Johann Christian Wilhelm Augusti

Johann Christian Wilhelm Augusti (1772–1841) was a German theologian.

Born at Eschenberga, near Gotha, Augusti was of Jewish descent, his grandfather having been a converted rabbi. He was educated at the gymnasium of Gotha and the University of Jena. At Jena he studied Oriental languages, of which he became professor there in 1803. Subsequently he was professor of theology (1812), and for a time rector, at Breslau. In 1819 he transferred to the University of Bonn, where he was made professor primarius. In 1828 he was appointed chief member of the consistorial council at Koblenz. There he was afterwards made director of the Rhenish Consistory of the Evangelical Church in Prussia. He died at Koblenz.

Augusti had little sympathy with the modern philosophical interpretations of dogma, and he held to the traditional faith. His works on theology (Dogmengeschichte, 1805) are simple statements of fact; they do not attempt a speculative treatment of their subjects. In 1809 he published in conjunction with WML de Wette a new translation of the Old Testament, Grundriss einer historisch critischen Einleitung ins Alte Testament (1806), his Exegetisches Handbuch des Alten Testaments (1797–1800), and his edition of Die Apochryphen des A. T. (1804).

In addition to these, his most important writings are the Denkwürdigkeiten aus der Christlichen Archäologie, 12 vols. (1817–1831), a partially digested class of materials, and the Handbuch der Christ. Archäologie, (1836–1837), which gives the substance of the larger work in a more compact and systematic form.

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