BELSER, JOHANNES EV. VON. - New Testament exegete, b. at Billingendorf in Württemberg on 20 Oct. 1850, d. there on 20 Oct. 1916.
Ordained priest on 2 Aug. 1875, he was parish vicar at Waldsee for six years. In 1880 he became professor at the secondary school and lyceum of Ellwangen, and in 1890 full professor of New Testament at the University of Tübinga.
He was distinguished by his philological precision. He defended the hypothesis proposed by Van Bebber of a single year of Jesus’ public activity. Among his numerous publications on the New Testament, mention should be made of Einleitung in das N. T. (Friburgo in Br. 1901, 2nd ed. there 1905), the commentaries on the 4th Vangelo (there 1905 and 1912), on the Epistle to the Ephesians (there 1908) and 2 Corinthians (there 1910), on the Epistle of James (there 1909 and 1911), and the Geschichte des Leidens und Sterbens, der Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt des Herrn (there 1903, 2nd ed. 1913). From 1895 he was also co-editor of the series Biblische Studien and associate editor of the Theologische Quartalschrift of Tübinga.