Achterfeldt

Johann Heinrich Achterfeldt (17 June 1788 to 11 May 1877) was a German-born theologian. He Appointed professor of theology at Bonn in 1826, in 1832 he founded with his colleague, Joseph Braun, the Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Katholische Theologie. The singular purpose of that publication was to defend the teachings of George Hermes. He also published Christkatholische Dogmatik (Münster, 1834–1836), which were the theological writings that Hermes had left behind after his death. It was followed by divisive controversy, and eventually by the condemnation of Hermes' works, which Pope Gregory XVI placed into the Index in 1835. However, in 1843 Achterfeldt was suspended from his professorial chair because he would not sign the declaration of faith demanded by the Coadjutor Archbishop Johannes von Geissel of Cologne. While Hermesianism lost ground and finally disappeared during the revolution of 1848, Achterfeldt stuck to his views. In 1862 he was reinstated as professor, and in 1873, having submitted to ecclesiastical authority, he was released from suspension.