Name

David Friedrich Megerlin

Original name

Main activity

Theologian

Secondary activity

Pedagogue

Title

Magister Artium

Name variations

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Education place

Tübingen

Education institution

University of Tübingen

Activity place

Frankfurt am Main

Activity institution

Activity start date

Activity end date

Place of birth

Königsbronn

Date of birth

1698

Place of death

Frankfurt am Main

Date of death

1778

Bibliographical references

Alastair Hamilton, ‘David Friedrich Megerlin’, in: David Thomas and John Chesworth (eds.), Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History. Vol. 14. Central and Eastern Europe (1700-1800) (Leiden, 2020), pp. 187-91.

Descriptive card

Following the study of Hebrew and theology in Tübingen, Megerlin, a Master of theology, taught and assumed pastoral duties at several institutions. At first as an instructor at the Tübinger Stift (a seminary for Lutheran pastors) 1725-9, followed by an appointment as schoolmaster and pastor in Montbéliard. This was followed by an appointment as preacher, and then pastor in Maulbronn and a deanery in Güglingen (1748). Dismissed of his ecclesiastical duties the following year after accusations of embezzlement, Megerlin retired to Laubach and later moved to Frankfurt, where he spent the final years of his life. Megerlin, who had pronounced Pietistic sympathies, was a staunch defender of Lutheran teaching and a champion of missionary work among Jews and Muslims. In 1772 he published his German Qur’an translation – the first in German to be made directly from the Arabic.

Entry author

Asaph Ben Tov