HARMS, GEORG LUDWIG DETLEV THE0D0R
(commonly known as Ludwig Harms): German
Lutheran and founder of the Her- Early Life, mannsburg mission; b. at Walsrode
(45 m. s.w. of Liineburg), Hanover, May 5, 1808; d. at Hermannsburg (50 m. s. of Hamburg), Hanover, Nov. 5, 1865. He studied theology at Gottingen from 1827 to 1830; but while at first influenced by the prevailing rationalism, his trial sermon of 1833 emphasized justification by faith. Harms became private tutor at Lauenburg, in the house of Chamberlain von Linstow, where he met a small circle of Pietists. He shared at this time their views of a living faith and of the gratuitous justification of the sinner by faith, but also their indifference toward confessional distinctions, their other-worldliness, and their lack of appreciation of the Church and its ordinances. He soon became the leading personality in this circle, and developed especial interest in missions. In 1834 he founded a missionary society in Lauenburg, which in 1836 became a branch of the newly organized North- German Missionary Society. In 1839 Harms returned to the home of his parents and assisted his father during the winter. In 1840 he again became private tutor at Liineburg, where an active Christian life had developed under the influence of the Liineburg preacher Deichmann. Harms now became the leading spirit of this circle. He preached often, and was also active in the practical duties of the ministerial office; but at the same time he did not lose sight of the cause of missions, to which he attributed the greatest importance for the development of the Church in modern times.
In spite of his successful activity at Liineburg, however, he longed for a position as preacher, but
owing to the superabundance of candi- Pastor in dates, it was impossible for him to Liineburg. realize his desire. He declined a call
as teacher at the missionary institution at Hamburg and another as pastor in New York. He wished to preach among his own Liineburg people, and his longing was fulfilled in 1S44, when the consistory made him his father's assistant. His great activity now began, and with it an awakening such as has seldom been seen in North Germany. His father had prepared the way, but Harms himself
RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Harms Harnaok
worked unremittingly, not only by sermons and services which took up the whole Sunday, but also by his personal association with his congregation. A feature of his work was the meetings held in his house every Sunday afternoon. Harms always used the Low-German dialect, the common speech of the peasants, and his gift of popular story-telling aided him greatly in these social gatherings.
But after all his main power lay in his sermons. Harms understood, as few have done since Luther, how to preach to the people, especially His to the peasants. Popularity formed Preaching, the fundamental trait of his manner of preaching, which was based upon simplicity and clearness. His sermons were not artistic from the homiletic point of view, the themes being in most cases mere headings, the different parts only loosely connected, and the structure simple, nor were his sermons above the average from the exegetical standpoint. The range of thought was narrow, the same ideas occurring again and again, often even in the same words. The main theme was the necessity of a thorough conversion, justification by faith, and the proof of faith in Christian conduct. In bodily gifts Harms was sadly lacking. His voice was hollow and at times shrill, his manner in the pulpit somewhat stiff. But the result of his devoted labor soon showed itself in a real change of life in his congregation. Regular attendance at church, regular devotions at home, and strict observance of Sunday became a fixed rule in his congregation. The charitable work of the congregation assumed large dimensions. People from other parishes poured into his church, and Harms became their spiritual father, and even in their absence remained their faithful adviser by an extensive correspondence.
In this way Harms laid the basis for his missionary congregation; for that was his idea from the beginning: a parochial mission, a mis- The sion of the State Church. In his earlier Hermanns- years he had been asked to found a burg missionary institution, but he declined
Mission, until he became the official pastor of Hermannsburg in 1849, after his father's death. In his report to the consistory he stated his reasons for founding his own missionary establishment instead of joining one of the existing institutions. He cherished the idea of colonial missions, holding that missionaries should not be scattered, but form a Christian colony in heathen countries. In this way, he thought, it would be easier to gather a strong congregation. After its development a second colony should be founded in the vicinity of the first, and after the second a third, and so on, so that a connecting chain of congregations would come into existence. Harms thought that by virtue of the close connection of these colonies with the mother congregation, the solidarity of Lutheran confessionalism would be guarded against the disintegrating influences of other denominations. But the consistory did not agree with him; and he was compelled to follow substantially the plan of other missionary societies. He lived long enough to see the growth of his missionary enterprise, but he might have lived longer
if he had not undermined his health by excessive work, without even temporary recreations. His publications were sermons and devotional writings, which achieved an extraordinary popularity in Germany. (G. UHLHORNf.)
