FRICK, HEINRICH (1893–1952), German religious thinker. The term religious thinker characterizes Frick as a scholar who endeavors to combine two potentially conflicting attitudes: Christian theological piety and the ability to analyze in a religio-historical way his own religion and the religions of others.

Born in Darmstadt, Hesse, Frick during his childhood belonged to Bible youth groups. He studied Protestant theology and Arabic in Giessen and Tübingen. He received his licentiate in theology in 1917 from the University of Giessen and joined the Lutheran ministry in Darmstadt. In 1918 he earned his doctorate, also at Giessen; his thesis was Ghazalis Selbstbiographie: Ein Vergleich mit Augustins Konfessionen (Al-Ghazālī's Autobiography: A Comparison with Augustine's Confessions; 1919). Frick began his academic career in 1919 as privatdocent in Religionswissenschaft and missiology at the Technische Hochschule, Darmstadt. He moved to the University of Giessen in 1921, from which he was called to Marburg as successor...