Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The m ...
– 16 August 1816 in
Vienna
en, Viennese
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) was a German orientalist.
Biography
He studied at the
Faculty of Philosophy
A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...
of
University of Olomouc
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
, and in 1772 began his theological studies at the Premonstratensian convent of Bruck, near Znaim. Having been ordained in 1775, he for a short time held a cure at Misslitz, but was soon recalled to Bruck as professor of Oriental languages and Biblical hermeneutics.
On the suppression of the convent by
Joseph II
Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 un ...
in 1784, Jahn took up similar work in
Olomouc
Olomouc (, , ; german: Olmütz; pl, Ołomuniec ; la, Olomucium or ''Iuliomontium'') is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 99,000 inhabitants, and its larger urban zone has a population of about 384,000 inhabitants (2019).
Located on t ...
, and in 1789 he was transferred to
Vienna
en, Viennese
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as professor of Oriental languages, biblical archaeology and dogmatics. In 1792 he published his ''Einleitung ins Alte Testament'' (2 vols.), which soon brought him into trouble; the cardinal-archbishop of Vienna laid a complaint against him for having departed from the traditional teaching of the Church, e.g. by asserting Job, Jonah, Tobit and Judith to be didactic poems, and the cases of demoniacal possession in the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...
to be cases of dangerous disease. An ecclesiastical commission reported that the views themselves were not necessarily heretical, but that Jahn had erred in showing too little consideration for the views of German
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
theologians in coming into conflict with his bishop, and in raising difficult problems by which the unlearned might be led astray. He was accordingly advised to modify his expressions in future.
Although he appears honestly to have accepted this judgment, the hostility of his opponents did not cease until at last (1806) he was compelled to accept a canonry at St Stephens, Vienna, which involved the resignation of his chair. This step had been preceded by the condemnation of his ''Introductio in libros sacros veteris foederis in compendium redacta'', published in 1804, and also of his ''Archaeologia biblica in compendium redacta'' (1805). The only work of importance, outside the region of mere philology, afterwards published by him, was the ''Enchiridion Hermeneuticae'' (1812).
Works
* ''Einleitung ins Alte Testament'' (2 vols., 1792)
* ''Hebräische Sprachlehre fur Anfänger'' (1792)
* ''Aramäische od. Chaldäische u. Syrische Sprachlehre für Anfänger'' (1793)
* ''Arabische Sprachlehre'' (1796)
* ''Elementarbuch der hebr. Sprache'' (1799)
* ''Chaldäische Chrestomathie'' (1800)
* ''Arabische Chrestomathie'' (1802)
* ''Lexicon arabico-latinum chrestomathiae arabicae accommodatum'' (Vindobonae, Wappler et Beck, 1802)
* ''Introductio in libros sacros veteris foederis in compendium redacta'' (1804; 3rd ed., 1825; translated into English by Turner and Whittingham, New York, 1827)
* ''Archaeologia biblica in compendium redacta'' (1805) The English translation by T. C. Upham (1840) has passed through several editions.
* an edition of the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach" '' Old Testament (1815)
* ''Nachträge'', six dissertations on Biblical subjects (1821)