Johann Gottlob Carpzov (26 September 1679,

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

– 7 April 1767, Lübeck) was a German Christian Old Testament scholar, a nephew of

Johann Benedict Carpzov II Johann Benedict Carpzov II (24 April 1639 – 23 March 1699) was a German Christian theologian and Hebraist. He was a member of the scholarly Carpzov family. He studied Hebrew under Johannes Buxtorf II, in Basel. He was appointed professor of Ori ...

and a son of

Samuel Benedict Carpzov Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bibl ...

. He was the most famous and most important Biblical scholar of the Carpzov family. After attending universities at

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

and Altdorf, he was titular professor of Oriental languages at

from 1719 to 1730, and preacher and theologian until his death. Like his uncle, he was an opponent of the

Pietists Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life, including a social concern for ...

. His critical works were: ''Introductio in libros canonicos bibliorum Veteris Testamenti'' 1721, 4th ed. 1757; ''Critica Sacra'' (I. Original text, II. Versions, III. Reply to Whiston), 1728; ''Apparatus Historico-Criticus Antiquitatum et Codicis Sacri et Gentis Hebrææ'', 1748. The ''Apparatus'' is in the form of annotations to Thomas Goodwin's ''Moses and Aaron'', and appended to it are dissertations on "The Synagogue Treated with Honor" (a statement of what the Christian Church has retained of ancient Jewish customs), on "The Charity System of the Ancient Jews" (discussion of the question whether צדקה in the Old Testament ever means "alms"), and others. According to the ''Jewish Encyclopedia'',

Carpzov represents both an advance and a retrogression in Biblical science — an advance in fullness of material and clearness of arrangement (his ''Introductio'' is the first work that deserves the name), and a retrogression in critical analysis, for he held fast to the literal inspiration of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament and bitterly opposed the freer positions of Simon, Spinoza, and
Clericus Clericus may refer to: * Jean Leclerc (Le Clerc), also la, Johannes Clericus (1657-1736), a Swiss theologian and biblical scholar * Franciscus Clericus * '' Tagiades clericus'', a spread-winged skipper butterfly belonging to the family Hesperii ...
. His antiquarian writings are still interesting and useful.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpzov, Johann Gottlob 1679 births 1767 deaths 17th-century German people 18th-century German Protestant theologians German biblical scholars German Lutheran theologians German male non-fiction writers 18th-century German male writers Lutheran biblical scholars