Johann Albrecht Bengel (24 June 1687 – 2 November 1752), also known as Bengelius, was a Lutheran pietist clergyman and Greek-language scholar known for his edition of the Greek New Testament and his commentaries on it.

In 1703 Bengel left Stuttgart and entered the University of Tübingen as a student at the Tübinger Stift, where, in his spare time, he devoted himself especially to the works of Aristotle and Spinoza, and, in theology, to those of Philipp Spener, Johann Arndt and August Francke.

Before entering into his new duties he travelled through the greater part of Germany, studying the systems of education which were in use, and visiting the seminaries of the Jesuits as well as those of the Lutheran and Reformed churches.

[3] For 28 years, from 1713 to 1741, he was master (German: Klosterpraeceptor) of the Klosterschule at Denkendorf, a seminary for candidates for the ministry established in a former monastery of the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre.

The civil power (the Duke of Württemberg was a Roman Catholic) was disposed to have recourse to measures of repression, while the members of the consistory, recognizing the good effects of such meetings, were inclined to concede considerable liberty.

As Bengel did not hesitate to manipulate historical calendars in his chiliastic attempts to predict the end of the world, Zinzendorf rejected this as superstitious "interpretation of signs.

It was the fruit of twenty years labor, and exhibits with a brevity of expression, which, it has been said, condenses more matter into a line than can be extracted from pages of other writers, the results of his study.

He modestly entitled his work a Gnomon or index, his object being rather to guide the reader to ascertain the meaning for himself, than to save him from the trouble of personal investigation.

The principles of interpretation on which he proceeded were, to import nothing into Scripture, but to draw out of it everything that it really contained, in conformity with grammatico-historical rules not to be hampered by dogmatical considerations; and not to be influenced by the symbolical books.

[7] Methodist founder John Wesley made great use of it in compiling his Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755), despite an initial inclination towards "consulting none but the inspired writers".

The more important are: Ordo Temporum, a treatise on the chronology of Scripture, in which he enters upon speculations regarding the end of the world, and an Exposition of the Apocalypse which enjoyed for a time great popularity in Germany, and was translated into several languages.

[citation needed] Bengel’s meticulous study of the Bible led him to believe that dates and time periods were related, all the way through from Genesis to Revelation, bringing him to the conclusion that June 18, 1836 would witness the start of the Millennium, to include the fall of the Antichrist, which he believed to be the Roman Catholic Church, the conversion of the Jews, the reign of Christ for 1000 years as promised in Revelation 20, and the final judgement.