Isaak August Dorner

As a student at the university, one of his teachers had been Christian Friedrich Schmid, author of the well-known Biblische Theologie des Neuen Testamentes and one of the most vigorous opponents of F. C. Baur.

It was an indirect reply to Strauss, which showed, "profound learning, objectivity of judgment, and fine appreciation of the moving ideas of history" (Otto Pfleiderer).

It was there that he produced Das Princip unserer Kirche nach dem innern Verhältniss seiner zwei Seiten betrachtet (1841).

It takes the reader through a mass of historical material by the examination and discussion of ancient and modern teachers, and so leads up to the author's own view, which is mostly one intermediate between the opposite extremes, and appears as a more or less successful synthesis of antagonistic theses" (Pfleiderer).

This publication positioned him as an important figure in the early development of "the German Evangelical Church Day" (Deutschen Evangelischen Kirchentags), highlighting his influence on the ecclesiastical and socio-political discourse of the era.

One of the most noteworthy of the "mediating" theologians, he has been ranked with Friedrich Schleiermacher, August Neander, Karl Nitzsch, Julius Müller and Richard Rothe.