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Nineteenth Century Theological and Cultural Influences on Adolf Harnack

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

G. Wayne Glick
G. Wayne Glick
Affiliation:
Franklin and Marshall College
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Extract

There are growing evidences of a sense of concern with respect to the interpretation accorded Adolf Harnack and his liberal colleagues in the three decades since his death. As a result, appeals have been made for a re-evaluation of liberal theology, and of Harnack in particular. Certainly one of the tasks which is pre-requisite to such a reassessment is a consideration of the historical situation which shaped Harnack's thought and in some measure, at least, determined the options for his own position. Perhaps this article may contribute to this preliminary discussion, and nothing more ambitious than a consideration of Harnack's background and cultural environment, with a concluding characterization of his position, will be attempted here.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , June 1959 , pp. 157 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1959

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References

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2. Op. cit., p. 48.

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5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

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8. Op. cit., p. 96.

9. Op. cit., p. 98.

10. Op. cit., pp. 56–64.

11. Particularly through the founding, with Sehürer, of the Theologische Literaturzeitung.

12. AEH, p. 108.

13. Op. cit., p. 325.

14. As he said of Luther, it could be said of him, “Never did he think to fight against the Church, but always for the Church against a false and souldangerous practice; never did he dream that the Gospel had been really lost—no, but it was to be freed from a captivity into which … the theologians had led it.” Quoted from Abbott, Lyman et al. , The Prophets of Christian Faith (New York; The Maemillan Company, 1896), p. 115Google Scholar. Hasnack's essay in this volume is entitled “Martin Luther, The Prophet of the Reformation.”

15. cf. AZH, p. 146.

16. Op. cit., p. 171.

17. Cf. infra, pp. 163ff. for the opponents of Christianity” whom Harnack undoubtedly had in mind.

18. AZH, pp. 196–201.

19. Op. cit., p. 201.

20. Op. cit., p. 202.

21. Ibid.

22. Op. cit., p. 203.

23. Harnack received at this time his second call to Harvard. AZH, p. 210.

24. However, as a concession to orthodoxy, Adolf Schlatter, a conservative, was appointed to the Berlin faculty. AZH, pp. 208–09.

25. Op. cit., p. 212.

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54. Cf. also Hirsch, Emanuel, Geschichte der nevern evangelischen Theologie in Zusammenhang mit den allgemeinen Bewegungen des europäischen Denkens (Fünf Bände; Gutersloh: C. Bertelsmann Verlag, 1950) V, 625.Google Scholar

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81. Although, of course, he rejected this solution.

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86. Op. cit., p. 143.

87. Op. cit., pp. 39f.

88. Op. cit., p. 69.

89. Op. cit., pp. 81–85.

90. Op. cit., p. 87.

91. Sapra, pp. 165–66.

92. Supra, p. 166.

93. AZH, p. 90.

94. Op. cit., p. 91.

95. Ibid.

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98. Op. cit., p. 56.

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