Johann Tobias Beck was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 theologian.

Biography

Graduating from the University of Tübingen in 1826, he was ordained a minister, but later accepted an appointment as professor of theology at the University of Basel

University of Basel

The University of Basel is located in Basel, Switzerland, and is considered to be one of leading universities in the country...

. In 1843 he went to Tübingen, where he filled the same position.

He was one of the Tübingen faculty who was strongly opposed to the general radical tendency of that university, under the influence of F. C. Baur, the leader of the so-called Tübingen school. Beck was and remained absolutely orthodox.

He was known as a critic of both left and right wing Christian groups in Germany in the 19th century. His polemical style centered around a "biblical realism," one which saw the scriptures as an integrated system in and of themselves, an unconditional authority over both Enlightenment-style reasoning and ecclesiastical confessions.

As for doctrinal science, Beck held that there was no such thing as "speculative knowledge," but only "believing knowledge," which he called gnosis. Anything not biblically given (and believed as such) does not qualify as real knowledge of God. It needs neither human philosophy or churchly synthesis in order to be the truth, though spiritual (pneumatische) exegesis

Exegesis

Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...

 had its place by virtue of the work of the Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...

. In such a way, "The scientific theological system should thus reproduce the real life-system of the biblical doctrine, for which the coherent activity of God is central."

Karl Barth

Karl Barth

Karl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian whom critics hold to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas...

(among others) has responded to J.T. Beck as an important dialogue partner.

Works

• Einleitung in das System der christlichen Lehre (2d ed., Stuttgart 1870)
• Christliche Reden (1834-1870)
• Erklärung der zwei Briefe Pauli an Timotheus (1879)

English publications

• Outlines of Biblical Psychology (1877)
• Pastoral Theology of the New Testament (1885)