ARNOLD, GOTTFRIED (1666-1714), German Protes tant divine, was born at Annaberg, in Saxony, where his father was a schoolmaster. His first work, Die erste Liebe zu Christo, to which in modern times attention was again directed by Leo Tolstoy, appeared in 1696. It went through five editions before 1728, and gained the author much reputation. In 1699 he began to publish his largest work, Unparteiische Kirchen- and Ketzer historie, in which he has been thought by some to show more impartiality towards heresy than towards the Church (cf. Otto Pfleiderer, Development of Theology, p. 277).
See Calwer-Zeller, Theologisches Handworterbuch, and the account of him in Albert Knapp's new edition of Die erste Liebe zu Christo (1845)•