Friedrich Bleek

Friedrich Bleek (4 July 1793, in Ahrensbök, Holstein27 February 1859, in Bonn) was a German Protestant theologian. He is considered one of the foremost biblical scholars in 19th-century Germany. He studied at Kiel and then at the University of Berlin, where De Wette, August Neander, and Friedrich Schleiermacher shaped his scholarly direction. He became a tutor at the university in 1818, and an assistant professor in 1823.

In addition to fulfilling his duties in the theological seminary, he published two dissertations in Schleiermacher and G. C. F. Lücke's Journal (1819–1820, 1822), one on the origin and composition of the Sibylline Oracles, , and the other on the authorship and purpose of the Book of Daniel.

During the six years that Bleek remained at Berlin, he twice declined a call to the office of Professor Ordinarius of Theology, first time at Greifswald and next time at Königsberg. In 1829, however, he was induced to accept Lücke's chair in the recently founded University of Bonn and took up his duties there that summer. He worked there for thirty years. In 1843 he was raised to the office of consistorial councillor and was selected by the university to hold the office of rector, a distinction which was not hitherto conferred upon any theologian of the Reformed Church. He died suddenly of apoplexy on 27 February, 1859. Bleek also contributed many articles to the Studien und Kritiken. For further information on Bleek's life and writings, see Kamphausen's article in Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopädie; Frédéric Lichtenberger's Histoire des idées religieuses en Allemagne, vol. iii.; Diestel's Geschichte des Alten Testamentes (1869); and T. K. Cheyne's Founders of Old Testament Criticism (1893).