Karl Hase


Karl August von Hase was a German Protestant theologian and church historian.

Background

He was born at Steinbach in Saxony. He studied at Leipzig and Erlangen, and in 1829 was called to Jena as professor of theology. He retired in 1883 and was made a baron. He was the great-grandfather of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Hase's aim was to reconcile modern culture with historical Christianity in a scientific way. But though a liberal theologian, he was no dry rationalist. Indeed, he vigorously attacked rationalism, as distinguished from the rational principle, charging it with being unscientific inasmuch as it ignored the historical significance of Christianity, shut its eyes to individuality and failed to give religious feeling its due.

Works

His views are presented scientifically in his ', the value of which "lies partly in the full and judiciously chosen historical materials prefixed to each dogma, and partly in the skill, caution and tact with which the permanent religious significance of various dogmas is discussed". More popular in style is his Gnosis: Oder evangelische Glaubenslehre, für die gebildeten in der Gemeinde,. But his reputation rests chiefly on his treatment of church history in his '.
His biographical studies, ', ', Neue Propheten are judicious and sympathetic. Other works are:
For his life, see his ' and ' ; and for comparison — Otto Pfleiderer, and Frédéric Lichtenberger, .