Jump to content

Johann Leonhard Hug

From Catholicism Wiki
File:Johann Leonhard Hug.jpg

Johann Leonhard Hug (1 June 1765 in Constance – 11 March 1846 in Freiburg im Breisgau), was a German Roman Catholic theologian, orientalist and biblical scholar.

Life

In 1783 he entered the University of Freiburg, where he became a pupil in the seminary for the training of priests, and soon distinguished himself in classical and Oriental philology as well as in biblical exegesis and criticism. In 1787 he became superintendent of studies in the seminary, and held this appointment until the breaking up of the establishment in 1790. In the following year he was called to the Freiburg chair of Oriental languages and Old Testament exegesis; to the duties of this post were added in 1793 those of the professorship of New Testament exegesis.[1][2]

Declining calls to Breslau, Tübingen, and thrice to Bonn, Hug continued at Freiburg for upwards of thirty years, taking an occasional literary tour to Munich, Paris or Italy. In 1827 he resigned some of his professorial work, but continued in active duty until in the autumn of 1845 he fell ill and died on 11 March 1846.[1] Johann Martin Augustin Scholz was his pupil.

Works

Hug's earliest publication was the first installment of his Einleitung; in it he argued against Johann Gottfried Eichhorn in favour of the "borrowing hypothesis" of the origin of the Synoptic Gospels, maintaining the priority of Matthew, and asserting that the present Greek text was the original.[1]

His subsequent works were dissertations on the origin of alphabetical writing (Die Erfindung der Buchstabenschrift, 1801), on the antiquity of the Codex Vaticanus (1810), and on ancient mythology (Untersuchungen über den Mythos der berühmtern Völker der alten Welt. Vorzüglich der Griechen; dessen Entstehen, Veränderungen und Innhalt, 1812); a new interpretation of the Song of Solomon (Des hohe Lied in einer noch unversuchten Deutung, 1813), to the effect that the lover represents King Hezekiah, while by his beloved is intended the remnant left in Israel after the deportation of the ten tribes; and treatises on the indissoluble character of the matrimonial bond (De conjugii christiani vinculo indissolubili commentatio exegetica, 1816) and on the Alexandrian version of the Pentateuch (1818).[1]

His Einleitung in die Schriften des Neuen Testaments, his major work, was completed in 1808 (fourth German edition, 1847; English translations by Daniel Guilford Wait, London, 1827, and by David Fosdick and Moses Stuart, New York, 1836; French partial translation by J. E. Cellerier, Geneva, 1823). In the portion relating to the history of the text he holds it to have been current up to the middle of the 3rd century only in a common edition, of which recensions were afterwards made by Hesychius, an Egyptian bishop, by Lucian of Antioch and by Origen.[1]

From 1828 until it ceased to be published in 1834, Hug was a regular contributor to the Zeitschrift für die Geistlichkeit des Erzbisthums Freyburg. Hug was also the first editor (from 1839 until his death in 1846) of the newly founded Zeitschrift für Theologie, published by the Catholic Theological Faculty in Freiburg.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Johann Leonhard Hug — A German Catholic exegete, b. at Constance, 1 June, 1765; d. at Freiburg im Br., 11 March, 1846. After finishing his studies at the gymnasium of his native town he went to the University of Freiburg in 1783. He was ordained priest in 1789, and in 1791 became professor of O.T. exegesis in his university; a year later the chair of N.T. exegesis was also assigned to him. His chief works are: "De antiquitate Codicis Vaticani commentatio" (Freiburg, 1810); "Einleitung in die Schriften des N.T." (Stuttgart, 1808—, 4th ed., 1847); "Das hohe Lied" (Freiburg, 1818); "De Pentateuchi versione Alexandrinâ commentarius (Freiburg, 1818); "Gutachten über das Leben Jesu von D.F. Strauss" (Freiburg, 1844); "Erfindung der Buchstabenschrift" (Ulm, 1801). Hug was an independent thinker, a keen student, a man who went to the very roots of things. He entered fearlessly into the camp of the critics of the Semler set. He treated N.T. problems from the historical standpoint. From this their own standpoint he struck hard at the critics. His method was to insist on the truly historical study of the New Testament, and to do away with all subjective criticism; the conjectures that one makes should ever have some foundation in the historical facts of either N.T. or other study. Hug brought his historical criticism to its fullest development in his great work on N.T. introduction. Besides the four German editions of this splendid work various translations appeared. Cellerier edited it under the title: "Essai d'une Introduction Critique au N.T." (Geneva, 1823). The third edition of Hug's work was translated into English by Wait under the title: "An Introduction to the writings of the N.T." (London, 1827). Hug fought single-handed the critics belonging to Semler's school. Each new edition met the new protagonists of the opposite camp. Every destructive theory and hypothesis were mercilessly attacked by him. The fourth edition of the "Einleitung" was posthumous, but had been got ready by Hug for the press. Therein he made clear his conviction that the destructive criticism of his time had run its course. In Germany no Biblical scholar had more influence in stemming that destructive tide than had Hug. Not only his books but numerous articles by Hug, especially in the Freiburg "Zeitschrift", kept up a constant attack on the arbitrary methods and questionable tactics of the negative critics. Even today the historical studies that Hug made in the New Testament are of value to the thorough student of Holy Writ.

MAIER, Gedächtnisrede auf Hug (Freiburg, 1847).

References

  1. Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Back to citation occurrence 1.2 Back to citation occurrence 1.3 Back to citation occurrence 1.4 Chisholm 1911.
  2. Back to citation "Johann Leonhard Hug". Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German).
Retrieved from "https://catholicism.wiki/index.php?title=Johann_Leonhard_Hug&oldid=91189"