Cristoph Ernst Luthardt

1823-1902. Lutheran scholar. Born at Maroldsweisack, he was educated at Erlangen and Berlin and became professor of systematic theology at Marburg in 1854 and at Leipzig in 1856. His Apologetic Lectures on Christianity (1864f.), Compendium of Dogma (1865), and Compendium of Religious Ethics (1896) reveal him as a conservative Lutheran scholar, and in translation brought him acknowledgment in the English-speaking world, where his Johannine studies were also popular. In 1864 he attacked the skeptical portraits of Jesus by Strauss and Renan, but during the next few years, when German unification was being accomplished, he as a loyal Saxon and president of the Leipzig Mission Society led the opposition to the Prussianization of the religious institutions of his kingdom. He helped found the General Evangelical-Lutheran Conference in 1868 and edited its Kirchenzeitung. He also edited the Zeitschrift für Kirchliche Wissenschaft (1879-89) and the Theologische Literaturblatt (1890-1902).