Bible Encyclopedias
Kanne, Johann Arnold

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

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a German mystic, was born at Detmold in 1773, and educated at the gymnasium of his native city. While but a youth he attempt-' ed the restoration of the exceedingly marred text of Varro, De Lingua Latina. He studied theology at the University of Gottingen, where the rational exegesis of Eichhorn nearly stifled all his religious belief. From Gott'ingen he went to Leipsic, thence as a teacher to Halle, and finally to Berlin. In 1805 he wrote at Wiirtemberg a work on the mythology of the Greeks (Weimar, 1805). His study of this subject led him to read the Old Testament, and ultimately resulted in the publication of Die erste Urkunde der Geschichte, with a Preface by Jean Paul (1808, 2 vols. 8vo). During the war with the French he joined the Prussian army, but was captured by the French, from whom he soon escaped, and then entered the Austrian- army. But, prostrated by disease, he was several times confined in the hospital at Linz, when, through the efforts of Jean Paul and president Jacobi, he was dismissed from the service. On Jacobi's recommendation, in 1809 he was called to the chair of history in the College of Science at Nuremberg. His sufferings in the army seemed to have accelerated his previous -religious decline, and his works published after his appointment at Nuremberg Sive evidence of his leaning towards extreme rationalism. He wrote in this period Pantheon der altesten Naturphilosophie oder die Religion der Volker (1811):System der Indischen Mythe oder Kronus und die Geschichte des Gottmenschen (1813). He was, however, soon afterwards induced to renounce his antichristian views laid down in these books. He made an attempt to derive all languages from one primitive language in his πάγγλωσστον, but his request to king Alexander to aid his philological undertaking received no hearing. In Nuremberg his moral and spiritual condition was for a long time a turmoil of conflicting emotions, but the reading of religious writings and elevated conversation with distinguished Christians brought about a spiritual regeneration. In 1818 he was called to the chair of Oriental literature in the University of Erlangen. Here he withdrew from all society, and lived in seclusion from the world, wholly absorbed in contemplative mysticism. Doubtless his papers would have afforded a clear view of the state of his soul, but, according to his friends, towards the close of his life he destroyed all documents relating to this subject. He died Dec. 17, 1824. His other religious works are: Sammlung wahrer und erwecklicher Geschichten aus dem Reiche Christi und fur dasselbe (1815-17,2 yols.; 1822, 3 vols.) :-Leben, und aus dem Leben merkwiirdiger und erweckter Christen (181617, 2 vols.):- Fortsetzung (1824):-Romane aus der Christenwelt aller Zeiten (1817) :- Christus im A.T. or Untersuchungen uber die Vorbilder und messianischen Stellen (1818, 2 vols. 8vo):-Biblische Untersuchungen oder Auslegungen mit und ohne Polemik (1819-20, 2 vols. 8vo). He edited also the following: Auserlesene christliche Lieder (Erlang. 1818) :- Weissagungen u. Verheissungen der Kirche Christi auf die letzten Zeiten. der f eiden. - Katholische Real-Encyklop. 5:1036.