rman Lutheran divine, was born at
Neuhausen-ob-Eck in Wurttemberg on the 20th of June 1809. His father was
pastor at Neuhausen. He was educated at Maulbronn and the university of
Tubingen. After acting for two years as assistant to his father in his
native place he travelled in England and Holland to complete his studies
and acquaint himself with different types of Protestantism. He returned
to Tubingen in 1834, and in 1837 was made professor extraordinarius of
theology. As a student at the university, one of his teachers had been
Christian Friedrich Schmid (1794-1852), author of a well-known book,
_Biblische Theologie des Neuen Testamentes_, and one of the most
vigorous opponents of F. C. Baur. At Schmid's suggestion, and with his
encouragement, Dorner set to work upon a history of the development of
the doctrine of the person of Christ, _Entwicklungsgeschichte der Lehre
von der Person Christi_. He published the first part of it in 1835, the
year in which Strauss, his colleague, gave to the public his _Life of
Jesus_; completed it in 1839, and afterwards considerably enlarged it
for a second edition (1845-1856). It was an indirect reply to Strauss,
which showed "profound learning, objectivity of judgment, and fine
appreciation of the moving ideas of history" (Otto Pfleiderer). The
author at once took high rank as a theologian and historian, and in 1839
was invited to Kiel as professor ordinarius. It was here that he
produced, amongst other works, _Das Princip unserer Kirche nach dem
innern Verhaltniss seiner zwei Seiten betrachtet_ (1841). In 1843 he
removed as professor of theology to Konigsberg. Thence he was called to
Bonn in 1847, and to Gottingen in 1853. Finally in 1862 he settled in
the same capacity at Berlin, where he was a member of the supreme
consistorial council. A few years later (1867) he published his valuable
_Geschichte der protestantischen Theologie_ (Eng. trans., _History of
Protestant Theology_, 2 vols.; 1871), in which he "developed and
elaborated," as Pfleiderer says, "his own convictions by his diligent
and loving study of the history of the Church's thought and belief." The
theological positions to which he ultimately attained are best seen in
his _Christliche Glaubenslehre_, published shortly before his death
(1879-1881). It is "a work extremely rich in thought and matter. It
takes the reader through a mass of historical material by the
examination and discussion of ancient and modern teachers,