A Historical and Contemporary Examination

Prof. Dr. Lieve Teugels (PThU Utrecht)

The Department of Biblical Studies and Ecclesiastical History cordially invites you to a lecture by this year’s holder of the Marko Feingold Distinguished Fellowship.

Wednesday, 23 October 2024 | 05:00-07:00 pm | Paris Lodron University of Salzburg | Faculty of Catholic Theology | Universitätsplatz 1, 1. Stock, Lecture Hall 106 | Salzburg

In a pivotal speech in 1902, the famous Jewish scholar Solomon Schechter articulated his belief that Higher Bible Criticism was not merely a scholarly endeavor but a tool that could fuel antisemitism. Higher Criticism as a scientific method for the study of the Hebrew Bible had originated in Germany around 1900, and was mostly practiced by Protestant scholars. The name most associated with Higher Criticism is Julius Wellhausen. His famous work Prolegomena to the History of Israel (orig.: Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels, 1905) is indeed laced with supersessionist and openly anti-Jewish remarks. Other (progressive) Jewish scholars of the so-called Wissenschaft des Judentums, such as Benno Jacob, also objected to Higher Criticism as they felt that the Christians had “stolen the Bible” from the Jews, and offered alternative reading methods. In this paper these developments are discussed, and it is investigated what its repercussions are for Biblical Studies by Jews and Christians today.