Daniel Schenkel (December 21, 1813 - May 18, 1885), Swiss Protestant theologian, was born at Dagerlen in the canton of Zürich. December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1813 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... May 18 is the 138th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (139th in leap years). ... 1885 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... Theology is literally reasonable discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason). By extension, it also refers to the study of other religious topics. ... Zürich IPA (in English often Zurich, which is also the standard French form of the name) is the largest city in Switzerland (population: 364,558 in 2002; population of urban area: 1,091,732) and capital of the canton of Zürich. ...

After studying at Basel and Göttingen he was successively pastor at Schaffhausen (1841), professor of theology at Basel (1849); and at Heidelberg professor of theology (1851), director of the seminary and university preacher. At first inclined to conservatism, he afterwards became an exponent of the mediating theology (Vermittelungs-theologie), and ultimately a liberal theologian and advanced critic. The University of Basel (German: Universität Basel) is located at Basel, Switzerland. ... The Georg-August University of Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, often called the Georgia Augusta) was founded in 1734 by George II, King of Great Britain and Elector of Hanover, and opened in 1737. ... The Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (German Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; also known as simply University of Heidelberg) was established in the town of Heidelberg in the Rhineland in 1386. ...

Associating himself with the "German Protestant Union" (Deutsche Protestanten-verein), he defended the community's claim to autonomy, the cause of universal suffrage in the church and the rights of the laity. From 1852 to 1859 he edited the Allgemeine Kirchenzeitung, and from 1861 to 1872 the Allgemeine Kirchliche Zeitschrift, which he had founded in 1859. In 1867, with a view to popularizing the researches and results of the Liberal school, he undertook the editorship of a Bibel-Lexicon (5 vols, 1869-1875), a work which was so much in advance of its time that it is still useful. Universal suffrage (also general suffrage or common suffrage) consists of the extension of suffrage, or the right to vote, to all adults, without distinction as to race, sex, belief or social status. ...

In his Das Wesen des Protestantismus aus den Quellen des Reformationszeitalters beleuchtet (3 vols. 1846-1851, 2nd ed. 1862), he declares that Protestantism is a principle which is always living and active, and not something which was realized once and for all in the past. He contends that the task of his age was to struggle against the Catholic principle which had infected Protestant theology and the church.

In his Christliche Dogmatik (2 vols, 1858-1859) he argues that the record of revelation is human and was historically conditioned: it can never be absolutely perfect; and that inspiration, though originating directly with God, is continued through human instrumentality. His Charakterbild Jesu (1864, 4th ed. 1873; Engl. trans. from 3rd ed., 1869), which appeared almost simultaneously with D Strauss's Leben Jesu, met with fierce opposition. David Friedrich Strauss (January 27, 1808 - February 8, 1874), was a German theologian and writer. ...

The work is considered too subjective and fanciful, the great fault of the author being that he lacks the impartiality of objective historical insight. Yet, as Pfleiderer says, the work "is full of a passionate enthusiasm for the character of Jesus." The author rejects all the miracles except those of healing, and these he explains psychologically. His main purpose was to modernize and reinterpret Christianity; he says in the preface to the third edition of the book: "I have written it solely in the service of evangelical truth, to win to the truth those especially who have been most unhappily alienated from the church and its interests, in a great measure through the fault of a reactionary party, blinded by hierarchical aims."

Other works:

• Friedrich Schleiermacher. Ein Lebens and Charakterbild (1868)
• Christentum and Kirche (2 vols, 1867-1872)
• Die Grundlehren des Christentums aus dem Bewusstsein des Glaubens dargestellt (1877)
• Das Christusbild der Apostel and der nachapostolischen Zeit (1879)

See Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopädie, Otto Pfleiderer, Development of Theology (1890); and F Lichtenberger, History of German Theology (1889).

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...