Claus Harms

Claus Harms
Born	(1778-05-25)25 May 1778 Fahrstedt,Schleswig
Died	1 February 1855(1855-02-01)(aged 76) Kiel,Holstein
Nationality	German
Occupation(s)	clergyman and theologian

Claus Harms(25 May 1778 inFahrstedt– 1 February 1855 inKiel) was a German clergyman andtheologian.

Life

Harms was born atFahrstedtinSchleswig,and in his youth worked in his father's mill. At theUniversity of Kielhe repudiated the prevailingrationalismand under the influence ofSchleiermacherbecame a fervent Evangelical preacher, first at Lunden (1806), and then atKiel(1816).

Harms's trenchant style made him very popular, and he did great service for his cause especially in 1817, when, on the 300th anniversary ofthe Reformation,he published side by side withLuther's theses,ninety-five of his own, attacking reason as "the pope of our time" who "dismisses Christ from the altar and throws God's word from the pulpit."

As a musician, Harms sought to restoreLutheranhymns back to their original state. To this end, he researched the original texts from people such asLuther,Gerhardt,and others, hoping to find the original texts for thehymnshis people were singing. In this he was mostly successful - the textual reforms he made still remain in hymnals today. He was unsuccessful, though, in restoring the tunes to their original states. TheRenaissance-style tunes employed by the early Reformers had largely been smoothed out, such that the lively syncopations common to music of that era had been replaced by simple meters. His attempts met with early resistance, and he abandoned the project.

Besides volumes of sermons Harms published a good book onPastoraltheologie(1830). He resigned his pastorate on account of blindness in 1849 and died on 1 February 1855.

Quotations

The Evangelical Catholic is a glorious Church; it holds and conforms itself chiefly to the Sacraments. The Evangelical Reformed is a glorious Church; it holds and conforms itself chiefly to the Word of God. More glorious than both is the Evangelical Lutheran Church; it holds and conforms itself both to the Sacraments and the Word of God. Into this Lutheran Church both the others are developing, even without the intentional aid of men. But the way of the ungodly shall perish, says David (Ps. 1:6). (the conclusion of Claus Harms' 95 Theses)

References

Sources

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Harms, Claus".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 10.

Endnotes

• Autobiography(2nd ed., Kiel, 1852)
• Michael Baumgarten,Ein Denkmal für C. Harms(Brunswick, 1855).