Karl August von Hase (25 August 1800 – 3 January 1890) 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 ...

and church historian.

Background

He was born at Steinbach (near

Penig Penig () is a town in the district of Mittelsachsen, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Zwickauer Mulde, 19 km northwest of Chemnitz. The old and the new castle were owned by the House of Schönburg from 1378 u ...

) in

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

. He studied at

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

and

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 ...

, and in 1829 was called to

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 popu ...

as professor of theology. He retired in 1883 and was made a baron. He was the great-grandfather of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Hase's aim was to reconcile modern culture with historical Christianity in a scientific way. But though a liberal theologian, he was no dry rationalist. Indeed, he vigorously attacked

rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification".Lacey, A.R. (1996), ''A Dictionary of Philosophy' ...

, as distinguished from the rational principle, charging it with being unscientific inasmuch as it ignored the historical significance of Christianity, shut its eyes to individuality and failed to give religious feeling its due.

Works

His views are presented scientifically in his
Evangelisch-protestantische Dogmatik
' (1826; 6th edition, 1870), the value of which "lies partly in the full and judiciously chosen historical materials prefixed to each dogma, and partly in the skill, caution and tact with which the permanent religious significance of various dogmas is discussed" ( Otto Pfleiderer). More popular in style is his ''Gnosis: Oder evangelische Glaubenslehre, für die gebildeten in der Gemeinde'',
volume 1, 1827volume 2, 1828volume 3, 1829
second edition in two volumes, 1869 & 1870). But his reputation rests chiefly on his treatment of church history in his
Kirchengeschichte, Lehrbuch zunächst für akademische Vorlesungen
' (1834, 12th edition, 1900
English translation, 1870
. His biographical studies,
Franz von Assisi
' (1856; second edition, 1892),
Caterina von Siena
' (1864; second edition, 1892), ''Neue Propheten (Die Jungfrau von Orleans, Savonarola, Thomas Münzer)'' are judicious and sympathetic. Other works are: * ''Hutterus Redivivus, or, doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church'' (1827; 12th edition, 1883), a work in which he sought to present the teaching of the Protestant church in such a way as Leonhard Hutter would have reconstructed it, had he still been alive. *
Das Leben Jesu
' (1829; 5th edition, 1865
English translation, 1860
; in an enlarged form, ''Geschichte Jesu'' (second edition, 1891). *
Handbuch der protestantischen Polemik gegen die Römisch-katholische Kirche
' (1862; 7th edition, 1900; English translation
volume 1volume 2
1906). For his life, see his
Ideale und Irrtümer
' (1872; 5th edition, 1894) and
Annalen meines Lebens
' (1891); and for comparison — Otto Pfleiderer
"The development of theology in Germany since Kant"
(1890) and Frédéric Lichtenberger
"History of German theology in the nineteenth century" (1889)

References

*
Biography
@

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Aca ...

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hase, Karl August von 1800 births 1890 deaths 19th-century German Protestant theologians University of Jena faculty 19th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers