Julius Kostlin

Julius Kostlin

Julius Köstlin (born May 17, 1826 in Stuttgart ; † May 12, 1902 in Halle (Saale) ) was a German Protestant theologian , church historian and co-founder of the Association for the History of the Reformation .

Live and act

Julius Köstlin, the son and youngest of six children of the Chief Medical Officer Karl Heinrich Gotthilf von Köstlin , was taught at home for health reasons before he was able to attend grammar school in Stuttgart in 1835. After graduating from high school, he studied theology and oriental languages , especially Arabic, at the University of Tübingen . After his first state examination in 1848, Köstlin initially took on a position as vicar in Calw before he undertook study trips to Heidelberg and Bonn, then to London and Edinburgh and then via Hamburg and Kiel to Berlin in the same year. Everywhere he visited centers and works of the Inner Mission and was particularly impressed by the rough house of the Hamburg clergyman Johannes Wichern . After listening to Leopold von Ranke's lectures in Berlin , he traveled on through several East and Central German cities to the center of the Moravian Brethren .

In 1850 Köstlin returned to Stuttgart, took a position as a repetitee and passed his second state examination two years later . After his subsequent doctorate in philosophy, he accepted a call to the University of Göttingen in 1855 , where he taught as associate professor and second preacher. Here it was above all the work on the Real Encyclopedia for Protestant Theology and Church and on Luther's Catechism that shaped this period, as well as the doctorate in theology.

Wroclaw time

In the autumn of 1860, Köstlin moved to the University of Breslau , where he was appointed professor of systematic theology . Here it was above all his preoccupation with Martin Luther that shaped this time. He wrote a respected, but not entirely undisputed, extensive biography of Luther as well as numerous individual works on the person and theology of Martin Luther. In addition, Köstlin was finally elected to the Silesian consistory in 1867 , although negotiations had already taken place five years earlier. As a real liberal Swabian, Köstlin appeared to be too religiously liberal for his new environment and not sufficiently adapted to the northern German mentality of Protestantism. From 1869 he took over the publication of the Hamburg magazine for theological studies and criticism .

Halle time

In 1870 Köstlin finally accepted an offer from the University of Halle , where he was employed in the same position as in Breslau. Here, too, he continued to deal with Luther's theses and had a violent religiously controversial argument with the Catholic church historian Johannes Janssen , a staunch opponent of Luther, although Köstlin did not judge Luther uncritically either. As in Breslau, Köstlin was also elected to the Saxon consistory and from 1873 to the church council of the parish of St. Laurentius in Halle. In 1875 he traveled as a delegate to the General Synod in Eisenach, where the subject of a reorganization of the Prussian church constitution was negotiated. Furthermore, in 1883, Köstlin was a co-founder of the Association for Reformation History , based in Magdeburg, and was a member of its board. The Protestant church historian Karl Knaake (1835–1905) in particular benefited from the support of this association and from Köstlin's selfless support, so that Karl Knaake was able to publish his Weimar Luther edition in 1883.

From 1896 Köstlin withdrew more and more from active service due to health reasons, but still published individual writings. For his services he was awarded the Order of the Crown, Second Class with Star, and the Order of the Red Eagle, Second Class, with Oak Leaves. After a long and eventful life, he finally died on May 12, 1902 at the age of almost 76. He was buried in the Laurentiusfriedhof in Halle .

family

Julius Köstlin was married to the pastor's daughter Pauline Schmid (1831–1913), with whom he had ten children, including:

• Heinrich (1856–1920), Privy Councilor, Director of the Olga Sanatorium in Stuttgart
• Mathilde verehel. Meinhof (1860–1908), grandmother of Ulrike Meinhof (1934–1976)
• Otto (1863–1944), deaf-mute chaplain for the Nordhausen district , then Querfurt , pastor in Lodersleben , retired in Naumburg
• Julius (1864–1914), major, commander of the 67th Field Artillery Regiment
• Emilie (1866–1951), deaconess in Bremen
• Rudolf (1867–1934), director of the West Prussian Provincial Midwife Training Institute in Danzig

