one of the most learned Orientalists of our century, was born at Gottingen, November 16, 1803. In 1820 he entered the university of his native city, and three years later received the degree of doctor of philosophy. After teaching for some time at the Wolfenbiittel gymnasium, he returned in 1824 to Gottingen, became repetent at the university, and in 1827 was made professor. In 1837 he was expelled from his position for having signed, with six other professors, a protest against the revocation of the liberal constitution of 1833, which Ernest Augustus, king of Hanover, effected. In 1829 and 1836 he had visited France and Italy, and now (in 1838) he visited England. In the same year he was appointed professor at Tubingen, where he remained for ten years. The bitter feuds with his colleagues made his stay there very unpleasant, and it was a relief when, in 1848, he was recalled to Gottingen. In 1867 he refused to take the oath of allegiance to the king of Prussia, and this refusal was punished by his exclusion from the faculty of philosophy, although he was still allowed his salary and the privilege of lecturing. This latter privilege was withdrawn in 1868, on account of utterances against the king. He died of heart disease, May 4, 1875. Ewald’s writings have found about as many admirers abroad as at home. The value of much of his learning is seriously impaired by his dogmatic spirit. His independence often degenerates into self-conceit. His violent rationalism is conspicuous. His literary activity began in 1823, with the Composition der Genesis Kritisch untersucht, and only closed with an autobiography written during the last months of his life, which has not been published.
Of his many writings we mention, De Metris Carminum Arabicorum (Brunswick, 1825): — Das Hohelied Salomo’s ubersetzt und erklart (1826; 3d ed. 1866): — Libri Wakedii de Mesopotamiae Expugnatae Historia pars (1827): — Kritische Grammatik der Hebr. Sprache (eod.), subsequently enlarged, and Ausfuhrliches Lehrbuch der Hebr. Sprache des Alten Testaments (1844; 8th ed. 1870; Engl. transl. by Nicholson, Lond. 1836; of the syntax alone, from 8th ed. by Kennedy, Edinb. 1879): — Hebrdische Sprachlehre fur Anfinger (1842; Engl. transl. from 3d ed. by Smith, Lond. 1870): — Abhandlungen zur orientalischen und biblischen Literatur (1832): — Grammatica Critica Ling. Arab. (1831-33, 2 volumes): — Die poetischen Bucher des Alten Bundes (1835- 39; 3d ed. 1868; Engl. transl. Lond. 1880 sq.): — Propheten des Alten Bundes (1840, 1841; 2d ed. 1867, 1867, 3 volumes; Engl. transl. Lond. 1876-81, 5 vols.): — Geschichte des Volkes Israel (1843-59, 7 volumes; 3d ed. 1868; Engl. transl. corresponding to volumes 1-4): — History of Israel (Lond. 1867-74, 5 volumes): — Die Alterthumer des Volkes Israel (1848; Engl. transl. Antiquities of Israel, Lond. 1876): — Die drei ersten Evangelien ubersetzt und erklart (1850): — Das ethiopische Buch Henokh (1854): — Das vierte Buch Ezra (1860): — Die Sendschreiben des Apostels Paulus ubersetzt und erklart (1857): — Die Johanneischen Schriften (1861, 1862): — Die Bucher des Neuen Testaments (1870, 1871): — Die Theologie des Alten und Neuen Bundes (1870-75, 4 volumes): — Jahrbucher der biblischen Wissenschaft, 1-11, 1848-61, containing a number of essays which are still very valuable. In connection with L. Dukes he published, Beitrage zur Geschichte der liltesten Auslegung des Spracherklarung des Alten Test. (1844, 3 volumes). See Herzog-Plitt, Real-Encyklop. s.v.; Lichtenberger, Encyclopedie des Sciences Religieuses, s.v., Zuchold, Bibl. Theol. 1:341-344; Furst, Bibl. Jud. 1:261; Steinschneider, Bibl. Handbuch, s.v. (B.P.)
By: Crawford Howell Toy, Karl Heinrich Cornill
Christian Biblical scholar; born at Göttingen Nov. 16, 1803; died there May 4, 1875; educated at the University of Göttingen, where he studied philology and especially Oriental languages. He became private tutor in 1824 and professor at Göttingen in 1827. Being one of the "Göttingen Seven," who in Nov., 1837, protested against the violation of the constitution by the king, Ernst August, he was removed from office. He was called to T¨bingen in 1838, and returned to Göttingen in 1848, and remained there till 1867.
Ewald was an influence both through his works and through his personality; and by his vast learning and genuine piety was eminently fitted to be an expounder of the Old Testament.
Graetz writes of him ("Hist." v. 695) that whereas both the rationalists and the orthodox Christian theologians failed to arrive at a correct understanding of the sacred Scriptures of the Jews, Ewald, "a man of childlike mind, was the first to raise the veil, to comprehend the language of the Prophets and Psalmists, and to reveal the ancient history of the Jewish people in its true light." By his works "a new path was opened up for the comprehension of the Hebrew genius and people." For him and his school the people of Israel was truly "the people of God," and its history the history of true religion, though from the point of view he takes the last page of that history was written eighteen hundred years ago. Singularly enough, Ewald had only contempt for the people whom as the creators of the Old and the New Testment he glorified.
His great appreciation of the work done by medieval Jewish scholars for Biblical exegesis and Hebrew grammar and lexicography was shown by his publishing, in conjunction with Leopold Dukes, specimens of the writings of Saadia, Adonim b. Teonim, Judah ibn Ḳuraish, Menahem ben Saruḳ, Dunash b. Labrat, Judah Hayyuj, Jonah ibn Janaḥ, Moses Gikatilla, Judah ibn Balaam, and others, under the title "Literar-Historische Mittheilungen über die Aeltesten Hebräischen Exegeten, Gramatiker, und Lexicographen," Stuttgart, 1844.
In the domain of Old Testament science, he rendered the most effective service. He published his first work, "Die Komposition der Genesis Kritisch Untersucht," in 1822. His "Kritische Grammatik der Hebräischen Sprache," which first appeared in 1827, placed the science of Hebrew philology on a new basis. His other principal works are: "Die Dichter des Alten Bundes," 1835-39; "Die Propheten des Alten Bundes," 1840-41; the monumental "Geschichte des Volkes Israel," with the supplement "Alterthümer des Volkes Israel," 1843-48, which marks an epoch in the treatment of Israelitish history; "Jahrbücher der Biblischen Wissenschaft," 1849-1865; and "Die Lehre der Bibel von Gott, oder Theologie des Alten und Neuen Bundes," 1871-76.
Bibliography:
Allg. Deutsche Biographic, vi. 438-442;
T. Wilton Davies, Heinrich Ewald, London, 1903.