Johann Albrecht Bengel: Briefwechsel

The Wuerttemberg theologian Johann Albrecht Bengel (1687-1752) has had a long-lasting influence in the history of the church and theology. His contributions to New Testament textual criticism, his expositions of the biblical text, his combination of scholarly competence with edifying observations, such as we find in his Gnomon, have left their mark on generations of theologians and pastors. As part of this legacy we must also count Bengel’s unsuccessful attempt to calculate the dates in redemption history.This edition of Bengel’s correspondence, comprising several volumes, offers for the first time the entirety of the extant material (more than 3,100 letters to and from Bengel). Texts important for Bengel’s biography, theology, educational theory or pastoral counseling are printed complete; others appear as detailed summaries of content. Passages and terms in foreign languages are translated into German. The textual apparatus provides an overview of the transmissional history of each letter; the expositional apparatus offers information on persons, events and book titles mentioned. Each volume has indices of persons, places and biblical passages.The first volume contained correspondence from the early years (1707–1722); this second volume presents the correspondence of the middle period (1723–1731) of Bengel’s Denkendorf years. Bengel the preceptor of the lower seminary comes into focus as a master educator and pastoral counselor. We get a glimpse of his work on his Novum Testamentum Graecum (published in 1734) and his Latin commentary on the New Testament, the Gnomon (first edition 1742). We also see him working on his eschatalogical calculations and hear their diverging reception among his circle of friends.The correspondence gives us a view of the hitherto unknown Bengel, even as the familiar portrait appears in a new light. Anyone who deals with Bengel must know his letters.