Friedrich Bleek

Friedrich Bleek (born July 4, 1793 in Ahrensbök in Holstein (a village near Lübeck) – February 27, 1859 in Bonn), was a German Biblical scholar.

At 16 Bleek's father sent him to the gymnasium at Lübeck, where he became so interested in ancient languages that he abandoned his idea of a legal career and resolved to devote himself to the study of theology. After spending some time at the university of Kiel, he went to Berlin, where, from 1814 to 1817, he studied under De Wette, Neander and Schleiermacher. So highly were his merits appreciated by his professors — Schleiermacher was accustomed to say that he possessed a special charisma for the science of Introduction — that in 1818 after he had passed the examinations for entering the ministry he was recalled to Berlin as a Repentant or tutorial fellow in theology, a temporary post which the theological faculty had obtained for him.

Besides discharging his duties in the theological seminary, he published two dissertations in Schleiermacher's and GCF Lücke's Journal (1819-1820, 1822), one on the origin and composition of the Sibylline Oracles, Über die Entstehung und Zusammensetzung der Sibyllinischen Orakel, and another on the authorship and design of the Book of Daniel, Über Verfasser und Zweck des Buches Daniel. These articles attracted much attention, and were distinguished by those qualities of solid learning, thorough investigation and candour of judgment which characterized all his writings.

Bleek's merits as a rising scholar were recognized by the minister of public instruction, who continued his stipend as Repentant for a third year, and promised further advancement in due time. But the attitude of the political authority underwent a change. De Wette was dismissed from his professorship in 1819, and Bleek, a favorite pupil, incurred the suspicion of the government as an extreme democrat. Not only was his stipend as Repentant discontinued, but his nomination to the office of professor extraordinarius, which had already been signed by the minister Karl Altenstein, was withheld. At length it was found that Bleek had been confounded with a certain Baueleven Blech, and in 1823 he received the appointment.

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