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

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, of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated 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 writings by the Israelites. The ...

. 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 status in the United Kingdom, 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, S ...

. He was educated at Winchester and

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at ...

, 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 The Revised Version (RV) or English Revised Version (ERV) of the Bible is a late 19th-century British revision of the King James Version. It was the first and remains the only officially authorised and recognised revision of the King James Versio ...

(1876–1884) and examining chaplain to the

Bishop of Southwell __NOTOC__ The Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham in the Province of York.''Crockford's Clerical Directory'', 100th edition, (2007), Church House Publishing. . The ...

(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 Doctor ...

of the

University of Dublin The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...

(1892),

doctor of divinity A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ra ...

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 , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

(1905), and was elected a

fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

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, ...

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 ...

'', ''

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 The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

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