Heinrich Ewald

Georg Heinrich August Ewald (16 November 1803 – 4 May 1875) was a German orientalist, Protestant theologian, and Biblical exegete. He studied at the University of Göttingen. In 1827 he became extraordinary professor there, in 1831 ordinary professor of theology, and in 1835 professor of oriental languages. In 1837, as a member of the Göttingen Seven, he lost his position at Göttingen on account of his protest against King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover's abrogation of the liberal constitution, and became professor of theology at the University of Tübingen. In 1848, he returned to his old position at Göttingen. When Hanover was annexed by Prussia in 1866, Ewald became a defender of the rights of the ex-king. Among his chief works are: Complete Course on the Hebrew Language (German: Ausführliches Lehrbuch der hebräischen Sprache), The Poetical Books of the Old Testament (German: Die poetischen Bücher des alten Bundes), History of the People of Israel (German: Geschichte des Volkes Israel), and Antiquities of the People of Israel (German: Die Altertümer des Volkes Israel). Ewald represented the city of Hanover as a member of the Guelph faction in the North German and German Diets.

Ewald was born at Göttingen where his father was a linen weaver. In 1815 he was sent to the gymnasium, and in 1820 he entered the University of Göttingen, where he studied with J.G. Eichhorn and T. C. Tychsen, specialising in oriental languages. At the close of his academic studies in 1823 he was appointed to a mastership in the gymnasium at Wolfenbüttel, and made a study of the oriental manuscripts in the Wolfenbüttel library. But in the spring of 1824 he was recalled to Göttingen as theological tutor (German: Repetent), and in 1827 (the year of Eichhorn's death) he became professor extraordinarius in philosophy and lecturer in Old Testament exegesis. Heinrich Ewald married in 1830 Wilhelmina (1808–1846), daughter of C.F. Gauss. Of all of Gauss' children, Wilhelmina was said to have come closest to her father's talent, but she died young. In 1831 Heinrich Ewald was promoted to professor ordinarius in philosophy; in 1833 he became a member of the Royal Scientific Society, and in 1835, after Tychsen's death, he entered the faculty of theology, taking the chair of Oriental languages.

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