Ferdinand Christian Baur

Ferdinand Christian Baur (German: [baʊɐ]; 21 June 1792 – 2 December 1860) was a German Protestant theologian and founder and leader of the (new) Tübingen School of theology (named for the University of Tübingen where Baur studied and taught). Following Hegel's theory of dialectic, Baur argued that second century Christianity represented the synthesis of two opposing theses: Jewish Christianity (Petrine Christianity) and Gentile Christianity (Pauline Christianity). This and the rest of Baur's work had a profound impact on higher criticism of biblical and related texts.

Adolf Hilgenfeld followed Baur's lead and edited the Tübingen School's journal, though he was less radical than Baur. A patristic scholar and philosopher at Tübingen, Albert Schwegler gave the School's theories their most vigorous expression. "The school was at the height of its influence in the 1840s, but it soon lost its prestige through the discrepancy between its axioms and historical fact."