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'''Adolf von Harnack''' was a German (Lutheran) [[theology|theologian]] who taught at the [[University of Berlin]].  His academic work was produced in  the late ninteenth and early twentieth centururies.  Harnack was one of a select few theologians who could be collectively regarded as the fathers of [[Protestant liberalism]], a distinctively German [[movement]] whose influence rapidly spread throughout Europe, Britain, and America.

'''Adolf von Harnack''' was a German (Lutheran) theologian of the late ninteenth and early twentieth centuries who taught at the University of Berlin.  Harnack was one of a select few theologians who could be collectively regarded as the fathers of Protestant liberalism, a distinctively German movement whose influence rapidly spread throughout Europe, Britain, and North America.  His academic carreer was a spectacular success even though he labored under constant critical fire from the ecclesiastical authorities for his controversial ideas.  Nonetheless, his many students eventually went on to spread the ideas of liberalism throughout the church, thus setting the primary theological stage for the entirety of the twentieth century, particularly in the United States.   

 

Adolf von Harnack was a German (Lutheran) theologian of the late ninteenth and early twentieth centuries who taught at the University of Berlin.  Harnack was one of a select few theologians who could be collectively regarded as the fathers of Protestant liberalism, a distinctively German movement whose influence rapidly spread throughout Europe, Britain, and North America.  His academic carreer was a spectacular success even though he labored under constant critical fire from the ecclesiastical authorities for his controversial ideas.  Nonetheless, his many students eventually went on to spread the ideas of liberalism throughout the church, thus setting the primary theological stage for the entirety of the twentieth century, particularly in the United States.   

The hallmark of Protestant liberalism can be seen simply as the inversion of authority.  Dating from the Reformation, authority for the Protestant faith was rooted in the concept of "biblical authority," a scheme in which the Christian canon of scripture was considered to be an epistemological given backed by a divine guarantee, thus assuring an unquestionable source of certainty for Christian faith and practice.  While human reason was considered by the reformers to be part of the ''imago dei'' (the image of God within man), they nevertheless insisted that truth could only be understood when reason submitted to the authority of scripture.  Harnack and his colleagues essentially reversed this equation and proceeded on the assumption that truth could only be understood when everything, including scripture, submitted to the authority of reason.   

The hallmark of Protestant liberalism can be seen simply as the inversion of authority.  Dating from the Reformation, authority for the Protestant faith was rooted in the concept of "biblical authority," a scheme in which the Christian canon of scripture was considered to be an epistemological given backed by a divine guarantee, thus assuring an unquestionable source of certainty for Christian faith and practice.  While human reason was considered by the reformers to be part of the ''imago dei'' (the image of God within man), they nevertheless insisted that truth could only be understood when reason submitted to the authority of scripture.  Harnack and his colleagues essentially reversed this equation and proceeded on the assumption that truth could only be understood when everything, including scripture, submitted to the authority of reason.