Claus Harms

1778-1855. Lutheran preacher and theologian. After helping his miller father at Fahrstadt/Holstein, he went to the university of Kiel in 1799 where he became an evangelical through reading Schleiermacher's Monologues. Elected deacon at Lunden/Holstein in 1806, Harms rapidly gained fame as a preacher. Ten years later he became archdeacon at St. Nicolai's Church in Kiel and was elevated to the position of provost in 1835. In 1834 he had declined an offer to succeed Schleiermacher* as pastor of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Berlin. On the occasion of the tercentenary of Luther's Ninety-Five Theses, Harms wrote his Ninety-Five Theses. These attacked rationalism with its attendant Pelagianism. The union of Reformed and Lutheran churches proposed by the Prussian monarch Frederick William III was also criticized by him. His writings contributed significantly to the advancement of Lutheran piety. His further writings included a Pastoraltheologie and collections of sermons.