Works by Adolf Harnack

Search works by Adolf Harnack

• Apostles' Creed
  Description: Harnack considered creeds such as the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed superfluous to Christian practice. For him, the creeds represented theological systems (particularly those colored by ancient Greek philosophy) wholly irrelevant to living out a life of faith. Harnack’s book examines the Apostles’ Creed historically—its composition, how it entered into church practice, who used it, when people used it, etc. Harnack’s perspective and research has remained influential both in academic theology and in the practices of many Protestant churches.
  
  Kathleen O’Bannon
  CCEL Staff
• Die Zeit des Ignatius und die Chronologie der Antiochenischen Bischöfe bis Tyrannus nach Julius Africanus und den Späteren Historikern. Nebst ein [German]
  Description: The Times of Ignatius and the Chronology of the Antioch Bishops up to Tyrannus According to Julius Africanus and the Later Historians. Together with an Investigation Regarding the Spread of the Passion of S. Polycarp in the East.
• Essays on the Social Gospel
  Description: Translated by G. M. Craik and edited by Maurice A. Canney
• History of Dogma - Volume I
  Description: Harnack’s multi-volume work is considered a monument of liberal Christian historiography. For Harnack, applying the methods of historical criticism to the Bible signified a return to true Christianity, which had become mired in unnecessary and even damaging creeds and dogmas. Seeking out what “actually happened,” for him, was one way to strip away all but the foundations of the faith. With the History of Dogma series, Harnack sets out on this project, tracing the accumulation of Christianity’s doctrinal systems and assumptions, particularly those inherited from Hellenistic thought. As Harnack explains, only since the Protestant Reformation have Christians begun to cast off this corrupting inheritance, which must be entirely cast off if Christianity is to remain credible and relevant to people’s lives. Rather controversially, the historian rejects the Gospel of John as authoritative on the basis of its Greek influences.
  
  Kathleen O’Bannon
  CCEL Staff
• History of Dogma - Volume II
  Description: Harnack’s multi-volume work is considered a monument of liberal Christian historiography. For Harnack, applying the methods of historical criticism to the Bible signified a return to true Christianity, which had become mired in unnecessary and even damaging creeds and dogmas. Seeking out what “actually happened,” for him, was one way to strip away all but the foundations of the faith. With the History of Dogma series, Harnack sets out on this project, tracing the accumulation of Christianity’s doctrinal systems and assumptions, particularly those inherited from Hellenistic thought. As Harnack explains, only since the Protestant Reformation have Christians begun to cast off this corrupting inheritance, which must be entirely cast off if Christianity is to remain credible and relevant to people’s lives. Rather controversially, the historian rejects the Gospel of John as authoritative on the basis of its Greek influences.
  
  Kathleen O’Bannon
  CCEL Staff
• History of Dogma - Volume III
  Description: Harnack’s multi-volume work is considered a monument of liberal Christian historiography. For Harnack, applying the methods of historical criticism to the Bible signified a return to true Christianity, which had become mired in unnecessary and even damaging creeds and dogmas. Seeking out what “actually happened,” for him, was one way to strip away all but the foundations of the faith. With the History of Dogma series, Harnack sets out on this project, tracing the accumulation of Christianity’s doctrinal systems and assumptions, particularly those inherited from Hellenistic thought. As Harnack explains, only since the Protestant Reformation have Christians begun to cast off this corrupting inheritance, which must be entirely cast off if Christianity is to remain credible and relevant to people’s lives. Rather controversially, the historian rejects the Gospel of John as authoritative on the basis of its Greek influences.
  
  Kathleen O’Bannon
  CCEL Staff
• History of Dogma - Volume IV
  Description: Harnack’s multi-volume work is considered a monument of liberal Christian historiography. For Harnack, applying the methods of historical criticism to the Bible signified a return to true Christianity, which had become mired in unnecessary and even damaging creeds and dogmas. Seeking out what “actually happened,” for him, was one way to strip away all but the foundations of the faith. With the History of Dogma series, Harnack sets out on this project, tracing the accumulation of Christianity’s doctrinal systems and assumptions, particularly those inherited from Hellenistic thought. As Harnack explains, only since the Protestant Reformation have Christians begun to cast off this corrupting inheritance, which must be entirely cast off if Christianity is to remain credible and relevant to people’s lives. Rather controversially, the historian rejects the Gospel of John as authoritative on the basis of its Greek influences.
  
