BLEEK, FRIEDRICH. - One of the best German Protestant exegetes of the 19th century. Born at Arensböck near Lübeck on 4 July 1793, he studied at Lübeck, Kiel, and Berlin, where he was a pupil of De Wette, Neander, and Schleiermacher, the latter of whom exercised a great influence upon him. In 1829 he became professor at Bonn, where he taught until his death (27 Feb. 1859).
Many of his studies appeared in the journal *Theologische Studien und Kritiken*. His principal work is: *Der Brief an die Hebräer erläutert*, in three parts (Berlin 1828, 1836, 1840). He also published: *Beiträge zur Evangelienkritik* (ibid. 1846). From his lectures his son GIOVANNI and his pupil A. Kamphausen drew various posthumous works, including *Einleitung in das Alte Testament* (ibid. 1860, 1865, 1870). In his criticism of the Old Testament B. is more radical than in that of the New; thus he defends the apostolic-Johannine origin of the Fourth Gospel, but for the Pentateuch he advocates the supplementary hypothesis.
**