Our navigation bar is loading . . . . . .


Advertise on JCSM - Hear JCSM's Weekly Devotions via Podcast/RSS Feed! - Skip These Ads

You can advertise your site right here!Click here to learn more!

 10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings by Jason Gastrich, Ph.D.

 JCSM's Top 1000 Christian Sites - Free Traffic Sharing Service! Join the Online Christ-Centered Ministries!

-
Jesus Christ Saves Ministries

Click here and add this page to your favorites!

Return to the JCSM Study Center!

Encyclopedia Britannica



GESENIIJS, HEINRICH FRIEDRICH WILHELM (17861842)

This article appears in Volume V11, Page 909 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: GEO-GNU
GESENIIJS, HEINRICH FRIEDRICH WILHELM (17861842) , German orientalist and biblical critic, was born at Nordhausen, Hanover, on the 3rd of February 1786. In 1803 he became a student of philosophy and theology at the university of Helmstedt, where Heinrich Henke (17521809) was his most influential teacher; but the latter part of his university course was taken at Gottingen, where J.G. Eichhorn and T. C. Tychsen (17581834) were then at the height of their popularity. In 18o6, shortly after graduation, he became Repetent and Privatdozent in that university; and, as he was fond of afterwards relating, had Neander for his first pupil in Hebrew. In 1810 he became professor extraordinarius in theology, and in 1811 ordinarius, at the university of
Halle
 , where, in spite of many offers of high preferment elsewhere, he spent the rest of his life. He taught with
great
  regularity for upward of thirty years, the only interruptions being that of 18131814 (occasioned by the War of Liberation, during which the university was closed) and those occasioned by two prolonged literary tours, first in 1820 to Paris, London and
Oxford
  with his colleague Johann Karl Thilo (17941853) for the examination of rare oriental manuscripts, and in 1835 to England and Holland in connexion with his Phoenician studies. He soon became the most popular teacher of Hebrew and of Old Testament introduction and exegesis in Germany; during his later years his lectures were attended by nearly five hundred students. Among his pupils the most eminent were Peter von Bohlen (17961840), A. G.
Hoffmann
  (17691864), Hermann Hupfeld, Emil Rodiger (18011874), J. F. Tuch (18o61867), W. Vatke (18061882) and Theodor Benfey (18091881). In 1827, after declining an invitation to take Eichhorn's place at Gottingen, Gesenius was made a Consistorialrath; but, apart from the violent attacks to which he, along with his friend and colleague
Julius
  Wegscheider, was in 183o subjected by E. W. Hengstenberg and his party in the Evangelise/se Kirchenzeitung, on account of his rationalism, his life was uneventful. He died at
Halle
  on the 23rd of October 1842. To Gesehius belongs in a large measure the credit of having freed Semitic philology from the trammels of theological and religious prepossession, and of inaugurating the strictly scientific (and comparative) method which has since been so fruitful. As an exegete he exercised a powerful, and on the whole a beneficial, influence on theological investigation.
Of his many works, the earliest, published in 1810, entitled Versuch fiber die maltesische Sprache, was a successful refutation of the widely current
opinion
  that the modern Maltese was of Punic origin. In thesame year appeared the first volume of the Hebrdisches u. Chaldaisches Handworterbuch, completed in 1812. Revised editions of this appear periodically in Germany, e.g. that of H.Limmern and F. Buhl (1905). The publication of a new English edition was started in 1892 under the editorship of Professors C. A. Briggs, S. R. Driver and F.. Brown. The Hebraische Grammatik, published in 1813 (27th edition by E. Kautzsch; English
translation
  from 25th and 26th German editions by G. W. Collins and A. E. Cowley, 1898), was followed in 1815 by the Geschichte der hebraischen Sprache (now very rare), and in 1817 by the Ausfuhrliches Lehrgebaude der hebraise/ten Sprache. The first volume of his well-known commentary on Isaiah (Der Prophet Jesaja), with a
translation
 , appeared in 1821 ; but the
work
  was not completed until 1829. The
Thesaurus
  philologico-criticus linguae Hebraicae et Chaldaicae V. T., begun in 1829, he did not live to complete; the latter part of the third volume is edited by E. Rodiger (1858). Other works: De Pentateuchi Samaritani origine, indole, et auctoritate (1815), supplemented in 1822 and 1824 by the treatise De Samaritanorum theologia, and by an edition of Carmina Samaritana; Palaographische Studien fiber phonizische u. punische Schrift (1835), a pioneering
work
  which he followed up in 1837 by his collection of Phoenician monuments (Scripturae linguaeque Phoeniciae monumenta quotquot supersunt) ; an Aramaic
lexicon
  (18341839); and a treatise on the Himyaritic language written in conjunction with E. Rodiger in 1841. Gesenius also contributed extensively to Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopadie, and enriched the German translation of J. L. Burckhardt's Travels in Syria and the Holy Land with valuable geographical notes. For many years he also edited the Halle Allgemeine Litteraturzeitung. A sketch of his life was published anonymously in 1843 (Gesenius: eine Erinnerung fur seine Freunde), and another by H. Gesenius, Wilhelm Gesenius, ein Erinnerungsblatt an den hundertjahrigen Geburtstag, in 1886. See also the article in the Allgemeine deutsche Biographie.