  Kathleen O’Bannon
  CCEL Staff
• History of Dogma - Volume V
  Description: Harnack’s multi-volume work is considered a monument of liberal Christian historiography. For Harnack, applying the methods of historical criticism to the Bible signified a return to true Christianity, which had become mired in unnecessary and even damaging creeds and dogmas. Seeking out what “actually happened,” for him, was one way to strip away all but the foundations of the faith. With the History of Dogma series, Harnack sets out on this project, tracing the accumulation of Christianity’s doctrinal systems and assumptions, particularly those inherited from Hellenistic thought. As Harnack explains, only since the Protestant Reformation have Christians begun to cast off this corrupting inheritance, which must be entirely cast off if Christianity is to remain credible and relevant to people’s lives. Rather controversially, the historian rejects the Gospel of John as authoritative on the basis of its Greek influences.
  
  Kathleen O’Bannon
  CCEL Staff
• History of Dogma - Volume VI
  Description: Harnack’s multi-volume work is considered a monument of liberal Christian historiography. For Harnack, applying the methods of historical criticism to the Bible signified a return to true Christianity, which had become mired in unnecessary and even damaging creeds and dogmas. Seeking out what “actually happened,” for him, was one way to strip away all but the foundations of the faith. With the History of Dogma series, Harnack sets out on this project, tracing the accumulation of Christianity’s doctrinal systems and assumptions, particularly those inherited from Hellenistic thought. As Harnack explains, only since the Protestant Reformation have Christians begun to cast off this corrupting inheritance, which must be entirely cast off if Christianity is to remain credible and relevant to people’s lives. Rather controversially, the historian rejects the Gospel of John as authoritative on the basis of its Greek influences.
  
  Kathleen O’Bannon
  CCEL Staff
• Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries
  Description: History remembers Harnack as one who refused to limit literary and historical study of the Bible. This work traces the history of the church from the time of the apostles to the time of the first church councils. In particular, he sought out the influence of Greek philosophy upon early Christian writings, including its creeds. Ultimately, he would come to see said Greek influence as a thing that corrupted the gospel message. Because of this, he rejected the Gospel of John as an accurate portrayal of the historical Jesus in favor of the three Synoptic Gospels.
  
  Kathleen O'Bannon
  CCEL Staff
• Monasticism: Its Ideals and History and The Confessions of St Augustine
  Description: As well as authoring hundreds of pages on church history, Harnack gave several relatively well-known lectures. Provided here are two of his most famous talks, Monasticism: Its Ideals and History and The Confessions of St. Augustine. Concerning monasticism, Harnack addressed questions about what it meant to live a monastic life and what sort of ideals monastic communities held. As such a prominent force in early and medieval Christianity, the historian explores how wider Christian culture has imbibed monastic principles. Similarly, when Harnack speaks about St. Augustine and his almost legendary Confessions, he seeks out the illustrious saint’s stamp upon all theology and Church practice following him. Harnack was known to be a charismatic orator, and his lectures are consequently interesting, informative, and accessible all at the same time.
  
  Kathleen O’Bannon
  CCEL Staff
• Origin of the New Testament
  Description: For Harnack, applying the methods of historical criticism to the Bible signified a return to true Christianity, which had become mired in unnecessary and even damaging creeds and dogmas. Seeking out what “actually happened,” for him, was one way to strip away all but the foundations of the faith. In The Origin of the New Testament, Harnack explores the early history of the biblical canon—how it came to be what it is, and why. In particular, he explores the ideologies driving people to accept some texts as biblical cannon and not others. Controversially, Harnack finds some of these ideologies anything but Christian, and he hints that a re-evaluation of what the church considers canonical is necessary.
  
  Kathleen O’Bannon
  CCEL Staff
• Sokrates und die alte Kirke: Rede beim Antritt des Rectorates gehalten in de Aula der Königlichen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität. [German]
  Description: Socrates and the Old Church: A Speech on Taking Office in the Rectorate, held in the Auditorium of the Royal Frederick-William University on the 15th of October 1900.
• What is Christianity? Lectures Delivered in the University of Berlin during the Winter-Term 1899-1900.