Schenkel, Daniel

Schenkel, Daniel a Protestant theologian of Germany, was born December 21, 1813, at Digerlen, Canton Zurich. He studied at Basle and Gottingen, was in 1837 privat-docent at Basle, in 1841 chief pastor at Schaffhausen. In 1846 he began his great work, Das Wesendes Protestantismus (1846-51, 3 volumes; 2d ed. 1861), in which he took his stand upon the so-called "Vermittelungstheologie," the via media between the old evangelicalism and the new criticism. Upon the death of De Wette, Schenkel was called in 1849 to Basle as professor of theology. In 1851 he was called to Heidelberg. At first evangelical in spirit, in 1857 he sided with the liberal direction in the General Synod, and worked for the reconstruction of the Hessian Church upon the basis of the Congregational principle ("Gemeindeprinzip"). As editor of the Allgemeine kirchliche Zeitschrift, he used the press to support the Liberal direction in theology and ecclesiastical constitution. The beginning of his liberalism he showed in the Christliche Dogmatik von Standpunkt des Gewissens (1858-59); but when he published in 1864 Das Charakterbild Jesu, one hundred and eighteen parochial clergymen in Baden issued a protest against the book. Schenkel replied in Die protestantische Freiheit in ihrem gepenwartigen Kampfe mit der kirchlichen Reaktion (1865). From 1863 he had labored hard for the foundation of the German "Protestanten Verein." In 1883 he retired from the direction of the homiletical seminary, and in 1884 from academical .activity, and died May 19, 1885. Besides the works already mentioned, he published, Die Grundlehren des Christenthums aus dem Bewusstsein des Glaubens dargestellt (1877): — Luther in Worms und Wittenberg (1870): — Christenthum und Kirche im Einklang mit der Kulturentwicklung (1867-72, 2 volumes): — Das Christusbild der Apostel und der nachapostolischen Zeit (1879): — in connection with eminent scholars he published Bibel-lexikon (1867-72, 5 volumes): — and for Lange's Bibelwerk he wrote the commentaries on Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, and his volume passed into a second edition; but in place in the series was afterwards occupied by a commentary on the same epistles by Dr. Karl Braune (q.v.). See Zuchold, Bibl. Theol. s.v. (B.P.)