Ernst Wilhelm Theodor Herrmann Hengstenberg (20 October 1802, in
Fröndenberg
Fröndenberg (; Westphalian: ''Frönnenbiärg'') is a town in the district of Unna, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Fröndenberg is situated in the Ruhr valley, approx. 10 km south-east of the district capital Unna, near ...
28 May 1869, in Berlin), was a German
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...
churchman and
neo-Lutheran 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 ...
from an old and important
Dortmund
Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...
family.
He was born at Fröndenberg, a
Westphalia
Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants.
The territory of the regio ...
n town, and was educated by his father Johann Heinrich Karl Hengstenberg, who was a famous minister of the
Reformed Church
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...
and head of the
Fröndenberg
Fröndenberg (; Westphalian: ''Frönnenbiärg'') is a town in the district of Unna, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Fröndenberg is situated in the Ruhr valley, approx. 10 km south-east of the district capital Unna, near ...
convent
A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Angl ...
of canonesses (
Fräuleinstift). His mother was Wilhelmine then Bergh. Entering the
University of Bonn
The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...
in 1819, Hengstenberg attended the lectures of
Georg Wilhelm Freytag for Oriental languages and of
Johann Karl Ludwig Gieseler for church history, but his energies were principally devoted to
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
and
philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...
, and his earliest publication was an edition of the
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
''
Mu'allaqat'' of
Imru' al-Qais, which gained for him a prize at his graduation in the philosophical faculty. This was followed in 1824 by a German translation of
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...
's ''Metaphysics''.
Finding himself without the means to complete his theological studies under
Johann August Wilhelm Neander and
Friedrich August Tholuck in Berlin, he accepted a post at
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (B ...
as tutor in Oriental languages to
Johann Jakob Stähelin
Johann Jakob Stähelin (1 May 1797, in Basel – 27 August 1875, in Langenbruck) was a Swiss theologian, who specialized in Old Testament studies.
From 1817 to 1821 he studied theology at the University of Tübingen. In 1823 he received his P ...
(1797–1875), later a professor at the university. It was there that he began to direct his attention to a study of the Bible, which led him to a conviction, not only of the divine character of evangelical religion, but also of the unapproachable adequacy of its expression in the
Augsburg Confession
The Augsburg Confession, also known as the Augustan Confession or the Augustana from its Latin name, ''Confessio Augustana'', is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Protestant Re ...
. In 1824 he joined the philosophical faculty of the
University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...
as a ''
privatdozent
''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...
'', and in 1825 he became a licentiate in theology, his theses being remarkable for their evangelical fervour and for their emphatic protest against every form of "
rationalism
In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification".Lacey, A.R. (1996), ''A Dictionary of Philosophy' ...
", especially in questions of
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
criticism.
In 1826 he became professor extraordinarius in theology; and in July 1827 took on the editorship of the ''Evangelische Kirchenzeitung'', a strictly orthodox journal, which in his hands acquired an almost unique reputation as a controversial organ. It did not become well known until in 1830 an anonymous article (by
Ernst Ludwig von Gerlach
Ernst Ludwig von Gerlach (7 March 1795 – 18 February 1877) was a Prussian politician, editor and judge. He is considered one of the main founders and leading thinkers of the Conservative Party in Prussia and was for many years its leader in the ...
) appeared, which openly charged
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 ...
and
Julius Wegscheider
Julius August Ludwig Wegscheider (27 September 177127 January 1849), was a German Protestant theologian.
Life
Wegscheider was born at Küblingen (now a part of Schöppenstedt, Lower Saxony). He studied theology at the University of Helmstedt, w ...
with infidelity and profanity, and on the ground of these accusations advocated the interposition of the civil power, thus giving rise to the prolonged ''Hallischer Streit''. In 1828 the first volume of Hengstenberg's ''Christologie des Alten Testaments'' passed through the press; in the autumn of that year he became professor ordinarius in theology, and in 1829 doctor of theology.
