Albert Schwegler (10 February 18195 January 1857) was a German philosopher and Protestant theologian.
Biography
Schwegler was born at Michelbach in Württemberg, the son of a country pastor. He entered the University of Tübingen in 1836, and was one of the earliest pupils of F. C. Baur, under whose influence he devoted himself to church history. His first work was Der Montanismus und die christliche Kirche des Zweiten Jahrhunderts (1841), in which he pointed out for the first time that Montanism was much more than an isolated outbreak of eccentric fanaticism in the early church, though he himself introduced fresh misconceptions by connecting it with Ebionitism as he conceived the latter. This work, with other essays, brought him into conflict with the authorities of the church, in consequence of which he gave up theology as his professional study and chose that of philosophy.
In 1843 he founded the Jahrbücher der Gegenwart, and became privatdozent of philosophy and classical philology at Tübingen University. In 1848 he was made an associate professor of Roman literature and archaeology, and soon afterwards a full professor of history.