Franz Delitzsch

Franz Julius Delitzsch ( born February 23, 1813 in Leipzig, † March 4, 1890 ibid ) was a German Evangelical Lutheran theologian with an emphasis on Old Testament exegesis and activist of the Christian mission to the Jews. He is still regarded as an eminent scholar of the Hebrew language.

Family

Delitzsch was born the son of the small trader, hand worker and day laborer Johann Gottfried Delitzsch and Susanna Müller Rosina born in Leipzig. He was the youngest of three children of his parents, including the only one that survived the early infancy.

On March 4, 1813 Delitzsch was baptized at St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig on the first name " Franz Julius ". " Meubler ", Franz Julius Hirsch, named after the Delitzsch has its name: When one of his godparents is in the baptismal register of St. Nicholas parish of second-hand dealer, then.

That Delitzsch despite the small conditions from which he came, was able to attend school and university, he owes the Jewish antiquarian Lewy Hirsch, whom he calls his " benefactor of youth ". The Jewish merchants lived in the same house and was the Delitzsch family near.

There is speculation that he is behind the godfather Friedrich Julius Hirsch. Further speculations are that he was the biological father of Franz Delitzsch. These speculations are in another circle of rumors ( in different ways ) said of a Jewish descent. Delitzsch himself has always rejected them all. Background of these rumors were safe among other Delitzsch exceptionally good knowledge of Hebrew and rabbinical literature, and his great interest in the mission to the Jews. Also his " benefactor " Lewy deer was probably baptized under influence Delitzsch and thereby took on the name " Theodore ", which rather speaks against that he is identical with the godfather Friedrich Julius Hirsch.

Franz Delitzsch is the father of the famous Friedrich Delitzsch Assyriologists (1850-1922), which triggered the Babel - Bible controversy.

Life

After his theological studies initially broke plans for a vocation in Leipzig. Then, the well-meaning Delitzsch Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg launched those for the replacement of the Old Testament professor in Breslau. However, this came into being as little like a calling to Königsberg, although the Prussian Minister of Eichhorn and the respective local bodies, in Königsberg va Isaac August Dorner, Delitzsch were attached. This was due to its sympathy for the separated Lutherans.

In the meantime, Delitzsch was appointed associate professor of Old Testament at the University of Leipzig (1844 ), a few years later, heard the call to Rostock (1846), from there to Erlangen ( 1850) and finally back to Leipzig ( 1867). Delitzsch was considered a great connoisseur of rabbinic literature.

Delitzsch founded in 1871 the Evangelical Lutheran Central Association for Mission of Israel ( today: Evangelical Lutheran National Association for encounters between Christians and Jews eV).

Under his influence, founded in 1886 some Leipzig pastor the Institutum Judaicum Delitzschianum with the goal to promote the Mission to the Jews on theological and scientific base in the world. Through its executed at the Institute studies and research he gained recognition both Christian and Jewish scholars. Where precisely his missionary efforts in Jewish scholarly circles, especially among the representatives of the "Science of Judaism " led to confusion over again.

Work

Delitzsch is considered one of the most important Old Testament exegetes of the 19th century. Comprehensive taught, joined a connoisseur of rabbinic literature, an exegete, the biblical- theological interpretation with philological meticulousness.

One of Delitzsch ' priorities was to make known to the Jews of the New Testament. For this reason, he worked for 51 years on a translation of the New Testament in Hebrew, which was published in 1877 ( Berit Chadasha ).

A wish of his many students was that they may never write a book in which not Jesus Christ might be glorified in the end. One of his students was the later internationally known theology professor Ernst von Dobschütz (1870-1934) in Halle ( Saale).

With his colleague, Carl Friedrich Keil ( Dorpat ) Delitzsch has published over decades, published in large editions "Keil -Delitzsch - series", the leading Old Testament commentary in the 19th century. Outside of this series appeared in 1887 in his 5th edition of significant commentary on Genesis. Shortly before his death, he has his son Frederick accepted the promise, just to publish his Psalms commentary again. This appeared as a 5th revised edition in 1894. Too, the emphasis ( 6th edition 1984 ) was sold out within a short time. Franz Delitzsch is buried in the South Cemetery Leipzig ( First Department ).

Honors

Since 1927 there is the house Friedrichstrasse 7 in Erlangen, a plaque commemorating Franz Delitzsch and his son Friedrich ( whose birthplace ) who lived from 1850 to 1867 there. It was also established as part of the Protestant Theological Faculty of the Westfälische Wilhelms -Universität Münster, 1948, the Institutum Judaicum Delitzschianum and named after Delitzsch.

Bibliography

• An extensive bibliography provides: Siegfried Wagner, Franz Delitzsch, pp. 470-494.
• List of journal articles as an attachment to The Hebrew New Testament PDF

Works (selection)

• Handwritten Finds: The Erasmian distortions of the text of the Apocalypse (Leipzig 1861)
• Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes ( Dörffling and Francke, Leipzig 1875)
• ( Had been working on the Delitzsch over fifty years) Berit Chadasha, Hebrew translation of the New Testament, 1877
• Blank 's Talmud Jew lit, Leipzig 1881 ( Delitzsch detection of forgeries and misrepresentations blank )
• New comment on Genesis, with a foreword by Prof. Dr. Siegfried Wagner, casting / Basel ( fountain ), 1999 ( reprint of the edition Leipzig [ Dörffling and Franke ] 1887).
• Messianic prophecies in historical succession, with a foreword by Dr. Gerhard Maier, casting / Basel ( fountain ), 1992. ( Reprint of the first edition, Leipzig [ Faber ] 1890).
• The Psalms, casting / Basel ( fountain ), 2005 ( reprint of the fifth edition edited Leipzig [ Dörffling and Franke ] 1894).
• ( Moritz Drechsler ), August Hahn, Franz Delitzsch: The Prophet Isaiah, Vol 3, 1857 by Delitzsch only contains concluding remarks to Jes.40f: S.361 -416 online at archive.org