Paul Wernle (1 May 1872 – 11 April 1939) was a Swiss

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 ...

, born in Hottingen, today part of the city of

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. He studied at the Universities of

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

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 ...

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

. At

he was a student of Bernhard Duhm (1847-1928), and in

was influenced by

Wilhelm Bousset Wilhelm Bousset (3 September 1865, Lübeck – 8 March 1920, Gießen) was a German theologian and New Testament scholar. He was of Huguenot ancestry and a native of Lübeck. His most influential work was ''Kyrios Christos'', an attempt to explain ...

(1865-1920). In 1900 he became an associate professor at Basel, where in 1905 he was appointed a full professor of

New Testament Studies Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Jewish usage and the Christian Bible including the canon ...

. During the course of his career he also taught classes in dogmatics and

church history Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritual side of t ...

. Wernle was a representative of the ''Religionsgeschichtliche Schule'' (

history of religions school The history of religions school (German: ''Religionsgeschichtliche Schule'') is a term applied to a group of German Protestant theologians associated with the University of Göttingen in the 1890s. Ideas The ''Religionsgeschichtliche Schule'' use ...

). His expertise was in the field of

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

analysis, and he is largely remembered for his work involving Synoptic and Pauline research. He died in Basel.

Selected publications

* ''Paulus als Heidenmissionar'' (Paul as Missionary to the

Gentiles ''Gentile'' () is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish. Other Groups claiming affiliation with Israelites, groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, have historically used the term ''gentile'' to describe outsider ...

), 1899 * ''Die Anfänge unserer Religion'' (Beginnings of Our Religion), 1901 * ''Die Quellen des Lebens Jesu. Mohr'' (The Sources of the Life of Jesus), 1906 * ''Lessing und das Christentum'' (

Lessing Lessing is a German surname of Slavic origin. The original Sorbian form, ''Lěsnik'', means either "forest dweller" or "woodman", ''lěs'' meaning "wood forest". People with the surname Lessing include a German family of writers, artists, musicians ...

and Christianity), 1912 * ''Der schweizerische Protestantismus im 18. Jahrhundert'', 1923-1925 * ''Der schweizerische Protestantismus in der Zeit der Helvetik 1798-1803'' (Swiss

Protestantism 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 ...

in the Years 1798-1803), 1938–42

References

* Hermann Goebel (ed.): ''Mitgliederverzeichnis des Schwarzburgbundes''. 8th ed., Frankfurt am Main 1930, p. 148 No. 3482. Swiss Protestant theologians Academics from Zurich Academic staff of the University of Basel 1872 births 1939 deaths History of religions school {{Switzerland-theologian-stub