Wilhelm Herrmann

Johann Wilhelm Herrmann
Born	6 December 1846 Melkow
Died	2 January 1922 (aged 75) Marburg an der Lahn
Occupation	Professor, theologian
Notable work	The Communion of the Christian God
Theological work
Language	German
Tradition or movement	Lutheran, Liberalism
Main interests	Idealism

Johann Wilhelm Herrmann (6 December 1846 – 2 January 1922) was a Lutheran German theologian.

Hermann taught at Halle before becoming professor at Marburg.^[1] Influenced by Kant and Ritschl, his theology was in the idealist tradition, seeing God as the power of goodness. Jesus was to be seen as an exemplary man. Even if Jesus never existed, according to Herrmann, his traditional portrayal was still valid.^[2] His book The Communion of the Christian God^[3] was seen as a highlight of nineteenth century Liberal Christianity, although he is also credited with preserving certain conservative ideals against liberal revisionism.^[4] against which Karl Barth, one of his pupils,^[5] and dialectical theology were later to react.^[6]

Notes

1. Derek Michaud. "Johann Wilhelm Herrmann". Boston Collaborative Encyclopedia of Western Theology.
2. Sockness, Brent (July 1992), "The Ideal and the Historical in the Christology of Wilhelm Herrmann: The Promise and the Perils of Revisionary Christology", The Journal of Religion, The University of Chicago Press, 72 (3): 366–388, doi:10.1086/488917, ISSN 0022-4189, JSTOR 1204421
3. J. Wilhelm Herrmann The Communion of the Christian God, (1895).
4. Smith, Gerald (January 1928), "Review: Herrmann's Theology in the Light of Present-Day Thinking", The Journal of Religion, The University of Chicago Press, 8 (1): 144–146, doi:10.1086/480723, ISSN 0022-4189, JSTOR 1195197
5. Jagnow, Albert (July 1936), "Karl Barth and Wilhelm Herrmann: Pupil and Teacher", The Journal of Religion, The University of Chicago Press, 16 (3): 300–316, doi:10.1086/481842, ISSN 0022-4189, JSTOR 1196448
6. "Wilhelm Herrman", Britannica Online Encyclopedia, 23 February 2012, retrieved 2012-12-03