OLSHAUSEN, HERMANN. - Protestant exegete of a positive theological stance, opponent of rationalism, idealism, and romanticism, born at Oldeshøe (Holstein) on 21 Aug. 1796, died at Erlangen on 4 Sept. 1839.
A pupil of Schleiermacher and Neander in Berlin, in 1817 he won a prize for his work composed for the third centenary of the “Reformation”: *Melanchthons Charakter aus seinen Briefen dargestellt*. In 1818 he became a theological tutor in Berlin, in 1820 a privatdocent, in 1821 an extraordinary professor at Königsberg, and in 1827 a full professor. In this city he was initially influenced by the pastor Ebel, who sought to Christianize the dualistic gnosis of J. H. Schönherr; but from 1826 onward he completely broke with this trend in order to steadfastly uphold the line of a “biblical Christianity.” In 1834 he accepted a full professorship at Erlangen, where, though always in poor health, he lived for another five years.
His most important works include: *Hist. Eccl. veteris monumenta* (1820–22); *Die Echtheit der vier kanon. Evangelien aus der Gesch. der zwei ersten Jahrh. erweisen* (1823); *Ueber tieferen Schriftsinn* (1824); *Christus der einzige Meister* (1826); *Kommentar über sämtliche Schriften des Neuen Testaments zunächst für Prediger und Studierende* (4 vols., 1830 ff.); *Ueber die frühesten Verhältnisse der röm. Geschichte*, in *Theol. Studien und Kritik*, 11 (1838), pp. 916–62 (against Chr. F. Baur, he argues that the tradition of the Apostle Peter’s presence in Rome cannot be dismissed as legend).