Ernesti, Johann August

Protestant theologian; classical scholar; born Aug. 4, 1707, at Tennstädt, Thuringia; died 1781 at Leipsic, in the university of which city he was professor of classical literature, rhetoric, and theology. Ernesti did good service by insisting on the strict philological interpretation of the Bible. His Biblical work was mainly in the New Testament field. Though not a great Hebrew scholar, he wrote the following tracts on Jewish topics: "De Templo Herodis Magni ad Aggæi ii. 10 et Joseph. A. I. xv." Leipsic, 1752; "Programma de Vestigiis Linguæ Hebraicæ in Lingua Græca," ib. 1758; and "Exercitationum Flaviniarum Prima, de Fontibus Archæologiæ," ib. 1756, to which are added two corollaries: (1) "De Josephi Stilo"; (2) "De Odlo Judæorum Veterum Adversus Literas Græcas," 1758. These were all republished in the second and third editions of his "Opuscula Philologica-Critica."

Bibliography:

  * Biographie Universelle, s.v.;
  * Ersch and Gruber, Encyc. s.v.;
  * Herzog, Real-Encyc. s.v.



T. C. L.