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Hugo Gressmann (21 March 1877 – 6 April 1927) was a prominent Old Testament scholar in Protestant Germany and a friend and associate of the eminent scholar
Hermann Gunkel Hermann Gunkel (23 May 1862 – 11 March 1932), a German Old Testament scholar, founded form criticism. He also became a leading representative of the history of religions school. His major works cover Genesis and the Psalms, and his major int ...
. He was a member of the
history of religions school The history of religions school (German: ''Religionsgeschichtliche Schule'') is a term applied to a group of German Protestant theologians associated with the University of Göttingen in the 1890s. Ideas The ''Religionsgeschichtliche Schule'' use ...
.


Early life

He was born on 21 March 1877 in Mölln, in the
Province of Schleswig-Holstein The Province of Schleswig-Holstein (german: Provinz Schleswig-Holstein ) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia (subsequently the Free State of Prussia after 1918) from 1868 to 1946. History It was created from the Duchies of Schleswig and H ...
.


''Gattungsgeschichte'' method

Gressmann carried over the work of Gunkel in which he used the ''Gattungsgeschichte'' method of Biblical study (otherwise known as
Form Criticism Form criticism as a method of biblical criticism classifies units of scripture by literary pattern and then attempts to trace each type to its period of oral transmission."form criticism." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica ...
) and applied it to the books of Exodus, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings, in the Old Testament. He took a traditio-historical approach in examining these passages, aiming to examine individual units so as to glean from them their original setting and purpose.


Conflict with the ideas of Wellhausen

Gressmann was significant in that he disagreed with the ideas of
Julius Wellhausen 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 ...
, another eminent Biblical scholar, on the dates of the Decalogue (more commonly known as the
Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ� ...
). Whereas Wellhausen placed the date at a relatively late stage in the history of Israel, Gressmann argued that, as they bore no evidence of having been influenced by Canaan, they must have been composed at a far earlier stage in Israel's history. Furthermore, he argued that they were older than the Prophets.


Death

Gressmann died on 6 April 1927 in Chicago.http://www.britannica.com, op. cit.


References

' {{DEFAULTSORT:Gressmann, Hugo 1877 births 1927 deaths People from Mölln, Schleswig-Holstein People from the Province of Schleswig-Holstein 19th-century German Protestant theologians 20th-century German Protestant theologians German biblical scholars Old Testament scholars 19th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers