August Friedrich Christian Vilmar
Encyclopedia
August Friedrich Christian Vilmar, German Neo-Lutheran theologian; born at Solz (near Rotenburg, 78 m. NE of Frankfurt
) November 21, 1800; died at Marburg
July 30, 1868. In 1818-20 he studied theology at Marburg
, only to learn doubt from rationalism
, and from doubt to pass to unbelief. In December, 1823, he was appointed rector
of the municipal school at Rotenburg, where he remained until 1827, when he went to Hersfeld as fourth teacher and collaborator at the gymnasium
, being promoted third teacher in 1829. During these years he renounced rationalism, and for a year or two professed the opinion that the world is the feeling of God. He made further progress through reading first the Church Fathers
, especially Tertullian
and Irenaeus
, and then Tholuck's Lehre von der Sünde, and arrived at unwavering faith in Christ by his fortieth year, realizing that all he sought was to be found in the Lutheran Church, a process begun by the careful study of the Augsburg Confession
and its Apology
.
In 1831 Vilmar was elected from Hersfeld to the newly created diet of the electorate of Hesse, and in December of the same year he was, appointed a member of the ministerial committees for religion and instruction. From Oct., 1832, to the end of Apr., 1833, he was assistant reporter in the ministry of the interior and nominal second teacher at the gymnasium of Hanau. he was director of the gymnasium at Marburg, 1833-50, being a member of the committee on gymnasia) affairs 1836-50; in 1850 he was transferred to the ministry of the interior as consistorial councilor, and from 1851 to 1855 also discharged the duties of the aged superintendent Ernst; in 1855 he became professor of theology at the University of Marburg. In the reports drawn up by Vilmar in the name of his committees for the Hessian Diet in 1831-32 he appealed effectually for the elevation of the national university, for the foundation of new professorships, and for the better equipment of institutions of learning. He also transformed the condition of the public schools, and may truly be termed the reformer of the gymnasia of Hesse. His views on gymnasia) instruction are set forth in his twenty-four Schulreden über Fragen der Zeit (Marburg, 1846). During this period he published works dealing with Germanic linguistics, among them being Deutsche Altertümer in Heliand (1845); Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der deutschen National-Literatur (1845); Geschichte der deutschen National-Literatur (Marburg, 1846); Handbüchlein für Freunde des deutschen Volksliedes (1866); Ueber Goethes Tasso (Frankfort, 1869); Lebensbilder deutscher Dichter (ed. K. W. Piderit, Marburg, 1869), and Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingli (Frankfort, 1869). Of far greater importance, in the present connection, were his services in the reformation of religious instruction in the gymnasia. Deeming that the gymnasium was designed to train up Christian leaders of the nation, and that religious instruction should assume a distinctively churchly character, Vilmar set forth his views in a series of contributions to Hengstenberg's Evangelische Kirchenzeitung in 1841 (ed. J. Haussleiter, under the title Ueber den evangelischen Religionsunterricht in den Gymnasien, Marburg, 1888). He also prepared for use in the gymnasia a Kleines evangelisches Gesangbuch (Marburg, 1838); taking part also in the struggle on behalf of the old hymnals, as well as in the preparation of the Deutsches evangelisches Kirchengesangbuch (Stuttgart, 1855).
The Church, Vilmar believed, was about to enter upon a new era, when there would be foil recognition of the absolute unity of the visible and the invisible church, and of the communion of saints
with one body on earth, foreshadowing the church of the Apocalypse, the New Jerusalem
. With such a conviction, Vilmar found before him two tasks: The first of these concerned the creed of the church of Hesse, Vilmar maintaining that its future depended on its absolute fidelity to the confessions of the Church from the Apostles' Creed
to the unaltered Augsburg Confession
. To prove that the creed of the so-called Reformed church of Lower Hesse
was this unaltered Augsburg Confession cost Vilmar immense toil. The second task was Vilmar's decided advocacy of the freedom of the Church from the State. In 1839 Vilmar took part in the Hessian confessional controversy, in which the attempt was made to discard the Augsburg Confession. Against such an endeavor Vilmar wrote his Verhältnis der evangelischen Kirche in Kurhessen zu ihren neuesten Gegnern (Marburg, 1839). In like spirit, after the faculty of Marburg had required the use of the Heidelberg Catechism
in the schools and had designated the doctrines set forth in the Hessian Catechism as "Reformed" (1855), Vilmar sought to prove, especially in his Geschichte des Konfessionsstandes der evangelischen Kirche in Hessen (Marburg, 1860), that the church of Lower Hesse was termed "Reformed" not because of the doctrines prevailing in it, but because of the form of worship introduced by the Landgrave Maurice in the Verbesserungspunkte in 1605, although after the middle of the seventeenth century the theology of Hesse-Kassel
(or Hesse-Cassel) had adopted the strict predestination
of the Reformed. In Die Gegenwart und die Zukunft der niederhessischen Kirche (1867), he urged that the struggle against impending union be begun with the strongest emphasis on Lutheranism
; and the failure to follow this counsel of Vilmar proved a fatal error in the conflict between the Hessian churches.
