Johann Christoph Döderlein or Doederlein (20 January 1745 in Windsheim2 December 1792 in

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

) was a German Protestant

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 ...

. As professor of

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

from 1782, he was celebrated for his varied learning, for his eloquence as a preacher, and for the important influence he exerted in guiding the transition movement from strict

orthodoxy Orthodoxy () is adherence to a purported "correct" or otherwise mainstream- or classically-accepted creed, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical co ...

to a freer theology. His most important work ''Institutio theologi christiani nostris temporibus accommodata'' was published in 1780. In his 1775 work ''Esaias, ex recensione textus hebraei'', Döderlein was the first to hypothesize that the

book of Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC prophet Isaiah ben Amo ...

was composed over many hundreds of years, containing texts from both an 8th-century prophet named Isaiah (chapters 1-39) and an unnamed prophet of the 6th century (chapters 40-66), who would come to be known in scholarship as "Deutero-Isaiah." A few decades later, Bernhard Duhm would split Deutero-Isaiah into two units, an earlier Deutero-Isaiah (chapters 40-55) and a later Trito-Isaiah (chapters 56-66). Johann was the father of the

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

Johann Christoph Wilhelm Ludwig Döderlein, known as Ludwig.

References

1745 births 1792 deaths Academic staff of the University of Jena People from Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim 18th-century German Protestant theologians German male non-fiction writers {{Christian-theologian-stub