HAHN

hahn, august (1792-1863), german protestant theologian, was born on the 27th of march 1792 at grossosterhausen near eisleben, and studied theology at the university of leipzig. in 1819 he was nominated _professor extraordinarius_ of theology and pastor of altstadt in konigsberg, and in 1820 received a superintendency in that city. in 1822 he became _professor ordinarius_. in 1826 he removed as professor of theology to leipzig, where, hitherto distinguished only as editor of bardesanes, marcion (_marcion's evangelium in seiner ursprunglichen gestalt_, 1823), and ephraem syrus, and the joint editor of a _syrische chrestomathie_ (1824), he came into great prominence as the author of a treatise, _de rationalismi qui dicitur vera indole et qua cum naturalismo contineatur ratione_ (1827), and also of an _offene erklarung an die evangelische kirche zunachst in sachsen u. preussen_ (1827), in which, as a member of the school of e. w. hengstenberg, he endeavoured to convince the rationalists that it was their duty voluntarily and at once to withdraw from the national church. in 1833 hahn's pamphlet against k. g. bretschneider (_uber die lage des christenthums in unserer zeit_, 1832) having attracted the notice of friedrich wilhelm iii., he was called to breslau as theological professor and consistorial councillor, and in 1843 became "general superintendent" of the province of silesia. he died at breslau on the 13th of may 1863. though uncompromising in his "supra-naturalism," he did not altogether satisfy the men of his own school by his own doctrinal system. the first edition of his _lehrbuch des christlichen glaubens_ (1828) was freely characterized as lacking in consistency and as detracting from the strength of the old positions in many important points. many of these defects, however, he is considered to have remedied in his second edition (1857). among his other works are his edition of the hebrew bible (1833), his _bibliothek der symbole und glaubensregeln der apostolisch-katholischen kirche_ (1842; 2nd ed. 1877) and _predigten_ (1852). his eldest son, heinrich august hahn (1821-1861), after studying theology at breslau and berlin, became successively _privatdozent_ at breslau (1845), professor _ad interim_ (1846) at konigsberg on the death of heinrich havernick, professor extraordinarius (1851) and professor ordinarius (1860) at greifswald. amongst his published works were a commentary on the book of job (1850), a translation of the song of songs (1852), an exposition of isaiah xl.-lxvi. (1857) and a commentary on the book of ecclesiastes (1860). see the articles in herzog-hauck, _realencyklopadie_, and the _allgemeine deutsche biographie_.