Gottlieb Jakob Planck

Gottlieb Jakob Planck (November 15, 1751 - 1833), German Protestant divine and historian, was born at Nurtingen in Württemberg, where his father was a notary.

Educated for the Protestant ministry at Blaubeuren, Bebenhausen and Tübingen, he became repetent at Tübingen in 1774, preacher at Stuttgart in 1780, and professor of theology at Göttingen in 1784.

At Tübingen he wrote Das Tagebuch eines neuen Ehemannes. In 1781 he published anonymously the first volume of his Geschichte des protestantischen Lehrbegriffs; the second, also anonymous, appearing in 1783, and it was completed in six volumes in 1800. It was followed by an extensive Geschichte der christlich-kirchlichen Gesellschaftsverfassung in five volumes (1803-1809). Both are works of considerable importance, and are characterized by abundant learning. He died on the 31st of August 1833.

His son Heinrich Ludwig Planck (1785-1831), also professor of theology at Göttingen, published Bemerkungen über den ersten Brief an den Timotheus (1808) and Abriss d. philos. Religionslehre (1821).

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.