Herzog, Johann Jacob

Johann Jacob Herzog ( Duke ^[3] ; September 12, 1805, Basel - September 30, 1882, Erlangen ) - Swiss Protestant theologian, church historian, encyclopedist, teacher. He is best known as the editor-in-chief of the Protestant Religious Encyclopedia, as well as a well-known teacher-theologian who throughout his life worked at four different universities.

Born into a merchant family with Württemberg roots. At a very early age he remained an orphan, was brought up by relatives until five years old, then he studied with his brother at a boarding school in Neustadt. He later graduated from the Münsterplatz gymnasium in Basel; From 1823 he studied theology at the University of Basel, in 1826 he moved to Berlin University and, during his studies, he undertook scientific trips to a number of Italian and Austrian cities. On October 10, 1830, he received a diploma in theology and from the winter semester of the academic year 1830/1831 he taught at the University of Basel. He married on January 14, 1834, had four children in marriage. Having no prospects of getting a professorship in Basel, he accepted the offer to become an extraordinary professor of theology and church history at the University of Lausanne, on September 27, 1838 he became an ordinary professor of historical theology in the same educational institution, while at the same time he taught symbolic theology, dogmatics, biblical studies, the history of the Reformation and missionary work, and also engaged in historical and church research, the results of which were published in several monographs. On February 17, 1846, he resigned as professor in protest against government interference in church affairs in response to a proposal to join the commission for the appointment of cantonal pastors; From March 1846 to August 1847 he worked in Lausanne as an independent researcher. On June 16, 1847, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Berlin. From 1847 to 1854 he was a professor of church history at the University of Halle, and often undertook research trips to European cities; refused to occupy the chair of a professor of theology at the University of Vienna. From October 1, 1854, he became a professor of Protestant theology at the University of Erlangen ^[4] , where he worked until September 1, 1877, when, after suffering a stroke, he resigned of his own free will. In 1876 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy .

Herzog owns a number of works on the history of the Reformation in Europe and on the history of the Waldensian Evangelical Church. He is best known for his work on the (“Real-Encyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche”), the first edition of which was published in 22 volumes in 1853-1868 in Halle (first volume) and Erlangene (subsequent volumes); More than 500 articles for this work were written personally by Herzog. Subsequently, this edition was reprinted in 18 volumes in 1877-1888 and in 21 volumes in 1896-1908. In addition, he wrote a number of articles for the newspaper Evangelischen Kirchen-Zeitung and a number of church biographies for the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie .