HAHN, HEINRICH AUGUST: Lutheran; b. at Königsberg June 19, 1821; d. at Greifswald Dec. 1, 1861. He was the son of August Hahn and studied at Breslau and Berlin. He lectured on Old Testament exegesis and theology, first as privat-docent in Breslau (1845) and in 1846 at Königsberg after the death of HAvernick. In 1851 he became professor at Greifswald. He published a number of works, characterized by conscientiousness, carefulness, and faithfulness to duty, and representing the orthodox standpoint against a criticism that contradicted the old traditions. He published HAvernick's lectures on the theology of the Old Testament (Erlangen, 1848), a commentary on the Book of Job (Berlin, 1850), a translation of the Song of Songs (Breslau, 1852), an exposition of Isaiah xl.-Ixvi. as the third volume of Drechsler's commentary on Isaiah (Berlin, 1857) and a commentary on Ecclesiastes (Leipsic,1860).
Bibliography: Allgemeine Kirchenseitung, 1862, no. 28.
HAHN, JOHANN MICHAEL: Founder of the sect of the Michelians; b. at Altdorf near B6blingen (9 m. n. of Tübingen) Feb. 2, 1758; d. at Sindlingen near Herrenberg (8 m. n.w. of Tübingen) Jan. 20,1819. The son of a peasant, from his early youth he was given to meditations and visions, and to study of the Bible and of the works of Jakob Boehme, Oetinger, and others. As he attracted great audiences wherever he spoke publicly, he was several times summoned before spiritual and secular courts, the vexations of which he avoided by extensive travels, by abstaining temporarily from public activity and by living quietly on the estate of the Duchess Franzisca at Sindlingen. The Scripture was for Hahn of infallible authority in matters of faith, but he interpreted it according to his own light. Starting from the cosmic standpoint, he regarded all created existence as the evolution of divine attributes, mediated by the Word. By the fall of Lucifer the harmony of these attributes was disturbed, and the wrath of God awakened. There occurred a double fall, in the first place by tile awakening of sexual desire in Adam who originally combined within himself the male and female qualities; later there occurred a differentiation of the sexes and the evolution of a coarse sensual body. The fall was completed by the eating of the apple.
The work of redemption by Christ was thought of in a physical manner, in that he exuded with his blood the sensuality that had invaded man through the fall, and thus transfigured the flesh into a spiritual body. Justification is conceived not forensically, but effectively; sanctification is thought of almost after the manner of a chemical process as the excretion of carnal matter from the new spiritual body of man acquired by conversion. Therefore Hahn advocated an ascetic attitude of life, and greatly valued celibacy. His attitude toward the Church was not altogether that of a separatist; he clung to the rites of the Church, but only for the sake of the weak. In the latter years of his life, however, he was intent upon the organization of a spiritual congregation; for the colony of Kornthal, near Stuttgart, was organized after a plan of Hahn. He wrote more than two thousand spiritual hymns which, however, are of little poetical value; three of them have been embodied in the Wihttemberg hymn-book. After his death there appeared a collection of his works (15 vols., Tübingen, 1819 sqq.).
After Hahn, J. G. Kolb, schoolmaster in Dagersheim, exercised the greatest influence in the sect; he knew how to transform Hahn's theosophy into practical wisdom. The "Michelians," as the adherents of Hahn are called, are found especially among the peasants and are highly respected for their moral and economic efficiency. Since 1876 they have had a regular organization with presbyterial and synodical institutions. The congregational order of 1876 divided the whole territory (beside Württemberg, especially Baden) with several hundred localities into twenty-six districts. The number of members is about 15;000.
Bibliography: H. Staudenmeyer, Michael Hahn, min Lebea und seine Lebra, Carleruhe, 1893; Haug, in Studien der euanpdischen Geiatlichkeit Württemberga, vol.:u., 1839; W. F. Stroh, Die Lehre des . . . Theoadphen J. W. Hahn, Stuttgart, 1859; C. Palmer, Qemeinerhaften and Sekten Württembergs, ed. Jetter, Tübingen, 1877.
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