Daniel Gotthilf Moldenhawer

Daniel God Help Moldenhawer (* December 11, 1753 in Königsberg, † November 21, 1823 in Copenhagen ) was a German Protestant theologian, scholar, librarian and translator of the Bible.

Life

As the son of the theologian Johann Heinrich Daniel Moldenhawer he received training at Königsberg Collegium Fridericianum ( under Herder), at Hamburg Johanneum and at the University of Göttingen ( with Christian Gottlob Heyne, Johann David Michaelis, Christian Wilhelm Franz Walch ).

In 1777 he became professor of theology and Oriental languages ​​in Kiel. On the recommendation of intermarried with Moldenhawer Johann Andreas Cramer he received from the Danish royal court a three-year traveling scholarship and so opened up the Bible manuscripts in Spain. In 1784 he became professor of church history and dogmatic theology at the University of Copenhagen and contributed to the triumph of rationalism in Denmark. 1786 was sent Moldenhawer a second time to Spain, this time in a secret diplomatic mission.

From 1788 Moldenhawer chief librarian was the Danish Royal Library. Under his leadership, the local book inventory tripled to 250,000 volumes, and after Moldenhawers death, the library was able to purchase some of his extensive private library of 12,000 volumes.

Moldenhawer was a freemason and illuminati. He has received numerous honors; as he was in 1809 Knight of the Royal Danish Dannebrog. Since 1798 he was a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences. 1790/91 and 1799/1800, he served as rector of the University of Copenhagen.

Works

• The Book of Job translated and explained, 2 vols, Leipzig 1780/81
• The Bible in its true form, for their friends and enemies, 3 vols, Hall 1786/87 (anonymous; Hartmut Hovelmann it writes to the core points of the Luther Bible to Moldenhawer )
• Trial of the Order of the Templars. From the Originalacten the Papal Commission in France, Hamburg 1792.