In 1848-50 Vilmar exercised a profound influence on political affairs. Essentially a conservative and devoted to his sovereign
, he not only supported his elector
manfully, but also made the Hessischer Volksfreund, which he founded in 1848 and edited alone until the middle of 1851, a center for all the loyalists of the land. A number of his contributions to this periodical were reprinted by Vilmar himself under the title Zur neuesten Kulturgeschichte Deutschlands (3 parts, Frankfort, 1858-6?). Vilmar has rightly been characterized as preeminently acquainted with his native land and as a fervent admirer and protector of the relics of her past. His researches into Hessian history are embodied in his Hessisches Historienbüchlein (1842) and Hessische Chronik (1855), and he was also the author of the admirable Idiotikon von Kurhessen (1868). But dearer to him than all else was his church, of which he was acting superintendent, as already noted, from 1851 to 1855. His power as a preacher may still be seen in his Predigten and geistliche Reden (1876), while his visitation of churches in the discharge of his duties gave rise to many official communications of importance.
On the death of Superintendent Ernst, Vilmar was elected his successor. The election was subject, however, to the approval of the sovereign, and this the last prince-elector
of Hesse refused. Vilmar, though elected superintendent, was now appointed professor of theology at Marburg (Oct. 27, 1855). Unwillingly he entered upon an office which he would have welcomed a quarter of a century before. Yet he became the most influential professor in the university. His program was set forth in Die Theologie der Thatsachen wider die Theologie der Rhetorik (1856), and four times, in the spirit of practical religion there propounded, he conducted his theological pupils through a three-years´ course which covered the entire Bible
. This course of lectures was edited by his pupil C. Müller under the title Collegium Biblicum (6 vols., Gütersloh, 1879-83); and most of his other lectures were also edited posthumously: K. W. Piderit preparing the Die Augsburgische Konfession (Marburg, 1870), Lehre vom geistlichen Amt (1870), Christliche Kirchenzucht (1872), Pastoraltheologie (Gütersloh, 1872), and Dogmatik (2 vols., 1874), and C. C. Israel those on Theologische Moral (2 vols., 1871). Vilmar lectured also on homiletics
, hymnology, and the literary history of the theology of the Reformation
period. Besides his professorial activity, Vilmar was the soul of the conferences of the Lutheran pastors of both Hesses, which were held alternately at Marburg and Friedberg
from 1857 to 1866. He further aided the aims of these conferences by editing the Pastoraltheologische Blätter (12 vols., Stuttgart, 1861-66), to which he contributed a series of articles edited by C. Müller under the title Kirche und Welt (2 vols., Gütersloh, 1872). But despite the companionship of his pupils, Vilmar felt more and more isolated and alone at Marburg, nor could he overcome his grief at the events of 1866. His melancholy continually increased, and a few months after the death of his second wife, he was found dead in bed from a repeated stroke of apoplexy.
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
) November 21, 1800; died at Marburg
Marburg
Marburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...
July 30, 1868. In 1818-20 he studied theology at Marburg
Marburg
Marburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...
, only to learn doubt from rationalism
Rationalism
In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
, and from doubt to pass to unbelief. In December, 1823, he was appointed rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of the municipal school at Rotenburg, where he remained until 1827, when he went to Hersfeld as fourth teacher and collaborator at the gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
, being promoted third teacher in 1829. During these years he renounced rationalism, and for a year or two professed the opinion that the world is the feeling of God. He made further progress through reading first the Church Fathers
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
, especially Tertullian
Tertullian
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian , was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He is the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and...
and Irenaeus
Irenaeus
Saint Irenaeus , was Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, then a part of the Roman Empire . He was an early church father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology...
, and then Tholuck's Lehre von der Sünde, and arrived at unwavering faith in Christ by his fortieth year, realizing that all he sought was to be found in the Lutheran Church, a process begun by the careful study of the Augsburg Confession
Augsburg Confession
The Augsburg Confession, also known as the "Augustana" from its Latin name, Confessio Augustana, is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Lutheran reformation...
and its Apology
Apology of the Augsburg Confession
The Apology of the Augsburg Confession was written by Philipp Melanchthon during and after the 1530 Diet of Augsburg as a response to the Pontifical Confutation of the Augsburg Confession, Charles V's commissioned official Roman Catholic response to the Lutheran Augsburg Confession of June 25, 1530...
