THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
mind. Accordingly he published (Kiel, 1817) the ninety-five theses of Luther with ninety-five theses of his own, needed in his opinion by Harms's the nineteenth century, and directed Ninety-five against various supposed abuses in the Theses. Lutheran Church, especially against rationalism; he declared his willingness to defend and vindicate his theses and to avow his errors if any should be proved. His first thesis was aimed at the prevailing Pelagianism, while others were: " We make reason the pope of our time in regard to faith, conscience in regard to action, and upon the latter has been placed a triple crown — lawmaking, praise, and punishment " (ix.); " conscience can not forgive, since forgiveness belongs to God " (xi.); " if conscience ceases to read and begins to write, the result will be as different as the handwritings of men " (xvii.); " forgiveness of sinsat least cost money in the sixteenth century, but in the nineteenth century it costs nothing, since people help themselves " (xxi.); " according to the old faith, God created man; according to the new faith, man creates God" (xxvii.); "the 'religion of reason ' is bare either of reason or of religion, or of both " (xxxii.). The following theses asserted for religion its independent sphere: " That anybody should misconstrue the fixed word of the Bible is prevented by our symbolical books " (1.); " the words of our revealed religion we regard as sacred in their original language, and do not consider them a dress which may be taken off from religion, but as its body in union with which it has its life. But a translation into a living language must be revised every hundred years in order to remain alive " (li., lii.). Harms then attacked the rationalistic Bible of Altona (see Bible Versions, VII., § 4) and the laxity of the church government. The last twenty theses were directed against the Union.
Harms's theses naturally created a sensation and called forth about two hundred pamphlets. The rationalists were offended, but others recognized the theses as a wholesome ferment and a bitter medicine for the weak faith of the time. Court preacher C. F. von Amnion (q.v.) in Dresden approved them and Schleiermacher also took the part of Harms.
The position of Harms became more and more important. His merits were more widely recognized, and the number of his hearers in- His creased. In the University of Kiel the Influence, spirit of rationalism began to disappear. In 1819 he declined a call to St. Petersburg as Evangelical bishop, and in 1834 one to Trinity Church in Berlin as the successor of Schleiermacher. After Fock's death in 1835 he was promoted chief preacher at St. Nicolai and provost of Kiel. In 1849 blindness compelled him to lay down his offices.
Harms was before everything a powerful preacher. Great crowds came to hear him ; it was the content of his sermons which attracted, in spite of their lack of ornament and embellishment. Controversy deepened his convictions, which he expressed decidedly and sharoly in his writings. Among these must be mentioned first his sermons, of which he published sixteen collections between 1808 and 1858. He
wrote a number of catechisms and other books for religious instruction (Das Christentum in einem kleinen Katechisrnus, 1810; Die Religion der Christen in einem Katechisrnus aujs neue gelehrt, 1814; etc.). His Pastor -altheologie (1830), the fruit of his informal talks on practical theology, appeared in a third edition as late as 1878. He also wrote hymns, a few of which have passed into German hymn-books.
(H. C. CARSTENSf.)
Bibliography: Harms's autobiography {Lebensbeschreibung) appeared Kiel, 1852; some of his letters are in P. Petri, L. A. Petri Leben, Hanover, 1888. Consult: Dorner, Blatter der Erinnerung an das Jubilaum von C. Harms Kiel, 1842; K. Schneider, C. Harms, der evangelische Prediger, Priester und Pastor, Bielefeld, 1861; idem, Schleiermacher und Harms, Berlin, 1865; J. Kaftan, C. Harms, Basel, 1875; C. Liidemann, Erinnerung an Claus Harms und seine Zeit, Kiel, 1878; F. Volbehr, C. Harms an seinem hundertjiihrigen Geburtstag, ib. 1878. Further literature is given in Hauck-Herzog, RE, vii. 433.