Johann Albrecht Bengel, a German theologian, born at Winnenden, Wi'irtemberg, June 24, 1087, died December 2, 1752. He distinguished himself at Tubingen as a Greek scholar, early exhibited a predilection for critical study, and was the author of several important works; but that on which his fame as a scholar principally depends is his edition of the Greek Testament, which was published in 1734. It was severely criticised by many eminent scholars, such as Mirhaclis, Baumgarten, and others; but the acuteness, patience, and judgment with which he compared the ancient copies of the New Testament writings, aided materially in the grouping of the original manuscripts into families which was afterward carried out. His short notes on the New Testament, published in the Gnomon Novi Testa-menti, have been translated into several languages, and are still held in great esteem. They form the basis of John Wesley's "Notes on the New Testament," which is one of the standard books of Wesleyan Methodism. Bengel also wrote a work on the Apocalypse. He considered the Apocalypse as the key to all prophecy, and believed that any right exposition of it would unseal the entire future history of the world up to the end of time.

He thought he discovered in the mystical figures of the seer of Patmos that the world would end in 1836.