Julius Wilhelm Martin Kaftan (30 September 1848 in

Loit Loit ( da, Løjt) is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous countr ...

, North Schleswig – 27 August 1926,

Berlin-Steglitz Steglitz () is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in Southwestern Berlin, the capital of Germany. is a Slavic name for the European goldfinch, similar to the German . Steglitz was also a borough from 1920 to 2000. It contained the ...

) was a German Protestant

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

Kaftan studied theology at the Universities of

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 ...

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 ...

and

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

. In 1874 he became an associate professor at the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universit ...

, where in 1881 he was named a full professor of dogmatics and ethics. In 1883 he returned to Berlin as a successor to

Isaak August Dorner Isaak August Dorner (20 June 1809 – 8 July 1884) was a German Lutheran church leader. He was a meditating theologian in nineteenth-century Germany who served as a professor of theology at the University of Berlin and had an international influenc ...

. In 1906/07 he served as

university rector A rector (Latin for 'ruler') is a senior official in an educational institution, and can refer to an official in either a university or a secondary school. Outside the English-speaking world the rector is often the most senior official in a un ...

.Kaftan, Julius
at Deutsche BiographieJulius Willy Martin Kaftan
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin From 1904 to 1925 he was a member of the Evangelical ''Oberkirchenrats'' (High Church Council) of the Prussian State Church, and since 1921, served as its spiritual vice-president. In this capacity, he was involved in the new church constitution of the Old Prussian Union (1922) and was chairman of the social committee of the German Federation of Protestant Churches. Early in his career he was influenced by the teachings of Kant and Schleiermacher. Later on, he became a follower of Albrecht Ritschl, belonging to the conservative wing of the so-called "Ritschlian School". Unlike Ritschl, he placed particular emphasis on the importance of mystical experience in religion.

Published works

In 1897 he first published ''Dogmatik'', which was for many years a standard work for young theologians (8th edition, 1920). His ''Die Wahrheit der christlichen Religion'' (1888) was later translated into English and published as "The truth of the Christian religion" (1894). Other noted works by Kaftan are: * ''Die Predigt des Evangeliums im modernen Geistesleben'' (1879) – The preaching of the Gospel in the modern spiritual life. * ''Das Wesen der christlichen Religion'' (1881) – The essence of the Christian religion. * ''Das Christentum und Nietzsches herrenmoral'' (1897) – Christianity and Nietzsche's master morality. * ''Jesus und Paulus; eine freundschaftliche Streitschrift gegen die Religionsgeschichtlichen Volkbücker von D. Bousset und D. Wrede'' (1906) – Jesus and Paul; a friendly polemic against the history of religions books of

Wilhelm Bousset Wilhelm Bousset (3 September 1865, Lübeck – 8 March 1920, Gießen) was a German theologian and New Testament scholar. He was of Huguenot ancestry and a native of Lübeck. His most influential work was ''Kyrios Christos'', an attempt to explain ...

and William Wrede. * ''Philosophie des Protestantismus'' (1917) – Philosophy and

Protestantism 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 ...

.HathiTrust Digital Library
published works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaftan, Julius 1848 births 1926 deaths Humboldt University of Berlin faculty University of Basel faculty 19th-century German Protestant theologians 20th-century German Protestant theologians People from Schleswig-Flensburg

Biography

Published works

Further reading

References