Ferdinand Christian Baur
Ferdinand Christian Baur | |
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Tübingen School |
Ferdinand Christian Baur (21 June 1792 – 2 December 1860) was a German
Baur's views were radical, but "one thing is certain: New Testament study, since his time, has had a different colour" (H.S. Nash). He had a number of followers, who in many cases modified his positions, and the groundwork laid by Baur continues to be built upon in the twenty-first century.
Early years
Baur was born at
Early works
When, a few years after his appointment at Blaubeuren, he published his first important work, Symbolik und Mythologie oder die Naturreligion des Altertums ("Symbol and mythology: the natural religion of Antiquity", 1824–1825), it became evident that he had made a deeper study of
Simon Magus and Paul
Baur rested his ideas about the New Testament on the
Throughout the middle of the 19th century this theory, in many forms, was dominant in Germany. The demonstration, mainly by English scholars, of the impossibility of the late dates ascribed to the New Testament documents (four Epistles of St. Paul and the Apocalypse were the only documents generally admitted as being of early date), and the proofs of the authenticity of the Apostolic Fathers and of the use of St. John's Gospel by Justin, Papias, and Ignatius, gradually brought Baur's theories into discredit.[
- R. 2nd century: Friedrich August Gottreu Tholuck (1799-1877), and August Friedrich Gfrörer(1803-1861).
- R. 2nd or 3rd century: Schröck, Stark, Lumper, Krabbe, Locherer, Gersdorf.
- R. 3rd century: Strunzius (on Bardesanes, 1710), Weismann (17l8), Mosheim, Kleuker, Schmidt (Kirchengesch.)
- R. 4th century: Corrodi, Lentz (Dogmengesch.).
- H. 2nd century (beginning): Credner, Bretschneider, Kern, Rothe.
- H. 2nd century: Clericus, Beausobre, Flügge, Münscher, Hoffmann, Döllinger, Hilgers; (middle of 2nd) Hase.
- H. end of 2nd century: Schröck, Cölln, Gieseler (3rd ed.), Schenkel, Gfrörer, Lücke.
- H. 3rd century: Mill, Mosheim, Gallandi, Gieseler (2nd ed.).
- H. 2nd or 3rd century: Neander, Krabbe, Baur, Ritter, Paniel, Dähne.
- H. 4th century: Lentz.
Hegel's influence
Meantime Baur had exchanged one master in philosophy for another, Schleiermacher for
Pauline epistles
The theory is further developed in a later work (1835, the year in which
He next proceeded to investigate other
Early Christian conflicts
We are rich in our Christian faith, we become poor if we enter into a compromise with anti-Trinitarianism in any form. F. C. Baur, the father of the Tubingen School, who cannot be accused of being a friend of traditional orthodoxy, was correct in his statement that Christianity would have lost its character as the universal religion of mankind if Arianism had been triumphant at Nicea.
Baur was prepared to apply his theory to the whole of the
Baur's theory starts with the supposition that Christianity was gradually developed out of
Theology
Baur was a theologian and historian as well as a Biblical critic. As early as 1834 he published a strictly theological work, Gegensatz des Katholicismus und Protestantismus nach den Prinzipien und Hauptdogmen der beiden Lehrbegriffe, a strong defence of Protestantism on the lines of Schleiermacher's Glaubenslehre, and a vigorous reply to J. Möhler's Symbolik (1833). This was followed by his larger histories of dogma, Die christliche Lehre von der Versöhnung in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwicklung bis auf die neueste Zeit (1838), Die christliche Lehre von der Dreieinigkeit und Menschwerdung Gottes in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwicklung (3 vols., 1841–1843), and the Lehrbuch der christlichen Dogmengeschichte (1847). The value of these works is impaired somewhat by Baur's habit of making the history of dogma conform to the formulae of Hegel's philosophy, a procedure "which only served to obscure the truth and profundity of his conception of history as a true development of the human mind" (Pfleiderer). Baur, however, soon came to attach more importance to personality, and to distinguish more carefully between religion and philosophy. The change is noticeable in his Epochen der kirchlichen Geschichtschreibung (1852), Das Christenthum und die christliche Kirche der drei ersten Jahrhunderte (1853), and Die christliche Kirche von Anfang des vierten bis zum Ende das sechsten Jahrhunderts (1859), works preparatory to his Kirchengeschichte, in which the change of view is specially pronounced.[6]
Death and posthumous publication
Baur died, aged 68, in Tübingen. The Kirchengeschichte was published in five volumes during the years 1853-1863, partly by Baur himself, partly by his son, Ferdinand Baur, and his son-in-law, Eduard Zeller, from notes and lectures which the author left behind him. Pfleiderer describes this work, especially the first volume, as a classic for all time. "Taken as a whole, it is the first thorough and satisfactory attempt to explain the rise of Christianity and the Church on strictly historical lines, i.e. as a natural development of the religious spirit of our race under the combined operation of various human causes" (Development of Theology, p. 288). Baur's lectures on the history of dogma, Ausführlichere Vorlesungen uber die christliche Dogmengeschichte, were published later by his son (1865–1868).[6]
Tübingen School
The Tübingen School was at the height of its influence in the 1840s, but lost ground to later historical analysis.[3] Since Adolf von Harnack proposed very early dates for the synoptics and Acts (c. 1910), the Tübingen School has been generally abandoned.[7]
References
- ^ "Hilgenfeld, Adolf" and "Tübingen School." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
- ^ "Schwegler, Albert" and "Tübingen School." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
- ^ a b "Tübingen School." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
- ^ a b c d e Canney 1911, p. 540.
- ^ Canney 1911, pp. 540–541.
- ^ a b c Canney 1911, p. 541.
- ^ "Harnack, Adolf" and "Tübingen School." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
Sources
- Otto Pfleiderer (1890). Development of Theology
- public domain: Canney, Maurice Arthur (1911). "Baur, Ferdinand Christian". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 540–541. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
Further reading
- Harris, H. (1975). The Tübingen School. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0198266421.
- Hodgson, P. C. (1966). The Formation of Historical Theology: A Study of Ferdinand Christian Baur. New York: Harper & Row.
External links
- Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ, his life and work, his Epistles and his Doctrine translated by Eduard Zeller
- Church History of the First Three Centuries Vol 1 1878 English translation
- Church History of the First Three Centuries Vol 2 English
- A Philological introduction to Greek and Latin for students translated by Paul Kegen 1879
- F.C. Baur on the Higher Criticism; a brief quote
- Tubingen School Archived 26 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine, summary