1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hilgenfeld, Adolf Bernhard Christoph

HILGENFELD, ADOLF BERNHARD CHRISTOPH (1823–1907), German Protestant divine, was born at Stappenbeck near Salzwedel in Prussian Saxony on the 2nd of June 1823. He studied at Berlin and Halle, and in 1890 became professor ordinarius of theology at Jena. He belonged to the Tübingen school. “Fond of emphasizing his independence of Baur, he still, in all important points, followed in the footsteps of his master; his method, which he is wont to contrast as Literarkritik with Baur’s Tendenzkritik, is nevertheless essentially the same as Baur’s” (Otto Pfleiderer). On the whole, however, he modified the positions of the founder of the Tübingen school, going beyond him only in his investigations into the Fourth Gospel. In 1858 he became editor of the Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Theologie. He died on the 12th of January 1907.

His works include: Die elementarischen Recognitionen und Homilien (1848); Die Evangelien und die Briefe des Johannes nach ihrem Lehrbegriff (1849); Das Markusevangelium (1850); Die Evangelien nach ihrer Entstehung und geschichtlichen Bedeutung (1854); Das Unchristentum (1855); Jüd. Apokalyptik (1857); Novum Testamentum extra canonem receptum (4 parts, 1866; 2nd ed., 1876–1884); Histor.-kritische Einleitung in das Neue Testament (1875); Acta Apostolorum graece et latine secundum antiquissimos testes (1899); the first complete edition of the Shepherd of Hermas (1887); Ignatii et Polycarpi epistolae (1902).