HOLLAZ, DAVID

Lutheran theologian and dogmatician; b. Wulkow, near Stargard, Pomerania, 1648?; d. Jakobshagen, Pomerania, April 17, 1713. Hollaz (Hollatz or Hollatius) studied at Erfurt and Wittenberg and held the following ecclesiastical positions: preacher at Putzerlin near Stargard (1670), preacher at Stargard (1681), assistant rector at Stargard (1683), rector at Colberg (1684), and pastor at Jakobshagen (1692–1713). His principal work is his Examen theologicum acroamaticum (Rostock and Leipsic 1717), which is considered the last of the great textbooks of the period of Lutheran orthodoxy, despite its considerable modification by growing Pietistic (see pi etism) influences. It is the last of the strict Lutheran attempts at systematizing dogma. Although Hollaz does not mention Pietism as such, it is obvious from his ardent refutation of mysticism that he was aware of its development. The work owes its reputation not to originality but to the clearness of its definitions and the excellence of its arrangements, and to its prevailing devotional spirit. In addition to a collection of sermons, his published works include Scrutinium veritatis in mysticorum dogmata (Wittenberg 1711) and Ein gottgeheiligt dreifaches Kleeblatt, or Leidender Jesus (1713).

Bibliography: j. c. erdmann, Lebensbeschreibungen und litterarische Nachrichten von den wittenbergschen Theologen (Wittenberg 1804). f. a. g. tholuck, Der Geist der lutherischen Theologen Wittenbergs (Hamburg 1852). e. wolf, Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 7 v. (3d ed. Tübingen 1957–65) 3: 433–434.

[c. j. berschneider]