Abraham Kuenen Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 Protestant theologian

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

, the son of an apothecary

Apothecary

Apothecary is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist and some caregivers....

, was born in Haarlem

Haarlem

Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...

, North Holland.

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

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

, and won his doctor's degree by an edition of thirty-four chapters of Genesis from the Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

 version of the Samaritan Pentateuch

Samaritan Pentateuch

The Samaritan Pentateuch, sometimes called Samaritan Torah, , is a version of the Hebrew language Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, used by the Samaritans....

. In 1853 he became professor extraordinarius of theology at Leiden, and in 1855 full professor. He married a daughter of Willem Muurling

Willem Muurling

Willem Muurling was a Dutch theologian who was a native of Bolsward. He was father-in-law to theologian Abraham Kuenen ....

, one of the founders of the Groningen school, which made the first pronounced breach with Calvinistic

Calvinism

Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...

 theology in the Reformed Church of the Netherlands.

Kuenen himself soon became one of the main supporters of the modern theology, of which JH Scholten

Jan Hendrik Scholten

Jan Hendrik Scholten , 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 professor extraordinarius, and in 1845 was promoted to the rank of ordinarius...

 and Karel Willem Opzoomer

Cornelis Willem Opzoomer

Cornelis Willem Opzoomer was a Dutch jurist, positivist philosopher and theologian. He was professor of philosophy at Utrecht University from 1846 to 1889.-External links:...

 (b. 1821) were the chief founders, and of which Leiden became the headquarters. His first great work, an historico-critical introduction to the Old Testament

Old Testament

The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

, Historisch-Kritisch Onderzoek naar het onstaan 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 J.W. Colenso

John William Colenso

John William Colenso , first Anglican bishop of Natal, mathematician, theologian, Biblical scholar and social activist.-Biography:Colenso was born at St Austell, Cornwall, on 24 January 1814...

, and learned to regard the prophetic narrative of Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers

Book of Numbers

The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch....

 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

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

, De Godsdienst tot den ondergang van den Joodschen 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 dogma

Dogma

Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, or a particular group or organization. It is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from, by the practitioners or believers...

s 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

Hexateuch

The Hexateuch is the first six books of the Hebrew Bible . Some scholars propose that Joshua represents part of the northern Yahwist source , detached from JE document by the Deuteronomist and incorporated into the Deuteronomic history, with the books of Judges, Kings, and Samuel.Reasons...

 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 Karl Budde

Karl Budde

Karl Ferdinand Reinhard Budde was a German theologian, born at Bensberg. He was inspector of the Evangelisches Theologisches Stift at Bonn from 1878 to 1885, professor at Bonn in 1879, at Strassburg in 1889, and in 1900 was made professor of Old Testament exegesis and the Hebrew language at...

 in 1854. Several of his works have been translated into English by Philip Wicksteed. See the article in Herzog

Johann Jakob Herzog

Johann Jakob Herzog , German Protestant theologian, was born at Basel.He studied at Basel and Berlin, and eventually settled at Erlangen as professor of church history....

-Hauck, Realencyklopädie.