HEIDEGGER

heidegger, johann heinrich (1633-1698), swiss theologian, was born at barentschweil, in the canton of zurich, switzerland, on the 1st of july 1633. he studied at marburg and at heidelberg, where he became the friend of j. l. fabricius (1632-1696), and was appointed _professor extraordinarius_ of hebrew and later of philosophy. in 1659 he was called to steinfurt to fill the chair of dogmatics and ecclesiastical history, and in the same year he became doctor of theology of heidelberg. in 1660 he revisited switzerland; and, after marrying, he travelled in the following year to holland, where he made the acquaintance of johannes cocceius. he returned in 1665 to zurich, where he was elected professor of moral philosophy. two years later he succeeded j. h. hottinger (1620-1667) in the chair of theology, which he occupied till his death on the 18th of january 1698, having declined an invitation in 1669 to succeed j. cocceius at leiden, as well as a call to groningen. heidegger was the principal author of the _formula consensus helvetica_ in 1675, which was designed to unite the swiss reformed churches, but had an opposite effect. w. gass describes him as the most notable of the swiss theologians of the time. his writings are largely controversial, though without being bitter, and are in great part levelled against the roman catholic church. the chief are _de historia sacra patriarcharum exercitationes selectae_ (1667-1671); _dissertatio de peregrinationibus religiosis_ (1670); _de ratione studiorum, opuscula aurea_, &c. (1670); _historia papatus_ (1684; under the name nicander von hohenegg); _manuductio in viam concordiae protestantium ecclesiasticae_ (1686); _tumulus concilii tridentini_ (1690); _exercitationes biblicae_ (1700), with a life of the author prefixed; _corpus theologiae christianae_ (1700, edited by j. h. schweizer); _ethicae christianae elementa_ (1711); and lives of j. h. hottinger (1667) and j. l. fabricius (1698). his autobiography appeared in 1698, under the title _historia vitae j. h. heideggeri_. see the articles in herzog-hauck's _realencyklopadie_ and the _allgemeine deutsche biographie_; and cf. w. gass, _geschichte der protestantischen dogmatik_, ii. 353 ff.