Johann Christian Friedrich Steudel


Johann Christian Friedrich Steudel was a German Lutheran theologian. He was a brother of botanist Ernst Gottlieb von Steudel.
From 1797 he studied Protestant theology at the University of Tübingen. Beginning in 1803, he worked as a vicar in Oberesslingen, and two years later, became a tutor at Tübinger Stift. In 1808 he traveled to Paris, where he studied with Silvestre de Sacy and Carl Benedict Hase. Following his return to Germany, he served as a deacon in Cannstatt and Tübingen. In 1815 he became an associate professor of theology at the University of Tübingen, where in 1822 he gained a full professorship. From 1826 onward, he was a professor of dogmatics and Old Testament theology at the university.
He was a proponent of rational supernaturalism, and was the last prominent member of the so-called "Old Tübingen School" of theology. During the latter part of his career, he spearheaded an attack on David Strauss's controversial book, Das Leben Jesu.

Selected works

In 1828 he founded the journal Tübinger Zeitschrift für Theologie. The following are a few of Steudel's significant writings:
After his death, his lectures on Old Testament theology were published by Gustav Friedrich Oehler.