Arthur Võõbus

Arthur (Karl) Võõbus , also Vööbus , Voobus (born April 15 ^jul. / April 28,  1909 ^greg. In Matjama near Vara , Tartu district ; † September 25, 1988 in Oak Park near Chicago ) was an Estonian Protestant theologian , orientalist and Professor of Church History in Chicago.

Life

Arthur Võõbus was born the son of a teacher. In 1926 he finished his school years at the Hugo-Treffner-Gymnasium in Tartu , in 1932 his studies at the theological faculty of the University of Tartu . That same year he became a priest ordained. 1933-1940 he was a pastor in the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Paulus Congregation in Tartu. Arthur Võõbus received his Magister theologiae in 1934 because of a work on the subject of "The true Christian, the true Christian life and the true Christian Church according to Sören Kirkegaard " . One of his teachers at the faculty was the Old Testament scholar Alexander von Bulmerincq . In parallel, Arthur Võõbus worked on Syrian theological texts in libraries and manuscript collections in Rome , Paris , London , Berlin and Leipzig . He had acquired his language skills at the University of Uku Masing . In 1936 he married Ilse Luksep, a daughter from a wealthy merchant family, which, together with his job in a large parish, secured the material basis for his research. By the end of the 1930s, Arthur Võõbus is said to have had all but three works on all publications of Syrian texts. In 1940 he fled to Germany before the Soviet occupation of Estonia . His attitude critical of the regime led to observation by the Gestapo . After the occupation of Estonia by German troops, Arthur Võõbus moved back to Estonia. His dissertation in 1943 at the University of Tartu deals with monasticism in Syria , Mesopotamia and Persia up to the 10th century.

In 1944 Arthur Võõbus fled to Germany for the second time from the Soviet occupation. From 1944 to 1948 he worked as a pastor in refugee camps, from 1946 to 1948 he was professor for older church history at the Baltic University in Pinneberg near Hamburg, which existed from 1946 to 1949. After this university was closed, he worked in London in the British Museum , then until 1977 as a professor of New Testament science and older church history at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago (LSTC). Arthur Võõbus was a member of several scientific academies, such as the Belgian Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts .

There are three children from his marriage.

Surname

The letters õ in his family name are the 27th letter of the Estonian alphabet , they are pronounced like the o in B oo t [ bɤt ], but are often written as ö due to the lack of available diacritical marks . The name is derived from the place name Võõbu. This place is a village in Paide Municipality in Järva County in Estonia.

Services

Arthur Võõbus' work focused on research on early Christian literature in the Syrian language . During his teaching activity in Chicago, he made over 40 research trips to Turkey , Lebanon , Syria and Iraq , for example to the monasteries of Tur Abdin near Mardin . During these research trips he photographed Syrian texts. In this way an archive of 1.5 to 2 million pages was created. In 1979 the Institute for Syriac Manuscript Studies was founded in Chicago on the basis of this collection. Arthur Võõbus published the results of his research in series such as the “Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium” CSCO, in over 80 treatises, books and more than 240 essays in Estonian, English, German, French and Arabic editions. Examples of this are his theological translations and other contributions to the treatment of the Syriac-Roman legal code . However, it was not yet recognized that the Sententiae Syriacae are not part of this legal code, but form an independent work. This was only established by Walter Selb , from whom the specialist legal comments on these texts of Roman law originate.

In 1951 Arthur Võõbus founded the series of "Treatises of the Estonian Theological Society in Exile" (Papers of the Estonian Theological Society in Exile, ETSE, also PETSE, PapETSE). These writings are divided into "Popular Series" and (academic papers) "Scholarly Series".

Arthur Võõbus is called "a pioneer in the study of oriental monasticism ". In addition to the syrological specialist articles, Arthur Võõbus also wrote a number of publications on the current historical situation of the Evangelical Church in Estonia. These publications on Estonian religious and cultural history are described as emotionally charged and decidedly anti-communist.

Arthur Võõbus' works have an impact on the 21st century. In several symposia at the University of Tartu from 1998 to 2004, scholars from Germany, England, the USA, Finland and Russia dealt with topics from the history of religion and medicine, linguistics and archeology of the Eastern Mediterranean.

In 2005, the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago signed a contract with the Institute of Oriental Studies at the University of Chicago , which is the basis for the further cataloging and digitization of Arthur Võõbus' collection of Syrian manuscripts.

Works

The following works comprise only a small part of the literature accessible in the theological and syriological specialist libraries. The ISBN of the “Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium” CSCO was partly assigned retrospectively; they do not have to be included in library catalogs, although the works are listed (e.g. in the DNB or the ÖNB ).

