KUHN, JOHANNES

Theologian; b. Wäschenbeuren, Germany, Feb. 19, 1806; d. Tübingen, May 8, 1887. He studied theology at the University of Tübingen and was ordained in 1831. At Munich he studied philosophy under F. schelling. He was professor of the exegesis of the New Testament at Giessen in 1832, and at Tübingen in 1837. From 1839 to 1882 he was professor of dogma at Tübingen. In 1856, he became a permanent member of the state tribunal, and in 1868, a member of the Board of Peers. As a philosophically endowed and skilled dialectician, he wrote Das Leben Jesu (Mainz 1838), against D. F. Strauss's Leben Jesu Kritisch bearbeitet. His most famous work is the four volume Katholische Dogmatik (Tübingen 1846–68). Kuhn showed the development of each truth of faith in accordance with the historical character of revelation, and sought to understand it speculatively through the dialectics that he had shaped in his discussions with G. W.F. hegel (d. 1831). Revelation is given us in Scripture and tradition; the norm of Christian faith is living tradition. Through opposition to heresies, faith develops in a dialectical process that is not only logical but also real and historical, and that eventually brings opposites to a real unity. The scientific dialectic of dogmatic theology proceeds from a knowledge of facts to a knowledge of their necessity.

Bibliography: p. schanz, "Zur Erinnerung an Johannes E. von Kuhn," Theologische Quartalschrift 69 (1887) 531–598. f. a. schalck, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant, 15v. (Paris 1903–50; Tables générales 1951–) 8.2:2377–79. r. vatter, Das Verhältnis von Trinität und Vernunft nach Johannes E. von Kuhn (Speyer, Ger. 1940). j. r. geiselmann, Die lebendige Überlieferung als Norm des christlichen Glaubens (Freiburg 1959); Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 6:656–657.

[j. r. geiselmann]