Theodore H. Robinson

Theodore Henry Robinson (born August 9, 1881 in Edenbridge , Kent , † June 26, 1964 in Ealing ) was a British Semitist and Old Testament scholar .

Live and act

Robinson, who came from a Baptist pastor family, studied theology and philology at St John's College in Cambridge , Regent's Park Baptist College in London and the University of Göttingen . He received a doctorate in theology from London University . After teaching Hebrew and Syriac for a while at Serampore College (in West Bengal ), he went to Cardiff University in 1915 , where he initially worked as a lecturer , then from 1927 until his retirement in 1944 as a professor of Semitic languages.

His publications span an unusually broad field: They range from his first edition Syrian textbook, which was published in its sixth edition in 2013 (!), To works on the history and religious history of Israel and commentaries on the New Testament. His commentary on Hosea , Joel , Amos , Obadja , Jona and Micha appeared in German in 1938 and was reprinted several times later.

Robinson developed the text-critical apparatus for the Book of Ruth and the Book of Threni (Lamentations of Jeremiah) for the two major critical Bible editions of the 20th century: for the 3rd edition of the Kittel Bible and for the BHS . The latter did not appear in print until long after his death.

Robinson was the long-time secretary of the Society for Old Testament Study (from 1917 to 1946) and twice its president (1928 and 1946). In 1926 he held the Schweich Lectures on Biblical Archeology and was honorary theological doctorates from the University of Aberdeen , the University of Wales and the Theological Faculty of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg .

Works

• Paradigms and exercises in Syriac grammar , Oxford 1915.
• Prophecy and the prophets in ancient Israel , London 1925.
• A history of Israel. Vol. 1: From the exodus to the fall of Jerusalem, 586 BC , Oxford 1932.
• The Epistle to the Hebrews , London 1933.
• The Gospel of Matthew , London 1947.
• The poetry of the Old Testament , London 1947.
• The twelve little prophets (= Handbook for the Old Testament 1, 14), Tübingen 1938.
• Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia , Fascicle 13a: Liber Ruth and Fascicle 13d: Liber Threnorum (1975)

Robinson’s works published to date are listed in: HH Rowley (Ed.), Studies (Festschrift Robinson), Edinburgh 1950, pp. 201–206.

literature

• HH Rowley (Editor): Studies in Old Testament prophecy, presented to Professor Theodore H. Robinson by the Society of Old Testament Study on his sixty-fifth birthday , Edinburgh 1950.
• MP Matheney: Teaching Prophet: The Life and Continuing Influence of Theodore Henry Robinson. In: Baptist Quarterly 29.5 (1982)
• Paul S. Fiddes : Prophecy, Corporate Personality, and Suffering. Some Themes and Methods in Baptist Old Testament Scholarship. In: Helen Dare, Simon Woodman (Eds.): The “Plainly Revealed” Word of God? Baptist Hermeneutics in Theory and Practice. Mercer University Press, 2011, pp. 72-94.

Web links

• Gwilym Henry Jones: Robinson, Theodore Henry (1881 - 1964), professor, scholar and author. In: Dictionary of Welsh Biography. 2001, accessed November 19, 2019 .