.
In 1831 Vilmar was elected from Hersfeld to the newly created diet of the electorate of Hesse, and in December of the same year he was, appointed a member of the ministerial committees for religion and instruction. From Oct., 1832, to the end of Apr., 1833, he was assistant reporter in the ministry of the interior and nominal second teacher at the gymnasium of Hanau. he was director of the gymnasium at Marburg, 1833-50, being a member of the committee on gymnasia) affairs 1836-50; in 1850 he was transferred to the ministry of the interior as consistorial councilor, and from 1851 to 1855 also discharged the duties of the aged superintendent Ernst; in 1855 he became professor of theology at the University of Marburg. In the reports drawn up by Vilmar in the name of his committees for the Hessian Diet in 1831-32 he appealed effectually for the elevation of the national university, for the foundation of new professorships, and for the better equipment of institutions of learning. He also transformed the condition of the public schools, and may truly be termed the reformer of the gymnasia of Hesse. His views on gymnasia) instruction are set forth in his twenty-four Schulreden über Fragen der Zeit (Marburg, 1846). During this period he published works dealing with Germanic linguistics, among them being Deutsche Altertümer in Heliand (1845); Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der deutschen National-Literatur (1845); Geschichte der deutschen National-Literatur (Marburg, 1846); Handbüchlein für Freunde des deutschen Volksliedes (1866); Ueber Goethes Tasso (Frankfort, 1869); Lebensbilder deutscher Dichter (ed. K. W. Piderit, Marburg, 1869), and Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingli (Frankfort, 1869). Of far greater importance, in the present connection, were his services in the reformation of religious instruction in the gymnasia. Deeming that the gymnasium was designed to train up Christian leaders of the nation, and that religious instruction should assume a distinctively churchly character, Vilmar set forth his views in a series of contributions to Hengstenberg's Evangelische Kirchenzeitung in 1841 (ed. J. Haussleiter, under the title Ueber den evangelischen Religionsunterricht in den Gymnasien, Marburg, 1888). He also prepared for use in the gymnasia a Kleines evangelisches Gesangbuch (Marburg, 1838); taking part also in the struggle on behalf of the old hymnals, as well as in the preparation of the Deutsches evangelisches Kirchengesangbuch (Stuttgart, 1855).
The Church, Vilmar believed, was about to enter upon a new era, when there would be foil recognition of the absolute unity of the visible and the invisible church, and of the communion of saints
Communion of Saints
The communion of saints , when referred to persons, is the spiritual union of the members of the Christian Church, living and the dead, those on earth, in heaven, and, for those who believe in purgatory, those also who are in that state of purification.They are all part of a single "mystical body",...
with one body on earth, foreshadowing the church of the Apocalypse, the New Jerusalem
New Jerusalem
In the book of Ezekiel, the Prophecy of New Jerusalem is Ezekiel's prophetic vision of a city to be established to the south of the Temple Mount that will be inhabited by the twelve tribes of Israel in the...
. With such a conviction, Vilmar found before him two tasks: The first of these concerned the creed of the church of Hesse, Vilmar maintaining that its future depended on its absolute fidelity to the confessions of the Church from the Apostles' Creed
Apostles' Creed
The Apostles' Creed , sometimes titled Symbol of the Apostles, is an early statement of Christian belief, a creed or "symbol"...
to the unaltered Augsburg Confession
Augsburg Confession
The Augsburg Confession, also known as the "Augustana" from its Latin name, Confessio Augustana, is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Lutheran reformation...
. To prove that the creed of the so-called Reformed church of Lower Hesse
Lower Hesse
Lower Hesse a historic designation for an area in northern Hesse, Germany.The term Lower Hesse originated in the Middle Ages for the so-called "lower principality" of Hesse, which was separated until 1450 from the so-called "upper principality" by the area Ziegenhain...
was this unaltered Augsburg Confession cost Vilmar immense toil. The second task was Vilmar's decided advocacy of the freedom of the Church from the State. In 1839 Vilmar took part in the Hessian confessional controversy, in which the attempt was made to discard the Augsburg Confession. Against such an endeavor Vilmar wrote his Verhältnis der evangelischen Kirche in Kurhessen zu ihren neuesten Gegnern (Marburg, 1839). In like spirit, after the faculty of Marburg had required the use of the Heidelberg Catechism
Heidelberg Catechism
The Heidelberg Catechism is a Protestant confessional document taking the form of a series of questions and answers, for use in teaching Reformed Christian doctrine...
