Ferdinand Kattenbusch

1851-1935. German church historian and theologian. He was born in Kettwig and studied under A. Ritschl. He became professor of systematic theology at Geissen (1878), Göttingen (1904), and Halle (1906). His principal work was a history of the Apostle's Creed, Das apostolische Symbol (two vols., 1894, 1900), based on the researches of C.P. Caspari. He dated the Old Roman Creed about 100. He also contributed to the history of the Reformation confessions, the theology of Luther, and systematic theology. He “has the merit of being the first to have applied the idea of the Son of Man = people of the saints to the Christian concept of the Church” (Cullmann).