Wilhelm Theophor Dittenberger (30 April 1807, in

Teningen Teningen is a municipality in the district of Emmendingen, in the state Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is situated on the river Elz, 15 km north of Freiburg. Geography Location Teningen is set on the edge of the Black Forest moun ...

– 11 May 1871, in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

) 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 ...

. He was the father of classical philologist Wilhelm Dittenberger (1840–1906) and son-in-law to theologian

Karl Daub Karl Daub (20 March 176522 November 1836) was a German Protestant theologian. Biography He was born at Kassel. He studied philosophy, philology and theology at Marburg in 1786, and eventually (1795) became professor ordinarius of theology at t ...

(1765–1836). The elder Dittenberger was considered to be one of the leaders of

liberal Protestantism 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 m ...

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...

. He studied theology at the Universities of

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, then embarked on a study trip that took him to almost all the universities in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. In 1832 he obtained his habilitation at Heidelberg, and subsequently worked as a lecturer, university preacher, and as a pastor at the Heilig-Geist-Kirche in Heidelberg.ADB:Dittenberger, Theophor Wilhelm
at

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 ...

From 1847 to 1852, he was a professor of theology at the University of Heidelberg, afterwards serving as ''Kirchenrath'', ''Oberhofprediger'' and ''Oberpfarrer'' in

. Along with Karl Zittel (1802–1871), he published the ''Zeitschrift für deutsch-protestantische Kirchenverfassung'' (Journal of the German Protestant Church constitution). He played an important role in the Baden General Synod (1843) as well as in the Gustav-Adolfs-Vereins.

Selected works

* ''Ueber Predigerseminarien: Mit Berücksichtigung der zu Herborn, Loccum und Wittenberg vorhandenen und in Bezug auf die Errichtung eines solchen im Großherzogthum Baden'', Heidelberg 1835 – On preacher seminaries, etc. * ''Geographie für Lyceen, Gymnasien, Mittelschulen und zum Privatunterrichte'', Heidelberg 1837 –

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

for lyceums, high schools, middle schools and private lessons. * ''Die Universität Heidelberg im Jahre 1804: Ein Beitrag zu ihrer Geschichte'', Heidelberg 1844 – The University of Heidelberg in 1804: A review of its history. With

Philip Marheineke Philip Konrad Marheineke (May 1, 1780, Hildesheim – May 31, 1846, Berlin), was a German Protestant church leader within the Evangelical Church in Prussia. Life He was born at Hildesheim, Bishopric of Hildesheim, and studied at the University ...

, he edited Daub's ''Vorlesungen über die philosophische Anthropologie'' (1838); (Lectures on

philosophical anthropology Philosophical anthropology, sometimes called anthropological philosophy, is a discipline dealing with questions of metaphysics and phenomenology of the human person. History Ancient Christian writers: Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo wa ...

).Catalog HathiTrust
Vorlesungen über die philosophische Anthropologie

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dittenberger, Wilhelm Theophor 1807 births 1871 deaths University of Halle alumni Heidelberg University alumni Academic staff of Heidelberg University People from Emmendingen (district) 19th-century German Protestant theologians German Protestant clergy