Friedrich Loofs (19 June 1858 in

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...

13 January 1928 in Halle an der Saale) was a German

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

and

church historian Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritual side of th ...

best remembered for his studies involving the history of

dogma Dogma, in its broadest sense, is any belief held definitively and without the possibility of reform. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, or Islam ...

Biography

Loofs studied theology at the universities of

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

, and

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

, and received his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

from Leipzig in 1881. As a student,

Adolf von Harnack Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack (born Harnack; 7 May 1851 – 10 June 1930) was a Baltic German Lutheran theologian and prominent Church historian. He produced many religious publications from 1873 to 1912 (in which he is sometimes credited ...

(Leipzig) and Albrecht Ritschl (Göttingen) were important influences to his career. From 1888 to 1926 he was a professor of church history at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

, where in 1907/08 he served as rector.Loofs, Friedrich
at Deutsche Biographie Concurrent with his work at the university, from 1890 to 1925, he held title of ''Consistorialrat'' in the city of

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

. In 1886, he was co-founder of the journal ''Die Christliche Welt'' ("The Christian World"). Loofs was an opponent of the

Christ myth theory The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the fringe view that the story of Jesus is a work of mythology with no historical substance. Alternatively, in terms given by ...

. In his book ''What is the Truth about Jesus Christ?'' (1913) he criticized the theories of mythicists such as

Arthur Drews Christian Heinrich Arthur Drews (; 1 November 1865 – 15 July 1935) was a German people, German writer, historian, philosopher, and important representative of German Monism, monist thought. He was born in Uetersen, Duchy of Holstein, Holstein, ...

and William Benjamin Smith. He attacked the views of

Ernst Haeckel Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; ; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, natural history, naturalist, eugenics, eugenicist, Philosophy, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biology, marine biologist and artist ...

which he considered anti-Christian.

Selected works

* ''Leontius von Byzanz und die gleichnamigen Schriftsteller der griechischen Kirche'', 1887 – Leontius of Byzantium and the writer of the same name from the Greek Church. * ''Leitfaden zum Studium der Dogmengeschichte'', 1890 – Guide to studying the history of dogma. * ''Anti-Haeckel : eine Replik nebst Beilagen'', 1900 – Anti- Haeckel: a replica with supplements. * ''Grundlinien der Kirchengeschichte : in der Form von Dispositionen für seine Vorlesungen'', 1901 – Elements of the Church's history in the form of disposition of lectures. * ''Lessings Stellung zum Christentum'', 1910 –

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (; ; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a German philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the dev ...

's position on Christianity.
''What is the Truth about Jesus Christ?''
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1913. * * ''Paulus von Samosata, eine Untersuchung zur altkirchlichen Literatur- und Dogmengeschichte'', 1924 – Paul of Samosata, a study of Early Christian church literature and history of dogma.HathiTrust Digital Library
published works

Biography

Selected works

References

Further reading