Johann von Hofmann
Johann Christian Konrad Hofmann , from 1855 Ritter von Hofmann , (* December 21, 1810 in Nuremberg , † December 20, 1877 in Erlangen ) was a German Lutheran theologian and an important exponent of Erlangen theology .
Life
Hofmann's parental home was shaped by the revival movement that emerged from Johann Albrecht Bengel's Swabian Pietism . After graduating from Melanchthon High School in Nuremberg , Hofmann studied Protestant theology at the Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen . In 1827 he became a member of the Arminia Erlangen fraternity . Karl von Raumer and Christian Krafft were important teachers. In 1829 he moved to the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin , where Leopold von Ranke , Friedrich Schleiermacher and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel shaped him.
Hofmann became a grammar school teacher in Erlangen in 1833 , then a repetitionist and lecturer in history in 1835, and lecturer in Protestant theology in 1838. In 1841 Hofmann went to the University of Rostock as associate professor for the Old Testament and the New Testament , but returned to Erlangen in 1845 as full professor for New Testament exegesis , Christian ethics and encyclopedia. There he was Vice-Rector four times . King Ludwig I awarded him the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown in 1855 , which was associated with the elevation to the personal nobility.
From 1863 to 1869 Hofmann was a member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Bavarian State Assembly (constituency Erlangen-Fürth) for the Bavarian Progressive Party .
meaning
As a biblical theologian, Hofmann was primarily concerned with the question of the extent to which the Bible can prove to be the basis of theology. Against Friedrich Schleiermacher's recourse and Lutheran orthodoxy , Hofmann tried to base the truth of the Holy Scriptures on the faith that was brought about by the Spirit and the experience of communion with God that he gave. Theology thus became the theology of experience, in which “I, the Christian, become the theologian's own material of my science”.
Hofmann developed the content of the Bible, the history inherent in it, in his early main work Prophecy and Fulfillment (1841–1844) as a history of salvation , in the middle of which stands Christ . In his unfinished Bible commentary The holy scriptures of the New Testament examined coherently (1862–1878; the last three of eleven volumes posthumously 1881–1886) he attempted to carry out this historical theological view of the unity of the Bible. However, this christocentric - pneumatological orientation was opposed to a reduction or reinterpretation of central beliefs based on the theology of experience. Hofmann rejected the doctrine of satisfaction , according to which the salvific effect of Jesus' death was based on a vicarious punitive suffering, and instead interpreted it as an acceptance into communion with God, which realizes the original destiny of man.
Remarks
literature
- Karl Buchrucker: Hofmann, Johann Christian Konrad von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, pp. 631-634.
- Paul Wapler: Johannes v. Hofmann. A contribution to the history of the basic theological problems, ecclesiastical and political movements in the 19th century . Deichert, Leipzig 1914.
- Karl Barth : Protestant theology in the 19th century ; 2nd edition 1952, pp. 553ff.
- Friedrich Wilhelm Kantzenbach : Hofmann, Johann von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , pp. 454 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Uwe Swarat : The salvation-historical conception of Johannes Chr. K. von Hofmanns . In: Helge Stadelmann (Ed.), Faith and History. Salvation history as a theme of theology , Gießen (et al.) 1986, pp. 211–239.
- Friedrich Mildenberger : Hofmann, Johann Christian Konrad von . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie Vol. 15, 1986, pp. 477-479.
- Wilfried Behr: Political Liberalism and Church Christianity. Studies on the connection between theology and politics with Johann Christian Konrad von Hofmann (1810–1877) (= Calwer Theological Monographs B 12). Calwer Verlag, Stuttgart 1995.
- Notger Slenczka : Johann Christian Konrad von Hofmann. "A New Way to Teach Old Truth" . In: Peter Neuner , Gunther Wenz (ed.): Theologians of the 19th century . Darmstadt 2002, pp. 144-164.
- Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Sub-Volume 2: F-H. Winter, Heidelberg 1999, ISBN 3-8253-0809-X , pp. 377-378.
- Matthew L. Becker: The Self-Giving God and Salvation History: The Trinitarian Theology of Johannes von Hofmann . T&T Clark, New York 2004.
Web links
- Literature by and about Johann von Hofmann in the catalog of the German National Library
- Entry on Johann von Hofmann in the Catalogus Professorum Rostochiensium
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hofmann, Johann von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hofmann, Johann Christian Konrad Ritter von (full name); Hofmann, Johann |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Evangelical Lutheran theologian |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 21, 1810 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nuremberg |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 20, 1877 |
| Place of death | gain |