Albert Schwegler (10 February 18195 January 1857) was a German philosopher and

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

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 ...

Biography

Schwegler was born at Michelbach in

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

, the son of a country pastor. He entered the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-W� ...

in 1836, and was one of the earliest pupils of F. C. Baur, under whose influence he devoted himself to

church history __NOTOC__ 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 spiritua ...

. His first work was ''Der Montanismus und die christliche Kirche des Zweiten Jahrhunderts'' (1841), in which he pointed out for the first time that

Montanism Montanism (), known by its adherents as the New Prophecy, was an early Christian movement of the late 2nd century, later referred to by the name of its founder, Montanus. Montanism held views about the basic tenets of Christian theology simi ...

was much more than an isolated outbreak of eccentric fanaticism in the early church, though he himself introduced fresh misconceptions by connecting it with Ebionitism as he conceived the latter. This work, with other essays, brought him into conflict with the authorities of the church, in consequence of which he gave up theology as his professional study and chose that of philosophy. Endnote: See * Eduard Zeller, ''Vorträge'', vol. ii. (1878), pp. 329–363 * In 1843 he founded the ''Jahrbücher der Gegenwart'', and became '' privatdozent'' of philosophy and

classical philology Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

at Tübingen University. In 1848 he was made an associate professor of Roman literature and

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

, and soon afterwards a full professor of history. He died in

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional 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 rivers. about one in three ...

Work

His principal theological work was ''Das nachapostolische Zeitalter in den Hauptmomenten seiner Entwicklung'' (''The Post-Apostolic Age in the Principal Moments of its Development'') (2 volumes, 1846). It was this book which first put before the world, with Schwegler's characteristic boldness and clearness, the results of the critical labours of the earlier representatives of the new Tübingen school in relation to the first development of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. Schwegler published also an edition of the ''Clementine Homilies'' (1847), and of

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Chris ...

's ''

Ecclesiastical History __NOTOC__ 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 spiritua ...

'' (1852). His work on the history of philosophy includes his excellent ''Geschichte der Philosophie im Umriß'' (''History of Philosophy in Epitome'', 1846–1847, 14th ed. 1887; 1st edition of English translation by James Hutchison Stirling titled ''Handbook of the History of Philosophy'', 1867; 5th edition of English translation by Julius Hawley Seelye titled ''History of Philosophy in Epitome'', 1877), his ''Übersetzung und Erläuterung der aristotelischen Metaphysik'' (4 volumes, 1847–48), and a posthumous ''Geschichte der griechischen Philosophie'' (''History of Greek Philosophy''; 1859). In history he began a ''Römische Geschichte'' (vols. i.–iii., 1853–58, 2nd edition 1867–72), which he brought down only to the laws of

Licinius Valerius Licinianus Licinius (c. 265 – 325) was Roman emperor from 308 to 324. For most of his reign he was the colleague and rival of Constantine I, with whom he co-authored the Edict of Milan, AD 313, that granted official toleration to C ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwegler, Albert 1819 births 1857 deaths People from Schwäbisch Hall (district) 19th-century German Protestant theologians German philosophers University of Tübingen alumni Academic staff of the University of Tübingen 19th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers