Adolf Von Harnack

HARNACK, ADOLF VON German theo logian, was born on May 7, 1851 at Dorpat, Estonia, where his father, Theodosius Harnack (1817-99), author of a well-known work—Luther's Theologie (1862-68; new ed., 1926)—was pro fessor of pastoral theology. Adolf studied at Dorpat and at Leipzig, where he became privatdozent (1874) and professor extraordinarius (1876). He occupied chairs at Giessen (1879), Marburg (1886-89) and Berlin (1889-1924). He was also direc tor of the Prussian National Library (1905-21) and president of the Evangelical Congress (1902-12) . He was ennobled in 1914.

Harnack's chief work, Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte (4 vols., 5886-90; 6th ed. 1922, in Grundriss der theol. Wiss.; Eng. trans. 7 vols., 1894-99), strongly affected Protestant thought both in Germany and in other countries. He traces the rise of dogma, by which he understands the authoritative doctrinal system of the 4th century, and its development down to the Reformation. His general thesis is that in its origins the Christian faith was so strongly influenced by the contemporary developments of Greek thought that much that was inessential to Christianity found its way into the beliefs and practice of the Church. Therefore, Prot estant Christians were free, even bound, to criticize dogma (in the sense understood by Harnack). In fact, he tried to reconcile Lutheran doctrine with modern tendencies of thought, finding his justification by reference to early church history, of which he was an acknowledged master. He was violently attacked for unortho doxy, and his appointment to Berlin in 1888 was opposed by con servative Lutheran authorities. There he was drawn into contro versy over the Apostles' Creed, which, he maintained, in his Das Apostolische Glaubensbekenntnis (1892), contained both too much and too little to be a satisfactory test for candidates for ordination. At Berlin he held a seminar, in which he trained a body of students to distrust speculative theology, and to demand absolute freedom and an open mind in the study of Church history and of the Bible. He died at Heidelberg on June I o, 1930.

Harnack's other works include:

Das Moncktum, seine Ideale and seine Geschichte (1881, loth ed., 1921) ; Geschichte der alt cliristlichen Literatur bis Eusebius (3 vols. 1893-1904), incom plete; Das W esen des Christentums (1900 and many later ed.; Eng. trans. What is Christianity, 1901) ; Die Mission and Aus breitung des Christentums in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten (1902; 4th ed. 1914; Eng. trans. 2 vols., ; a collection of papers, Beitrage zur Einleitung in das Neue Testament (4 parts 1906 I I ; Eng. trans. of some of these : Luke the Physician, 1907, and others) ; Entstehung and Entwicklung der Kirchenver f assung and des .Kirchenrechts in den drei ersten Jahrhunderten (191 0) ; Marcion (Leipzig, 1921) ; Brie f sammlung des Apostel Paulus (1926). With 0. L. von Gebhardt and T. Zahn he published Patrum apostolicorum opera (1876) ; with Gebhardt and K. Schmidt, the periodical, Texte and Untersuchungen z. Gesch. der altchristl. Lit. (Giessen, 1882, seq.).

A complete bibliography is given in a special Harnack number of Naturenssenschaft (vol. xix., 1926) . See his own Erforschtes and Erlebtes (1922).