Home > Abraham Kuenen

On his father's death it became necessary for him to leave school and take a humble place in the business. By the generosity of friends he was educated at the gymnasium at Haarlem and afterwards at the university of Leiden. He studied theology, and won his doctor's degree by an edition of thirty-four chapters of Genesis from the Arabic version of the Samaritan Pentateuch. In 1853 he became professor extraordinarius of theology at Leiden, and in 1855 full professor. He married a daughter of W Muurling, one of the founders of the GroningenGroningen is a municipality and a city in the north of the Netherlands, and the capital of the Groningen province. The city is seen as the most important city of the northernmost provinces of the Netherlands. The city is also known as Stad (City) and Groo school, which made the first pronounced breach with CalvinisticEmmanuel de Witte Calvinism is a Protestant Christian doctrine named after John Calvin. Calvin had international influence on the development of the doctrine of the Protestant Reformation, beginning at the age of 25, when he started work on his first edit theology in the Reformed Church of Holland.

Kuenen himself soon became one of the main supports of the modern theology, of which JH ScholtenJan Hendrik Scholten ( August 17, 1811 April 10, 1885), Dutch Protestant theologian, was born at Vleuten near Utrecht. After studying at Utrecht University, he was appointed professor of theology at Franeker. From Franeker in 1843 he went to Leiden as pro and Karel Willem Opzoomer (b. 1821) were the chief founders, and of which Leiden became the headquarters. His first great work, an historico-critical introduction to the Old TestamentThe Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures constitutes the first major part of the Christian Bible, usually divided into the categories law, history, poetry (or wisdom books) and prophecy. All of those books were written before the birth of Jesus. Canon o, Historisch-Kritisch Onderzoek naar het onstaand en de verzameling van de Boeken des Ouden Verbonds (3 vols., 1861-1865; 2nd ed., 1885-1893; German by T Weber and CT Müller, 1885-1894), followed the lines of ths dominant school of Heinrich Ewald.

But before long he came under the influence of JW ColensoJohn William Colenso ( 1814- 1883), English bishop of Natal, was born at St Austell Cornwall, on January 24 1814. His family were in embarrassed circumstances, and he was indebted to relatives for the means of university education. In 1836 he was second w, and learned to regard the prophetic narrative of Genesis, Exodus, and NumbersThe Book of Numbers is the fourth of the books of the Pentateuch, called in the Hebrew ba-midbar , i. in the wilderness. In the Septuagint version it is called Arithmoi ("Numbers"), and this name is now the usual title of the book. It is so called because as older than what was by the Germans denominated Grundschrift (Book of Origins). In 1869-1870 he published his book on the religion of Israel, De Godsdienst tot den ondergang van den Joodsehen staat (Eng. trans., 1874-1875).

This was followed in 1875 by a study of Hebrew prophecy, De profeten en de profetie onder Israel (Eng. trans., 1877), largely polemical in its scope, and specially directed against those who rest theological dogmas on the fulfilment of prophecy. In 1882 Kuenen went to England to deliver a course of Hibbert lectures, National Religions and Universal Religion; in the following year he presided at the congress of Orientalists held at Leiden. In 1886 his volume on the Hexateuch was published in England. He died at Leiden on the 10th of December 1891.

Kuenen was also the author of many articles, papers and reviews; a series on the Hexateuch, which appeared in the Theologisch Tijdschrift, of which in 1866 he became joint editor, is one of the finest products of modern criticism. His collected works were translated into German and published by K Budde in 1854. Several of his works have been translated into English by Philip Wicksteed. See the article in Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopädie.