Karl Holl

1866-1926. Patrologist. Born in Tübingen, he was a pastor before returning to Tübingen to lecture. He became professor of church history there in 1901 and from 1906 to 1926 held a similar chair in Berlin. Having collaborated with Harnack* on an edition of Greek patrology (the Berlin Corpus), he also investigated the origins of Epiphany and the Easter feast and fast, and wrote Enthusiasmus und Bussgewalt beim griechischen Mönchtum. One of Germany's most influential church historians, for both Eastern and Western churches, his studies on Luther, including The Cultural Significance of the Reformation, created a renascence in the Evangelical Church. He studied Russian and brought attention to Tolstoy, but avoided the theological disputes of the turn of the century.