Julius August Ludwig Wegscheider (27 September 177127 January 1849), was a German

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

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 ...

Life

Wegscheider was born at Küblingen (now a part of

Schöppenstedt Schöppenstedt is a small town in the district of Wolfenbüttel, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the ''Samtgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") of Elm-Asse. Geography It is situated southwest of the Elm and Asse hil ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

). He studied theology at the

University of Helmstedt The University of Helmstedt (german: Universität Helmstedt; official Latin name: ''Academia Julia'', "Julius University"), was a university in Helmstedt in the Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel that existed from 1576 until 1810. History Founded ...

, where he was a pupil of

Heinrich Philipp Konrad Henke Heinrich Philipp Konrad Henke (3 July 1752 – 2 May 1809), German theologian, best known as a writer on church history, was born at Hehlen, Brunswick-Lüneburg. He was the father of historian Ernst Ludwig Theodor Henke (1804–1872). He receiv ...

. From 1795 to 1805, he worked as a tutor to the family of a wealthy

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

merchant. In 1805 he presented a dissertation titled ''Graecorum mysteriis religioni non obtrudendis'' at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

. He then served as a professor of theology at the University of

Rinteln Rinteln () is a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the banks of the Weser river above the Porta Westfalica. The town of Rinteln is in the broad valley between the hills of the Weserbergland and the North Lippe Bergland. In rela ...

(1806–1810), and at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

from 1810 onwards. Wegscheider was a leading figure of dogmatic theological rationalism—for instance, he considered

supernatural revelation In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religious meaning of knowledge, knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entiti ...

to be an impossibility. Because of his rationalist teachings, he, along with his colleague

Wilhelm Gesenius Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius (3 February 178623 October 1842) was a German orientalist, lexicographer, Christian Hebraist, Lutheran theologian, Biblical scholar and critic. Biography Gesenius was born at Nordhausen. In 1803 he became a s ...

, were attacked by followers of

Supernaturalism Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

, creating a situation that led to a government investigation (1830). Ultimately, he retained his office at Halle, but lost his former influence.

Principal works

* ''Über die von der neuesten Philosophie geforderte Trennung der Moral von der Religion'', 1804On the latest philosophy requiring separation of morality from religion. * ''Versuch einer vollständigen Einleitung in das Evangelium Johannis'', 1806Attempt of a complete introduction to the

Gospel of John The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...

. * ''Institutiones theologicae dogmaticae'', 1815; to which Wilhelm Steiger's ''Kritik des Rationalismus in Wegscheiders Dogmatik'' (1830) was a reply.

Books about Wegscheider

* "Leben und Werk des Hallenser Theologen Julius Wegscheider (1771–1849) : mit unveröffentlichten Briefen an Eduard Reuss"; by Jean Marcel Vincent, Waltrop : Spenner, 1997. Series: Wissen und Kritik, Bd. 13.WorldCat.org
Leben und Werk des Hallenser Theologen Julius Wegscheider

References

External links

WorldCat Identities
(publications) {{DEFAULTSORT:Wegscheider, Julius 1771 births 1849 deaths People from Wolfenbüttel (district) 19th-century German Protestant theologians People from the Duchy of Brunswick University of Helmstedt alumni Academic staff of the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg 19th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers