NEANDER
887
NEANDER
fine musical lines, but tliere is a glow, a sweetness, and a depth about his hymns that have made tnany of them justly and lastingly popular among the German people. See Max Oiibel, Geschichte d. christl. Lehens i. d. rheinisch-icestphdlischen Kirche ; Kohlmann, Joa- chivi Neandvr, s. Ilerkniiimen it. s. Geburtsjahr, iu the Reform. Kirrh,iK:ni>iii'i M.S.")!;); Eeitz, Historie d. Wie- dergebon III II ; \\'iiilciiil(l, i:r<tngelischer Kirchengesang ; Koch, Giscli. ihs Kiri-liai-IAedes ; Winkworth, Chris- tian Singers of Germany, p. 284-288 ; Saunders, Evenings with the Sacred Poets, p. 1 12-1 15. (J. H. W.)
Neander, Johann August "Wilhelm, uni- versally conceded to be by far the greatest of ecclesias- tical historians, and surnamed the father of modern Church history, was born in the university town of Gottingen, Germany, January 15, 1789, a time memor- able as introducing the fearful drama of the French Kev- olution, when the moral atmosphere was infected Avith deadly poisons, and black and thickening clouds were spread over the political and religious horizon. He was the son of a Jewish merchant, Mendel by name, who at one time had been prominent in commercial circles; but, reduced by reverses, was now travelling in little out-of- the-way country towns, selling such goods as could be easily carried about, and would find a ready market among the poorer classes. Mendel was honorably con- nected by blood-ties with some of the best of German Jewish families, among them the Mendelssohns. He was a pious Jew, and David, as the boy was named at circumcision, was carefully trained religiously and intel- lectually. At eight j^ears of age he was admitted as student to the Johanneum Gymnasium at Hamburg, whither his parents had removed. At this place the Jewish boy enjoyed the friendship and daily association of Varnhagen von Ense, Chamisso, the poet, Wilhelm Neumann, the composer, etc. Already the abstract, lofty, and pure genius of Neander was beginning to show itself. It is related that a bookseller in the town was struck with the frequent visits to his shop of a bashful, ungainly boy, wlio used to steal in and seize upon some erudite volume that no one else would touch, and utterly lose himself for hours together in study. This was no other than our David Mendel. Plato and Plutarch were his favorite classics; and many a spare hour out of school not spent in that old book-stall was devoted to the study of these ancient masters of wisdom. The modern writers also engaged his attention ; and thoughtfidly he perused several works on Christianity, among them that famous work of Schleiermacher enti- tled Discourses on Religion, which appeared in 1799, ad- dressed to the cultivated despisers of religion, and aim- ing to show the evils arising in society out of indiffer- ence to the Christian faith and the practices which it demands. The thoughtl'ul Jewisli boy was struck with the reasonable demands made of humanity by a self- sacriticing Saviour; was convinced that he who taught such ethics and demanded of his followers such a life was more than man. Long was the struggle between a faithful adherence to what his parents, especially his pious mother, had taught him; but finally, convinced of his false position, no obstacles could hold him back, and in 180(5 he publicly renounced Judaism, and was baptized, adopting, in allusion to the religious change which he had experienced, the name o{ Neander (from the Greek vioQ civijp, i. e. new man), and as his Christian or baptismal names those of his Christian teacher, Jo- hann Gurlitt, then principal of the Johanneum, and of his friends August Varnhagen and Wilhelm Neumann. Neander's sisters and brothers, and later his mother also, followed his example. In the j'ear of his admission into the Christian Church he went to Halle as a student of theology, devoting hitnself with wonderful ardor and success to his task. Neander's favorite professor was he whose work had caused the Jew to embrace Christ as the Messiah, and Schleiermacher in turn greatl^y inter- ested himself in his convert and student. But much more intimate was Neander's relation to Prof, Knapp,
then the only Pietistic representative at Hallo. The sudden defeat of the Prussians at Jena, Oct. U, 1806, threw Halle open to the French invaders, and three days later the students of that high school were forced to quit it and seek elsewhere educational advantages. Neander went to Gottingen, and there he studied for three years under Planck, then in the zenith of his rep- utation as a Church historian ; he next returned to Ham- burg, expecting to enter the ministry, but was prevented in this step by a call as lecturer to the University of Heidelberg. He had been here only a short time when he was appointed extraordinary professor of theology, 'so great was his success as a lecturer. In 1813 the then newly-established University of Berlin needed a pro- fessor of Church history. Neander had created consid- erable sensation by his monograph on Julian and his Times, and the well-informed king of Prussia selected Neander for the vacant chair. Schleiermacher, De Wette, and INIarheiiieke were already engaged, and Ne- ander soon figured as prominently as any of his col- leagues. For the remainder of his life he was ardently at work for the advancement of Christianity and in the interests of the university. He especially enjoyed im- mense celebrity as a lecturer. Even Schleiermacher had a limited circle of auditors compared with the throngs who went to hear Neander, Students Hocked to him not only from all parts of Germany, but from the most distant Protestant countries. Many Roman Cath- olics, even, were among his auditors; and it is said that there is hardly a great preacher in Germany who is not more or less penetrated with his ideas. Perhaps no pro- fessor was ever so much loved by his students as Nean- der. He used to give the poorer ones tickets to his lect- ures, and to supply them with clothes and money. In 1822-3 Mohler, the distinguished Roman polemic, was one of Neander's hearers; and after paying a tribute to the different celebrated theologians of the university, he alludes in these highly eulogistic terms to the noted Church historian : " Neander embraces everything, even to the most profound. What study of original author- ities, what judgment, what deep religiousness, what earnestness, what clearness and precision in the repre- sentation ; how living, how attractive is the picture of the times which Neander delineates ! In how masterlj' a manner does he know how to describe the men who were the ruling spirits of their times; with what un- dcviating justice does he apportion praise or blame to each ! . . . Neander's prelections will be ever memorable to me ; they will have deciiled influence on my Church historical labors. His private life is pervaded by en- lightened piety ; it is simple as the conduct of a village schoolmaster ; his character is lovable and unassuming in the highest degree ; he knows in Berlin no street but that which leads him to the university; he knows no persons but his professional colleagues ; but Origen, Ter- tuUian, Augustine, Chrysostom, St. Bernard, the letters of Boniface, and so on — he knows these profoundly. His demeanor is, on account of its total want of polish, laugh- able, but no one laughs at him for it; unbounded is the reverence and love which his students, the respect which his colleagues, the regard which the government, show towards him" (Worner, Joh. A. 3Iohler, ein Lehensbild [Regensb. 18G6], p. 72-74).