Caspar René Gregory

Caspar René Gregory (born November 6, 1846 in Philadelphia , † April 9, 1917 in a field hospital near Neufchâtel-sur-Aisne , France ) was a German-American theologian .

Life

Gregory had French ancestry. His great-grandfather René Gregory enthusiastically joined the auxiliary army for Lafayette's American War of Independence as a French officer in 1777 and remained in America through marriage. His father Henry Duval Gregory , a Reformed Presbyterian , had a formative effect on him through his puritanical austerity.

After attending his father's school, Gregory studied theology at the two Presbyterian seminaries: 1865–1867 in Philadelphia and 1867–1873 in Princeton, New Jersey. In 1873 he decided to continue his studies in Leipzig under Konstantin von Tischendorf . He began his work on New Testament text research at the suggestion of his teacher Ezra Abbot . His plan to study under Tischendorf was interrupted in 1874 when he died. However, he continued Tischendorf's work.

Gregory completed his habilitation in 1884 and became an associate professor in 1889 and a full honorary professor in Leipzig in 1891. He obtained his philosophical doctorate in 1876 with the dissertation Grégoire , the priest and the revolutionist . The first reviewer was the historian Georg Voigt . The doctoral file in the Leipzig University Archives also says the same thing. Gregory apparently had several doctorates. Karl Josef Friedrich (p. 130) even addresses Gregory as a five-time doctor in his life picture. At least one theological doctorate obtained in Leipzig in 1889 is attested. Together with the politician Friedrich Naumann and the lawyer Rudolph Sohm , he was involved in the founding of the National Social Association . He had a close friendship with the Leipzig theologian Adolf von Harnack .

As the oldest German war volunteer, the German-American Gregory, a Saxon citizen since 1881, joined the German army in August 1914 at the age of 68. After two years he became a lieutenant. He died in the hospital on the Western Front in 1917 and was buried in the German war cemetery in Asfeld .

Gregory was a member of the Arion singers and the Apollo Masonic Lodge in Leipzig. In 1891 he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society .

meaning

Gregory has made significant and lasting contributions to research into the New Testament manuscripts and the textual criticism of the New Testament . In 1908 his work The Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament appeared . This work standardized the names of the New Testament manuscripts and thus made research on the text much easier. His numbering of the text witnesses was later updated and expanded by Kurt Aland and the numbering according to Gregory-Aland is still the general standard today .

One can also say that the New Testament manuscript studies were co-founded by von Tischendorf as well. He was portrayed as an outspoken “ philanthropist ”.

Dedications

Gregory monument in Naunhofer Strasse in Leipzig

In addition to his work, a memorial stone donated by Willmar Schwabe with a relief portrait in front of the New Nikolaischule in Naunhofer Straße in Leipzig 's Stötteritz district and a small square nearby that bears his name. This is where the original base on which the portrait once stood is located.

Works

Prolegomena to Tischendorf's Novum Testamentum Graece (editio VIII. Critica major), 2 vols., 1884–94 (German revision: Text criticism of the NT, 3 vols., 1900–09)
Canon and Text of the New Testament , Edinburgh 1907
The Freer Logion , Leipzig 1908
The textual criticism of the New Testament , Leipzig 1900
The textual criticism of the New Testament , Vol. 2 Leipzig 1902
The Greek manuscripts of the New Testament , Leipzig 1908
Introduction to the New Testament , 1909
Suggestions for a Critical Edition of the Greek New Testament , 1911
The Koridethi Gospels , 1913
Walking in Biblical Lands , ed. v. Hermann Guthe , 1919.

literature

Karl Josef Friedrich : Professor Gregory, American, Christian, friend of the people, German hero. With pictures and using Gregory's field diaries , Verlag Friedrich Andreas Perthes, Gotha 1917 (2nd edition: People's friend Gregory, Americans, Boy Scouts, Urchrist, German fighters. With pictures by Ernst Müller-Gräfe and using Gregory's field diaries , Leopold Klotz Verlag , Leipzig 1918; second, increased edition with an attachment: Gregory's hike through the desert, described by himself in letters , Leopold Klotz Verlag, Leipzig 1920; 3rd revised edition, Leopold Klotz Verlag, Leipzig 1938). Online version
Karl Josef Friedrich: Caspar René Gregory . In: Sächsische Lebensbilder , Vol. I, Dresden 1930, pp. 125–131.
Karl Josef Friedrich: My colorful life - memories of a Saxon poet pastor , NOTschriften-Verlag, Radebeul 2003 (posthumous), pp. 106–110: Gregory.
Ernst Jünger (Ed.): Caspar René Gregory , in: Die Unvergessenen. Munich 1928, p. 111 ff.
Bruno Hartung : Caspar René Gregory . In: The Year of the Lord: Calendar for the Protestant Congregations in Leipzig, 5th year (1929), pp. 36–38.
Gerhard Schultze-Pfaelzer : A heart for us. Novel about the life and death of Caspar René Gregory , Propylaen-Verlag, Berlin 1937.
Ernst Barnikol : Gregory, Caspar René. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , pp. 27-29 ( digitized version ).
Frank Fehlberg: Leipzig's Lutheranism. The University of Leipzig in the German Empire and its reputation as a denominational stronghold. Contemplations and portraits . Leipzig-Magdeburg 2009, pp. 84–94.
Frank Fehlberg: Caspar René Gregory, The Odd Professor from Overseas , April 27, 2011, 5 pages (PDF)
Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz : Caspar René Gregory. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 2, Bautz, Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-032-8 , Sp. 344. ( Article / beginning of article in the Internet archive )

