Millar Burrows (

Wyoming, Ohio Wyoming is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, Hamilton County, Ohio; It is located approximately 12 miles north of downtown Cincinnati and is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. The population was 8,756 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ce ...

, October 26, 1889 – April 29, 1980) was an American

biblical scholar Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 ...

, a leading authority on the

Dead Sea scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

and professor emeritus at

Yale Divinity School Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Congregationalist theological education was the motivation at the founding of Yale, and the professional school has ...

. Burrows was director of

American School of Oriental Research The American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), founded in 1900 as the American School of Oriental Study and Research in Palestine, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Alexandria, Virginia which supports the research and teaching of ...

in Jerusalem (now the William F. Albright School of Archaeological Research), and later president of the American Schools of Oriental Research. His grandson,

Edwin G. Burrows Edwin G. "Ted" Burrows (May 15, 1943 – May 4, 2018) was a Distinguished Professor of History at Brooklyn College. He is the co-author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning '' Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898'' (1998), and author of ''Forgotte ...

(1943–2018), was an American historian and winner of the Pulitzer Prize (1999).

Early life and education

Burrows was born on October 26, 1889 in

. He was one of three sons born to Edwin Jones, a businessman, and Katharine Douglas (Millar) Burrows. He studied at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

, graduating in 1912. He then attended the Union Theological Seminary, New York to train for ordination, and he graduated with a

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD or BDiv; la, Baccalaureus Divinitatis) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theolog ...

(BD) degree in 1915. While working as a minister, Burrows also undertook part-time graduate studies. He studied for his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

under

Charles Cutler Torrey Charles Cutler Torrey (20 December 1863 – 12 November 1956) was an American historian, archaeologist and scholar. He is known for, presenting through his books, manuscript evidence supporting alternate views on the origins of Christian and Isl ...

, and he graduated in 1925. His dissertation was titled "The Literary Relations of Ezekiel".

Career

Ordained ministry

In 1915, Burrows was ordained as a minister of the

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

. Then, from 1915 to 1919, he ministered at a rural church in Texas. For the next year he supervised a survey for the Texas Interchurch World Movement. From 1920 to 1923, he was a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

and taught the Bible at

Tusculum College Tusculum University is a private Presbyterian university with its main campus in Tusculum, Tennessee. It is Tennessee's first university and the 28th-oldest operating college in the United States. In addition to its main campus, the institution ...

in Tennessee.

Academic career

Burrows was internationally known for his prompt editing of the Dead Sea manuscripts of Cave One, and was able to communicate the results of research in language understandable to the public. Burrows gave working names to several of the scrolls, such as the "Manual of Discipline" to 1QS. Burrows worked on the

Isaiah scroll The Isaiah Scroll, designated 1QIsaa and also known as the Great Isaiah Scroll, is one of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls that were first discovered by Bedouin shepherds in 1946 from Qumran Cave 1. The scroll is written in Hebrew and contains the en ...

, pointing out its consistency with the

Masoretic text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

. Burrows also wrote on the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. On the Bible he once noted that it is concerned with three subjects: religion, agriculture, and war.Perspectives on war in the Bible – p. 3 John A. Wood – 1998 "Millar Burrows was correct when he observed years ago that the Bible is concerned with three subjects: religion, agriculture, and war. In noting the now-lost "Book of the Wars of Yahweh" mentioned in Numbers 21:14, Burrows goes so far ..."

Works

* Founders of Great Religions 1931 * An Outline of Biblical Theology 1946 * Palestine is Our Business 1949 * The Dead Sea Scrolls 1955 * More Light on the Dead Sea Scrolls 1958 * Jesus in the first three Gospels 1977

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burrows, Millar People from Wyoming, Ohio 1980 deaths American biblical scholars Dead Sea Scrolls 1899 births Cornell University alumni Union Theological Seminary (New York City) alumni 20th-century Presbyterian ministers Tusculum University faculty