Harnack, Adolf von (1851-1930)

Estonian-born German theologian and historian, known for is his claim for absolute freedom in the study of church history and the New Testament. He was professor at Marburg (1886-89) and Berlin universities (1889-1924). He lectured on gnosticism and the Apocalypse. The first volume of his epoch-making work, Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte/The History of Dogma, was published in 1885. In 1893 he published a history of early Christian literature, Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur bis Eusebius/History of Early Christian Literature until Eusebius, and in 1900 his controversial book, translated as What is Christianity?

Harnack was born in Dorpat, Estonia. Among his other works are Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten/The Spread of Christianity in the First Three Centuries (1902) and a number of important New Testament studies, translated into English as Luke the Physician and The Sayings of Jesus.