UHLHORN, ul'hern, JOHANN GERHARD WILHELM: German Lutheran; b. at Osnabrück (74 m. w.s.w. of Hanover) Feb. 17, 1826; d. at Hanover Dec. 15, 1901. He studied at the University of Göttingen, where he changed his early pietistic views for those of the mediating type of theology and opposition to the Tübingen school. He became lecturer at Göttingen in 1849 and privat-docent three years later. In the controversy which arose in the church of Hanover between the High-church neoLutheran orthodoxy represented by Petri and the faculty of Göttingen, who were charged with deserting their creed and tending toward union, Uhlhorn took the side of his university and edi3ed the Göttingen Monatsschrift für Theologie and Kirche. Within this controversy was another concerning home missions, which were welcomed by the mediating theologians, but bitterly opposed by Petri. To counteract the tatter's influence, Uhlhorn was called, in 1855, to Hanover as assistant preacher at the castle church and assistant in the consistory. Here he rose rapidly, becoming second court chaplain in 1857, and first court chaplain and consistorial councilor in 1861. With his practical work in Hanover, however, his theological and ecclesiastical views underwent a change, and he became more inclined to orthodoxy and an opponent of union. He thus became a mediator between the clergy and the faculty, and was one of the chief factors in easing the tension between the two. As court chaplain he restored the old forms of Lutheran worship and introduced liturgical vespers, while the castle church with its choir became a model for the liturgy. His affection for home missions, awakened at Göttingen, found expression in an association for the young, and still more in the foundation of the Henriettenstift, an institute for deaconesses.

A new problem in the development of the Hanoverian Church was inaugurated by the catechism controversy of 1862. The old rationalistic catechism of 1790 was replaced, at the command of the king, by an orthodox catechism drawn up by Liihrs and approved by the faculty of Göttingen. This act raised a storm, fostered by political liberals, which led to riots that endangered the lives of consistorial councilor Niemann and of Uhlhorn, who were regarded as the leaders of ecclesiastical reaction. The affair brought the orthodox party and the faculty together, and the question of a synodal organization was again raised. As a result came the system of vestries and synods which is still in force, and when Hanover became a Prussian province in 1866, the independence of its church was recognized by King William. On Apr. 17 of the same year it received its own national consistory, of which Uhlhorn remained a member until his death. In this capacity he used his powers to make the vestries and synods living and effective organizations, and took part unceasingly in the district synods, seeking and gaining the confidence of pastors and church officers.

For a considerable period Uhlhorn was also general superintendent of Hoya-Diepholz, and both here, in the national consistory, and elsewhere he labored to secure the practical freedom of synods

and individual churches from all interference, so long as the religious bodies concerned remained true to the principles of Lutheranism. He likewise advocated the independence of the national consistory from the government, but earnestly opposed union, which he feared would be harmful to true Lutheranism. As superintendent of Hanover, Uhlhorn labored in harmony with all under his control for the extension of churches both in the capital and in other centers of industry, in the colonies in the moors of East Frisia, and on the Luneburger Heide. He was equally energetic in the cause of home missions. In the district synods he expressed his alarm at the rising power of Roman Catholicism, and urged his coreligionists to make every effort to avert its influence. From the first Uhlhorn opposed the Kulturkampf, which, he held, was bound to result in the defeat of the State and to the prejudice of Lutheranism. The struggle of the liberals against Rome he regarded as really a war on the Church as a whole and on all positive Christianity.

The religious decline in the eighth decade of the nineteenth century, complicated by the rise of social democracy, led Uhlhorn to redouble his efforts to avert the increasing estrangement of the masses from Church and religion. He seriously mistrusted the use of city missions, fearing that they would be harmful to organized pastoral activity, preferring to augment the number of theological chairs, pastoral positions, and churches.

He refused several calls to universities, but in 1878 became abbot of Loccum, a dignity which carried with it the presidency of the district of Kalenberg-Grubenhagen, and by his zeal made the preachers' seminary connected with the ancient abbey a model institution. He likewise founded another seminary on the Erichsburg, and Loccum formed the pattern for seminaries in other Prussian provinces. At first an elected member of the Hanoverian national synod, Uhlhorn was made a perpetual member in 1878, and in this body he took an active part in the creation of laws important for the development of the national church. He took a lively interest in the home for fallen women at Hanover, the women's home at Hildesheim, the workmen's colony at Kastoxf, and the institution for epileptics at Rotenburg, also seeking to inspire the national and the district synods with equal zeal for home missions. No less earnest and successful were his efforts in behalf of Sunday rest, especially in 1885, and when the government introduced Sunday laws, Uhlhorn endeavored to promote a better observance of the day. He also devoted special attention to the' cause of the Lutheran seamen's mission (see Seamen, Missions To), as well as to German Lutherans in foreign countries, particularly in South Africa. To social problems Uhlhorn also turned his thoughts, discussing them in several lectures in which he reached the conclusion that the social question is economic, not religious, and does not, therefore fall within the province of the Church whose sole duty is to preach the word of God, which contains no revelation on matters of economics. While Uhlhorn's ideal was the independence of Church and State, he felt that the time was not yet ripe for such conditions, and accordingly op-

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posed all efforts in that direction. He was likewise distressed by theological developments, for though he advocated freedom of research both in universities and in seminaries, and deprecated any direct influence of the Church in the selection of professors for the theological faculties, he felt that the new movements could work only destruction to the ancient faith and to the Lutheran confession. In 1894 and 1896 he defended the building of motherhouses for deaconesses, and elucidated the difference between Roman Catholic sisterhoods and Lutheran deaconesses. His last weeks were devoted to the preparation of a Lutheran liturgy for Hanover which was unanimously accepted by the national synod, thus completing the organization of an independent Hanoverian church with the exception of a catechism which is still a desideratum.

(F. Uhlhorn.)

Bibliography: Uhlhorn's literary activity was constant, some of his works, however, were ephemeral, dealing with questions of his times. Of the more permanent works mention may be made of: Die Homilien and Recognitionen des Clemens Romanus, Göttingen, 1854; Das Basilidianische System, 1855; Urbanus Rhegius, Elberfeld, 1861; Die modernen Darstellungen des Lebens Jesu, Hanover, 1868, Eng. transl., Modern Representations of the Life of Jesus, Boston, 1888; Das römische Conch, 1870; Der KampJ des Christenthums mit dem Heidenthum, Stuttgart, 1874, Eng. transl., Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism, New York, 1879; Die christliche Liebesthtitigkeit, 3 vols., vol. i., In der alter Kirche, 1882, Eng. transl., Christian Charity in the Ancient Church, Edinburgh, 1883, vol. ii.. Im Mittelalter, 1884, vol. iii., Seit der Reformation, 1890; and also his edition of Ein SendbrieJ von Antonius Corvinus an den Adel von Göttingen, Göttingen, 1853.

For his life consult F. Uhlhorn, Gerhard Uhlhorn, AN zu Loccum, Stuttgart. 1903; F. Düsterdieek, Zum Andenken an G. Uhlhorn, Hanover, 1902.