Ernst von Dobschütz

German theologian, textual critic, author and professor

Ernst Adolf Alfred Oskar Adalbert von Dobschütz (9 October 1870 – 20 May 1934) was a German theologian, textual critic, author of numerous books and professor at the University of Halle, the University of Breslau, and the University of Strasbourg. He also lectured in the United States and Sweden. He was born and died in Halle.

Dobschütz was born into an old noble family of Silesia. He was a son of the Prussian colonel Adalbert von Dobschütz de Basse Silesia and of his second wife Anna, Baroness von Seckendorff. His older half brother (from his father's first marriage) was Prussian general of division Carl von Seckendorff. On 29 December 1919, in Halle (Saale), Dobschütz married Karin von Kronhelm (24 March 1893 in Breslau, † 7 May 1986 in Halle), daughter of the Prussian general of division Curt von Kronhelm and Clara Schwarz. Their marriage remained childless. In 1888 he began his theological studies at the University of Leipzig under professors Franz Delitzsch and Christoph Ernst Luthardt. In 1910, he became professor in the University of Breslau; in 1913, he accepted a call to the University of Halle, where he taught until his death in 1934, with the exception of the years 1913 and 1914, when he taught at Harvard University. He examined some manuscripts like Codex Tischendorfianus III. After the death of textual critic Caspar René Gregory, Dobschütz became his successor, and in 1933 he expanded the list of New Testament manuscripts, increasing the number of papyri from 19 to 48, the number of uncials from 169 to 208, the number of minuscules from 2326 to 2401, and the number of lectionaries from 1565 to 1609. His recovery work influenced the later work of Kurt Aland, who revived the tradition in 1953 and further expanded the number of New Testament manuscripts. A dedicated Christian, Von Dobschütz was a member of the Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg). He was a member of German National People's Party from 1919 to its dissolution in 1933.