Johann Christian Konrad von Hofmann

Who was Johann Christian Konrad von Hofmann?

Johann Christian Konrad von Hofmann was a Lutheran theologian and historian.

He was born at Nuremberg, and studied theology and history at the University of Erlangen. In 1829 he went to Berlin, where Schleiermacher, Hegel, Hengstenberg, Neander, Ranke and Raumer were among his teachers. He was particularly influenced by Ranke, who almost persuaded him to focus entirely upon secular history rather than Christian theology.

In 1833 Hofmann received an appointment to teach Hebrew and history in the gymnasium of Erlangen. In 1835 he became Repetent, in 1838 Privatdozent and in 1841 professor extraordinarius in the theological faculty at Erlangen. In 1842 he became professor ordinarius at the University of Rostock, but in 1845 returned once more to Erlangen as the successor of Gottlieb Christoph Adolf von Harless, founder of the Zeitschrift für Protestantismus und Kirche, of which Hofmann became one of the editors in 1846, J. F. Höfling and Gottfried Thomasius being his collaborators. He died in Erlangen. He was a conservative in theology, but an enthusiastic adherent of the progressive party in politics, and sat as member for Erlangen and Fürth in the Bavarian second chamber from 1863 to 1868.