Bleek, FRIEDRICH

Bleek, FRIEDRICH, a German biblical critic, born 4th July 1793 at Ahrensbök in Holstein, studied theology first at Kiel, and afterwards under De Wette, Neander, and Schleiermacher, at Berlin, where he was appointed in 1818 a university tutor, and in 1823 an extraordinary professor of Theology. In 1829 he was called to Bonn, and he remained there till his death, 27th February 1859. Bleek's chief work was his commentary on Hebrews, which theologians so different as De Wette and Delitzsch have ranked among the first exegetical works of this century. Schleiermacher declared that the 'Charisma of Biblical Introduction' had been specially given to Bleek; and it is by his Einleitung in das Alte Testament (1860; 4th ed. 1878) and his Einleitung in das Neue Testament (1862; 3d ed. 1875), which have been translated into English by Venables and Urwieck, that he is best known in this country. Solid unpretentious learning and clear sober judgment equally distinguish these and his other posthumous works, which include his Synoptische Erklärung der drei ersten Evangelien (2 vols. 1862), and lectures on The Apocalypse (1862), on Colossians, Philemon, and Ephesians (1865), and on Hebrews (1868).