Walther Koehler

The title of this article is ambiguous. For other people with a similar name, see Walter Köhler .

Walther Koehler, 1914

Walther Köhler (born December 27, 1870 in Elberfeld (today Wuppertal), † February 18, 1946 in Heidelberg ) was a German Protestant theologian (church historian).

Life

From 1889 Köhler studied Protestant theology and history at the Universities of Halle and Heidelberg , where he was awarded a Dr. phil. received his doctorate. During his studies in 1890 he became a member of the Allemannia Heidelberg fraternity . At the University of Tübingen he acquired the degree of Lic. Theol. From 1900 he worked as a private lecturer and from 1904 as an associate professor at the University of Gießen and from 1909 as a full professor of church history at the University of Zurich . In 1929 he returned to Heidelberg University, where he still taught after his retirement in 1935. Since 1930 he was a full member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences .

Köhler had been married to Elisabeth von Niethammer, daughter of Major Georg von Niethammer, since 1899.

Köhler is one of the most important Reformation historians of the 20th century. His main research interests were initially Martin Luther , later mainly Huldrych Zwingli and his environment, including the early Anabaptist movement , which he saw growing out of the Zurich Reformation. He was co-editor of Zwingli's works and editor of the Zwingliana magazine , but edited a. a. also the letters of Desiderius Erasmus .

Fonts (selection)

• Luther and church history: according to his writings, initially until 1521 . Junge, Erlangen 1900 (reprint Olms, Hildesheim 1990).
• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer as a religious character . E. Diederichs, Jena 1911.
• Ulrich Zwingli's spiritual world: Christianity and antiquity . Perthes, Gotha 1920.
• Huldrych Zwingli's library . Zurich 1921.
• Zwingli and Luther. Their quarrel over the Lord's Supper after its political and religious relationships . Vol. 1–2 (= sources and research on the history of the Reformation 6, 7). Gütersloh 1924, 1953.
• Zwingli and Bern (= collection of commonly understood lectures and writings 132). Mohr, Tübingen 1928.
• The Marburg Religious Discussion 1529. Attempt at a reconstruction (= writings of the Association for Reformation History 148). Leipzig 1929.
• Zurich marriage court and Geneva consistory . Vol. 1–2 (= sources and treatises on the history of the Swiss Reformation 7, 10). Leipzig 1932, 1942.
• Luther and Lutheranism in their world-historical impact . Heinsius, Leipzig 1933.
• History of dogmas as a history of Christian self-confidence . M. Niehan, Zurich and Leipzig 1938; ² 1943.
• Huldrych Zwingli . Leipzig 1943; ² 1954; Reprint 1984.

literature

• Festgabe Walther Köhler for the 70th birthday on December 27, 1940 , offered by the Zwingli-Verein, Zurich 1940 (supplement to: Zwingliana 1940), pp. 1–178
• Gerhard Ritter , Heinrich Bornkamm , Otto Scheel : Walther Köhler on his 70th birthday . In: Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 37, 1940, pp. 113–116.
• Ernst Roth: Walther Koehler . In: Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 63, 1950, pp. 222–238.
• JF Gerhard Goeters :  Köhler, Walther . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE). Volume 19, de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1990, ISBN 3-11-012355-X , pp. 287-289.
• Karl-Heinz Fix:  Köhler, Walther . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 4th edition. Volume 4, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2001, Sp. 1476-1477.

Web links

• Literature by and about Walther Köhler in the catalog of the German National Library
• Hans Ulrich Bächtold: Walther Koehler. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Hans Ulrich Bächtold: Walther Köhler in the Mennonite Lexicon .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hugo Böttger (ed.): Directory of the old fraternity members according to the status of the winter semester 1911/12. Berlin 1912, p. 106.
2. ^ Members of the HAdW since it was founded in 1909. Walther Köhler. Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, accessed June 29, 2016 .