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TELLER, WILHELM ABRAHAM (1734-1804)

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 576 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TELLER, WILHELM See also:ABRAHAM (1734-1804) , See also:German See also:Protestant divine, was See also:born at See also:Leipzig on the 9th of See also:January 1734. His See also:father, See also:Romanus Teller (1703–1750), was a pastor at Leipzig, and afterwards became See also:professor of See also:theology in the university. He edited the earlier volumes of a Bibelwerk (19 vols., 1749–70) which was designed as an See also:adaptation for German readers of the exegetical See also:works of See also:Andrew Willet, See also:Henry See also:Ainsworth, Symon See also:Patrick, See also:Matthew See also:Poole, Matthew Henry and others. Wilhelm Abraham studied See also:philosophy and theology in the university of his native See also:town. Amongst the men whose See also:influence mainly determined his theological position and See also:line of See also:work was J. A. See also:Ernesti. Teller's writings See also:present See also:rationalism in its course of development from biblical supernaturalism to the See also:borders of deistical See also:naturalism. His first learned See also:production was a Latin See also:translation of See also:Benjamin See also:Kennicott's Dissertation on the See also:State of the Printed See also:Hebrew See also:Text of the Old Testament (1756), which was followed the next See also:year by an See also:essay in which he expounded his own See also:critical principles. In 1761 he was appointed pastor, professor of theology and See also:general See also:superintendent in the university of See also:Helmstedt. Here he pursued his exegetical, theological and See also:historical researches, the results of which appeared in his Lehrbuch See also:des christlichen Glaubens (1764). This work caused some commotion, as much by the novelty of its method as by the heterodoxy of its See also:matter, and more by its omissions than by its See also:positive teaching, though everywhere the author seeks to put theological doctrines in a decidedly See also:modern See also:form.

In 1767 Teller, whose attitude had made his position at Helmstedt intolerable, was glad to accept an invitation from the Prussian See also:

minister for ecclesiastical affairs to the See also:post of See also:provost of Kelln, with a seat in the supreme See also:consistory of See also:Berlin. Here he found himself in the See also:company of the rationalistic theologians of See also:Prussia—F. S. G. See also:Sack (1i38–1817), Johann See also:Joachim See also:Spalding (1714–1804) and others —and became one of the leaders of the rationalistic party, and one of the See also:chief contributors to C. F. See also:Nicolai's Allgemeinc Deutsche Bibliothek. Teller was not See also:long in making use of his freer position in Berlin. In 1772 appeared the most popular of his books, Worterbuch des Neuen Testamentes zur Erklarung der christlichen Lehre (6th ed., 18o5). The See also:object of this work was to recast the See also:language and ideas of the New Testament and give them the form of 18th-See also:century illuminism. The author maintains that the Graeco-Hebraic expressions must not be interpreted literally, but explained in terms intelligible to the modern mind. By this See also:lexicon Teller had put himself amongst the most advanced rationalists, and his opponents charged him with the See also:design of overthrowing positive See also:Christianity altogether.

In 1786 the author became a member of the Berlin See also:

Academy of Sciences. The " Wollner See also:edict " of See also:July 9, 1788, for the enforcement of Lutheran orthodoxy, and Teller's manly See also:action, as member o the consistorial See also:council, in See also:defiance of it (cf. his Wohlgemeinte Erinnerungen, 1788), led the Prussian See also:government to pass upcn him the See also:sentence of suspension for three months, with See also:forfeiture of his See also:stipend. He was not, however, to be moved by such means, and (1792) issued his work See also:Die See also:Religion der Vollkommeneren, an exposition of his theological position, in which he advocated at length the See also:idea, subsequently often urged, of " the perfectibility of Christianity,"—that is, of the ultimate transformation of Christianity into a See also:scheme of See also:simple morality, with a See also:complete rejection of all specifically See also:Christian ideas and methods. This See also:book represents the culminating point of German illuminism, and is separated by a long See also:process of development from the author's Lehrbuch. In the same year he published his Anleitung zur Religion iiberhaupt and sum Allgemeinen des Christenthums besonders; fiir die Jugend hOherer and gebildeter Stande aller Religions parteien. Teller died on the 9th of See also:December 1804. Besides his contributions to the Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek, he edited a popular and practically useful Magazin See also:fur Prediger (1792–1801). See W. Gass, Geschichte der protestantischen Dogmatik, iv. pp. 206–222; P. See also:Wolff, See also:art. in See also:Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie (ed. 1907); Heinrich Doring, Deutsche Kanzelredner des 18ten and I9ten Jahrh., p.

506 seq. ; See also:

Edward See also:Pusey, Causes of the See also:Late Rationalistic See also:Character of German Theology (1828), p. 15o; and cf. the See also:article in the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie.

End of Article: TELLER, WILHELM ABRAHAM (1734-1804)

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