Jean Morin (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: ''Joannes Morinus'') (1591 – 28 February 1659) was a French theologian and

biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

scholar. His linguistic studies of biblical manuscript material, newly available, were taken to polemical lengths.

Life

He was born in

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher Departments of France, department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the mos ...

, to

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

parents. He learned

and

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La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

, and continued his studies in

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

, subsequently moving to Paris. His conversion to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

is ascribed to Cardinal du Perron. In 1618 he joined the congregation of the Oratory, and in due course took priest's orders. At first he was

superior Superior may refer to: *Superior (hierarchy), something which is higher in a hierarchical structure of any kind Places * Superior (proposed U.S. state), an unsuccessful proposal for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to form a separate state *Lak ...

in houses of his congregation at

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

. In 1625 he visited

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the train of

Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria of France (French language, French: ''Henriette Marie''; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England, List of Scottish royal consorts, Scotland and Ireland from her marriage to K ...

; in 1640 he was at

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, on the invitation of

Pope Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII (; ; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death, in July 1644. As pope, he expanded the papal terri ...

,Edward Grey, ''The Travels of Pietro Della Valle in India'' (Hakluyt Society, 1892), p. xlii. who received him with special favor. He was, however, soon recalled to Paris by Richelieu, and the rest of his life was spent in incessant literary labor.

Works

Genesis 5 18 as published by Jean Morin in 1631 in the first publication of the Samaritan Pentateuch

The ''Histoire de la délivrance de l'Église chrétienne par l'empereur

Constantin Constantin is an Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian and Romanian male given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, ...

, et de la grandeur et souveraineté temporelle donnée a l'Église romaine par les rois de France'' (1630) gave great offence at Rome, and a ''Declaration'' (1654), directed against faults in the administration of the Oratory, was strictly suppressed. Morin is best known for his biblical and critical work. By his editing of the

Samaritan Pentateuch The Samaritan Pentateuch, also called the Samaritan Torah (Samaritan Hebrew: , ), is the Religious text, sacred scripture of the Samaritans. Written in the Samaritan script, it dates back to one of the ancient versions of the Torah that existe ...

and

Targum A targum (, ''interpretation'', ''translation'', ''version''; plural: targumim) was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the ) that a professional translator ( ''mǝṯurgǝmān'') would give in the common language o ...

, in the Paris Polyglott, he gave the first impulse in Europe to the study of this dialect, which he acquired without a teacher (framing a grammar for himself) by the study of manuscripts newly brought to Europe. Not unnaturally, he formed a very exaggerated view of the value of the

Samaritan Samaritans (; ; ; ), are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Hebrews and Israelites of the ancient Near East. They are indigenous to Samaria, a historical region of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah that ...

tradition of the text (''Exercitationes ecclesiasticae in utrumque Samaritanorum Pentateuchum'', 1631). A similar tone of extreme depreciation of the Masoretic

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 ...

text, colored by polemical bias against

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

, affects his major work, the posthumous ''Exercitationes biblicae de hebraeici graecique textus sinceritate'' (1660), in which, following in the footsteps of Cappellus, he brought arguments against the then current theory of the absolute integrity of the Hebrew text and the antiquity of the vowel points.

Publications

* ''Histoire de la délivrance de l'Église par l'empereur

, et de la grandeur et souveraineté temporelle donnée à l'Église romaine par les rois de France'', Paris, 1630. * ''Commentarius historicus de disciplina in administratione sacramenti Poenitentiae tredecim primis seculis in ecclesia occidentali, et huc usque in orientali observata, in decem libros distinctus'', Henri Fricx,

Bruxelles Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, which is the capital ...

, 1685. (1re éd. à Paris en 1651). * ''Antiquitates Ecclesiae Orientalis, Clarissimorum Virorum... Dissertationibus Epistolicis enucleatae; Nunc ex Ipsis Autographis Editae'', Geo. Wells, London 1682. Published by Richard Simon. * ''Commentarius de sacris Ecclesiae ordinationibus secundum antiquos et recentiores

Latinos Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans who have a Spanish or Latin American background, culture, or family origin. This demographic group includes all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino, regardless of race. According to th ...

, Graecos,

Syros Syros ( ), also known as Siros or Syra, is a Greece, Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is south-east of Athens. The area of the island is and at the 2021 census it had 21,124 inhabitants. The largest towns are Ermoupoli, Ano S ...

et Babylonios in tres partes distinctos'', first edition 1655, second edition

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1695.
''Exercitationes ecclesiastiae in utrumque Samaritorium Pentateuchum''
(Paris, 1631). In it Morin argued for the superiority of the Samaritan text of the Septuagint over the Hebrew, a thesis to which he returned in ''Exercitationes biblicae de Hebraei Graecique textus sinceritate'' (Paris, 1663,1669, 1686). * ''Commentarius historicus de disciplina in administratione sacramenti Poenitentiae XIII primus saeculis'' (Paris, 1651) * ''Commentarius sacris Ecclesiae ordinationibus'' (Paris 1655,

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1695, Rome, 1751).

References

Sources

External links