Ernst Troeltsch

German Protestant theologian and writer on philosophy of religion and philosophy of history, and an influential figure in German thought before 1914, including as a member of the history of religions school. His work was a synthesis of a number of strands, drawing on Albrecht Ritschl, Max Weber's conception of sociology, and the Neo-Kantians of the Baden school.

Troeltsch studied Protestant (Lutheran) theology at the universities of Erlangen, Göttingen, and Berlin, becoming in turn Privatdocent (lecturer) at Göttingen, associate professor at Bonn (1892), and professor of theology at Heidelberg (1894). He married in 1901, and an only son was born in 1913.

During 21 years at Heidelberg he published, besides his Grundprobleme der Ethik (1902; Fundamental Problems of Ethics), a large number of articles on various subjects thematically linked with the development of the Christian churches. Many of these were later integrated into his best known work, Die Soziallehren der christlichen Kirchen und Gruppen. In that work he explored the relationships between and within social and cultural groups in the context of the social ethics of the Christian churches, denominations, and sects. In 1915, realizing that his strength lay more in the philosophy of religion than in theology, he moved to a chair of philosophy at Berlin, a post he held until his death.

He died 1 February 1923, Berlin.