BAHRDT, KARL FRIEDRICH (1741-1792), German theologian and adventurer, was born on Aug. 25, 1741, at Bisch of swerda and died at Halle on April 23, 17 92. At the age of 16 young Bahrdt began to study theology at Leipzig under the ortho dox mystic, Christian August Crusius 0715-75), who in 1757 had become first professor in the theological faculty. In 1766 he was appointed professor extraordinarius of biblical philology. Bahrdt was successively professor of theology at Giessen, master of the "Philanthropin," a famous school at Marschlins, general superin tendent at Diirkheim, and a lecturer on other subjects than the ology at Halle. From these posts he was expelled in each case on account of irregular living, and for the last ten years of his life he kept an inn on the Weinberg near Halle. He is remem bered for his Neueste O f}enbarungen Gottes in Brie/en and Er zhhlungen (1773-75), which purported to be a "model version" of the New Testament and drew down on him the scorn of Goethe.
See life, with detailed bibliography, by Paul Tschakert in Herzog Hauck, Realencyklopddie; a more favourable account is given in J. M. Robertson's Short History of Freethought, ii. 278.