Johann Franz Buddeus

He was appointed adjunct professor of philosophy there soon after taking his master's degree in 1687, and in 1689 exchanged this for a similar position at Jena, where he also paid much attention to the study of history.

He remained at Jena for the rest of his life, several times acting as rector of the university temporarily and being head of his department and an ecclesiastical councilor from 1715.

In philosophy he professed an eclecticism which rested on a broad historical foundation; but he recognized in Descartes the originator of a new period, and in attacking the "atheist" Spinoza followed especially the upholders of the law of nature, such as Hugo Grotius, Puffendorf, and Thomasius.

His theological position was determined by the tradition of Johannes Musäus at Jena, partly through his close relations with Baier; but on another side he was inclined toward Pietism.

To the second Jena period belong among others the Institutiones theologiæ moralis (1711; German transl., 1719), a work strictly in accordance with his philosophical ethics; the Historia ecclesiastica veteris testamenti (1715–18); Theses theologicæ de atheismo et superstitione (1716), which, directed especially against Spinoza, attracted much attention; Institutiones theologiæ dogmaticæ (1723), a work once very influential, obviously founded on Baier's Compendium; Historische und theologische Einleitung in die vornehmsten Religionsstreitigkeiten (1724, 1728), edited by Walch; Isagoge historico-theologica ad theologiam universam (1727), dealing with the problems methods, and history of theology in a way remarkable for that time; and Ecclesia apostolica (1729), intended as an introduction to the study of the New Testament.