Otto Pfleiderer (1839 - 1908)

Otto Pfleiderer (September 1, 1839 – July 28, 1908) was a German Protestant theologian. Through his writings and his lectures, he became known as one of the most influential representatives of liberal theology. He was born at Stetten (now a part of Kernen, Baden-Württemberg) in Württemberg. From 1857 to 1861 he studied at the University of Tübingen under Ferdinand Christian Baur, and afterwards in England and Scotland. He then entered the ministry, became tutor (German: Repetent) at Tübingen, and for a short time held a pastorate at Heilbronn (1868). In 1870 he became chief pastor and superintendent at the University of Jena and soon afterwards professor ordinarius of theology, but in 1875 he was called to the chair of systematic theology at Berlin, having made his name by a series of articles on New Testament criticism and Johannine and Pauline theology, which appeared in Adolf Hilgenfeld's Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Theologie, and by his Der Paulinismus, published in 1873. Das Urchristentum, seine Schriften und Lehren, in geschichtlichen Zusammenhang beschrieben was published in 1878 and considerably enlarged for a second edition in 1902.