Julius August Ludwig Wegscheider (27 September 177127 January 1849), 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 ...
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 ...
.
Life
Wegscheider was born at Küblingen (now a part of
Schöppenstedt,
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...
). He studied theology at the
University of Helmstedt, where he was a pupil of
Heinrich Philipp Konrad Henke. From 1795 to 1805, he worked as a tutor to the family of a wealthy
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
merchant. In 1805 he presented a dissertation titled ''Graecorum mysteriis religioni non obtrudendis'' at the
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...
. He then served as a professor of theology at the University of
Rinteln (1806–1810), and at the
University of Halle from 1810 onwards.
Wegscheider was a leading figure of dogmatic
theological rationalism—for instance, he considered
supernatural revelation to be an impossibility. Because of his rationalist teachings, he, along with his colleague
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 bec ...
, were attacked by followers of
Supernaturalism, creating a situation that led to a government investigation (1830). Ultimately, he retained his office at Halle, but lost his former influence.
Principal works
* ''Über die von der neuesten Philosophie geforderte Trennung der Moral von der Religion'', 1804On the latest philosophy requiring separation of morality from religion.
* ''Versuch einer vollständigen Einleitung in das Evangelium Johannis'', 1806Attempt of a complete introduction to the
Gospel of John.
* ''Institutiones theologicae dogmaticae'', 1815; to which Wilhelm Steiger's ''Kritik des Rationalismus in Wegscheiders Dogmatik'' (1830) was a reply.
Books about Wegscheider
* "Leben und Werk des Hallenser Theologen Julius Wegscheider (1771–1849) : mit unveröffentlichten Briefen an Eduard Reuss"; by Jean Marcel Vincent, Waltrop : Spenner, 1997. Series: Wissen und Kritik, Bd. 13.
WorldCat.org
Leben und Werk des Hallenser Theologen Julius Wegscheider
References
External links
WorldCat Identities
(publications)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wegscheider, Julius
1771 births
1849 deaths
People from Wolfenbüttel (district)
19th-century German Protestant theologians
People from the Duchy of Brunswick
University of Helmstedt alumni
Academic staff of the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
19th-century German male writers
German male non-fiction writers