Eberhard Nestle

Eberhard Nestle (May 1, 1851, Stuttgart – March 9, 1913, Stuttgart) was a German biblical scholar, textual critic, orientalist, editor of Novum Testamentum Graece, and the father of Erwin Nestle.

Life

Nestle was a son of the upper tribunal procurator (Obertribunalprokurator) Christian Gottlieb Nestle and his wife Sophie Beate Kleinmann. His half-brother from his father's second marriage was classical philologist Wilhelm Nestle.

Nestle studied in the University of Tübingen from 1869 to 1874. His studies culminated in his doctoral thesis on the Hebrew and Greek text forms of the Book of Ezekiel. Afterwards he worked in the area of orientalism and wrote, among other things, a Syriac grammar. During his later years, his focus changed to textual criticism of the New Testament.

Between 1898 and 1912 he worked as professor at the Evangelical Seminaries of Maulbronn and Blaubeuren.

In 1880, he married Klara Kommerell (1852–87) in Tübingen; they produced one son, Erwin Nestle. In 1887 his wife died after a short illness, and three years later, in 1890, Nestle married Elisabeth Aichele (1867–1944). In this second marriage, five daughters and one son were born.