Samuel Rolles Driver (2 October 1846 – 26 February 1914) was an

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divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

scholar. He devoted his life to the study, both textual and

critical Critical or Critically may refer to: *Critical, or critical but stable, medical states **Critical, or intensive care medicine *Critical juncture, a discontinuous change studied in the social sciences. *Critical Software, a company specializing in ...

, of the Old Testament. He was the father of Sir Godfrey Rolles Driver, also a distinguished biblical scholar.

Biography

Samuel Rolles Driver was born in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. He was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, where he had a distinguished career, receiving a first-class degree in Literae Humaniores in 1869. He was awarded the Pusey and Ellerton scholarship in 1866, the Kennicott scholarship in 1870 (both Hebrew), and the Houghton Syriac prize in 1872. From 1870 he was a fellow, and from 1875 also a tutor, of New College, and in 1883 succeeded Pusey as Regius Professor of Hebrew and canon of Christ Church, Oxford. He was a member of the Old Testament Revision Committee of the Revised Version (1876–1884) and examining chaplain to the Bishop of Southwell (1884–1904). He received the honorary degrees of

doctor of literature Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Docto ...

of the University of Dublin (1892), doctor of divinity of the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

(1901), and doctor of literature of the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

(1905), and was elected a fellow of the British Academy in 1902. Driver married Mabel, daughter of Edmund Barr, of Burgh, near Aylsham, Norfolk, in 1891; they had two sons and two daughters. He died at Oxford in 1914. His funeral was attended by Noel Middleton and his brother and sister-in-law Mr and Mrs Gilbert Middleton who were reportedly part of the funeral procession leading from Driver's lodgings in

Tom Quad The Great Quadrangle, more popularly known as Tom Quad, is one of the quadrangles of Christ Church, Oxford, England. It is the largest college quad in Oxford, measuring 264 by 261 feet. Although it was begun by Cardinal Wolsey in 1525–1529, h ...

at Christ Church where he was canon.

Works

Among Driver's numerous works are commentaries on:
Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel
(Hebrew text, 1890)
Book of Leviticus
(1894 Hebrew text, 1898 trans. and notes)
Book of Joel and the Book of Amos
(1897) * Th
Book of Daniel
''with Introduction and Notes'' (1900)
Book of Deuteronomy
(1902)
Book of Job
(1905)
The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah
(1906)
The Minor Prophets, Book of Nahum to Book of Malachi
(1905)
Book of Genesis
(1909)
The Book of Exodus
(1911) Among his more general works are:
''Isaiah, His Life and Times''
(1887, ed. 1893)

(1891, ed. 1901, 1909)
''Sermons on Subjects Connected with the Old Testament'
1892 *''Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew'' (1892) *''The Parallel Psalter'' (1904)
''Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament''
known as "BDB" (

Brown Driver Briggs Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

) (in collaboration, 1906) *''Modern Research as illustrating the Bible'' (inaugural Schweich Lecture, 1908) *''Christianity and Other Religions (with William Sanday)'' (1908) *Articles in the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

'', ''

Encyclopaedia Biblica ''Encyclopaedia Biblica: A Critical Dictionary of the Literary, Political and Religion History, the Archeology, Geography and Natural History of the Bible'' (1899), edited by Thomas Kelly Cheyne and J. Sutherland Black, is a critical encyclopedi ...

'', ''

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible ''Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible'' was a five-volume Biblical encyclopaedia published 1898–1904. First edition The full title was ''A Dictionary of the Bible, dealing with the Language, Literature and Contents, including the Biblical Theology ...

'' and '' Dictionary of National Biography''

Notes

References

* ;Attribution *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Driver, Samuel Rolles 1846 births 1914 deaths Alumni of New College, Oxford British biblical scholars English orientalists 19th-century English theologians 20th-century English theologians People educated at Winchester College Clergy from Southampton Christian Hebraists Old Testament scholars Regius Professors of Hebrew (University of Oxford) Fellows of the British Academy 19th-century Anglican theologians 20th-century Anglican theologians Writers from Southampton

Biography

Works

See also

Notes

References

External links