Gabler on Theology: Bibliography

The German theologian Johann Philipp Gabler (1753–1826) is often given credit for distinguishing biblical theology from systematic theology, which he did in his inaugural lecture as professor at the University of Altdorf. This university was founded in 1578 in Altdorf bei Nürnberg (i.e., near—15 miles east of—Nuremberg). It's a small town, current population around 15,000. The university closed in 1809.

According to Wikipedia:

Gabler is widely considered to be the father of modern biblical theology because of his 1787 inaugural address at University of Altdorf: On the Correct Distinction Between Dogmatic and Biblical Theology and the Right Definition of Their Goals [citing Köstenberger]. Gabler sharply distinguished between biblical and dogmatic theology. For him, biblical theology was simply historical investigation into the beliefs of the biblical authors as they stand in the text. It is purely descriptive and uninfluenced by the viewpoints of modern thinkers. On the other hand, dogmatic theology is a systematized construction, built on the foundation of biblical theology and contextualized — applied to the context or era in which it is to be proclaimed.

Of course, the address was delivered and published originally in Latin, and the Latin title is De justo discrimine theologiae biblicae et dogmaticae regundisque recte utriusque finibus (Altdorf bei Nürnberg: Monath, 1787). The original publication is available here. (On the Roman numerals used in the date notation, see Wikipedia.)

An English translation and commentary was produced by theologian John Sandys-Wunsch and the medievalist Laurence Eldredge: “J. P. Gabler and the Distinction between Biblical and Dogmatic Theology: Translation, Commentary and Discussion of his Originality,” Scottish Journal of Theology 33 (1980): 133–58. The full text of their article is not available freely online, but the brief introduction and the entire translation has been made available here.

This translation is not based on the original publication, which was unavailable to Sandys-Wunsch and Eldredge, but rather on the reprint in Gabler’s (posthumously published) collected works (vol. 2, pp. 179–98, here).

According to Sandys-Wunsch and Eldredge (149n2), Gabler was recognized as the patriarch of biblical theology first by D. C. G. Cölln, Biblische Theologie, 2 vols. (Leipzig: Barth, 1836), 1.22–23 (here), and the first biblical theology to mention Gabler’s inaugural address was W. M. L. de Wette, Lehrbuch der christlichen Dogmatik I: Biblische Dogmatik Alten und Neuen Testaments (Berlin: Realschulbuchhandlung, 1813), available here, p. 30 (point c).