Johann Georg Herbst (13 January 1787 – 31 July 1836) was a German Orientalist.

Biography

Herbst was born in

Rottweil Rottweil (; Alemannic: ''Rautweil'') is a town in southwest Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Rottweil was a free imperial city for nearly 600 years. Located between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alps, Rottweil has over 25,000 ...

in the

Duchy of Württemberg The Duchy of Württemberg () was a duchy located in the south-western part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was a Imperial Estate, state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1495 to 1803. The dukedom's long survival for over three centuries was mainly du ...

. His college course, begun in the Gymnasium of his native city, was pursued in the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery of St. Peter in the Black Forest and in 1806 Herbst registered at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...

. After some time spent in completing his mathematical and philosophical studies, he devoted his talents to mastering

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew language, Hebrew, Maltese language, Maltese, Modern South Arabian language ...

and Biblical science under the tutorship of Johann Leonard Hug. From the university Herbst went, in 1811, to the

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

Meersburg Meersburg () is a town in Baden-Württemberg in the southwest of Germany. It is on Lake Constance. It is known for its medieval city. The lower town ("Unterstadt") and upper town ("Oberstadt") are reserved for pedestrians only, and connected by t ...

, to prepare himself for

Holy Orders In certain Christian denominations, holy orders are the ordination, ordained ministries of bishop, priest (presbyter), and deacon, and the sacrament or rite by which candidates are ordained to those orders. Churches recognizing these orders inclu ...

, and was ordained to the priesthood in March, 1812. Called at once to the seminary of

Ellwangen Ellwangen an der Jagst, officially Ellwangen (Jagst), in common use simply Ellwangen () is a town in the district of Ostalbkreis in the east of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated about north of Aalen. Ellwangen has 25,000 inha ...

to discharge the office of repentant, he at the same time accepted the chair of

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and Arabic at the newly erected University of Ellwangen, and, two years later, was promoted to the professorship of Semitic languages and

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

exegesis Exegesis ( ; from the Ancient Greek, Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation (philosophy), interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Bible, Biblical works. In modern us ...

. In 1817, the theological faculty of Ellwangen was transferred to

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

, and there, in addition to the courses already entrusted to him, Herbst taught introduction to the Holy Scriptures and Biblical archæology; he also occasionally was prevailed upon to lecture on

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

exegesis, church history, and pastoral theology. His colleagues there included Johann Sebastian von Drey, Johann Baptist von Hirscher, and

Johann Adam Möhler Johann Adam Möhler (6 May 1796 – 12 April 1838) was a German Roman Catholic theologian and priest associated with the Catholic Tübingen school. He was born at Igersheim in the Bailiwick of Franconia of the Teutonic Order (from 1809 on part ...

;

Karl Joseph von Hefele Karl Josef von Hefele (March 15, 1809 – June 6, 1893) was a Roman Catholic bishop and theologian of Germany. Biography Hefele was born at Aalen, Unterkochen in Württemberg and was educated at university of Tübingen, Tübingen, where in 1839 ...

studied at the institution during Herbst's time there. Herbst's first publication was a volume entitled: ''Observationes quædam de Pentateuchi quatuor librorum posteriorum auctore et editore'' (Gmünd, 1817). From the foundation, in 1819, of the Tübingen ''Theol. Quartalschrift'', he was a steady contributor thereto; but his principal work, left unfinished, is an introduction to the Old Testament, which was completed and edited by his pupil

Benedict Welte Benedict Welte ( Ratzenried, Württemberg, 25 November 1825 – 27 May 1885, Rottenburg am Neckar) was a German Catholic exegete. After studying at Tübingen and Bonn, where he made special studies in the exegesis of the Old Testament and in ...

(1841–44). In 1832, Herbst was appointed head librarian of the Royal University; but perhaps through overwork his health soon failed, and he died in Tübingen after a short sickness.

References

* cites: **''Theol. Quartalschrift'' (Tübingen, 1836), {{DEFAULTSORT:Herbst, J 1787 births 1836 deaths People from Rottweil People from Rottweil (district) German biblical scholars German orientalists Roman Catholic biblical scholars