William Robertson Smith

His Life, his Work and his Times
1. Auflage 2009
ISBN: 978-3-16-149995-1
Verlag: Mohr Siebeck

Buch, Englisch, Band 67, 341 Seiten, Format (B × H): 239 mm x 162 mm, Gewicht: 677 g

Reihe: Forschungen zum Alten Testament

William Robertson Smith (1846-1894) was successively the embattled champion of the emergent "higher criticism" as applied to the Old Testament, chief editor of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Professor of Arabic at Cambridge University. Today he is acknowledged to have been a pioneering figure in both social anthropology and the study of comparative religion, deeply influencing the thinking of J. G. Frazer, Emile Durkheim and Sigmund Freud. The first full-length biography of Robertson Smith to be published for almost a hundred years, this text makes use of hitherto unknown material preserved by the Smith family and draws upon the extensive range of correspondence between Smith and such scholars as Albrecht Ritschl, Paul de Lagarde, Julius Wellhausen, Abraham Kuenen and Theodor Nöldeke. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the biography locates and defines the place of this remarkable polymath within the context of Free Church Calvinism, the Scottish Enlightenment and 19th century German Protestant theology. It highlights Smith's interest in physics and philosophy, his friendship with contemporary artists, his Oriental travels, and his involvement in the social life of Edinburgh and Aberdeen. In recent years, the image of Smith as a comparative religionist has come to dominate all other perspectives and indeed tends now to overshadow his fame as an Old Testament scholar. This book seeks to redress the balance, aiming to discover the theological drive behind Smith's manifold activities.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Maier, Bernhard

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie Geschichte der Theologie, Einzelne Theologen
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Kirchengeschichte Theologenbiographien, Religiöse Führer
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Bibelwissenschaften Altes Testament: Exegese, Geschichte

Über Autor(innen)

Maier, Bernhard
Born 1963; 1989 PhD in Religious Studies; 1998 Habilitation Religious Studies; 2004-06 Reader and Professor at the University of Aberdeen; since 2006 Professor for Religious Studies and the European History of Religions at the University of Tübingen.

Bernhard Maier - Born 1963; studied Comparative Religion, Indo-European and Semitic Linguistics and Celtic Philology at the Universities of Freiburg, Aberystwyth, Bonn and London; 1989 PhD; 1998 second doctorate (Habilitation); 1999-2004 Heisenberg Scholarship, 2004-2006 Reader and Professor in Celtic at the University of Aberdeen; currently Professor of Religious Studies and the European History of Religions at the University of Tübingen.