Martin Kähler (6 January 1835 – 7 September 1912) was a German

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 ...

. He is best known for his short work, published in 1892, ''Der sogenannte historische Jesus und der geschichtliche, biblische Christus'' (The so-called

historical Jesus The term ''historical Jesus'' refers to the life and teachings of Jesus as interpreted through critical historical methods, in contrast to what are traditionally religious interpretations. It also considers the historical and cultural context ...

and the historic, biblical Christ).

Life and career

Kähler was born in Neuhausen (now Guryevsky District) near

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

and died in

Freudenstadt Freudenstadt (, Swabian: ''Fraidestadt'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is the capital of the district Freudenstadt. The closest population centres are Offenburg to the west (approx. 36 km away) and Tübingen to ...

. He had a profound impact upon the famous Protestant theologian,

Paul Tillich Paul Johannes Tillich (; ; August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was a German and American Christian existentialist philosopher, religious socialist, and Lutheran theologian who was one of the most influential theologians of the twenti ...

. According to Kähler, the quest for the historical Jesus ("The Life-of-Jesus research") is challenged by there existing no historical biographies of the life of Jesus. The

gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the second century AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sen ...

serve as our only sources, and they are limited in scope, leaving many unanswered questions. One must resist the urge to speculate too much about the life of Jesus, as some historical analogies and psychoanalyses do. He concludes that we do not need to know all the details about Jesus' life. All we really need to know is that Jesus died for the sins of the world. It is through him that we are redeemed. Preoccupation with tenuous details about Jesus' life distracts from that which really matters about Jesus - his redeeming death and his subsequent resurrection. Kähler's works were partly edited by his grandson, Ernst Kähler (1914–1991).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kahler, Martin 1835 births 1912 deaths People from Guryevsky District, Kaliningrad Oblast People from the Province of Prussia German Lutheran theologians 19th-century German writers 20th-century German writers 19th-century German Protestant theologians 19th-century German male writers 20th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers 19th-century Lutherans