Johann Severin Vater (; May 27, 1771,

Altenburg Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...

– March 16, 1826, Halle) was a German

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

biblical scholar Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Jewish usage and the Christian Bible including the can ...

, and

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

Biography

He was a student and professor at

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

and Halle. In 1809, he became professor at

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

. In 1820, he resumed his chair at Halle. Although he taught theology, he is chiefly known as a philologist. In 1817, Vater was elected a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

Work

Following

Alexander Geddes Alexander Geddes (14 September 1737 – 26 February 1802) was a Scottish Catholic theologian and scholar. He translated a major part of the Old Testament of the Catholic Bible into English. Translations and commentaries Geddes was born at ...

, he applied the fragmentary hypothesis to the whole of the

Pentateuch The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () o ...

, treating it as an aggregate of numerous minor documents that had been compiled together. Vater's major work, ''Commentar über den Pentateuch'' was published in three volumes in Halle between 1802 and 1806. This work's primary purpose was to advance the Supplementary Hypothesis against the earlier Documentarian endeavors of

Jean Astruc Jean Astruc (19 March 1684, in Sauve, France – 5 May 1766, in Paris) was a professor of medicine in France at Montpellier and Paris, who wrote the first great treatise on syphilis and venereal diseases, and also, with a small anonymously publ ...

Johann Gottfried Eichhorn Johann Gottfried Eichhorn (16 October 1752, in Dörrenzimmern – 27 June 1827, in Göttingen) was a German Protestant theologian of the Enlightenment and an early orientalist. He was a member of the Göttingen school of history. Education and ...

, and

Karl David Ilgen Karl David Ilgen (26 February 1763 – 17 September 1834) was a German Protestant Old Testament scholar and classical philologist. He studied theology and philology at the University of Leipzig, and was later appointed rector at the munincipal g ...

. Many of Vater's conclusions – most prominently, his assertion of the late nature of the Pentateuch as compared to the historical books – mirror the independent work of

Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette (12 January 1780 – 16 June 1849) was a German theologian and biblical scholar. Life and education Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette was born 12 January 1780 in Ulla (now part of the municipality of Nohra), Thur ...

, whose ''Beiträge zur Einleitung in das Alte Testament'' was published in 1806–7. Against de Wette, though, Vater supposed, based on historical book allusions to Deuteronomy, that at least some parts of Deuteronomy had existed prior to the collection of the Pentateuch.

Writings

Besides the ''Commentar'', his works include: * Hebrew grammar (1797) * ''Handbuch der hebräischen, syrischen, chaldäischen und arabischen Grammatik'' (1801) * Polish grammar (1807) * Russian grammar (1809) * Continuation of

Adelung Adelung is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Friedrich von Adelung (1768–1843), German-Russian linguist, historian and bibliographer *Johann Christoph Adelung Johann Christoph Adelung (8 August 173210 September 1806) was ...

's ''Mithridates'' (1809–17) * ''Literatur der Grammatiken, Lexika und Wörtersammlungen aller Sprachen der Erde'' (1815) He also edited and continued

Henke Henke is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Adolph Henke (1775–1843), German physician and pharmacologist known for his work in medical forensics * Alfred Henke (1868-1946), German politician * Brad William Henke (1966&n ...

's ''Allgemeine Geschichte der christlichen Kirche'' (1818–23).

Honors and memberships

Elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

in 1821.American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
/ref>

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vater, Johann Severin University of Jena alumni Academic staff of the University of Halle Academic staff of the University of Königsberg 19th-century German Protestant theologians German biblical scholars 1771 births 1826 deaths Linguists from Germany 19th-century German male writers Linguists of Eskaleut languages German male non-fiction writers