Web links

Wikisource: Caspar René Gregory - Sources and full texts

Literature by and about Caspar René Gregory in the catalog of the German National Library
Caspar René Gregory in the professorial catalog of the University of Leipzig
Overview of Caspar René Gregory's courses at the University of Leipzig (winter semester 1884 to summer semester 1914)

Individual evidence

^ Villanova University
^ Mario Todte: Georg Voigt (1827-1891). Pioneer of historical research on humanism. Leipzig 2004, ISBN 978-3-937209-22-7 , p. 111.
↑ freimaurerloge-apollo.de ( Memento from September 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
↑ Member History: Caspar R. Gregory. American Philosophical Society, accessed August 29, 2018 .
↑ Karl Josef Friedrich : “Of all the professors, I was touched by Caspar René Gregory. Harnack said of him: 'I have never seen anyone who followed Christ like him.' ... Gregory's life work was, next to the service to the brothers and the following of Christ, which he practiced so heartily, the work on the New Testament . Unfortunately, prevented by his death, he did not achieve his ultimate goal of creating his own wording for the Greek New Testament. For the sake of his work he became a tireless traveler and wanderer to all the libraries and monasteries where old manuscripts lay. He had many dangerous adventures there. Carefree and trusting God, he slept on the sand in the desert for a few nights. When a friend's wife was bedridden for months, Gregory wrote her a letter every day to cheer her, describing a hike through the desert in 1906 from El Kantara to Jerusalem . I then included this 'desert hike' in the 2nd edition of my book about Gregory. Professor Guthe , the Leipzig Old Testament scholar, published his own booklet, 'On foot in Bibellanden', 1912, 44 pages, from Gregory's estate. “In: Karl Josef Friedrich, My colorful life - memories of a Saxon pastor poet , Notschriften-Verlag, Radebeul 2003 (posthumously), pp. 106 and 108.

personal data
SURNAME	Gregory, Caspar René
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German-American theologian
DATE OF BIRTH	November 6, 1846
PLACE OF BIRTH	Philadelphia
DATE OF DEATH	April 9, 1917
Place of death	a field hospital near Neufchâtel-sur-Aisne , France

[1] Villanova University

[2] Mario Todte: Georg Voigt (1827-1891). Pioneer of historical research on humanism. Leipzig 2004, ISBN 978-3-937209-22-7 , p. 111.

[3] reimaurerloge-apollo.de ( Memento from September 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive )

[4] Member History: Caspar R. Gregory. American Philosophical Society, accessed August 29, 2018 .

[5] Karl Josef Friedrich : “Of all the professors, I was touched by Caspar René Gregory. Harnack said of him: 'I have never seen anyone who followed Christ like him.' ... Gregory's life work was, next to the service to the brothers and the following of Christ, which he practiced so heartily, the work on the New Testament . Unfortunately, prevented by his death, he did not achieve his ultimate goal of creating his own wording for the Greek New Testament. For the sake of his work he became a tireless traveler and wanderer to all the libraries and monasteries where old manuscripts lay. He had many dangerous adventures there. Carefree and trusting God, he slept on the sand in the desert for a few nights. When a friend's wife was bedridden for months, Gregory wrote her a letter every day to cheer her, describing a hike through the desert in 1906 from El Kantara to Jerusalem . I then included this 'desert hike' in the 2nd edition of my book about Gregory. Professor Guthe , the Leipzig Old Testament scholar, published his own booklet, 'On foot in Bibellanden', 1912, 44 pages, from Gregory's estate. “In: Karl Josef Friedrich, My colorful life - memories of a Saxon pastor poet , Notschriften-Verlag, Radebeul 2003 (posthumously), pp. 106 and 108.