Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten (14 March 1706, Wolmirstedt – 4 July 1757, Halle) was a German Protestant theologian. He was a brother to philosopher Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten.
He studied theology at the University of Halle, where in 1730 he became an associate professor, and in 1734 a full professor of theology. In 1728 the 22-years old Baumgarten, a Hallensian Pietist and bibliophile, was appointed as minister of the Market Church. In 1734 he became professor in theology and in 1748 rector of the Halle University. At the end of his life he translated encyclopedic articles or biographies from English into German.[1]
Baumgarten was a follower of the philosophical teachings of Christian Wolff, and is regarded as a transitional theologian from the Pietism of Philipp Jakob Spener and August Hermann Francke to that of modern rationalism. He was a prodigious writer and published works on exegesis, hermeneutics, dogmatics and history. He was author of the first sixteen volumes of the Allgemeine Welthistorie (General World History), which after his death was continued by his assistant Johann Salomo Semler.
Other noted works by Baumgarten include: