1822–1889

Albrecht Ritschl and liberal Protestant theology

Albrecht Ritschl was shaped by Schleiermacher, Kant, and Baur. He taught at Bonn from 1846 and then at Göttingen from 1864 until his death in 1889, and became the most influential German liberal theologian of the late 19th century.

His chief work was the three-volume The Christian Doctrine of Justification and Reconciliation (1870–1874). In it he rejected a number of traditional doctrines, including Anselm's objective theory of atonement. His theology was most influential from 1875 to 1925. It became the direct basis for the Social Gospel, and Harnack called Ritschl "the last Church Father."