GRIESBACH, Johann Jakob. - German Protestant theologian, b. at Butzbach on 4 Jan. 1745, d. at Jena on 24 March 1812. He was professor of the New Testament at Halle (from 1773) and at Jena (from 1775). “A man of outstanding talents, most sober judgment and the greatest diligence” (Gregory), he worked on the “synoptic question,” a term he coined. He distinguished himself through his labors in textual criticism of the New Testament.
Not sparing even journeys, including to England and France, he amassed a precious collection of variant readings drawn from manuscripts, ancient translations, and patristic citations, particularly from Origen. After Bengel had introduced the fundamental principle of classifying manuscripts into families in New Testament textual criticism, Semler and his pupil G. advanced these researches. G. distinguished three families: the Alexandrian, the Western, and the Constantinopolitan. He pointed out that it is not enough to classify codices, but that even parts of codices may belong to different families. He elaborated the normative principle that, among several variants, preference should be given to the one supported by two families, thereby disqualifying the great mass of manuscripts of the Constantinopolitan family (textus receptus) and opening the way to a more objective restoration of the text. He produced various editions of the Greek New Testament, several times reprinted. His mature and final judgment on the text is found in the editio minor of 1805 (Gregory).