WINEBRENNER, JOHN, WINEBRENNERIANS. See Church (Churches) of God, I.

WINER, vi'ner, JOHANN GEORG BENEDIKT: Orientalist and New-Testament grammarian; b. at Leipsic Apr. 13, 1789; d. there May 12, 1858. He was educated at the gymnasium and the university of his native city, zealously studying not only theology but classical philology and oriental languages. In 1817 he became privat-docent at the University of Leipsic, and in 1819 extraordinary professor of theology; in 1823 professor at Erlangen; but returned in 1832 to Leipsic, where he remained until his death, being also a canon of Meissen after 1845. His literary activity was directed mainly to the interpretation of single books or passages of the Bible, to Biblical linguistics, and to historical studies. He published a commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (1821; 4th ed., 1859), with dissertations on questions of Biblical history and antiquities. His Biblisches Realworterbuch (1820; 2d ed., revised and enlarged, 2 vols., 1833-38; 3d ed., considerably enlarged, 1847) is a comprehensive handbook of Biblical subjects arranged alphabetically, a work of extraordinary industry and a thesaurus of historical, geographical, archeological, and scientific knowledge. Of still greater importance were Winer's various labors in the linguistic sphere. He published a Grammatik des biblischen and targumischen Chalddismus (1824; 2d ed., 1842; Eng. transl., A Grammar of the Chaldee Language, Andover, 1845), and to supplement it a Chalddisches Lesebuch (1825). His masterwork in Biblical science is his Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Sprachidioms als sichere Grundlage der neutestamentlichen Exegese bearbeitet (1822; frequent Eng. transls., Grammar of the Idioms of the New Testament, Andover, 1825, Edinburgh, 1859, 1877), [which remained the standard work for nearly three-quarters of a century, but has been superseded largely through the discoveries of the last two decades (see Hellenistic Greek)]. It was a path-breaking achievement, and in producing it Winer rendered immortal services by doing away with vague presuppositions respecting the Hebraizing character of the language of the New Testament and by thus leaving less reason for arbitrariness in interpretation. He showed the laws of linguistics applying in the New-Testament language, employing the same principles that Gottfried Hermann had developed for classical Greek. While apparently merely a scientific work, there was at its basis a

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truly moral and religious motive-a conscientious earnestness in seeking the truth, and a pious reverence for Holy Scripture. Winer published also Bei trag zur Verbesserung der neutestamentlichen Lexi kographie (1823), and gathered materials for a dic tionary of the New Testament, but died before its elaboration. Worthy of mention, though in another department, is his Comparative Darstellung des Lehr begriffs der verschiedenen Kirchenparteien (1824; Eng. transl., Comparative View of the Doctrines and Confessions of Christendom, Edinburgh, 1873; new ed., 1887); while notice should not be omitted of his Handbuch der theologischen Literatur (1821; 2 vols., 1838-40, and supplement, 1842), giving not merely titles of books but brief notices of the authors.

(G. Lechler†.)