Robert Dick Wilson,

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

, DD (February 4, 1856 – October 11, 1930) was an American

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 ...

and

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

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 ...

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

who devoted his life to prove the reliability of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

s, including

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 ...

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

, and

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, as well as all the languages into which the Scriptures had been translated up to 600 AD.

Biography

Wilson was born in

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. He proved himself an outstanding language student even as an undergraduate. While at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, he was able to read the

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 ...

in nine languages. He graduated from Princeton at the age of 20, later receiving a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

and

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

before doing post-graduate work in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

at the

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

. In 1883, Wilson became Professor of the Old Testament at Western Theological Seminary (later known as

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (PTS) is a Presbyterian graduate seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1794, it houses one of the largest theological libraries in the tri-state area. History Pittsburgh Theological Seminary was for ...

), where he had done some of his graduate studies. In 1900, he returned to Princeton as the William Henry Green Professor of Semitic Languages and Old Testament Criticism at

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a Private university, private seminary, school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Establish ...

. Throughout his career, he opposed the

higher criticism Historical criticism (also known as the historical-critical method (HCM) or higher criticism, in contrast to lower criticism or textual criticism) is a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts to understand "the world b ...

, which held that the Bible was inaccurate on many points and not historically reliable. Professor Wilson wrote, "I have come to the conviction that no man knows enough to attack the veracity of the Old Testament. Every time when anyone has been able to get together enough documentary 'proofs' to undertake an investigation, the biblical facts in the original text have victoriously met the test" (quoted in R. Pache, ''The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture''). In the late 1920s, he left Princeton to teach at the new, conservative

Westminster Theological Seminary Westminster Theological Seminary (WTS) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian theology, theological seminary in the Reformed theology, Reformed theological tradition in Glenside, Pennsylvania. It was founded by members of the faculty of Prince ...

. Among his other works, Wilson contributed articles to the

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia The ''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'' refers to two different versions of a Bible encyclopedia: a 1915 fundamentalist edition, and a 1979–1995 revised evangelical edition. The first version was published under the general editorship ...

, a noted Bible reference of the early 20th century.

Works

Books

* * * * * * * * * * * * - in one volume

Articles

* * * *

Manuscripts

References

Bibliography

*
Jackson, Wayne. "The Remarkable Robert Dick Wilson." ''Christian Courier'' (24 April 2000)
Online. Last updated 28 January 2005. Viewed 3 April 2005. * David B. Calhoun, ''Princeton Seminary, Vol. 2: The Majestic Testimony 1869-1929'' (Edinburgh:

Banner of Truth Trust The Banner of Truth Trust is an Evangelical and Reformed non-profit"The Story ...

, 1996), pp. 211–212. * Walter C. Kaiser, "Robert Dick Wilson," in ''Bible Interpreters of the Twentieth Century: A Selection of Evangelical Voices'', Walter A. Elwell and J. D. Weaver, eds., (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999), pp. 73–81.

External links

Is the higher criticism Scholarly? By Robert Dick Wilson, Ph.D., D.D.
*

* ttp://www.ptsem.edu/Publications/inspire2/5.1/funny.htm Humorous anecdote about Dr. Robert Dick Wilson from ''inSpire'' (Summer/Fall 2000 issue; Vol. 5 No. 1), the magazine of Princeton Theological Seminary.
Today in History (February 4)
from Concordia Historical Institute,

Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

Brief biography of Robert Dick Wilson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Robert Dick 1856 births 1930 deaths 19th-century American male writers 19th-century American non-fiction writers 19th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians 19th-century Presbyterians 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians 20th-century Presbyterians American Calvinist and Reformed theologians American evangelicals American male non-fiction writers American people of Scotch-Irish descent American Presbyterians American religious writers Calvinist and Reformed writers Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Linguists from the United States Old Testament scholars People from Indiana, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Theological Seminary faculty Presbyterian writers Princeton Theological Seminary faculty Princeton University alumni Westminster Theological Seminary faculty