Keim

Keim, THEODOR, a distinguished theologian, was born at Stuttgart, 17th December 1825, studied under F. C. Baur at Tübingen; and was in turns repetent at Tübingen, vicar in Stuttgart, deacon and next archdeacon at Esslingen, and professor of Theology at Zurich (1860), and at Giessen (1873), where he died, 17th November 1878. He published valuable monographs connected with the religious history of Ulm, Esslingen, and Swabia; two volumes of sermons, entitled Freundesworte zur Gemeinde (1861-62); Celsus' wahres Wort (1873); Aus dem Urchristentum (1878); but the work by which his name will best be remembered is the noble contribution he added to the Lives of Christ. The preliminary studies, Die menschliche Entwicklung Jesu Christi (1861) and Die geschichtliche Würde Jesu (1864), were worked up into Der geschichtliche Christus (3d ed. 1866); but all three were preliminary to the great Geschichte Jesu von Nazara (3 vols. 1867-72; Eng. trans. 6 vols. 1873-83), a truly epoch-making work, unequalled in learning, acuteness, and insight. Keim eliminates the miraculous element, but is in the highest degree reverent and spiritual in tone, regarding the person itself as the real miracle, the divinity of Jesus as depending on the elevation of his humanity attained through a sinlessness which of itself evidenced the miracle of God and his presence on earth. Keim's Geschichte Jesu nach den Ergebnissen heutiger Wissenschaft (1873) was a successful popular abridgment of his great work.