in the schools and had designated the doctrines set forth in the Hessian Catechism as "Reformed" (1855), Vilmar sought to prove, especially in his Geschichte des Konfessionsstandes der evangelischen Kirche in Hessen (Marburg, 1860), that the church of Lower Hesse was termed "Reformed" not because of the doctrines prevailing in it, but because of the form of worship introduced by the Landgrave Maurice in the Verbesserungspunkte in 1605, although after the middle of the seventeenth century the theology of Hesse-Kassel
Hesse-Kassel
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel or Hesse-Cassel was a state in the Holy Roman Empire under Imperial immediacy that came into existence when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided in 1567 upon the death of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. His eldest son William IV inherited the northern half and the...
(or Hesse-Cassel) had adopted the strict predestination
Predestination
Predestination, in theology is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God. John Calvin interpreted biblical predestination to mean that God willed eternal damnation for some people and salvation for others...
of the Reformed. In Die Gegenwart und die Zukunft der niederhessischen Kirche (1867), he urged that the struggle against impending union be begun with the strongest emphasis on Lutheranism
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
; and the failure to follow this counsel of Vilmar proved a fatal error in the conflict between the Hessian churches.
In 1848-50 Vilmar exercised a profound influence on political affairs. Essentially a conservative and devoted to his sovereign
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
, he not only supported his elector
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
manfully, but also made the Hessischer Volksfreund, which he founded in 1848 and edited alone until the middle of 1851, a center for all the loyalists of the land. A number of his contributions to this periodical were reprinted by Vilmar himself under the title Zur neuesten Kulturgeschichte Deutschlands (3 parts, Frankfort, 1858-6?). Vilmar has rightly been characterized as preeminently acquainted with his native land and as a fervent admirer and protector of the relics of her past. His researches into Hessian history are embodied in his Hessisches Historienbüchlein (1842) and Hessische Chronik (1855), and he was also the author of the admirable Idiotikon von Kurhessen (1868). But dearer to him than all else was his church, of which he was acting superintendent, as already noted, from 1851 to 1855. His power as a preacher may still be seen in his Predigten and geistliche Reden (1876), while his visitation of churches in the discharge of his duties gave rise to many official communications of importance.
On the death of Superintendent Ernst, Vilmar was elected his successor. The election was subject, however, to the approval of the sovereign, and this the last prince-elector
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
of Hesse refused. Vilmar, though elected superintendent, was now appointed professor of theology at Marburg (Oct. 27, 1855). Unwillingly he entered upon an office which he would have welcomed a quarter of a century before. Yet he became the most influential professor in the university. His program was set forth in Die Theologie der Thatsachen wider die Theologie der Rhetorik (1856), and four times, in the spirit of practical religion there propounded, he conducted his theological pupils through a three-years´ course which covered the entire Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. This course of lectures was edited by his pupil C. Müller under the title Collegium Biblicum (6 vols., Gütersloh, 1879-83); and most of his other lectures were also edited posthumously: K. W. Piderit preparing the Die Augsburgische Konfession (Marburg, 1870), Lehre vom geistlichen Amt (1870), Christliche Kirchenzucht (1872), Pastoraltheologie (Gütersloh, 1872), and Dogmatik (2 vols., 1874), and C. C. Israel those on Theologische Moral (2 vols., 1871). Vilmar lectured also on homiletics
Homiletics
Homiletics , in theology the application of the general principles of rhetoric to the specific department of public preaching. The one who practices or studies homiletics is called a homilist....
, hymnology, and the literary history of the theology of the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
period. Besides his professorial activity, Vilmar was the soul of the conferences of the Lutheran pastors of both Hesses, which were held alternately at Marburg and Friedberg
Friedberg, Hesse
Friedberg is a town and the capital of the Wetteraukreis district, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 26 kilometers north of Frankfurt am Main.-Division of the town:The town consists of 7 districts:* Bruchenbrücken...
from 1857 to 1866. He further aided the aims of these conferences by editing the Pastoraltheologische Blätter (12 vols., Stuttgart, 1861-66), to which he contributed a series of articles edited by C. Müller under the title Kirche und Welt (2 vols., Gütersloh, 1872). But despite the companionship of his pupils, Vilmar felt more and more isolated and alone at Marburg, nor could he overcome his grief at the events of 1866. His melancholy continually increased, and a few months after the death of his second wife, he was found dead in bed from a repeated stroke of apoplexy.