BRETSCHNEIDER, KARL GOTTLIEB (1776-1848), German theologian, was born at Gersdorf (Saxony), on Feb. I1, 1776. He lectured on philosophy and theology at Wittenberg (18o4–o6), was pastor of Schneeberg, Saxony (1806–o8), superin tendent at Annaberg, Saxony (18o8-16), and then removed to Gotha, where he was general superintendent until his death (Jan. 2 2, 1848) . The best part of his life's work was done at Gotha.
In 182o appeared his treatise on the Gospel of St. John, entitled Probabilia de Evangelii et Epistolarum Joannis Apostoli indole et origine, which discussed with marked moderation the arguments against Johannine authorship. Bretschneider announced in the preface to the second edition of his Dogmatik in 1822, that he had never doubted the authenticity of the gospel, and had pub lished his Probabilia only to draw attention to the subject, and to call forth a more complete defence of its genuineness. His greatest contribution to exegesis was his Lexicon Manuale Graeco Latinum in libros Novi Testamenti (1824), valuable for its use of the Greek of the Septuagint, of the Old and New Testament Apocrypha, of Josephus, and of the apostolic fathers, in illustra tion of the language of the New Testament. In 1826 he pub lished Apologie der neuern Theologie des evangelischen Deutsch lands. An English translation of his Manual of the Religion and History of the Christian Church appeared in 18J7. His dogmatic position seems to be intermediate between the extreme school of naturalists, such as Heinrich Paulus, J. F. Rohr and Julius Wegscheider on the one hand, and D. F. Strauss and F. C. Baur on the other. Recognizing a supernatural element in the Bible, he nevertheless allowed a full critical exercise of reason in the inter pretation of its dogmas (cf. O. Pfleiderer, Development of Theology).
See his autobiography, Aus meinem Leben: Selbstbiographie von K. G. Bretschneider (Gotha, 1851) (trans. G. E. Day, 1852-1853) Neudecker in Die allgemeine Kirchenzeitung (1848), No. 38; Wuste mann, Bretschneideri Memoria (1848) ; A. G. Farrar, Critical History of Free Thought (Bampton Lectures, 1862) ; Herzog-Hauck, Realency klopddie (ed. 1897) .