Bibliography: T. Harms, Lebensbeschreibung des Pastors Louis Harms, Hermannsburg, 1874 (by his brother); H. Knaut, Louis Harms, Gottingen, 1899.
HARNACK, (KARL GUSTAV) ADOLF: German Lutheran; b. at Dorpat, Livonia, May 7, 1851. He was educated at Dorpat (1869-72), and two years later became privat-docent at Leipsic, where he was appointed associate professor in 1876. In 1879 he accepted a call to Giessen as full professor of church history, and remained there until 1886, when he went to Marburg in a similar capacity. In 1889 he was called to Berlin. In addition to his professorship of church history, he has since 1905 held the post of director of the Royal Library there. He is recognized as one of the leaders of the critical school of theology and an authority on the history of the antenicene period. Since 1881 he has been one of the editors of the Theologische Literaturzeitung, and since 1882 of the well-known Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Litteratur, to which series he has contributed many monographs. He has written:
Zur Quellenkritik der Geschichte des Gnostizismus (Leipsic, 1873); De Appellis gnosi monarchica (1874); Die Zeit des Ignatius und die Chronologie der antiochenischen Bischofe bis Tyrannus (1878); Evangeliorum codex purpureus Rosaniensis (in collaboration with the late Oscar von Gebhardt, Leipsic, 1880); Das M onchthum, seine Ideate und Geschichte (Giessen, 1881, 6th ed. 1903, Eng. transl. by C. R. Gillett, Monasticism: its Ideals and its history, New York, 1895); Augustin's Confessionen (Giessen, 1888, 3d ed., 1903; Eng. transl. by E. E. Kellett and F. H. Marseille, together with their transl. of the lecture on Monasticism, London, 1901); Martin Luther in seiner Bedeutung fiir die Geschichte der Wissenschaft und der Bildung (Giessen, 1883); Die Apostellehre und die judischen beiden Wege (Leipsic, 1886); Die Quellen der sogenannten apostolischen Kirchenordnung (1886, Eng. transl. by L. A. Wheatley, Sources of the Apostolic Canons; with a Treatise on the Origin of the Readership and Other Lower Orders, 'London, 1895); Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte (3 vols., Freiburg, 1886-90, 3d ed., 1894; Eng. transl. by Neil Buchanan, History of Dogma, 7 vols., London, 1895- 1900); Grundriss der Dogmengeschichte (1889, 4th ed., 1905; Eng. transl. by Edward K. Mitchell, Outlines of the History of Dogma, New York, 1893); Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur bis Eusebius (3 vols., Leipsic, 1893-1904, in collaboration with Edwin Preuschen in the first volume); Thoughts on the Present Position of Protestantism (Eng. transl. by Thomas Bailey Saunders, London, 1899); Geschichte der koniglichen preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin (3 vols., Berlin, 1900); Das Wesen des Christentums (Leipsic, 1900, 52d thousand, 1905; Eng. transl. by T. B. Saunders, What is Christianity? London, 1901, 3d ed. (1904); Das Christentum und die Geschichte (Leipsic, 1897, 5th ed„ 1904; Eng. transl. by T. B. Saunders, Christianity and History, London, 1900); Apostles' Creed (Eng. transl. by Stewart Means from 3d ed. Herzog's Realencyklopadie, London, 1901); Die Aufgabe der theologischen Fakultaten und die allgemeine Religionsgeschichte (Giessen, 1901); Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten (Leipsic, 1902, 2d ed., 1906; Eng. transl. by James Moffatt, The Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, 2 vols., London, 1904-05, new ed. 1908); Reden und Aufsatze (2 vols., Giessen, 1904, 2d ed. 1906); Militia Christi. Die christliche Religion und der Soldatenstand in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten (Tubingen, 1905); Beitrdge zur Einleitung in das Neue Testament (3 parts, Leipsic, 1906-08; Eng. transl. of part 1., Luke the Physician, the Author of the Third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, London, 1907), Zwei Worte Jexu (Berlin, 1907); Essays on the Social Gospel (London, 1907;
Harnack Harris