Hengstenberg, ERNST WILHELM, a famous German champion of orthodox theology, was born 20th October 1802, at Fröndenberg, in Westphalia, where his father was clergyman. Prepared by his father for the university, he devoted himself at Bonn chiefly to Orientalia and philosophy, whilst at the same time he took an enthusiastic part in the Burschenschaften. At first a sympathiser with rationalism, at Basel, whither he went in 1823, he passed over to the opposite extreme, and going next year as privat-docent to Berlin, soon put himself at the head of a rising orthodox party, whose principles he championed vigorously both in the university and through the press. In 1826 he was made extra-ordinary, in 1828 ordinary professor; and in 1829 doctor of theology. His Evangelische Kirchenzeitung, begun in 1827, combatted rationalism even in its mildest forms, seeking to restore the orthodoxy and church discipline of the 16th and 17th centuries. All his works were devoted to the defence of the old interpretation and criticism of the Scriptures against the results of modern biblical science in Germany. Hengstenberg's great influence in ecclesiastical matters was employed in the carrying out of the high Lutheran dogmas of the church, of church-offices, and of the sacraments, by persecution of sectaries, by opposition to the union of Lutherans and Reformed, and by attempts to depose from their chairs Gesenius, Wegscheider, De Wette, and other so-called rationalistic teachers in the universities. He died at Berlin, May 28, 1869.
His chief works were Beiträge zur Einleitung ins Alte Testament (1831-39; Eng. trans. 1847 and 1848); Christologie des Alten Testaments (2d ed. 1854-57; Eng. trans. 4 vols. 1854-59); Geschichte des Reiches Gottes unter dem Alten Bunde (1869-70; Eng. trans. 1871-72); Die Weissagungen des Propheten Ezechiel (1867-68; Eng. trans. 1869); Die Juden und die Christ. Kirche (1857); and Die Bücher Mosis und Aegypten (1841; Eng. trans. 1845). His commentaries embraced the Psalms (1842-45; Eng. trans. 1845-48), the Apocalypse (1850-51; trans. 1852), and the Gospel of St John (1861-62; trans. 1865). See his Life by Bachmann and Schmalenbach (1876-92).