Griesbach, JOHANN JAKOB

Griesbach, JOHANN JAKOB, author of the first critical edition of the New Testament, was born at Butzbach, in Hesse-Darmstadt, January 4, 1745. He studied theology at Tübingen; at Halle, where Semler influenced his whole after-life; and at Leipzig, where he became acquainted with Ernesti. He commenced lecturing as privat-docent in Halle, and in 1773 was made extra-ordinary professor; but in 1776 he was called as ordinary professor to Jena, where he continued to teach with great success till his death on 24th March 1812. The great work with which his name is associated is his critical revision or classification of the New Testament text. Amongst his notable works are the Synopsis Evangeliorum (2 vols. 1774-75; 3d ed. 1809); his edition of the whole New Testament (1775; new ed. 1796-1806); Populäre Dogmatik (1779; 4th ed. 1789); Commentarius Criticus in Textum N. Test. (1798-1811); and the Opuscula Academica (1825). The grand feature of Griesbach's critical system is his threefold division or classification of the New Testament MSS.: (1) The Alexandrine recension; (2) the Latin or Western recension; (3) the Byzantine or Eastern recension. See BIBLE; and the Lives by Köthe (1812), Augusti (1812), and Eichstädt (1815).