ELWERT, el'vārt, EDUARD: Lutheran theologian; b. at Cannstadt (4 m. n.e. of Stuttgart), Württemberg, Feb. 22, 1805; d. there June 9, 1865. He studied at Maulbronn and Tübingen. In 1830 he became repetent at Tübingen and lectured on the history of Protestant doctrines, publishing at the same time several of his most important essays in theological periodicals. From 1832 to 1836 he was deacon at Nagold. In 1836 he became professor of theology at Zurich where he lectured on church history and the history of dogmas. His delicate health soon compelled him to give up this position and live in retirement as country pastor in Mötzingen. Here he remained twelve years (1838-50) with the exception of two years which he spent as professor of theology at Tübingen (1839-41). He was superintendent of the seminary of Schönthal, 1850-64, teaching New-Testament exegesis, Biblical history, dogmatics, ethics, and church history. In 1865 his health again forced him to resign. Elwert was spiritually related to Schleiermacher, as may be seen especially from his union of a sincere inward piety with a clear perception of the practical conditions of life, from his union of regard for each individual with love of fellow men, and of a thorough classical education with a simple Christian faith. He was saved from Schleiermacher's dualism between faith and knowledge by his faithfulness to the Biblical record, and subjectivism was counterbalanced in him by a firm grasp of the objective revelation of God as an actual fact. Of his literary works, his Zurich dissertation, De antinomia Johannis Agricolæ (1836), is a not unimportant work in the sphere of historical theology. Important in exegesis are his Annotationes in locum Gal. ii. 1-10 (Schönthaler Programm,1852) and Quæstiones et observationes ad philologiam sacram Novi Testamenti pertinentes (Tübingen, 1860).

(ROBERT KÜBEL †.)