Andreas Birch

Andreas Birch ( born November 6, 1758 in Copenhagen, † October 25, 1829 in Aarhus ) was a Danish Lutheran clergyman, last bishop. In the professional world, he is also known for his work in the field of textual criticism of the New Testament.

Studies, foreign travel

Birch's father also named Andreas Birch (1716-1763) and was a mineralogist. Birch lost both parents at the age of four years. His uncle, the brewer AT Guard Holtz, cared for him and in 1774 he began his studies in Copenhagen. Five years later, he finished his theological studies in Copenhagen and traveled to Göttingen to his theological and philological studies at Johann David Michaelis and Christian Gottlob Heyne continue. Michaelis had great expectations for his scientific skills and sent him to Italy to the "hidden and previously unused manuscripts of the New Testament " to study. Through support from the Danish Prime Minister Ove Høegh - Guldberg funding was secured, and in 1781 he left Göttingen and went over to Switzerland and southern France to Italy. The route passed through Turin, Genoa and Livorno to Rome and Naples. In Rome he was supported by Monsignor Stefano Borgia, secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, who showed him some of friendship, and made the acquaintance of Pope Pius VI .. The return journey went via Florence, Bologna, Parma, Venice, Vienna, Prague, Dresden, Leipzig, Göttingen, and from there back to Copenhagen in 1783. Inside the Vatican libraries, he examined 40 in the library of the Barberini 10, Rome 17 in other libraries and Florence and other Italian places in Vienna 38 and 12 manuscripts. Wherever he went, he spent his time with the collection of books, with the collation and study of ancient manuscripts of the New Testament and apocryphal gospels.

New edition of the New Testament

After his return in 1783 King Christian VII was under the proposal Guldberg him the order to publish on royal costs a new text output. This was one of the last acts as Prime Minister Guldberg. This output should be an output representative with an extensive critical apparatus, which should show the learned world that Denmark was on the amount of time in the study of the Christian Bible. At the time of the Danish Royal Library in Copenhagen had a considerable collection of textual variants in the New Testament. In this area, not only general superintendent Jacob Georg Christian Adler, who studied the Syrian- Palestinian translation, Daniel God Help Moldenhawer, a professor in Copenhagen, who studied the New Testament manuscripts in the Escorial, and Christian God Help Hensler, a professor in Kiel, the Copenhagen working manuscripts with the well-known text compared. Building on the work of these predecessor and his own collections Birch completed the four Gospels, which was the first part of the proposed comprehensive edition appeared in 1788, both in folio format as well as a quarto edition. Already in 1785 appeared in Copenhagen with Kritisk Beskrivelse over groeske Haandskrifter af det Nye wills a sort of introduction to this work. For the large edition of the four Gospels Birch used the edition of the New Testament John Mills as textual basis. It caused quite a stir in the scientific world, and many saw the young scholar already a respected scientist at a university in his home country. In the same year, when his first book was published, an associate professor of theology was established. Birch was applying for, but the place went instead to Friedrich Münter. Since the sample lectures both competitors were printed, the critic Niels Ditlev bar as usual, was unhappy with the choice. He was in his writing Tanker ved Gjennemlæsningen af Prøveforelæsningerne for det overordentlige theologiske professorship an allusion that Münter had got the job ahead of time and the whole competition was only listed to have a justification that " once again enriched the university with a German was ". An impartial comparison shows that the trial lecture Münter actually did not meet his usual standard, but his later publications showed that he was the right choice for this job.

More career

Birch in 1789 preacher at the orphanage in Copenhagen. In 1789 he received the title of Doctor of Divinity. and 1792 an extraordinary professor. In 1797 he was provost in Roskilde. In 1798 he published a collection of readings on the book of Acts and the Epistles, including of Codex Vaticanus. 1800 was followed by a collection of readings on the Apocalypse and 1801 a collection of variations on the four Gospels.

Birch was appointed in 1803 to the bishop of the newly formed Lolland- Falster. Already in 1805 he moved to the Diocese of Aarhus, where he served until his death as a bishop. In 1817 he was awarded the Dannebrogorden ( commander ).

From Birch's 1797 closed marriage with his niece Charlotte Marie Birch 's son Frederik Sneedorff Birch ( 1805-1869 ) emerged.

Writings

• Kritisk Beskrivelse over groeske Haandskrifter af det Nye wills, Copenhagen, 1785
• Quatuor Evangelia Grace, cum variantibus a textu lectionibus codd. MSS. Bibliothecae Vaticanae, Barberinae, Laurentianae, Vindobonensis, Escurialensis, Havniensis Regia, quibus accedunt, Lectiones versionum syrarum, veteris, Philoxenianae, et Hierosolymitanae, Copenhagen, 1788.
• Variae Lectiones ad TEXTUM Actorum Apostolorum epistolarum Catholicarum et Pauli, Copenhagen 1798
• Variae Lectiones Ad Textvm Apocalypseos ex Codd. Graecis Mss Bibliothecae Vaticanae, Barberinianae, Borgianae Velitris, Laurentianae atque S. Marci Venetorum, Proft & Storch, Hauniae in 1800.
• Variae Lectiones ad TEXTUM IV evangeliorum, Haunie 1801
• Auctarium codicis apocryphi NT Apocrypha Fabriciani Testamenti Novi continens pluralistic inedita, alia ad fidem codd. mss. emendatius expressa, Arntzen Hartier, Hauniae. Multivolume Work.