Julius Wellhausen
| Julius Wellhausen | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
17 May 1844 Hamelin, Hanover, Germany |
| Died | 7 January 1918 (aged 73) Göttingen, Hanover, Germany |
| Education | Göttingen |
| Church | Lutheran |
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Offices held
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Professor of Old Testament at Göttingen, Greifswald, Halle and Marburg |
| Title | Doctor |
Julius Wellhausen (17 May 1844 – 7 January 1918), was a German biblical scholar and orientalist. In the course of his career, he moved from Old Testament research through Islamic studies to New Testament scholarship. Wellhausen contributed to the composition history of the Pentateuch/Torah and the formative period of Islam. For the former, he is credited with being one of the originators of the documentary hypothesis.
Wellhausen was born at Hameln in the Kingdom of Hanover, the son of a Protestant pastor. He later studied theology at the University of Göttingen under Georg Heinrich August Ewald and became privatdozent for Old Testament history there in 1870. In 1872 he was appointed professor ordinarius of theology at the University of Greifswald. However, he resigned from the faculty in 1882 for reasons of conscience, stating in his letter of resignation:
I became a theologian because the scientific treatment of the Bible interested me; only gradually did I come to understand that a professor of theology also has the practical task of preparing the students for service in the Protestant Church, and that I am not adequate to this practical task, but that instead despite all caution on my own part I make my hearers unfit for their office. Since then my theological professorship has been weighing heavily on my conscience.
He became professor extraordinarius of oriental languages in the faculty of philology at Halle, was elected professor ordinarius at Marburg in 1885, and was transferred to Göttingen in 1892 where he stayed until his death.
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