Books by Adolf von Harnack
Adolf von Harnack (1851-1930) (also Adolf Harnack) was born at Dorpat (now Tartu) in Estonia on May 7, 1851. In such seminal works as The History of Dogma (1886–89) and The History of Ancient Christian Literature (1893–1904), Harnack sought to demonstrate that the relevance of Christianity to a modern world lay not in theological dogmatism but in the understanding of the religion as a historical development. He was ennobled (with the addition of von to his name) in 1914. Harnack’s father, Theodosius Harnack, was a professor of pastoral theology at the University of Tartu. Adolf studied at the local University of Tartu (1869–1872) and at the University of Leipzig, where he took his degree; and soon afterwards (1874) began lecturing as a Privatdozent. These lectures, which dealt with such special subjects as Gnosticism and the Apocalypse, attracted considerable attention, and in 1876 he was appointed professor extraordinarius. In the same year he began the publication, in conjunction with Oscar Leopold von Gebhardt and Theodor Zahn, of an edition of the works of the Apostolic Fathers, Patrum apostolicorum opera, a smaller edition of which appeared in 1877. Three years later Harnack was called to Giessen as professor ordinarius of church history. There he collaborated with OL von Gebhardt in Texte und […]