• A Syriac Lectionary from the Church of the Forty Martyrs in Mardin, Tur'Abdin, Mesopotamia. CSCO Volume 485 = Subsidia 76. Peeters Publishing, Leuven / Louvain 1986. ISBN 978-90-429-0526-9 .
• The cultivation of music during the period of independence. Eesti Usuteadlaste Selts Paguluses toimetused = Papers of the Estonian Theological Society in Exile - PETSE Scholarly series Volume 40. Stockholm 1984.
• The Syro-Roman lawbook. The Syriac text of the recently discovered manuscripts accompanied by a facsimile edition and furnished with an introduction and translation. Volume I: The Syriac text with an introduction. PETSE Scholarly series Volume 36. Stockholm 1982. Volume II: A translation with annotations. PETSE Scholarly series Volume 39. Stockholm 1983.
• Handwritten traditions of the memre seal of the Ja'qob of Serug . 1. Collections: The manuscripts. 2. Collections: The inventory. 3. The scattered memre: the manuscripts. 4. The scattered memre: the stock. CSCO Volume 344 ISBN 978-90-429-0385-2 , Volume 345 ISBN 978-90-429-0386-9 , Volume 421 ISBN 978-90-429-0462-0 and Volume 422 ISBN 978-90-429-0463 -7 = Subsidia volumes 39, 40, 60, 61. Leuven / Louvain Secrétariat du CSCO 1973–1980.
• Constitutiones Apostolicae. The Didascalia Apostolorum in Syriac. 1. Chapters 1-10. T [extus]. V [ersio]. 2. Chapters 11-26. T [extus]. V [ersio]. CSCO Volume 401 ISBN 978-90-429-0442-2 , Volume 402 ISBN 978-90-429-0443-9 , Volume 407 ISBN 978-90-429-0448-4 and Volume 408 ISBN 978-90-429-0449 -1 = Scriptores syri volumes 175, 176, 179, 180. Leuven / Louvain 1979
• The Apocalypse in the Harklean Version : A Facsimile Edition of Manuscript Mardin Orth. 35, fol. 143r-159v, with an Introduction. CSCO Volume 400 ISBN 978-90-429-0441-5 , Subsidia Volume 56, Leuven / Louvain: Secrétariat du CSCO, 1978.
• An unknown recension of the Syro-Roman lawbook: a facsimile edition of three Syriac manuscripts with a translation. PETSE Scholarly series Volume 28. Stockholm 1977.
• Discovery of an Unknown Recension of the Syro-Roman Lawbook. In: Labeo. Rassegna di diritto romano . Napoli. ISSN  0023-6462 . Volume 23, born in 1977.
• The Synodicon in the West Syrian tradition. Volume I / 1: Syriac text. In: CSCO Volume 367, Scriptores Syri 161. ISBN 978-90-429-0408-8 . Volume I / 2: English translation. CSCO Volume 368, Scriptores Syri 162. ISBN 978-90-429-0409-5 . Volume II / 1: Syriac text. CSCO Volume 375, Scriptores Syri 163. ISBN 978-90-429-0416-3 . Volume II / 2: English translation. CSCO Volume 376. Scriptores Syri 164, Peeters Verlag, Leuven / Louvain 1975/76. ISBN 978-90-429-0417-0 .
• Studies in the history of the Estonian people. With Reference to Aspects of Social Conditions, in Particular, the Religious and Spiritual Life and the Educational. In three parts. PETSE Scholarly series Volumes 18, 19 and 26. Stockholm 1969, 1970 and 1974. Part III
• New Light on the Textual History of the Syro-Roman Lawbook. In: Labeo. Rassegna di diritto romano. Napoli. Volume 19, born in 1973.
• Rediscovery of very old Syrian Gospel manuscripts . Oriens Christianus. 57th year 1973. Pages 57-62.
• Discoveries of very important manuscript sources for the Syro-Roman Lawbook. The opening of a new epoch of research in this unique monument of jurisprudence. PETSE Scholarly series Volume 21. Stockholm 1971.
• The Department of Theology at the University of Tartu: its life and work, martyrdom and annihilation. A chapter of contemporary church history in Estonia . PETSE Scholarly series Volume 14. Stockholm / Louvain 1963.
• The Statutes of the School of Nisibis . Edited, translated and furnished with a commentary. PETSE Scholarly series Volume 12 Stockholm 1961.
• Syriac and Arabic Documents. Regarding legislation relative to Syrian asceticism. Edited, translated and furnished with literary historical data. PETSE Scholarly series Volume 11. Stockholm 1960.
• History of asceticism in the Syrian Orient. A contribution to the history of culture in the Near East. CSCO Volume 184 ISBN 978-90-429-0218-3 . Subsidia 14. Leuven / Louvain 1958.
• Peschitta and Targumini of the Pentateuch . New light on the question of the origin of the Peshitta from the old Palestinian Targum. Manuscript studies. PETSE Scholarly series Volume 9. Stockholm 1958.
• Early Versions of the New Testament: Manuscript Studies . Stockholm 1954. pp. 1-31, 67-131.
• Studies in the history of the Gospel text in Syriac. With an appendix: The Discovery on new sources for the archaic text of the book of acts. CSCO Volume 128, ISBN 978-90-429-0162-9 , Volume 496, ISBN 978-90-429-0537-5 = Subsidia 3 and 79. Leuven / Louvain 1951 and 1987.
• New materials on the history of the Vetus Syra in the Gospel manuscripts . PETSE Scholarly series Volume 5. Stockholm, 1953.
• The Old Syriac Version in a New Light, and Urgent Tasks in Textual Criticism of the New Testament. Apophoreta Tartuensia. Stockholm 1949, p. 144 ff.
• New results in research into the history of the Gospel texts in the Syrian Contributions of the Baltic University No. 65. Pinneberg / Hamburg 1948.
• Researches on the Circulation of the Peshitta in the Middle of the Fifth Century. Contributions of the Baltic University No. 64; Pinneberg / Hamburg 1948.
• Investigations into the Text of the New Testament Used by Rabbūlā of Edessa . Contributions of the Baltic University No. 59. Pinneberg / Hamburg 1947.
• A Letter of Ephrem to the Mountaineers: A literary critical contribution to Syriac patristic literature. Contributions of Baltic University No. 25. Pinneberg / Hamburg 1947.

