Editing Johann Salomo Semler (section)

===Classification===
The importance of Semler, sometimes called "the father of German [[neology|rationalism]]", in the history of theology and the human mind is that of a critic of biblical and ecclesiastical documents and of the history of [[dogma]]s. He was not a philosophical thinker or theologian, though he insisted, with an energy and persistency before unknown, on certain distinctions of great importance when properly worked out and applied, e.g. the distinction between religion and theology, that between private personal beliefs and public historical creeds, and that between the local and temporal and the permanent elements of historical religion. His great work was that of the critic. He was the first to reject the equal value of the [[Old Testament|Old]] and [[New Testament]]s, the uniform authority of all parts of the [[Bible]], the divine authority of the traditional canon of Scripture, the inspiration and supposed correctness of the text of the Old and New Testaments, and, generally, the identification of revelation with Scripture.

Though to some extent anticipated by the British deist, [[Thomas Morgan (deist)|Thomas Morgan]], Semler was the first to take due note of and use for critical purposes the opposition between the [[Judaism|Judaic]] and [[anti-Judaic]] parties of the early church. He led the way in the task of discovering the origin of the Gospels, the [[Epistles]], the [[Acts of the Apostles]], and the [[Apocalypse]]. He revived previous doubts as to the direct Pauline origin of the [[Epistle to the Hebrews]], called in question Peter's authorship of the first epistle, and referred the second epistle to the end of the 2nd century. He wished to remove the Apocalypse altogether from the canon. In textual criticism Semler pursued further the principle of classifying manuscripts in families, adopted by [[Richard Simon (priest)|Richard Simon]] and [[Johann Albrecht Bengel]]. In church history Semler did the work of a pioneer in many periods and in several departments. [[Friedrich Tholuck]] pronounced him "the father of the history of doctrines," and [[Ferdinand Christian Baur]] "the first to deal with that history from the true critical standpoint." At the same time, it is admitted by all that he was nowhere more than a pioneer.

His concept of church has been contrasted with [[Friedrich Schleiermacher]]'s.<ref>Rendtorff, Trutz. ''Church and Theology: The Systematic Function of the Church Concept in Modern Theology'', Westminster Press, 1971, {{ISBN|978-0-664-20908-7}}.</ref>