Page "Ferdinand Christian Baur" Paragraph 25

The change is noticeable in his Epochen der kirchlichen Geschichtschreibung ( 1852 ), Das Christenthum und die christiche Kirche der drei ersten Jahrhunderte ( 1853 ), and Die christliche Kirche von Anfang des vierten bis zum Ende das sechsten Jahrhunderts ( 1859 ), works preparatory to his Kirchengeschichte, in which the change of view is specially pronounced.

The Kirchengeschichte was published in five volumes during the years 1853-1863, partly by Baur himself, partly by his son, Ferdinand Baur, and his son-in-law, Eduard Zeller, from notes and lectures which the author left behind him.

Pfleiderer describes this work, especially the first volume, as a classic for all time.

" Taken as a whole, it is the first thorough and satisfactory attempt to explain the rise of Christianity and the Church on strictly historical lines, i. e. as a natural development of the religious spirit of our race under the combined operation of various human causes " ( Development of Theology, p. 288 ).

Baur's lectures on the history of dogma, Ausführlichere Vorlesungen uber die christliche Dogmengeschichte, were published later by his son ( 1865 – 1868 ).