he was appointed a ''Consistorialrath'', and shortly afterwards was created a knight of the
Royal Guelphic Order
The Royal Guelphic Order (german: Königliche Guelphen-Orden), sometimes referred to as the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, is a Hanoverian order of chivalry instituted on 28 April 1815 by the Prince Regent (later King George IV). It takes its name ...
. The fifth volume of the ''Kirchengeschichte'', embracing the period subsequent to 1814, and ''Dogmengeschichte'', sometimes regarded as a sixth volume of the ''Church History'', were published posthumously in 1855 by ER Redepenning (1810–1883), followed finally by the fourth in 1857. Less vivid and picturesque in style than
Karl Hase
Karl August von Hase (25 August 1800 – 3 January 1890) was a German Protestant theologian and church historian.
Background
He was born at Steinbach (near Penig) in Saxony. He studied at Leipzig and Erlangen, and in 1829 was called to Je ...
, lacking
August Neander
Johann August Wilhelm Neander (17 January 178914 July 1850) was a German theologian and church historian.
Biography
Neander was born at Göttingen as David Mendel. His father, Emmanuel Mendel, is said to have been a Jewish peddler, but August ...
's deep and sympathetic insight into the more spiritual forces by which church life is pervaded, he excels these and all other contemporaries in the fulness and accuracy of his information. His ''Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte'', with its copious references to original authorities, is of great value to the student: "Gieseler wished that each age should speak for itself, since only by this means can the peculiarity of its ideas be fully appreciated." (
Otto Pfleiderer
Otto Pfleiderer (1 September 1839 – 18 July 1908) was a German Protestant theologian. Through his writings and his lectures, he became known as one of the most influential representatives of liberal theology.
Biography
Pfleiderer was born at ...
, ''Development of Theology'', p. 284).
Works
* Historisch-kritischer Versuch über die Entstehung und die frühesten Schicksale der schriftlichen Evangelien, Leipzig 1818
:(full tex
here
* Ueber die Nazaräer und Ebioniten, in ''Archiv für alte und neue Kirchengeschichte'' vol. IV part II, Leipzig 1819
* Etwas über den Reichstag zu Augsburg im Jahre 1530, Hamm 1821
* Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte vol. I-III, Bonn 1824–35, vol. V, VI 1855, vol. IV 1857 (English: ''Text-Book of Ecclesiastical History'', vol. I-III, Philadelphia 1836. New translation: ''A Compendium of Ecclesiastical History'', vol. I-III, Edinburgh 1848. Revised translation: ''A Text-Book of Church History'', vol. I-III, New York 1857–58, vol. IV 1862, vol. V 1880)
References
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gieseler, Johann Karl Ludwig
1792 births
1854 deaths
People from Petershagen
German Lutheran theologians
People from Minden (state)
University of Halle alumni
Academic staff of the University of Bonn
Academic staff of the University of Göttingen
19th-century German Protestant theologians
19th-century German male writers
German male non-fiction writers
19th-century Lutherans