GRIESBACH, JonANN JAKOB, author of the first critical edition of the New Testa ment, was b. at Butzbach, in Hesse-Darmstadt, Jan 4, 1745. While Griesbach was still a child, his father was called to St. Peter's church, in Frankfort-on-the-Main, where he was also made cousistorial counselor. Griesbach accordingly received his first edu cation at the gymnasium of that city, and afterwards studied theology at Tubingen, where the old dogmatic was still predominant; at Halle, where Semler influenced his whole after-life; and .at Leipsic, where he became acquainted with Ernesti. Having resolved to devote himself specially to the criticism of the New Testament text, had become a favorite study among theologians, Griesbach undertook a journey to various libraries of Germany and Holland, to London, Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris. On his return he published his De Codicibus .Evangeliorunt Origenianis (1771), and com menced lecturing as privat-docent in Halle. In 1773 he was made extraordinary pro fessor; but in 1776 was called as ordinary professor to Jena, where he continued to teach with great success, and in the enjoyment of many honors, till his death on Mar. 24, 1S12. The great work with which his name is associated is his critical revision of the New Testament text. Besides pointing out new sources for the discovery of the original reading, attempting a history of the sacred text (Curse in Historiam Tcxlus Epp. Paul., 1777), and laying down more certain laws of criticism (Syrnbolee Criticce ad Sup plendas et Corrigenclas arias Leetiones N. Test., 2 vols., 1785-93), Griesbach was the first who dared to print the New Testament text, as he had been enabled to determine it by his critical science. The first specimen of the revised text that he published was the Synopsis Evangeliorurn (2 vols. 1774-75; 2d ed. 1809). This was followed, in 1775-77,
by an edition of the whole New Testament, which was published again in 1796-1806, and of which a re-issue was begun by D. Schulz in 1827, but has never been completed. The second edition has been twice reprinted in London, first in 1809, and again in 1818; an American edition was published at Boston in 1808. Besides smaller editions, a splendid one in 4to was published by Gbschen at Leipsic in 1803-7. Griesbach's other works, Populdre Dogniatik (1779; 4th ed., 1789), Commentaries Criticus in 7 cxtum Test. (2 vols., 1798-1811), and the Opuscula Acadonica (2 vols., 1824-25, edited by Gabler), are now less known. A very competent authority, viz., the eminent Dr. Marsh, has pronounced Griesbach to be "the most consummate critic that ever undertook an edition of the New Testament." The grand feature of Griesbach's critical system is his threefold division or classification of the New Testament MSS. These divisions he called "recensions," or "codices." They consisted of-1. The Alexandrine recension; 2. The Latin or western recension; 3. The Byzantine or eastern recension. Griesbach endeavors to show that the early fathers, according to their locality, made use of a par ticular set of MSS., exhibiting certain peculiarities such as justify the above division. Griesbach expressed his decided preference for the Alexandrine recension, both in regard to antiquity and purity; the Byzantine he considered the least trustworthy. Among the most memorable of Griesbach's triumphs as a critic is his exposure of the interpola tion of the well-known passage in defense of the doctrine of the Trinity, 1 John v. 7. His life has been written by Rothe (Jena, 1812); Augusti (Berl. 1812); and by Eichstildt (Jena, 1815).