Christian Hermann Weisse (; ; 10 August 1801 – 19 September 1866) was a German

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

religious philosopher and professor of philosophy at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

. He was the son of theologian (1766–1832).

Biography

Weisse was born in

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 ...

, and studied at the university there, at first adhering to the

Hegelian Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political philosophy and the ...

school of philosophy. In the course of time, his ideas changed, and became close to those of Schelling in his later years. He developed (along with I. H. Fichte with whom he regularly corresponded after 1829) a new speculative

theism Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of at least one deity. In common parlance, or when contrasted with '' deism'', the term often describes the philosophical conception of God that is found in classical theism—or the co ...

, and became an opponent of Hegel's

idealism Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysics, metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, Spirit (vital essence), spirit, or ...

. In his addresses on the future of the Protestant Church (''Reden über die Zukunft der evangelischen Kirche'', 1849), he finds the essence of Christianity in Jesus' conceptions of the heavenly Father, the Son of Man and the kingdom of Heaven. In his work on philosophical

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 ...

tics (''Philosophische Dogmatik oder Philosophie des Christentums'', 3 vols., 1855–1862) he seeks, by idealizing all the Christian dogmas, to reduce them to natural postulates of reason or conscience. Weisse was the first theologian to propose the two-source hypothesis (1838), which is still held by a majority of biblical scholars today. In the two-source hypothesis, the

Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark is the second of the four canonical Gospels and one of the three synoptic Gospels, synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from baptism of Jesus, his baptism by John the Baptist to his death, the Burial of Jesus, ...

was the first gospel to be written and was one of two sources to the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells the story of who the author believes is Israel's messiah (Christ (title), Christ), Jesus, resurrection of Jesus, his res ...

and the

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke is the third of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascension of ...

, the other source being the Q document, a lost collection of Jesus's sayings.Montserrat, Joan. 16 June 2005
Two-Source Hypothesis on the Synoptic Problem Website
Weisse was a contributor to I. H. Fichte's

academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...

'' Zeitschrift für Philosophie und spekulative Theologie''. He died in his native city of Leipzig, aged 65.

Works

* ''System der Ästhetik'' (2 vols., 1830) * ''Die Idee der Gottheit'' (1833) * ''Die philosophische Geheimlehre von der Unsterblichkeit des menschlichen Individuums'' (1834) * ''Grundzüge der Metaphysik'' (1835) * ''Büchlein von der Auferstehung'' (1836) * ''Die evangelische Geschichte, kritisch und philosophisch bearbeitet'' (2 vols., 1838) * ''Reden über die Zukunft der evangelischen Kirche'' (1849) * ''Philosophische Dogmatik oder Philosophie des Christentums'' (3 vols., 1855–1862) * ''Die Evangelienfrage in ihrem gegenwärtigen Stadium'' (1856) * ''Psychologie und Unsterblichkeitslehre'' (edited by R. Seydel, 1869)

Notes

Citations

References

* This work in turn cites: ** Otto Pfleiderer, ''Development of Theology'' (1890) ** Rudolf Seydel, ''Christian Hermann Weisse'' (1866) ** Rudolf Seydel, ''Religion und Wissenschaft'' (1887)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weisse, Christian Hermann 1801 births 1866 deaths Writers from Leipzig 19th-century German philosophers 19th-century German Protestant theologians 19th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers