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

divine Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a singl ...

and

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scholar. He devoted his life to the study, both textual and

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, of the

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. 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 and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. He was educated at

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

and

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

, 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 Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

until his death in 1914. 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 Vers ...

(1876–1884) and examining chaplain to the Bishop of Southwell (1884–1904). He received the honorary degrees of doctor of literature of the

University of Dublin The University of Dublin (), corporately named as The Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a research university located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dublin, whi ...

(1892),

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of the

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(1901), and doctor of literature of the

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(1905), and was elected a

fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters 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 t ...

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.

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)
''Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament''
(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) (in collaboration, 1906) *''Modern Research as illustrating the Bible'' (inaugural Schweich Lecture, 1908) *''Christianity and Other Religions (with William Sanday)'' (1908) *Articles in the ''

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'', ''

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 encycloped ...

'', '' Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible'' 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

Further reading

External links