literature

• Kalle Kasemaa: Arthur Võõbus - a researcher of the Christian Orient. In: Thomas Richard Kämmerer (Ed.): Studies on ritual and social history in the ancient Orient. Tartu Symposia 1998-2004. Studies on ritual and society in the ancient Near East. Berlin 2007. Verlag de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-019461-6 , pp. 147-152. In: John von Barton, Reinhard G. Kratz, Choon-Leong Seow, Markus Witte (eds.): Supplements to the journal for Old Testament science. ISSN  0934-2575 . Volume 374.
• Klaus-Gunther Wesseling :  Arthur Võõbus. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 27, Bautz, Nordhausen 2007, ISBN 978-3-88309-393-2 , Sp. 1466-1485.
• Karl Raudsepp: Arthur Võõbus (1909–1988) . OMA Press. Toronto 1990. (Biography in Estonian with English summary).
• The Professor Arthur Vööbus Collection of Syrian Manuscripts on Film and The Institute of Syrian Manuscript Studies . Chicago 1982.
• Robert H. Fischer: A Tribute to Arthur Võõbus. Studies in Early Christian Literature and its Environment, Primarily in the Syrian East. Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, Chicago 1977, ISBN 978-2-8017-0071-6 .
• Robert H. Fischer: Writings of Arthur Võõbus. In: A Tribute to Arthur Võõbus. Studies in Early Christian Literature and its Environment, Primarily in the Syrian East. Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, Chicago 1977, pp. 391-413.

Web links

• Arthur Võõbus . Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (Estonian). Retrieved January 24, 2012

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Entry in the baptismal register of the parish of St. Marien-Magdalenen (Estonian: Maarja-Magdaleena kogudus)
2. ↑ ^{a b} Kasemaa: Researcher , p. 149.
3. ↑ Waldemar Krönig, Klaus-Dieter Müller, Herbert Schöffler: Post-war semester: Studies in the war and post-war period. Franz Steiner Verlag, 1990, ISBN 978-3-515-05597-0 , p. 113.
4. ↑ Peter Wörster: Universities in Eastern Central Europe: Between Church, State and Nation. Volume 3 of: Peoples, States and Cultures in East Central Europe. Verlag Oldenbourg, 2008, ISBN 978-3-486-58494-3 , p. 83.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Kasemaa: Researcher , p. 150.
6. ^ ^{A b} Klaus-Gunther Wesseling :  Arthur Võõbus. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 27, Bautz, Nordhausen 2007, ISBN 978-3-88309-393-2 , Sp. 1466-1485.
7. ↑ 2010–2012 Catalog ( Memento from November 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 4.1 MB) Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (Announcement of the projected academic programs for the academic years 2010–2011 and 2011–2012) p 70.