Karl Immanuel Nitzsch (21 September 1787, Borna – 21 August 1868,

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 ...

) was a German

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

church leader. He was the father of theologian Friedrich August Nitzsch.

Biography

He was born in the small Saxon town of Borna near

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 ...

. His father,

Karl Ludwig Nitzsch Karl Ludwig Nitzsch (6 August 1751 – 5 December 1831) was a German theologian, a professor of theology since 1790. Nitzsch was born in Wittenberg, where he studied from 1770 to 1775. He later served as a pastor in the towns of Beucha (from ...

, at that time pastor and superintendent in Borna, later (1790) became professor at

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

and director (1817) of the seminary for preachers. He was sent to study at

Schulpforta Schulpforta, otherwise known as Pforta, is a school located in Pforta monastery, a former Cistercian monastery (1137–1540). The school is located near Naumburg on the Saale River in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The site has been a sch ...

in 1803, going on to the

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

in 1806. In 1809 he graduated, and in 1810 he became 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 qualifi ...

'' at the university. Having become a deacon at the Schlosskirche in 1811, he showed remarkable energy and zeal during the bombardment and siege of the city in 1813. In 1815 he was appointed a

preceptor A preceptor (from Latin, "''praecepto''") is a teacher responsible for upholding a ''precept'', meaning a certain law or tradition. Buddhist monastic orders Senior Buddhist monks can become the preceptors for newly ordained monks. In the Buddhi ...

in the preachers' seminary which had been established at Wittenberg after the suppression of the university. From 1820 to 1822 he was superintendent in

Kemberg Kemberg () is a town in Wittenberg district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The town lies on the north edge of the Düben Heath Nature Park. Subdivisions The town Kemberg consists of the following ''Ortschaften'' or municipal districts:

, and in the latter year he was appointed professor ordinarius of systematic and practical theology at

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

. Here he remained until called to succeed Philip Marheineke at Berlin in 1847; subsequently he became university preacher, rector of the university, provost of St Nicolai (in 1854) and member of the supreme council of the church, in which last capacity he was one of the ablest and most active promoters of the Evangelical Union. He represented the ''Vermittelungstheologie'' of the school of

Friedrich Schleiermacher Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (; ; 21 November 1768 – 12 February 1834) was a German Reformed Church, Reformed theology, theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar known for his attempt to reconcile the criticisms of the Age o ...

Published works

Nitzsch's principal works are: ''System der christlichen Lehre'' (1829; 6th edition, 1851; English translation
''System of Christian doctrine''
1849), ''Praktische Theologie'' (1847-1860; 2nd edition, 1863-1868), ''Akademische Vorträge über christliche Glaubenslehre'' (1858), and several series of sermons. According to

Otto Pfleiderer Otto Pfleiderer (; 1 September 1839 – 18 July 1908) was a German Protestant theologian. Through his writings and his lectures, he became known as one of the most influential representatives of liberal theology. Biography Pfleiderer was born at ...

, (''Development of Theology'', p. 123): "He took as his starting-point the fundamental thought of Schleiermacher, that religion is not doctrine but life, direct consciousness, feeling. At the same time he sought to bring religious feeling into closer connection with knowledge and volition than Schleiermacher had done; he laid special stress – and justly – on the recognition of a necessary and radical union of religion with morality, treating both dogmatics and ethics together accordingly in his ''System der christlichen Lehre''". His ''Protestantische Beantwortung'', a reply to the ''Symbolik'' of

Johann Adam Möhler Johann Adam Möhler (6 May 1796 – 12 April 1838) was a German Roman Catholic theologian and priest associated with the Catholic Tübingen school. He was born at Igersheim in the Bailiwick of Franconia of the Teutonic Order (from 1809 on part ...

(1796-1838),Eine protestantische Beantwortung der Symbolik Dr. Möhler's
Google Books which originally appeared in the ''Studien und Kritiken'', of which he was one of the founders, may also be mentioned.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nitzsch, Karl Immanuel 1787 births 1868 deaths People from Borna People from the Electorate of Saxony 19th-century German Protestant theologians University of Wittenberg alumni Academic staff of the University of Wittenberg Academic staff of the University of Bonn Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin 19th-century German male writers 19th-century German writers German male non-fiction writers