Gustav Friedrich Oehler

Gustav Friedrich Oehler (10 June 1812 – 19 February 1872) was a German theologian.

He was born in Ebingen, Württemberg, and was educated privately and at the University of Tübingen where he was much influenced by J. C. F. Steudel, professor of Old Testament theology. In 1837, after a term of Oriental study at Berlin, he went to Tübingen as tutor (German: Repetent), becoming in 1840, a professor at the seminary and pastor in Schönthal.^[1]

In 1845, he published his Prolegomena zur Theologie des Alten Testaments, accepted an invitation to Breslau and received the degree of doctor from the University of Bonn. In 1852, he returned to Tübingen as the director of the seminary and professor of Old Testament theology at the university. He declined a call to Erlangen as successor to Franz Delitzsch, and died at Tübingen in 1872.^[1]

Oehler was one of the foremost Old Testament scholars of his time of the conservative school. He admitted the composite authorship of the Pentateuch and the Book of Isaiah, and did much to counteract the antipathy against the Old Testament that had been fostered by Schleiermacher. In church polity, he was Lutheran rather than Reformed.^[1] He opposed the union of the Lutheran and Reformed churches, and while declaring in favor of confessional Lutheranism, he held aloof from the old Lutheran party.

Besides his Old Testament Theology (2 vols., 1873–74; English trans., Edinburgh, 1874–75; New York, 1883, Dutch translation by dr. J. Hartog, 1879), his works were Gesammelte Seminarreden (1872) and Lehrbuch der Symbolik (Manual of symbolism; 1876, edited by Johann Delitzsch), both published posthumously, and about forty articles for the first edition of Herzog's Realencyklopädie, which were largely retained in the second edition.^[1]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Oehler, Gustav Friedrich". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 13.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Oehler, Gustav Friedrich" . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. This work in turn cites:
  • Joseph Knapp, Gustav Friedrich Oehler. Ein Lebensbild (Tübingen, 1876)

• Werner Raupp (1993). "Oehler, Gustav Friedrich". In Bautz, Traugott (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 6. Herzberg: Bautz. cols. 1122–1125. ISBN 3-88309-044-1.
• Theodor Schott (1887), "Oehler, Gustav Friedrich", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 24, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 181–185
• "Oehler, Gustav Friedrich" . Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.

• Theology of the Old Testament at Christian Classics Ethereal Library (his works online)