The New International Encyclopædia/Wislicenus, Gustav Adolf

WISLICENUS, vĭs′lē̇-tsā′nụs, Gustav Adolf (1803-75). A German theologian, one of the leaders of the Free Congregations (q.v.). He was born at Battaune, Prussian Saxony, studied theology at Halle, and as member of the Burschenschaft was sentenced in 1824 to twelve years' confinement in a fortress. He was pardoned in 1829 and continued his studies in Berlin. Since 1841 paster at Halle, he became associated with the “Friends of Light,” and in consequence of a lecture delivered at Köthen in 1844, was deprived of his pastorate in 1846. Henceforth preacher of the free congregation at Halle, his pamphlet Die Bibel im Lichte der Bildung unserer Zeit caused him to be sentenced to two years' imprisonment, in 1853, when he fled to America, lectured at first in Boston and in 1854 established a school at Hoboken, N. J. Returning to Europe in 1856, he opened a school at Zurich, where he wrote his principal work, Die Bibel, für denkende Leser betrachtet (2d ed. 1866).