The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Baltzer, Wilhelm Eduard

BALTZER, Wilhelm Eduard, German theologian: b. Hohenleine 1814; d. Grotzingen 1887. He was educated at Leipzig and Halle, and was ordained to the Lutheran ministry. His liberal views led to his being looked on with disfavor, and in 1847 he founded a free church of his own and soon became the leader of the movement known as the “Freie Gemeinden,” or free religious communities which arose in opposition to dogmatic and traditional theology. Baltzer was the leader of the movement until 1881, when he retired to Grotzingen, and spent his remaining years in the promotion of vegetarianism. He wrote ‘Alte und neue Weltanschauung’ (4 vols., 1850-59); ‘Gott, Welt, und Mensch’ (1869); ‘Vegetarisches Kochbuch’ (14th ed., 1900).