1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Beyschlag, Willibald

BEYSCHLAG, WILLIBALD (1823–1900), German Protestant divine, was born at Frankfort-on-Main on the 5th of September 1823. He studied theology at Bonn and Berlin (1840–1844), and in 1856 was appointed court-preacher at Karlsruhe. In 1860, he moved to Halle as professor ordinarius of practical theology. A theologian of the mediating school, he became leader of the Mittelpartei, and with Albrecht Wolters founded as its organ the Deutschevangelische Blätter. As a representative of this party, he took a prominent part in the general synods of 1875 and 1879. His championship of the rights of the laity and his belief in the autonomy of the church led him to advocate the separation of church and state. He died at Halle on the 25th of November 1900. Among his numerous works are Die Christologie des Neuen Testaments (1866), Der Altkatholicismus (three editions, 1882–1883), Leben Jesu (2 vols., 1885; 3rd ed., 1893), Neutestamentliche Theologie (2 vols., 1891–1892; 2nd ed., 1896), Christenlehre auf Grund des kleinen luth. Katechismus (1900), and an autobiography Aus meinem Leben (2 parts, 1896–1898).

See P. Schaff, Living Divines (1887); Lichtenberger, Hist. Germ. Theol. (1889); Calwer-Zeller, Kirchenlexikon.