Johann David Michaelis (27 February 1717 – 22 August 1791) was a German biblical scholar and teacher. He was member of a family that was committed to solid discipline inHebrew and the cognate languages, which distinguished theUniversity of Halle in the period ofPietism.[1] He was a member of theGöttingen school of history.[2]
Michaelis was born on 27 February 1717 inHalle an der Saale.[3] HisPietistic Lutheran family placed a great deal of importance in the study ofOriental languages in fulfilling the Church's goal.[3] He was trained for academic life under his father's eye.[1] At Halle he was influenced, especially inphilosophy, bySiegmund J. Baumgarten (1706–1757), the link between the old Pietism andJ. S. Semler, while he cultivated his strong taste for history under Chancellor Ludwig.[1]
In 1739, he completed his doctoral dissertation, where he defended the antiquity and divine authority of thevowel points inHebrew.[3] His scholarship still moved along the old traditional lines, and he was also much exercised by certain religious scruples, with some seeing a conflict between his independent mind and that of submission to authority - encouraged by theLutheranism in which he had been trained.[1] He visitedEngland and theNetherlands in 1741–1742. In Holland, he became acquainted withAlbert Schultens, whose philological views would influence him.[3] In 1745 he became an assistant professor (Privatdozent) of oriental languages at theGöttingen. In 1746 he becameprofessor extraordinarius and in 1750ordinarius. He remained in Göttingen until his death in 1791.[1] From 1771-1785 he was editor of theOrientalische Und Exegetische Bibliothek.[3]
One of his works was a translation of four parts ofSamuel Richardson'sClarissa; and translations of some of the then current English paraphrases on biblical books showed his sympathy with a school which attracted him by its freer air. His Oriental studies were reshaped by reading Schultens; for the Halle school, with all its learning, had no conception of the principles on which a fruitful connection between Biblical and Oriental learning could be established. His linguistic work was hampered by the lack of manuscript material, which is felt in his philological writings, e.g., in his valuableSupplementa to the Hebrew lexicons (1784–1792). He could not become such an Arabist asJ. J. Reiske; and, though for many years the most famous teacher ofSemitic languages in Europe, neither his grammatical nor his critical work has left a permanent mark, with the exception perhaps of his text-critical studies on thePeshitta.[1] He had a particular interest for history, antiquities, and especially geography and natural science. He had in fact started his university course as amedicinae cultor, and in his autobiography he half regrets that he did not choose the medical profession. In geography he found a field hardly touched sinceSamuel Bochart, in whose footsteps he followed in theSpicilegium geographiae hebraeorum exterae post Bochartum (1769–1780).[1]
Michaelis inspired the famousDanish Arabia Expedition (1761–67), conducted byCarsten Niebuhr andPeter Forsskål. Thecuneiform inscriptions Niebuhr brought back from the expedition were the basis for the earliest attempts made to decipher cuneiform.[3] In spite of hisdoctrinal writings—which at the time made no little noise, so that hisCompendium of Dogmatic (1760) was confiscated inSweden, and theKnighthood of the Polar Star was afterwards given him in reparation—it was the natural side of theBible that really attracted him. Michaelis arguably contributed the most in introducing the method of studying Hebrew antiquity as an integral part of ancient Eastern life.[1]
The personal character of Michaelis can be read between the lines of his autobiography with the aid of the other materials collected byJ. M. Hassencamp (J. D. Michaelis Lebensbeschreibung, etc., 1793). The same volume contains a full list of his works. Besides those already mentioned it is sufficient to refer to hisIntroduction to the New Testament (the first edition, 1750, preceded the full development of his powers, and is a very different book from the later editions), his reprint ofRobert Lowth'sPraelectiones with important additions (1758–1762), his German translation of the Bible with notes (1773–1792), hisOrientalische und exegetische Bibliothek (1775–1785) andNeue O. und E. Bib. (1786–1791), hisMosaisches Recht (1770–1771) (quite influenced byMontesquieu'sL'esprit des lois of 1748) and his edition ofEdmund Castell'sLexicon syriacum (1787–1788). HisLitterarischer Briefwechsel (1794–1796) contains much that is interesting for the history of learning in his time.[1]
He was elected aFellow of the Royal Society in 1789.[4]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Michaelis, Johann David".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 360.| International | |
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