Wegscheider was born at Küblingen (now a part of
Schöppenstedt,
Lower Saxony). He studied theology at the
University of Helmstedt, where he was a pupil of
Heinrich Philipp Konrad Henke. From 1795 to 1805, he worked as a tutor to the family of a wealthy
Hamburg merchant. In 1805 he presented a dissertation titled
Graecorum mysteriis religioni non obtrudendis at the
University of Göttingen. He then served as a professor of theology at the University of
Rinteln (1806–1810), and at the
University of Halle from 1810 onwards. Wegscheider was a leading figure of dogmatic
theological rationalism—for instance, he considered
supernatural revelation to be an impossibility. Because of his rationalist teachings, he, along with his colleague
Wilhelm Gesenius, were attacked by followers of
Supernaturalism, creating a situation that led to a government investigation (1830). Ultimately, he retained his office at Halle, but lost his former influence. == Principal works ==