The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Beck, Johann Tobias

BECK, Johann Tobias, German theologian: b. Balingen, Württemberg, 22 Feb. 1804; d. Tübingen, 28 Dec. 1878. Graduating from the University of Tübingen in 1826, he was ordained a minister, but later accepted an appointment as professor of theology at Basel. 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. Among his works are ‘Einleitung in das System der christlichen Lehre’ (2d ed., Stuttgart 1870); ‘Christliche Reden’ (1834-70); ‘Erklärung der zwei Briefe Pauli an Timotheus’ (1879). Consult Adolf Schlatter's “J. T. Becks theologische Arbeittheologie” in ‘Beiträge zur Förderung christlicher Theologie’ (4 vols., 1904).