August Hahn (27 March 1792 – 13 May 1863) was a German
Protestant
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 ...
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
Hahn was born at Großosterhausen (now part of
Eisleben
Eisleben is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is famous as both the hometown of the influential theologian Martin Luther and the place where he died; hence, its official name is Lutherstadt Eisleben. First mentioned in the late 10th century, E ...
). He studied there, and then studied theology at the
University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...
and at
Wittenberg
Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north o ...
. In 1819, he was nominated professor extraordinarius of theology and pastor at the Altstädtische Kirche in Königsberg in Prussia; and in 1820, he received a superintendency in that city. In 1822, he became professor ordinarius. In 1826, he became professor ordinarius of theology at Leipzig, where, hitherto distinguished only as editor of
Bardesanes
Bardaisan (11 July 154 – 222 AD; syr, ܒܪ ܕܝܨܢ, ''Bardaiṣān''), known in Arabic as Ibn Daisan (ابن ديصان) and in Latin as Bardesanes, was a Syriac-speaking Assyrian or ParthianProds Oktor Skjaervo. ''Bardesanes''. Encyclopædia ...
,
Marcion
Marcion of Sinope (; grc, Μαρκίων ; ) was an early Christian theologian in early Christianity. Marcion preached that God had sent Jesus Christ who was an entirely new, alien god, distinct from the vengeful God of Israel who had created ...
(''Marcions Evangelium in seiner ursprünglichen Gestalt'', 1823), and Ephraem Syrus, and the joint editor of a ''Syrische Chrestomathie'' (1824), he came into great prominence as the author of the treatise ''De rationalismi qui dicitur vera indole et qua cum naturalismo contineatur ratione'' (1827), and also of an ''Offene Erklärung an die Evangelische Kirche zunächst in Sachsen und Preussen'' (1827), in which, as a member of the school of E. W. Hengstenberg, he endeavoured to convince the rationalists that it was their duty voluntarily and at once to secede from the Protestant churches.
In 1833, Hahn's pamphlet against K. G. Bretschneider (''Über die Lage des Christenthums in unserer Zeit'', 1832) having attracted the notice of
Frederick William III
Frederick William III (german: Friedrich Wilhelm III.; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, wh ...
, he was called to Breslau as theological professor and consistorial councillor at the Breslau
Consistory
Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to:
*A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church
* Consistor ...
, and in 1843 became general superintendent of the ecclesiastical
province of Silesia
The Province of Silesia (german: Provinz Schlesien; pl, Prowincja Śląska; szl, Prowincyjŏ Ślōnskŏ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1919. The Silesia region was part of the Prussian realm since 1740 and established as an official p ...
. In 1845 as general superintendent he made it obligatory again that pastors in the Silesian ecclesiastical province had to declare their allegiance to the Augsburg Confession on their ordination, easing the conflict among Silesian Lutherans who fought the Prussian Union of churches of Lutheran and Reformed confession since 1817. However, this did not prevent anymore the royal recognition of the seceded Old LutheranEvangelical Lutheran Church in Prussia in 1845, seated in Breslau. He died at Breslau.
Writings
Though uncompromising in his supranaturalism, he did not altogether satisfy the men of his own school by his own doctrinal system. The first edition of his ''Lehrbuch des christlichen Glaubens'' (1828) was freely characterized as lacking in consistency and as detracting from the strength of the old positions in many important points. Many of these defects, however, he is considered to have remedied in his second edition (1857).
Other works:
*An edition of the
Karl Lachmann
Karl Konrad Friedrich Wilhelm Lachmann (; 4 March 1793 – 13 March 1851) was a German philologist and critic. He is particularly noted for his foundational contributions to the field of textual criticism.
Biography
Lachmann was born in Brun ...
, Georg C. Knapp and Johann M. A. Scholz.
* ''Bibliothek der Symbole and Glaubensregeln der apostolisch-katholischen Kirche'' (1842; 2nd ed. 1877)
* ''Predigten'' (1852).
Family
His son
Heinrich Heinrich may refer to:
People
* Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
* Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
*Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of peo ...