EHRENFEUCHTER, ê"ren-fɵiH'ter, FRIEDRICH AUGUST EDUARD: German mediating theologian; b. at Leopoldshafen (near Carlsruhe) Dec. 15, 1814; d. at Göttingen Mar. 20, 1878. He was educated at Mannheim and Heidelberg, and from 1835 to 1839 was instructor in religion at Mannheim. In 1841 he was appointed vicar at Weinheim, and then became court and municipal vicar at Carlsruhe. He attracted attention by his Theorie des christlichen Kultus (Hamburg, 1840) and Entwicklungsgeschichte der Menschheit (Heidelberg, 1845), and in 1845 accepted a call to Göttingen, where he remained until his death, despite calls to Heidelberg, Leipsic, Carlsruhe, and Dresden. In 1849 he became full professor of theology, in 1856 abbot of Bursfelde, and in 1859 counselor of the supreme consistory and member of the Hanoverian council for religion and education. The chief subject of his lectures was practical theology in all its branches, although he also taught theological introduction, the philosophy of religion, apologetics, the life of Jesus, interpretation of the Pastoral Epistles, modern church history, and similar topics. Both as a lecturer and preacher, he was extremely popular. Distinctly irenic in temperament and unable to conceive of a conflict between science and the Church, theory and practise, or ecclesiastical polity and academic teaching, Ehrenfeuchter was exposed to attacks both from conservatives and radicals, particularly in the neo-Lutheran controversy which raged in Hanover in 1853 and the following years. He was a prolific writer, his principal works, in addition to those already mentioned, being: Zeugnisse aus dem akademischen Gottesdienst in Göttingen (Göttingen, 1849 52); Zur Geschichte des Katechismus (1857); Die praktische Theologie (1859); Die Katechismusfrage in der hannoverschen Landeskirche (1862); and Christentum und moderne Weltanschauung (1876). He was one of the founders of the Jahrbücher für deutsche Theologie (Stuttgart and Gotha, 1856-78).

(J. A. WAGENMANN †.)