Erich Sauer (1898–1959) was a German

dispensationalist Dispensationalism is a theological framework for interpreting the Bible which maintains that history is divided into multiple ages called "dispensations" in which God interacts with his chosen people in different ways. It is often distinguish ...

Christian theologian associated with the

Plymouth Brethren The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where it originated from Anglica ...

. His various books have sold around one million copies.

Early life

Sauer was born in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1898, his mother was already a Christian and he attended Open Brethren congregations.

Theological views

Sauer's theology was influenced by the political climate of Germany during the rule of

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

. Despite the fact that some

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

periodicals ridiculed the Israel-centered theology of Sauer, he saw Hitler's rise to power as "God's gift of providence" and viewed him as the instrument through which God would bring the Jews to their holy land. Sauer's

soteriology Soteriology (; ' "salvation" from wikt:σωτήρ, σωτήρ ' "savior, preserver" and wikt:λόγος, λόγος ' "study" or "word") is the study of Doctrine, religious doctrines of salvation. Salvation theory occupies a place of special sign ...

has been often associated with Free Grace theology, he argued that although justification is a free gift of

grace Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uni ...

, the degree of one's glorification depends upon one's good deeds in this life. Sauer believed in the

inerrancy of scripture Biblical inerrancy is the belief that the Bible, in its original form, is entirely free from error. The belief in biblical inerrancy is of particular significance within parts of evangelicalism, where it is formulated in the Chicago Statement ...

and

dispensational premillennialism Dispensationalism is a theological framework for interpreting Interpreting is translation from a spoken or signed language into another language, usually in real time to facilitate live communication. It is distinguished from the transla ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sauer, Erich 1898 births 1959 deaths 20th-century evangelicals 20th-century German male writers 20th-century German non-fiction writers 20th-century German Protestant theologians Dispensationalism Evangelical theologians German Evangelical writers German male non-fiction writers German Plymouth Brethren German religious writers