Raebiger, Julius Ferdinand

RAEBIGER, rê´big-er, JULIUS FERDINAND: German theologian; b. at Lohsa (42 m. n.e. of Dresden) Apr. 20, 1811; d. at Breslau Nov. 18, 1891. He studied at Breslau and Leipsic; entered the faculty at Breslau in 1838; was associate professor, 1847–59; and professor after 1859. He lectured on Old- and New-Testament theology and on theological encyclopedia. Opposed to extremes in theological position, he represented a middle ground of independence and reality in theology as well as church affairs. He published the Kritische Untersuchungen über den Inhalt der beiden Briefe an die Korinther Gemeinde (Breslau, 1847; 2d ed., 1886); De Christologia Paulina contra Baurium (1852); and De libr\it Jobi sententia primaria (1860). His main work was Theologik oder Encyklopädie der Theologie (Leipsic, 1880; Eng. transl., Encyclopedia of Theology, 2 vols., Edinburgh, 1884–85), in which he held forth that, viewing theology as an independent science, encyclopedia is neither a mechanical grouping of the departments of theology nor a mere methodology, but an independent organic unity, touching in its circumference the whole sphere of knowledge.

(Julius Decke.)