LOESCHE, lOah'e, GEORG KARL DAVID: Austrian Lutheran; b. at Berlin Aug. 22, 1855. He was educated at the universities of Berlin, Bonn, and Tübingen (Ph.D., Jena, 1880; lic. theol., Berlin, 1883), was preacher to the German church in Florence, Italy (1880-85), and privat-docent for church history at the University of Berlin in 1885-1887. In 1887 he accepted a call to the Evangelical Protestant faculty at Vienna as associate professor of the same subject, and in 1889 became full professor. He is a privy councilor, president of the examining board for Evangelical theological candidates in Austria, and vice-president of the Austrian branch of the Gustav-Adolf-Verein and of the Gesellschaft für die Geschichte des Protestantismus in Oesterreich. In theology he is an adherent of the "modern" school. In addition to his work as editor of the Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft für die Geschichte des Protestantismus in Oesterreich, he has edited Johann Mathesius' Ausgewahlte Werke (4 vols., Prague, 1896-1904) and Gustav Frank's Die Theologie des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts (Leipsic, 1905), and has written Florenzer Predigten (Halle, 1884); Ernst Moritz Arndt, der deutsche Reichsherold (Gotha, 1884); Bellarmins Lehre vom Papst und deren actuelle Bedeutung (Halle, 1885); Analecta Lutherana. et Melanchthoniana (Gotha, 1892); Johann Mathesius, ein Lebens- und Sittenbild aus der Reformationszeit (2 vols., 1895); and Geschichte des Protestantismus in Oesterreich (Leipsic, 1902).

LOESCHER, losh'er, VALENTIN ERNST: German Lutheran; b. at Sondershausen Dec. 29, 1673; d. at Dresden Dec. 12, 1749. At the University of Wittenberg, where his father was professor of theology, he gave his attention mainly to philology and history, but out of respect to his father's wish he selected a theological subject for his master's dissertation, in which he opposed the Pietistic position. Subsequent study at Jena aroused his interest in church history. During travels undertaken at this time he formed the acquaintance of a number of influential anti-Pietistic theologians. In 1696 he began to lecture at Wittenberg on the origin of Deism and Pietism. After serving as superintendent at Juterbog (1698-1701) and Delitzsch (1701-07) and professor of theology at Wittenberg (1707-09), he became pastor of the Kreuzkirche and superintendent in Dresden. Here

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he remained the rest of his life. His practical duties here turned his attention more particularly to the needs of the Church. His orthodoxy did not prevent him from admitting the truth of the claims of the Pietists concerning the prevailing perfunctoriness of religious life, which he ascribed to the negligence of orthodox pastors. He at once took earnest measures to encourage a deeper spiritual life in the Church. He had already begun the publication of his Unschuldige Nachrichten von alten und neuen theologischen Sachen (Wittenberg and Leipsic, 1701 sqq.), the first theological periodical. The comprehensive scope and able management of the magazine gave it great importance. Through it Loscher became the leader of the orthodox party, as opposed to the Pietistic and naturalistic factions in the Lutheran Church, and the representative of scientific Lutheran theology.

In opposition to the proposal that Pietism should be considered the best means of promoting the union of the Lutheran and the Reformed Churches (advocated at the time by the Prussian Government), Loscher published several works, including Ausfuhrliche Historia motuurn zwischen den Evangelisch-Lutherischen und Reformierten (3 parts, Frankfort, 1707--08). In the course of a controversy with the Pietist Loachim Lange, Loscher defended orthodoxy in his Proenotiones et notiones theologicoe (Wittenberg, 1708). However, his most comprehensive criticism of Pietism appeared in his magazine under the title Timotheus Verinus, in which work he held that the Pietists had a false conception of the relation between piety and religion and that their zeal for piety placed them in opposition to the doctrine of justification by faith. The work inspired a bitter reply from his Pietistic opponents, which called forth from Locher his greatest work, Vollstandiger Tirnotheus Verinus (2 parts, Wittenberg, 1718-22). In this he discusses the origin and rapid development of Pietism and elaborates upon its evils. Nevertheless he was unable to check the advance of Pietism or even to pass a true judgment upon the real significance of the movement. The importance of Loscher's part in the Pietistic controversy was not fully recognized until the return to Evangelical doctrine in the nineteenth century.

Loscher took an active part also in the controversy which at that time was being waged against the Roman Catholic Church in Dresden and contributed a number of studies to that cause, notably his Vollstandige Reformations-Akta und Documenta (3 vols., Leipsic, 1720-29). He also opposed Wolff's system of philosophy, claiming that "philosophical indifferentism" portended a revolution in Christianity.

(Georg Müller.)

Bibliography: M. von Engelhardt, V. E. Loscher nach seinem Leben und Wirken, Stuttgart, 1856; G. W. Gotte, Das jetzt lebende gelehrte Europa, ii. 169-233, Brunswick, 1736; J. J. Mower, Beitrag zu einem Lexicon lutherischer und reformierter Theologan, pp. 415-439. Zullichau, 1740; T. Cruger, Leben Loscher's, Dresden, 1751; G. Kramer, August Herrmann Francke, ii. 72-84, 272-319, 343, Halle, 1882; F. Blanckmeister, in Beiträge zur sachsischen Kirchengeschichte, viii. 330-344, Leipsic. 1893: idem, Sachsische Kirchengeschichte, pp. 224-254. 282-286, 304-331, Dresden, 1899; ADB, xix. 109-213.