KARL

ULLMANN (1796-1865)  , German Protestant theologian, was born at Epfenbach, near Heidelberg, on the 15th of March 1796 . He studied at Heidelberg and Tubingen, and in 182o delivered exegetical and historical lectures at Heidelberg . In 1829 he went to Halle as professor to teach church history, dogmatics and symbolics, but in 1836 he accepted a chair at Heidelberg . A lifelong exponent of the mediating theology (Vermittelungs-Theologie), in 1828, with the help of Umbreit (1795–186o), he founded and edited the Theologische Studien and Kriliken in its interests . When Wegscheider and Gesenius were denounced by Hengstenberg as rationalists, he pleaded for freedom in theological teaching (cf. his Theol . Bedenken, 1830) . On the other hand, he vigorously attacked David Strauss . His Historisch oder mythisch (1838; 2nd ed . 1866) was a reply to Strauss's Life of Jesus, and his criticism resulted in Strauss making numerous concessions in later works . Ullmann died on the 12th of January 1865 . In Das Wesen des Christenthums (1845; 5th ed., 1865; Eng. trans., 186o) Ullmann explains that Christianity is independent of the orthodox formulas, and contends that a distinction should be made between faith and dogmatics . His principal historical works are Gregor von Nazianz (1825; tad ed., 1867) and Die Reformatoren vor der Reformation (2 vols., 1841; 2nd ed., 1866; Eng. trans., 1854) .

Another well-known

work is Die Sundlosigkeit Jesu (1854; Eng. trans., 1858 and 1870) . See O . Pfleiderer, Development of Theology (189o) ; and cf . W . Beyschlag, Karl Ullmann (1867), and Adolf Hausrath in Kleine Schriften religionsgeschichtlichen Inhalts (1883) .