Hermann Gunkel

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Hermann Gunkel

Born 23 May 1862

Springe, Kingdom of Hanover
Died 11 March 1932 (aged 69)
Halle, Weimar Republic
Education University of Göttingen
Occupation Biblical historical criticism
Known for Founding form criticism, Sitz im Leben
Hermann Gunkel (23 May 1862 – 11 March 1932), a German Old Testament scholar,
founded form criticism.[1] He also became a leading representative of the history
of religions school.[2] His major works cover Genesis and the Psalms, and his major
interests centered on the oral tradition behind written sources and in folklore.

Biography
Gunkel was born in Springe, Kingdom of Hanover,[2] where his father and grandfather
were Lutheran pastors.[3] He studied at the University of Göttingen and the
University of Giessen. He eventually taught at both universities in addition to
those of Berlin and Halle.[4]

Gunkel started his career in New Testament studies at Göttingen in 1888. However,
he was soon transferred to Halle (1889-1894) and told to concentrate on the Hebrew
Bible by the Prussian academic appointments authority. He went on to teach in
Berlin (1894-1907), where he made many inter-disciplinary contacts. His 1895 book,
Creation and Chaos in the Primeval Era and the Eschaton, compared the symbolism in
Genesis and Revelation 12. In 1901, he produced the first of three editions of
commentary on Genesis, Genesis Translated and Explained.[4]

In 1907, Gunkel finally obtained a full professorship at the University of Giessen.

There he produced the third and final edition of Genesis in 1910 and The Prophets
in 1917. He moved to the University of Halle-Wittenberg in 1920. He published
another standard work, his commentary on the book of Psalms, The Psalms: Translated
and Explained in 1926. Introduction to the Psalms was his last major project,
brought to completion by his student Joachim Begrich in 1933.[4]

Gunkel founded the series Research into the Religion and Literature of the Old and
New Testaments (1903-) with Wilhelm Bousset.[2] He also co-edited with Leopold
Zscharnack the second edition of the German religious encyclopedia Religion in
History and the Present (1927-1931), in which he authored over one hundred
articles.[5]

Work
"The influence of the methods pioneered by Gunkel upon subsequent Old Testament
study can scarcely be overestimated."

Ernest Nicholson, “Foreword: Hermann Gunkel as a Pioneer of Modern Old Testament

Study,” in Hermann Gunkel, Genesis (trans. Mark E. Biddle; Macon, GA: Mercer
University Press, 1997), 9.
Gunkel became a leading representative of the "history of religions school"
(Religionsgeschichtliche Schule), which addressed the history of traditions behind
the biblical text. In addition to Gunkel, the original group also included Albert
Eichhorn, William Wrede, Heinrich Hackmann, Alfred Rahlfs, Johannes Weiss, Wilhelm
Bousset, Ernst Troeltsch, and Wilhelm Heitmüller.[6] Gunkel and the school thought
that the oral traditions that form the origins of the Hebrew Bible were directly
tied to other Near Eastern religions.[7] Gunkel arguably produced his most
important work in his commentary on Genesis, published in three editions from 1901
to 1910.[8] In these works he created the new critical methodology of form
criticism (Formgeschichte).[9] Form criticism examined the genres used in the
biblical text to identify the Sitz im Leben (setting in life) that produced the
text. This approach was based on the assumption that each genre is organically
associated with a particular social and historical situation. Nineteenth-century
source criticism had examined the biblical text, especially the Pentateuch, on the
basis of style, vocabulary, theology, and other criteria to identify the basic
literary sources used to create the text. Form criticism allowed scholars to go
behind these larger literary sources by identifying the smaller and older sources
used by their authors.[10] Because of its utility, form criticism became immensely
influential in Germany and Europe during the 20th century, with important scholars
like Gerhard von Rad and Martin Noth applying and developing it.[citation needed]

Major works
The Influence of the Holy Spirit. Translated by Roy A. Harrisville and Phillips A.
Quanbeck. Philadelphia: Fortress Press (published 1979). 1888. ISBN 9780800605445.
Creation and Chaos in the Primeval Era and the Eschaton. Translated by K. William
Whitney Jr. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans (published 2006). 1895. ISBN
9780802828040.
Genesis: Translated and Explained (1st ed.). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
1901. (Introduction translated by William Herbert Carruth and published as The
Legends of Genesis in 1901.)
Israel and Babylon. Translated by E. S. B. and K. C. Hanson. Eugene, OR: Cascade
(published 2009). 1903. ISBN 1606082507.
Genesis: Translated and Explained. Translated by Mark E. Biddle (3rd ed.). Macon,
GA: Mercer University Press (published 1997). 1910. ISBN 9780865545175.
(Introduction available as The Stories of Genesis)
The Folktale in the Old Testament. Translated by M. D. Rutter. Sheffield: Almond
Press (published 1987). 1917. ISBN 9781850750314.
The Psalms: A Form-Critical Introduction. Translated by T. M. Horner. Philadelphia:
Fortress Press (published 1967). 1926. ISBN 9780800630430.
An Introduction to the Psalms. Completed by Joachim Begrich and translated by James
D. Nogalski. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press (published 1998). 1933. ISBN
9780865545793.
References