Straßburger lutherische Orthodoxie im 17. Jahrhundert : Johann Conrad Dannhauer, Versuch einer Annnäherung

Abstract

Johannes Wallmann : Johann Conrad Dannhauer and Lutheran orthodoxy in Strasbourg in the seventeenth century. Towards the middle of the seventeenth century the Strasbourg Theology Faculty recovers a level and an impact lost since the end of the sixteenth century. Like his colleagues Dannhauer had studied at Jena, one of the sanctuaries of Lutheran orthodoxy. Although held in high repute in his own time, he has been neglected by contemporary research, partly due no doubt to the extensive source material. His key role in the history of hermeneutics and his formulation of a rhetoric usable in denominational controversy are to be singled out. His ten volume Katechismusmilch is the longest commentary to date of Luther’s Shorter Catechism. Besides a large collection of sermons and a substantial statement of Christian doctrine (the Hodosophia Christiana), he chiefly composed numerous polemical works. Unlike other orthodox Lutheran theologians of his days -such as Sebastien Schmidt from Strasbourg -he tended to devote less attention to exegesis. Through a comparison with other seventeenth century Lutheran theologians he appears as the first genuine systematic theologian of Lutheranism.