Main works
*''Christologie des Alten Testaments'' (1829–1835; 2nd ed., 1854–1857; Eng. trans. by R Keith, 1835–1839, also in Clark's ''Foreign Theological Library'', by T Meyer and J Martin, 1854–1858), a work of much learning the estimate of which varies according to the hermeneutical principle of the individual critic.
**English translation in
Google Books
*''Beiträge zur Einleitung in das Alte Testament'' (1831–1839); Eng. trans., ''Dissertations on the Genuineness of Daniel'', and the ''Integrity of Zechariah'' (Edin., 1848), and ''Dissertation on the Genuineness of the Pentateuch'' (Edin., 1847), in which the traditional view on each question is strongly upheld, and much capital is made of the absence of harmony among the negative.
**English translation in
Google Booksfor Vol. 1)
Google Booksfor Vol. 2)
**English translation in
Internet Archive
*''Die Bücher Moses und Aegypten'' (1841).
**English translation in
Internet Archive
*''Die Geschichte Bileams u. seiner Weissagungen'' (1842; translated along with the ''Dissertations on Daniel and Zechariah'').
*''Commentar über die Psalmen'' (1842–1847; 2nd ed., 1849–1852; Eng. trans. by P Fairbain and J Thomson, Edin., 1844–1848), which shares the merit and defects of the ''Christologie''.
**English translation in
Internet Archivefor Vol. 1)
Internet Archivefor Vol. 2)
Internet Archivefor Vol. 3)
*''Die Offenbarung Johannis erläutert'' (1849–1851; 2nd ed., 1861–1862; Eng. trans. by P. Fairbairn also in Clark's " Foreign Theological Library," 1851–1852)
**English translation in
Internet Archivefor Vol. 1)
Internet Archivefor Vol. 2).
*''Das Hohelied Salomonis ausgelegt'' (1853).
*''Der Prediger Salomo ausgelegt'' (1859).
**English translation in
Internet Archive
*''Das Evangelium Johannis erläutert'' (1861–1863; 2nd ed., 1867–1871 English translation, 1865).
*''Die Weissagungen das Propheten Ezechiel erläutert'' (1867–1868).
**English translation in
Google Books
Of minor importance are:
*''De rebus Tyrioruz commentatio academica'' (1832).
*''Uber den Tag des Herrn'' (1852).
*''Da Passe, ein Vortrag'' (1853).
*''Die Opfer der heiligen Schrift'' (1859).
Several series of papers also, as, for example:
*"The Retentio of the Apocrypha".
*"Freemasonry" (1854).
*"Duelling" (1856).
*"The Relation between the Jews and the Christian Church" (1857; 2nd ed., 1859), which originally appeared in the ''Kirchenzeitung'', were afterwards printed in a separate form.
Posthumously published:
*''Geschichte des Reiches Gottes unter dem Alten Bunde'' (1869–1871).
*''Das Buch Hiob erläutert'' (1870–1875).
*''Vorlesungen über die Leidensgeschichte''.
Notes
References
*
* Martin Gerhardt (fortgeführt von Alfred Adam): ''Friedrich von Bodelschwingh. Ein Lebensbild aus der deutschen Kirchengeschichte.'' 1. Bd. 1950, 2. Bd. 1. Hälfte 1952, 2. Hälfte 1958.
*
Joachim Mehlhausen: Artikel ''Hengstenberg, Ernst Wilhelm.'' In:
TRE 15, S. 39–42.
*
*
* Hans Wulfmeyer: ''Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg als
Konfessionalist.'' Erlangen 1970.
*
* Helge Dvorak: ''Biographisches Lexikon der Deutschen Burschenschaft.'' Band I: Politiker, Teilband 2: F–H. Heidelberg 1999, S. 297.
External links
*
*
*
Hengstenberg and His Influence on German ProtestantismThe Methodist Review 1862, vol. XLIV, p. 108
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hengstenberg, Ernst Wilhelm
1802 births
1869 deaths
People from Fröndenberg
People from the County of Mark
German Lutheran theologians
German male non-fiction writers
19th-century German Protestant theologians
19th-century German male writers
University of Bonn alumni
Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin
19th-century Lutherans