Heinrich Julius Holtzmann


Heinrich Julius Holtzmann, German Protestant theologian, son of theologian Karl Julius Holtzmann, was born at Karlsruhe, where his father ultimately became prelate and counsellor to the supreme consistory of the Evangelical [State Church in Baden].

Biography

He studied at Berlin, and eventually was appointed professor ordinarius at the University of Strasbourg. A moderately liberal theologian, he became best known as a New Testament critic and exegete, being the author of "Die Synoptiker", the "Evangelium, Briefe und Offenbarung des Johannes", and the "Apostelgeschichte", in the series "Handkommentar zum Neuen Testament".
On the question of the relationship of the Synoptic Gospels, Holtzmann in his early work, "Die synoptischen Evangelien, ihr Ursprung und geschichtlicher Charakter", presents a view which has been widely accepted, maintaining the priority of Mark, deriving Matthew in its present form from Mark and from Matthew's earlier "collection of sayings", the Logia of Papias, and Luke from Matthew and Mark in the form in which we have them. This view was a modified version of Christian [Hermann Weisse|Christian Weisse]'s hypothesis.
Other noteworthy works are:
  • Lehrbuch der historisch-kritischen Einleitung in das Neue Testament.
  • Lehrbuch der neutestamentlichen Theologie.
  • Lexikon für Theologie und Kirchenwesen ; in collaboration with Richard [Otto Zöpffel].
In 1893 he became editor of the "Theologischer Jahresbericht". Holtzmann died in Baden-Baden-Lichtental.

Family

He married the daughter of Georg Weber. His daughter Adelheid was a politician and women's rights activist. She married Gustav Steinmann.