Gustav Adolf Wislicenus

Gustav Adolf Wislicenus (20 November 1803 Battaune, Prussian Saxony - 14 October 1875 Zurich) was a German theologian, one of the leaders of the Free Congregations.

Biography

He studied theology at Halle, and as member of the Burschenschaft was sentenced in 1824 to twelve years' confinement in a fortress. He was pardoned in 1829 and continued his studies in Berlin. Since 1841 paster at Halle, he became associated with the Friends of Light, and in consequence of a lecture delivered at Köthen in 1844, was deprived of his pastorate in 1846. Henceforth preacher of the free congregation at Halle, his pamphlet Die Bibel im Lichte der Bildung unserer Zeit caused him to be sentenced to two years' imprisonment, in 1853, when he fled to America, lectured at first in Boston and in 1854 established a school at Hoboken, New Jersey. Returning to Europe in 1856, he opened a school at Zurich, where he wrote his principal work, Die Bibel, für denkende Leser betrachtet (The Bible for thoughtful readers, 2d ed. 1866).

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