Willibald Beyschlag

Johann Heinrich Christoph Willibald Beyschlag (5 September 1823 25 November 1900 in Halle an der Saale) was a German theologian from Frankfurt am Main.

Biography

He studied theology at the Universities of Bonn and Berlin, afterwards serving as an assistant pastor in Koblenz (1849), then as a pastor in Trier (1850) and during the following year, began working as a religious instructor in Mainz. In 1856 he became a court preacher in Karlsruhe, and four years later was appointed a professor of practical theology and New Testament exegesis at the University of Halle.[1]

He was the leader of the Evangelical Mittelpartei ("Middle Party"), and in 1876, with Albrecht Wolters, founded the Deutsch-evangelischen Blätter (a publication of the Mittelpartei in the Kirche der Altpreußischen Union). Because of the combatative nature of the magazine, he was once sued for libel.[1][2] Also, he was a primary catalyst in the founding of the Evangelische Bund (Protestant Confederation) [3] he believed that only in unity could German Protestantism find strength.

He was a leading supporter of the Vermittlungstheologie and was opposed to Chalcedonian Christology.[3] Also, he stood for the rights of the laity, and believed in the autonomy of the church, leading him to be in favor of separation of church and state.[4][5] Beyschlag was viewed as an antagonist of the Roman Catholic Church and a sharp critic of Ultramontanism.[1]

Selected works

In 1891 he published Neutestamentliche Theologie, oder, geschichtliche Darstellung der lehren Jesu und des Urchristenthums nach den neutestamentlichen Quellen, a book that was later translated into English and published as "New Testament theology; or, Historical account of the teaching of Jesus and of primitive Christianity according to the New Testament sources" (translation by Rev. Neil Buchanan; 1895). The following are a few of his many other writings.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Catalogus-professorum-halensis biography of Willibald Beyschlag
  2. Catalogus-professorum-halensis biography of Albrecht Wolters
  3. 3.0 3.1 Oxford Reference Willibald Beyschlag, Overview
  4. Google Books The Encyclopædia Britannica: The New Volumes; Volume 3
  5.  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Beyschlag, Willibald". Encyclopædia Britannica 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  6. Catalog HathiTrust published works