BAHRDT, KARL FRIEDRICH. - Protestant theologian, the “enfant terrible” of the theological “Aufklärung,” b. 20 Aug. 1741 at Bischofswerda, d. at Halle on 23 Apr. 1792. Brought up in vice, the young B. had neglected his studies, yet nevertheless became a “magister” and preacher at Lipsia, where he made a name for himself through his eloquence, to which he owed the successes he achieved later as well. From 1766 to 1768 he was professor of ecclesiastical philology, but because of his immoral life he had to leave this chair and subsequently taught secular subjects at Erfurt, Giessen, and Halle.
Everywhere he boldly professed pure deism, denying all revelation. In the work System der moralischen Religion he presented Christ as a great “naturalist.” Finally expelled from university teaching, he became an innkeeper in a vineyard near Halle, where he also founded a Masonic society. In 1789 he was imprisoned and wrote immoral novels and his autobiography. From 1768 to 1791 he published many works on the Old and New Testament, with historical-philological pretensions but devoid of scholarly value.