PFLEIDERER, OTTO. - Protestant theologian, born in Stetten (Württemberg) on 1 Sept. 1839, died in Berlin on 18 Aug. 1908.
After serving as a parish priest and professor of practical theology at Jena, he later became professor of systematic theology at Berlin. He followed the directives and methods of the Tübingen school, identifying theology with the historical-philological essence of the Bible and the study of environmental influences on the interpretation of the data of the Revelation, rather than with the analysis and justification of confessional professions of faith. In his interpretation of primitive Christianity, he emphasized its derivation from Hellenism; in internal theological controversy, he emerged as an exponent of German "liberal" theology.
Principal works: *Der Paulinismus* (1873); *Religionsphilosophie auf geschichtl. Grundlage* (1878); *Grundrisse der christl. Glaubens- und Sittenlehre* (1886); *Das Urchristentum* (1887); *Das Christusbild des urchristl. Glaubens in religionsgeschichtl. Beleuchtung* (1903).