Johann Philipp Gabler (4 June 1753 – 17 February 1826) was a German Protestant Christian

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

of the school of

Johann Jakob Griesbach Johann Jakob Griesbach (4 January 1745 – 24 March 1812) was a German biblical textual critic. Griesbach's fame rests upon his work in New Testament criticism, in which he inaugurated a new epoch. His solution to the synoptic problem bears his nam ...

and

Johann Gottfried Eichhorn Johann Gottfried Eichhorn (16 October 1752, in Dörrenzimmern – 27 June 1827, in Göttingen) was a German Protestant theologian of the Enlightenment and an early orientalist. He was a member of the Göttingen school of history. Education and ...

. Gabler was born at

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. In 1772 he entered the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The university was established in 1558 and is cou ...

as a

theological Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...

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. In 1776 he was on the point of abandoning theology when the arrival of Griesbach inspired within him a new enthusiasm for the subject. After having been successively ''Repetent'' in the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

and teacher in the public schools of

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(

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

) and Altdorf (

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), he was appointed second professor of theology at the

University of Altdorf The University of Altdorf () was a university in Altdorf bei Nürnberg, a small town outside the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg. It was founded in 1578 and received university privileges in 1622 and was closed in 1809 by Maximilian I Joseph of Ba ...

in 1785, then promoted to a chair in Jena in 1804, where he succeeded Griesbach in 1812 and remained until his death. At Altdorf, Gabler published (1791–93) a new edition, with

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and

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, of Eichhorn's ''Urgeschichte''. This was followed, two years later, by a supplement entitled ''Neuer Versuch uber die mosaische Schopfungsgeschichte''. He also wrote many

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s characterized by

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acumen, and which had considerable influence on the course of German thought in various issues within theology and

Biblical studies Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Jewish usage and the Christian Bible including the can ...

. From 1798 to 1800 he was editor of the ''Neuestes theologisches Journal'', first jointly with H.K.A. Hänlein (1762–1829), Christoph Friedrich von Ammon and Heinrich Eberhard Gottlob Paulus, and afterwards as sole editor; from 1801 to 1804 of the ''Journal für theologische Litteratur''; and from 1805 to 1811 of the ''Journal für auserlesene theologische Litteratur''. Some of his essays were published by his sons (2 volumes, 1831); and a memoir appeared in 1827 by W. Schröter. Gabler is widely considered to be the father of modern

biblical theology Because scholars have tended to use the term in different ways, Biblical theology has been notoriously difficult to define. The academic field of biblical theology is sub-divided into Old Testament theology and New Testament theology. Academic ...

because of his 1787 inaugural address at University of Altdorf: ''On the Correct Distinction Between Dogmatic and Biblical Theology and the Right Definition of Their Goals''. Gabler sharply distinguished between biblical and dogmatic theology. For him, biblical theology was simply historical investigation into the beliefs of the biblical authors as they stand in the text. It is purely descriptive and uninfluenced by the viewpoints of modern thinkers. On the other hand, dogmatic theology is a systematized construction, built on the foundation of biblical theology and contextualized — applied to the context or era in which it is to be proclaimed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gabler, Johann Philipp 1753 births 1826 deaths Writers from Frankfurt 18th-century German Protestant theologians 19th-century German Protestant theologians 19th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers 18th-century German male writers 18th-century biblical scholars 18th-century Christian biblical scholars