Henke, Heinrich Phillip Konrad

Henke, Heinrich Phillip Konrad a German theologian, was born at Hehlen, in Brunswick, July 3, 1752. His early proficiency was so great that before he went to the university he was employed as a gymnasial teacher (1771-72). After studying philology and theology at Helmstadt, he was made professor of philosophy there in 1777, and in 1780 professor of theology. In 1803 he became principal of the Carolinum, Brunswick. After a very successful career, both as teacher and writer, he died May 2, 1809. In theology he belonged to the rationalistic school of Semler, and his Church History is written in a spirit of bitter hatred of ecclesiastical authority. His Life by Bollmann appeared at Helmstadt in 1816. As a critic he certainly had great merits, but his rationalistic views have made his writings short-lived. His reputation chiefly rests on his Allgemeine Geschichte der Christlichen Kirche (Brunsw. 1799-1808, 6 vols. 8vo; finished by Vater, 1813-20, vols. vii and 8). It is a "clever and spirited work; but the Church appears in it, not as the temple of God on earth, but as a great infirmary or bedlam" (Schaff; Ch. History, 1, 22; see also Kahnis, German Protestantism, p. 177). He wrote also, Lineamnenta institutionum fidi Christianae historico-criticarusm (Helmstadt, 1783; 2nd ed. 1795; German, 1803): — Magazine. d. Religions-philosophie, Exegese und Kirchengesch. (Helmst. 1793-1804, 12 vols.): — Archiviur. die neueste Kirchengesch. (Weimar, 1794-99, 6 vols.): — Religionsannalen (Brunsw. 1800-05, 12 numbers) — Kirchengesch. des 18ten Jahrh. (Brunsw. 1802): — Hist. Untersuchungen in d. Christ. Glaubenslehre (Helmst. 1802): — Beitrdge z. neuesten Gesch. d. Religion, etc. (Berlin, 1806, 2 vols.). See F. A. Ludewig, Abriss einer Lebensgesch. Henkes; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Géneralé, 23, 933.