BAUMGARTEN, SIEGMUND JAKOB. - Protestant theologian, called by Voltaire “the crown of German scientists,” b. at Wolmirstadt near Magdeburg on 14 March 1706, d. at Halle on 4 July 1757.
In 1724 he studied at Halle, where in 1726 he became inspector of the Latin school and in 1734 ordinary professor of theology. He was an extraordinarily active man and a virtually universal writer in the field of theology, despite his frail health. In his doctrine he strove to take account of the results of the natural sciences, historical criticism, and empirical philosophy, thus preparing the transition from Pietistic Protestant dogmatic theology to the so-called “Enlightenment” theology, that is, to rationalistic tendencies. He is distinguished for the clarity and acuteness of his definitions as well as for the breadth of his learning.
The most important works of B. were published after his death by his pupil J. S. Semler of Altdorf.
Noteworthy are: Evangelische Glaubenslehre (3 vols., Halle 1759–60); Ausführlicher Vortrag der theologischen Moral (ivi 1764); Geschichte der Religionsparteien (ivi 1766).