End of Article: GESENIIJS, HEINRICH FRIEDRICH WILHELM (17861842)


If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/GEO_GNU/GESENIIJS_HEINRICH_FRIEDRICH_W.html">
GESENIIJS, HEINRICH FRIEDRICH WILHELM (17861842)
</a>
(Previous)
GERYON (GERYONES, GERYONEUS) 		(Next)
GESNER

 


 

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries

The JCSM Study CenterAmerica's Christian FoundationSkeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and ExplainedNKJV Web Hosting and Services
JCSM's Sermons, Debates and the Bible on MP3The Online Christ-Centered MinistriesDo You Have A Web Site?  Your Ad Could Be Here!Seminary Notes and PapersThe Picturesque Photo Albums


Jesus Christ Saves Ministries, P.O. Box 70696, Pasadena, CA 91117

JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-present.


Kingdom Debt Solutions - Be Debt Free! Sport Logos - Quality Athletic Equipment The JCSM Study Center Your Ad Could Be Here! Launch A Successful Internet Organization or Business! Learn Guitar, Bass, or Piano in San Diego county!

You can advertise your site right here!

Free & Cheap Cell Phones  |  Cheap Long Distance Phone Service Carriers  |  Talk America Local Phone Service  |  Ztel & MCI - Unlimited Long Distance
Compare Cell Phone Plans & Companies  |  International Calling Cards & Prepaid Phone Cards  |  Voice Over IP Broadband Internet Phone Service  |  Wireless Phone Plans & Cheap Cell Phones

Dr. Jason Gastrich

Jason Gastrich, Ph.D.

 

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries is directed by Dr. Jason Gastrich.  It was founded in 1997 and it exists to bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ.  JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, discussion boards, weekly html and mp3 devotionals, free email accounts, and much more.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA  92169
1-877-850-3878 or Email

JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-2008.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Online First Aid and CPR Certification  .  The Online Christ Centered Ministries  .  The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained  .  The Inerrancy Discussion Board  .  Free Email Accounts  .  Home Equity Loans  .  JasonGastrich.com  .  The Missions, Apologetics, and Creation Bible Conference  .  Young Earth Creation Science  .  San Diego Music Lessons  .  10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings  .  Gastrich.net  .  Maximizing the Internet: 12 Keys to Success  .  Louisiana Baptist University  .  NKJV Web Hosting and Services  .  Michael Newdow  .  San Diego Soccer Training  . Christian Guitar Lessons  .  Jesus Christ Saves Ministries  .  Eternal Security