He was educated at the gymnasium at Gotha and the university of Jena. At Jena he studied oriental languages, of which he came professor there in 1803. Subsequent]y he became professor of theology (1812), and for a time rector, at Breslau. In 1819 he was transferred to the university of Bonn, where he was made professor primarius. In 1828 he was appointed chief member of the consistorial council at Koblenz. There he was afterwards made director of the consistory. He died at Koblenz in 1841.
Augusti had little sympathy with the modern philosophical interpretations of dogma, and he held last to the traditional faith. His works on theology (Dogmengeschichte, 1805; 4th ed., 1835) are simple satements of fact; they do not attempt a speculative treatment of their subjects. In 1809 he published in conjunction with WML de Wette a new translation of the Old Testament, Grundriss einer historisch critischen Einleitung ins Alte Testament (1806), his Exegetisches Handbuch des Alten Testaments (1797-1800), and his edition of Die Apochryphen des A. T. (1804).
In addition to these, his most important writings are the Denkwurdigkeiten aus der Christlichen Archäologie, 12 vols. (1817-1831), a partially digested class of materials, and the Hand buch der Christ. Archaologie, (1836-1837), which gives the substance of the larger work in a more compact and systematic form.
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