Zachariä, gOtthilf tRaugott

Zachariä, Gotthilf Traugott a German theologian, was born at Tauchardt, in Thuringia, in 1729, and studied at Konigsberg and Halle, being the pupil, associate, and amanuensis in the latter place of the learned Baumgarten. He was called in 1760 to the newly founded University of Bützow, in 1765 to Göttingen, and in 1775 to Kiel, where he died two years afterwards. His reputation as a scholar rests principally upon the Biblische Theolagie, oder Untersuchung des Grundes der vornehmsten biblischen Lehren (1771-75, 4 pts. 3 sections, with Suppl. by Volborth [17861). The work occupied the supranaturalistic ground held by Baumgarten, professing a belief in revelation and miracles, but applying the historico-critical method of interpretation to the proofs' deduced from Scripture, and either eliminating them altogether or depriving them of any considerable force. The end of the divine economy of redemption is represented as being the blessedness which Christ will bestow, which consists in the fruits of his atonement. The necessity for an atonement is, however, said to conflict with the idea of the freedom of the divine will. A progressive economy of grace is spoken of, but is shown in its outward manifestations in the mere enumeration of historical events only. It is said to have been God's first design to establish faith in the true God, and to reveal nothing respecting Christ until the truth respecting God should have been sufficiently impressed on the minds of men. The work evidently does not deserve the encomiums bestowed on it by Nitzsch, Schenkel, etc. Zacharila published, besides, paraphrastic expositions of the epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Hebrews, etc., which were favorably received and repeatedly published. See Thiess, Gelehrtengesch. der Universitdt Kiel, pt. 2; Döring, Die gelehrten. Theologen Deutschlands, pt. 4; Shenkel, in Stud. u. Krif. (Aufgabe der Bibl. Theol.), 1852, No. 1; Herzog, Real-Encyklop. s.v.