“ The importance of Semler, sometimes called “the father of German rationalism,” in the history of theology and the human mind is that of a critic of biblical and ecclesiastical documents and of the history of dogmas. ”

“ SEMLER, JOHANN SALOMO (1725-1791) , German church historian and biblical critic, was born at Saalfeld in Thuringia on the 18th of December 1725, the son of a clergyman in poor circumstances. He grew up amidst pietistic surroundings, which powerfully influenced him his life through, though he never became a Pietist. In his seventeenth year he entered the university of Halle, where he became the disciple, afterwards the assistant, and at last the literary executor of the orthodox rationalistic professor S. J. Baumgarten (1706-1757) . ”

“ He led the way in the task of discovering the origin of the Gospels, the Epistles, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Apocalypse. He revived previous doubts as to the direct Pauline origin of the Epistle to the Hebrews, called in question Peter's authorship of the first epistle, and referred the second epistle to the end of the 2nd century. ”