Fonts (selection)

• The Scottish Church, her inner life and relationship to the state from the Reformation to the present. A contribution to the history of Protestantism , Hamburg a. Gotha 1852
• Luther's Doctrine of the Church , Stuttgart 1853; 2nd edition Gotha 1868
• The essence of the church according to the doctrine and history of the New Testament with primary consideration of the dispute between Protestantism and Catholicism , Gotha 1854; 2nd edition, Gotha 1872
• Faith, its essence, reason and object, its significance for knowledge, life and the church , Gotha 1859
• Luther's theology presented in its historical development and its internal connections , Vol. 1–2, Stuttgart 1863; 2nd edition Stuttgart 1883; 3. edit again. Ed., Stuttgart 1901; Reprint Darmstadt 1968
• Martin Luther. His life and his writings , Vol. 1–2, Elberfeld 1874; 5th ed., Ed. by Gustav Kawerau, Berlin 1903, online
• Luther's life. With authentic illustrations , Leipzig, 1882; 9th edition Leipzig 1891; Reprint: Life of Luther, Dodo Press, 2007, ISBN 1406529400 and also online Leipzig 1882
• Luther and J. Janssen, the German reformer and an ultramontane historian , Halle / Saale 1883
• The Articles of Faith of the Augsburg Confession explained , Halle / Saale 1891; Reprint Leipzig 1930
• Oskar Wilda (Ed.): Julius Köstlin. An autobiography. With portrait. Danzig 1891, online
• The foundation of our moral and religious convictions , Berlin 1893
• Religion and kingdom of God. Treatises on dogmatics and ethics , Gotha 1894
• Faith and its significance for knowledge, life and the church with regard to the main questions of the present Gotha, 1895
• Christian ethics , Berlin 1898

literature

• Stefan J. Dietrich: Köstlin, Julius , in: Schwabenspiegel. Literature from the Neckar to Lake Constance . Edited by Manfred Bosch, Ulrich Gaier, Wolfgang Rapp a. a., Vol. 1.2., Biberach / Riß 2006, pp. 88, 212 (list of works and references)
• Stefan J. Dietrich: The rediscoverer of Luther. Julius Kostlin. Pioneer of historical Luther research , in: Evangelisches Gemeindeblatt für Württemberg , Stuttgarter Edition 102 (2007), No. 43 (October 28), p. 10
• Irene Dingel: Julius Köstlin , in: 125 Years Association for Reformation History . Edited by Luise Schorn-Schütte, Gütersloh 2008, pp. 27–35, 238–242
• Walter Friedensburg : Julius Köstlin , in: Mitteldeutsche Lebensbilder 3 (1928), pp. 437-450.
• Emil Kautzsch: To the memory of Julius Köstlin , in: Theological studies and criticism 76 (1903), pp. 5-34
• Julius Köstlin: Julius Köstlin. An autobiography , Danzig-Leipzig-Vienna 1891
• Maria Köstlin (Ed.): The book of the Köstlin family , Stuttgart 1931, pp. 28–34, 158–166
• Hans-Josef Olszewsky:  Köstlin, Julius. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 4, Bautz, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-038-7 , Sp. 293-298.
• Christian Stephan: The silent faculty - Biographical contributions to the history of the theological faculty of the University of Halle. Pages 130-133; Janos Stekovics, Dößel 2005. ISBN 3-89923-103-1 .

Web links

Wikisource: Julius Köstlin  - Sources and full texts

• Literature by and about Julius Köstlin in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by Julius Köstlin in the Gutenberg-DE project
• Entry in Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon , point 3: [1]
• List of Köstlin's letters
• Entry on Julius Köstlin in the Catalogus Professorum Halensis
• Entry in the common union catalog