Thomas Jefferson Conant (December 13, 1802 – April 30, 1891) was an American

Biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

scholar.

Biography

Thomas Jefferson Conant was born in Brandon, Vermont on December 13, 1802. Graduating from

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

in 1823, he became tutor in the

Columbian University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presi ...

, Washington D.C. from 1825 to 1827, professor of Greek, Latin, and German at Waterville College (now Colby College) from 1827 to 1833, professor of Biblical Literature and criticism in Hamilton Theological Institute (New York) from 1835 to 1851, and professor of Hebrew and of Biblical exegesis in

Rochester Theological Seminary Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School is a Baptist seminary in Rochester, New York It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. History 1820s-1960: Early history Four Baptist institutions merged over the course of the 19th and 20t ...

from 1851 to 1857. From 1857 to 1875 he was employed by the American Bible Union on the revision of the New Testament (1871). In the opinion of the author of his biography in the ''Encycloaedia Britannica'', (11th ed.) Conant was the foremost Hebrew scholar of his time in America. He died in Brooklyn, New York, in 1891.

Works

Conant's treatise, ''The Meaning and Use of Baptizing Philologically and Historically Investigated'' (1860), an appendix to the revised version of the Gospel by Matthew, is a valuable summary of the evidence for Baptist doctrine. Conant translated and edited

Gesenius Gesenius is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Justus Gesenius (1601–1673), German theologian *Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius (3 February 178623 October 1842) was a German orientalist ...

's ''Hebrew Grammar'' (1839; 1877)—and criticized a competing translation by Moses Stuart. He published revised versions with notes of ''Job'' (1856), ''Genesis'' (1868), ''Psalms'' (1871),'' Proverbs'' (1872), ''Isaiah'' i.xiii. 22 (1874), and ''Historical Books of the Old Testament, Joshua to II. Kings'' (1884).

Family

Conant married

Hannah O'Brien Chaplin Hannah O'Brien Chaplin Conant (, Chaplin; pen name, H. C. Conant; September 5, 1809February 18, 1865)"Hannah O'Brien Chaplin Conant." ''Dictionary of American Biography''. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1936. ''Biography In Context''. Web. 28 ...

(1809–1865) in 1830, herself the author of ''The Earnest Man'', a biography of

Adoniram Judson Adoniram Judson (August 9, 1788 – April 12, 1850) was an American Congregationalist and later Particular Baptist missionary, who served in Burma for almost forty years. At the age of 25, Judson was sent from North America to preach in B ...

(1855), and ''The History of the English Bible'' (1859); besides being her husband's assistant she was an able assistant in his Hebrew studies.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Conant, Thomas Jefferson 1802 births 1891 deaths Conant family American biblical scholars Colby College faculty Middlebury College alumni People from Brandon, Vermont Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School faculty