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

Protestant Christian Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

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 na ...

and

Johann Gottfried Eichhorn Johann Gottfried Eichhorn (16 October 1752, in Dörrenzimmern – 27 June 1827, in Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Lei ...

. Gabler was born at Frankfurt-am-Main. In 1772 he entered the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

as a

theological Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...

student. 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, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

and teacher in the public schools of Dortmund (

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) 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 regio ...

) and Altdorf (

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

), 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 ...

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

introduction Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to: General use * Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music * Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...

and

notes Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened versio ...

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

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

s characterized by

critical Critical or Critically may refer to: *Critical, or critical but stable, medical states **Critical, or intensive care medicine *Critical juncture, a discontinuous change studied in the social sciences. *Critical Software, a company specializing in ...

acumen, and which had considerable influence on the course of German thought in various issues within theology and Biblical studies. 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 Heinrich Eberhard Gottlob Paulus (1 September 1761 – 10 August 1851) was a German theologian and critic of the Bible. He is known as a rationalist who offered natural explanations for the biblical miracles of Jesus. Career Paulus was a pro ...

, 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 vols., 1831); and a memoir appeared in 1827 by W. Schröter. Gabler is widely considered to be the father of modern biblical theology 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