Richard Adelbert Lipsius

1830-1892. German Protestant theologian. Graduate of the University of Leipzig, after various appointments he became professor of systematic theology at Jena, where he wrote extensively on dogmatics and the history of early Christianity. His writing showed the influence, first, of Hegel, later of Kant and Schleiermacher. His mature thought was close to Ritschl.* He attempted to harmonize scientific principles and methods with those of religion. In this he was opposed by the Lutheran Church for an alleged theological liberalism. He found the basis of the harmonization he attempted in the unity of the personal ego, arguing that though one may come to an objective knowledge of the world through science, a real understanding of the world and, thus, of value required subjective experience. Through such experience, God is revealed as the ultimate unity. Lipsius was co-founder of the Evangelical Alliance and the Evangelical Protestant Missionary Union.