DOLLINGER
97
DOLLINGER
engeschichte " (to the end of the seventh century).
The next year (1S36) he brought out the first volume,
and in 1S3S the first half of the second volume of his
" Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte" (to the end of the
fifteenth century). The essay "Muhammeds Relig-
ion, eine historische Betrachtung" was read before
the Munich Academy aliout the time he published the
aforesaid work on mixed marriages; early in 1838 he
published his "Bevutheilung der Darlegung des gehei-
men Rathes Bunsen: eine Stimme zum Frieden". A
long controversy with Professor Thiersch followed this
entrance of Dollinger into the Prussian conflict over
mixed marriages (Kolner Streit); his articles were
printed in the Augsburg "AUgemeine Zeitvmg", and
are apparently his earliest contributions to the journal
in which thirty-one years later he was to consummate
his apostasy. Karl von Abel, Minister of the Interior,
nowasked him topublish a popular "Weltgeschichte",
or universal historj', from the Catholic point of view,
also a manual of religion {Religionslehrbuch) for the
gjTnnasia or high-schools; he began these works, but,
ifeeling himself unsuited to their composition, per-
suaded the minister to relieve him from the undertak-
ing. Later on, he undertook to explain his failure in the
Parliament; his explanation, however, seems quite
improbable, and may be looked on as either a mean-
ingless piece of malice or a case of self-deception.
A royal order (1838) that compelled all soldiers to genuflect before the Blessed Sacrament was soon the cause of much friction; in 1843 the matter came be- fore the Upper House, where representatives of the non-Catholic soldiers protested against the measure as contrary to liberty of conscience. Dollinger defended the king and the Government in an anonymous work entitled: "Die Frage der Kniebeugung der Protest- anten von der religiosen und staatsrechtlichen Seite erwogen", wherein he treated the question from both the religious and political point of view; this was fol- lowed by a long controversy with the Protestant dep- uty, Harless. In the meantime he was chosen by the University of Munich as its representative in the Bava- rian Parliament, where he protested against the ad- mission of the Jesuits antl defended the emancipation of the Jews, both of which acts drew upon him the enmity of many.
During this political agitation, and while Lola Montez still held the king infatuated, appeared the first volume of his great work " Die Reformation, ihre innere Entwicklung und ihre Wirkungen im Umfange des lutherischen Bekenntnisses", i. e. on the origin, development, and consequences of the Reformation in Lutheran circles; the second volume appeared in 1847, the third in 1848. A second edition of the first volume was printed in 1851. This work unfortunately remained incomplete; Friedrich says that Dollinger's friends prevented him from publishing the correspond- ing three volumes, i. e. an account of the conditions within the Catholic Church in the same period. This work long exercised a powerful influence and still re- tains its value. Johannes Janssen (q. v.) was inspired by it to undertake the exhaustive studies which have done so much to destroy the traditional legends that so long did duty as a history of the Reformation.
The foolish attempt of some zealots to have the temporal power of the pope proclaimed a dogma ( Dogmatisierung des Kirchcnstaates) excited Dollinger to an extraordinary degree. He became firmly per- suaded that theological science could be saved only by the German Catholic Church, not by the Catholic f 'hurch in Germany. By theological science he meant chiefly historical theology. All other ecclesiastical interests seemed to this great scholar quite subordi- nate. His aversion to the education of the clergy in seminaries, later quite pronounced, was another result of this mental attitude, the trend of which he revealed on various occasions at the Frankfort Parliament, and in the above-mentioned report (1848) of the Wiirzburg V— 7
meeting of the German and Austrian bishops. Grad-
ually he came to be looked upon as a Galilean, nor was
this because of his frequently expressed and strong dis-
like of the Jesuits. Many persons, among them the
best and most loyal supporters of the Church, looked
henceforth with a certain anxiety on the course of
Dollinger. It could not be said that the nuncios at
Munich admired him unreservedly. On the other
hand, throughout the ranks of the German and Aus-
trian clergy there was still only a mediocre theological
knowledge, the legacy of an earlier period of infidelity
and rationalism, and the concept of Catholic doctrine
and discipline differed widely from the true ecclesias-
tical ideal of both.
To understand fully the profound changes working in the mind of Dollinger during the critical years from 1847 to 1852, it is well to recall his discourses at the general meetings of the " Katholischer Verein" at Ratisbon (1849) and Linz (1850), also those in the Upper House of the Bavarian Parliament, in St. Paul's at Frankfort, and at the meetings of the German hier- archy at Wurzburg (1849) and Freising (1850). To some extent, also, disappointment was responsible for his new mental attitude ; his friends and admirers had tried in vain to obtain for him an important German .see. It is worthy of note also that about 1855 the author of the work on the Reformation began grad- ually to modify his views to such an extent that eventually (in 1889) he wi'ote a panegyric on Prot- estantism.
The Greek patristic text entitled " Philosophou- mena, or Refutation of all Heresies", discovered in 1842 and edited by Miller (Oxford, 1S51), at once fas- cinated Dollinger, and he devoted to its study all the rich powers of his erudition, critical skill, and insight. In 1853 he published the result of his labours in " Hip- poly tus und Kallistus, oder die romische Kirche in der ersten Halfte des dritten Jahrhunderts", etc. a study of the Roman Church from 200 to 250, in reply to the interpretations of the "Philosophoumena" published by Bunsen, \\'ordsworth, Baur, and Gieseler. De- spite the contrary arguments of De Rossi, Dollinger's opinion has prevailed, and it is now generally ac- kiiowledged that Hippolytus is the author of the work in question. Dollinger's essay in the "Historisch- Politische Blatter" (1853) entitled "Betrachtungen iiber die Frage der Kaiserkronung", considerations on the imperial coronation, contributed not a little to deter Pius IX from cro'svning Napoleon HI. Con- cerning the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception Dollinger exhibited a prejudiced mind and a rather superficial historical grasp of the question; the defects in liis theological equipment were here most noticeable. Indeed, he was much less concerned with the doctrine itself than with the person who wished to proclaim it as a dogma of faith. It was also his first open protest against a pope who was soon to proclaim that Papal Infallibility which seemed to Dollinger an utterly intolerable doctrine, from his view-point of exaggerated esteem for historical theology.
The year 1857 was marked by the appearance of his " Ilcidenthum und Judenthum, Vorhalle des Christen- thums" (Heathenism and Judaism, the Vestibule of Christianity), the first part of his long contemplated history of the Church; the second part followed in ISGO (2nd ed., 1868) as "Christenthum und Kirche in der Zeit der Grundlegung", dealing with the Apos- tolic period. The work, as he had planned, was never completed. Most of the ahumlant material he had collected for an exhaustive history of the papacy was afterwards utilized in an ephemeral journalistic way. The work itself he never undertook, and had he done so, it is possible that he would have come into con- flict with the Holy See much sooner than he did.
In 1S61 some of tlie principal ladies of Munich re- quested him to deliver a series of public discoiorses on
