BRETSCHNEIDER, KARL GOTTLIEB - Enciclopedia Cattolica, Vol. III, p. 69

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

BRETSCHNEIDER, KARL GOTTLIEB. — German Protestant theologian and critic, b. at Gersdorf (Saxony) on 11 Feb. 1776, d. at Gotha on 22 Jan. 1848.

Author of numerous works, in the theological field he was one of the principal representatives of rationalism (“rational supernaturalism”), and in biblical studies he was a pioneer of negative criticism concerning the Johannine writings. His principal works are: *Systemat. Entzückung aller in der Dogmatik vorkommenden Begriffe*, Leipzig 1804, 4th ed. 1841; *Handbuch der Dogmatik der evangel.-lutheranischen Kirche*, ibid. 1814, 4th ed. 1838; *Probabilia de Evang. et Epist. Ioannis Apost. indole et origine*, ibid. 1820; *Histor.-dogmatische Auslegung des N. T.*, ibid. 1806. He published in the *Corpus Reformatorum* (27 vols. I-XVII, Halle 1834-51; XVIII-XXVII, Brunswick 1833-59) the works of Melanchthon and also published a dictionary of New Testament Greek.

BIBL.: *Selbst-Biographie*, published by Horst B., Gotha 1851; G. Frank, in *Allgemeine deutsche Biographie*, III, Leipzig 1876, p. 319; P. Hagenbach, in *Realne. für prot. Theol. u. Kirche*, III, 3rd ed., Leipzig 1897, pp. 389-91; J. Moffatt, *Ninety years after: A survey of Bretschneider's «probabilia» in the light of subsequent johannine criticism*, in *American Journal of Theology*, 17 (1913), pp. 368-76; H. Hoffmann, in *Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart*, I, 2nd ed., Tübingen 1927, cols. 1251.