Julius Köstlin

Born in Stuttgart in 1826, Julius Köstlin studied theology and oriental languages at the University of Tübingen. After early church work and study travels in Germany and Britain, he returned to academic life and later taught at the universities of Göttingen, Breslau, and Halle.

Köstlin was a German evangelical theologian and church historian, and he is remembered in particular for his research on Martin Luther. Sources describe him as a co-founder of the Verein für Reformationsgeschichte, and his large Luther biography became one of the major scholarly works of its time, even if it was not without controversy.

His career joined university teaching, preaching, and church service, while his writing helped establish him as an important voice in historical Luther studies. He died in Halle (Saale) in 1902.