Julius Müller (10 April 1801 – 27 September 1878) was a German Protestant

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

Biography

He was born at Brieg (now

Brzeg Brzeg (; Latin: ''Alta Ripa'', German: ''Brieg'', Silesian German: ''Brigg'', , ) is a town in southwestern Poland with 34,778 inhabitants (December 2021) and the capital of Brzeg County. It is situated in Silesia in the Opole Voivodeship on t ...

, Poland) and studied at Breslau,

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) 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. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

– first law, which he later abandoned for theology. From 1825 to 1831, he was in charge of several small parishes. In 1831, he was second university preacher at

Göttingen University Göttingen (, ; ; ) 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. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

, and lectured on practical theology and pedagogics. In 1834, he became professor extraordinarius of theology there. From 1835 to 1839 he was professor in

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

. In 1839 he became professor ordinarius of theology at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

, where he remained for the rest of his life. He died at Halle. A disciple of Neander and friend of

Richard Rothe Richard Rothe (28 January 1799 – 20 August 1867) was a German Lutheran theology, theologian. Biography Richard Rothe was born at Poznań, Posen, then part of Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia. He studied theology in the universities of university of ...

, Müller bitterly opposed the philosophy of

G. W. F. Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealism, German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political phi ...

and the criticism of F. C. Baur. His book, ''Über den Gegensatz des Protestantismus und das Catholicismus'' (''On the Opposition of Protestantism and Catholicism'', 1833), called forth a reply from Baur, and he was one of those who attacked

David Strauss David Friedrich Strauss (; ; 27 January 1808 – 8 February 1874) was a German liberal Protestant theologian and writer, who influenced Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus", whose divine nature he explored via myth. St ...

's ''Life of Jesus''. In 1846, he had been deputed to attend the General Evangelical Synod at Berlin. Here he supported the Consensus-Union and afterwards defended himself in the pamphlets ''Die erste Generalsynode der evangelische Landeskirche Preussens'' (1847) and ''Die evangelische Union, ihr Wesen und göttliches Recht'' (1854). In 1848 he helped to found the ''Deutsch-Evangelische Kirchentag'', and two years later founded and edited (1850–1861), with

August Neander Johann August Wilhelm Neander (17 January 1789 14 July 1850) was a German theologian and church historian. Biography Neander was born in Göttingen as David Mendel. His father, Emmanuel Mendel, was said to have been a Jewish peddler. While very ...

and Karl Nitzsch, the ''Deutsche Zeitschrift für christliche Wissenschaft und christliches Leben''. His chief work, however, was ''Die christliche Lehre der Sünde'' (''The Christian Teaching of Sin'', 2 volumes, 1839; 5th edition, 1867; English translation from 5th edition), in which he went so far as "to revive the ancient

Gnostic Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects. These diverse g ...

theory of the fall of man before all time, a theory which found no favour amongst his theological friends." Müller's other works include ''Dogmatische Abhandlungen'' (1870), and ''Das christliche Leben'' (3rd edition, 1847).

Family

His brothers were

Karl Otfried Müller Karl Otfried Müller (; 28 August 1797 – 1 August 1840) was a German professor, scholar of classical Greek studies and philodorian. Biography He was born at Brieg (modern Brzeg) in Silesia, then in the Kingdom of Prussia. His father was a c ...

(1797–1840), an archeologist and philologist, and Eduard Müller (1804–1875), a philologist.

References

* * * Attribution: * This work in turn cites M. Kähler, ''Julius Müller'' (1878); L. Schultze, ''Julius Müller'' (1879) and ''Julius Müller als Ethiker'' (1895).

External links

* * Julius Muller'
"Die Lehre vom Evangelischen Cultus," ca. 1842
is in the Harvard Divinity School Library at

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the religious studies, academic study of religion or for leadership role ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Julius 1801 births 1878 deaths People from Brzeg People from Prussian Silesia 19th-century German Protestant theologians 19th-century German male writers 19th-century German writers German male non-fiction writers University of Breslau alumni University of Göttingen alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Academic staff of the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg Academic staff of the University of Göttingen Academic staff of the University of Marburg