Heinrich Weinel (28 April 1874, Vonhausen – 29 September 1936,

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

) was a German

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

theologian 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 ...

Biography

He studied at the universities of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

and

Giessen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univer ...

, and in 1900 became an inspector of evangelical-theological seminaries in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

. From 1904 he was an associate professor at the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

, where in 1907 he became a full professor of

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

studies. Beginning in 1926 he taught classes in

systematic theology Systematic theology, or systematics, is a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith. It addresses issues such as what the Bible teaches about certain topic ...

at Jena. He was co-founder of the ''Freien Volkskirche'', whose magazine he published from 1919. During his career, he labored for a popularization of

liberal Protestant Liberal Christianity, also known as Liberal Theology and historically as Christian Modernism (see Catholic modernism and Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy), is a movement that interprets Christian teaching by taking into consideration ...

theology. In his numerous works, Weinel wrote on the history and theology of

early Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewis ...

from a "

history of religions The history of religion refers to the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BC). The prehistory of religion involves th ...

" perspective.

Selected works

* ''Mašaḥ und seine Derivate; linguistisch-archäologische Studie'', 1898 – Mashaḥ and its derivatives: a

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

- archaeological study. * ''Die Wirkungen des Geistes und die Geister im nachapostolischen Zeitalter bis auf Irenäus'', 1899 – The effects of the mind and the spirits in the post-Apostolic period down to

Irenaeus Irenaeus (; grc-gre, Εἰρηναῖος ''Eirēnaios''; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the dev ...

. * ''Jesus im neunzehnten Jahrhundert'', 1903; translated into English by Alban G. Widgery and published as "Jesus in the nineteenth century and after" (1914) * ''Paulus: der Mensch und sein Werk : Die Anfänge des Christentums, der Kirche und des Dogmas'', 1904; translated into English by Rev. G. A. Bienemann and edited by Rev. W. D. Morrison, and published as "St. Paul, the man and his work" (1906). * ''Ibsen, Björnson, Nietzsche : Individualismus und Christentum'', 1908 – Henrik Ibsen,

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguishe ...

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...

; Individualism and Christianity. * ''Biblische Theologie des Neuen Testaments : die Religion Jesu und des Urchristentums'', 1913 – Biblical theology of the New Testament, the religion of Jesus and early Christianity. * ''Die Gleichnisse Jesu. Zugleich eine Anleitung zu einem quellenmäßigen Verständnis der Evangelien'', third edition (1910) – The parables of Jesus.HathiTrust Digital Library
published works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weinel, Heinrich 1874 births 1936 deaths 20th-century German Protestant theologians Critics of the Christ myth theory Academic staff of the University of Jena University of Giessen alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni People from Büdingen