Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg
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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 the H ...
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 th ...
churchman and
neo-Lutheran Neo-Lutheranism was a 19th-century revival movement within Lutheranism which began with the Pietist-driven '' Erweckung,'' or ''Awakening'', and developed in reaction against theological rationalism and pietism. This movement followed the Old L ...
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 the H ...
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 Anglican ...
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 U ...
in 1819, Hengstenberg attended the lectures of
Georg Wilhelm Freytag Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Freytag (19 September 1788 – 16 November 1861) was a German philologist. Background Freytag was born in Lüneburg. He studied philology and theology at the University of Göttingen, where from 1811 to 1813 he worke ...
for Oriental languages and of
Johann Karl Ludwig Gieseler Johann Karl Ludwig Gieseler, KH (3 March 1792 – 8 July 1854) was a Protestant German church historian. Biography He was born at Petershagen, near Minden, where his father, Georg Christof Friedrich, was preacher. In his tenth year he entered ...
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. Some ...
and
philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...
, and his earliest publication was an edition of the
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, 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 ...
''
Mu'allaqat The Muʻallaqāt ( ar, المعلقات, ) is a group of seven long Arabic poems. The name means The Suspended Odes or The Hanging Poems, the traditional explanation being that these poems were hung in the Kaaba in Mecca, while scholars have also ...
'' of
Imru' al-Qais Imruʾ al-Qais Junduh bin Hujr al-Kindi ( ar, ٱمْرُؤ ٱلْقَيْس جُنْدُح ٱبْن حُجْر ٱلْكِنْدِيّ, ALA-LC: ''ʾImruʾ al-Qays Junduḥ ibn Ḥujr al-Kindīy'') was an Arab king and poet in the 6th century, an ...
, 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 phil ...
's ''Metaphysics''. Finding himself without the means to complete his theological studies under
Johann August Wilhelm Neander Johann August Wilhelm Neander (17 January 178914 July 1850) was a German theologian and church historian. Biography Neander was born at Göttingen as David Mendel. His father, Emmanuel Mendel, is said to have been a Jewish peddler, but August a ...
and
Friedrich August Tholuck Friedrich August Gottreu Tholuck (30 March 1799 – 10 June 1877), known as August Tholuck, was a German Protestant theologian, pastor, and historian, and church leader. Biography Tholuck was born at Breslau, and educated at the gymnasium and ...
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 (BS ...
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 ...
(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 o ...
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 P ...
) 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 a s ...
and Julius Wegscheider 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 Books
for Vol. 1)
Google Books
for 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 Archive
for Vol. 1)
Internet Archive
for Vol. 2)
Internet Archive
for 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 Archive
for Vol. 1)
Internet Archive
for 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 Joachim (; ''Yəhōyāqīm'', "he whom Tetragrammaton, Yahweh has set up"; ; ) was, according to Christian tradition, the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Bibl ...
: 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 Protestantism
The 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