Carl Schmidt (26 August 1868, in

Hagenow Hagenow () is a German town in the southwest of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in the district of Ludwigslust-Parchim, 30 kilometers south of Schwerin. Its population is approximately 11,300 inhabitants (2013). Hagenow is part of the Hamburg Met ...

Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin The Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a territory in Northern Germany held by the House of Mecklenburg residing at Schwerin. It was a sovereign member state of the German Confederation and became a federated state of the North German Conf ...

– 17 April 1938, in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

) was a German

Coptologist Coptology is the science of Coptic studies, the study of the Coptic language and Coptic literature.What is Cop ...

. He made editions of various Coptic texts, and was active in Egypt in purchasing papyri for German universities. He also assisted Sir

Chester Beatty Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (7 February 1875 – 19 January 1968)Seanad 1985: "Chester Beatty died at the Princess Grace Clinic, Monte Carlo, on 19 January 1968, .. (some sources give this as 20 January). was an American-British mining magnate, p ...

in his papyri purchases. In 1887 Carl Schmidt studied classical

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and

comparative linguistics Comparative linguistics, or comparative-historical linguistics (formerly comparative philology) is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness. Genetic relatedness ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

. After just one year he moved to the University of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Adolf Harnack Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack (born Harnack; 7 May 1851 – 10 June 1930) was a Baltic German Lutheran theology, Lutheran theologian and prominent Church historian. He produced many religious publications from 1873 to 1912 (in which he is s ...

introduced him to

patristics Patristics or patrology is the study of the early Christian writers who are designated Church Fathers. The names derive from the combined forms of Latin ''pater'' and Greek ''patḗr'' (father). The period is generally considered to run from ...

and to the history of old Christian literature. The

Egyptologists This is a partial list of Egyptologists. An Egyptologist is any archaeologist, historian, linguist, or art historian who specializes in Egyptology, the scientific study of Ancient Egypt and its antiquities. Demotists are Egyptologists who speciali ...

Adolf Erman Johann Peter Adolf Erman (; 31 October 185426 June 1937) was a renowned German Egyptologist and lexicographer. Life Born in Berlin, he was the son of Georg Adolf Erman and grandson of Paul Erman and Friedrich Bessel. Educated at Leipzig and Ber ...

and

Georg Steindorff Georg Steindorff (November 12, 1861, Dessau – August 28, 1951, North Hollywood, California) was a German Egyptologist. Life Georg Steindorff was a graduate of the Egyptology seminars of the University of Göttingen. He earned a doctorate in ...

also had an impact. Steindorff taught him the

Coptic language Coptic (Bohairic Coptic: , ) is a language family of closely related dialects, representing the most recent developments of the Egyptian language, and historically spoken by the Copts, starting from the third-century AD in Roman Egypt. Coptic ...

. His doctorate was on Codex Brucianus. Harnack recognised the special abilities of Schmidt and supported his pupil as much as he could, however Schmidt's career was uncertain for a long time. In 1899 he attained the habilitation in

history of Christianity The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, Christian countries, and the Christians with their various denominations, from the 1st century to the present. Christianity originated with the ministry of Jesus, a Jewish teach ...

with "Plotins Stellung zum Gnostizismus und kirchlichen Christentum". With the support of Harnack in 1900 he became "wissenschaftlicher Beamter der Kirchenväterkommission", an official, which secured his income. Harnack himself was part of the Kirchenväterkommission.Stefan Rebenich: ''Theodor Mommsen und Adolf Harnack: Wissenschaft und Politik im Berlin des ausgehenden 19. Jahrhunderts.'' p. 219. The Kirchenväterkommission entrusted Schmidt with the publishing of Codex Brucianus and

Pistis Sophia ''Pistis Sophia'' ( grc-koi, Πίστις Σοφία) is a Gnostic text discovered in 1773, possibly written between the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. The existing manuscript, which some scholars place in the late 4th century, relates one Gnostic g ...

( Codex Askewianus). For the publishing of the meanwhile mutilated and partly destroyed Codex Brucianus, Schmidt was able to use the copies and notes of Karl Gottfried Woide and

Moritz Gotthilf Schwartze Moritz is the German equivalent of the name Maurice. It may refer to: People Given name * Saint Maurice, also called Saint Moritz, the leader of the legendary Roman Theban Legion in the 3rd century * Prince Moritz of Hesse (2007), the son of ...

, which were made, when the manuscript still was in better condition. He published the

Acts of Peter The Acts of Peter is one of the earliest of the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in Christianity, dating to the late 2nd century AD. The majority of the text has survived only in the Latin translation of the Codex Vercellensis, under the title ...

and the

Acts of Paul The Acts of Paul is one of the major works and earliest pseudepigraphal series from the New Testament apocrypha also known as Apocryphal Acts. This work is part of a body of literature either about or purporting to be written by Paul the Apostl ...

. In 1909, he became an Extraordinary Professor, in 1921 was made Honorary Professor and in 1928 Ordinary Professor of History of Christianity and for Coptic Language and Literature. Together with Harnack he was editor of ''Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur''. Carl Schmidt also was occupied with

Manichaean Manichaeism (; in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian ...

manuscripts and played an important role in purchasing Coptic manuscripts for the Berliner Papyrussammlung. Schmidt was a member of the

Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft The Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft (, ''German Oriental Society''), abbreviated DMG, is a scholarly organization dedicated to Oriental studies, that is, to the study of the languages and cultures of the Near East and the Far East, the broa ...

and of the

Gesellschaft für Kirchengeschichte ''Gemeinschaft'' () and ''Gesellschaft'' (), generally translated as "community and society", are categories which were used by the German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies in order to categorize social relationships into two types. The Gesellscha ...

. He died in 1938 in Cairo.

Important works

* ''De codice Bruciano seu de libris gnosticis qui in lingua coptice exstant commentatio. Pars I A qua haeresi et quo tempre »Pistis Sophia« et »Duo libri de Jeû« sint conscripti.'' Leipzig 1892. (Latin) *
Gnostische Schriften in koptischer Sprache aus dem Codex Brucianus
' herausgegeben, übersetzt und bearbeitet von Carl Schmidt. Hinrichs´sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1892. *
Koptisch-gnostische Schriften
'' Band 1: ''Pistis Sophia, die beiden Bücher des Jeû, unbekanntes altgnostisches Werk, Hrsg. im Auftrage der Kirchenväter-Commission der Königl. preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.'' Hinrichs, Leipzig 1905. In: ''Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte; Koptisch-Gnostische Schriften.'' Band 1. *
Acta Pauli aus der Heidelberger koptischen Papyrushandschrift Nr. 1
'' Herausgegeben von Carl Schmidt, Übersetzungen, Untersuchungen und Koptischer Text, Hinrichs, Leipzig 1904. *
Acta Pauli
'' Übersetzung Untersuchungen und koptischer Text, zweite erweiterte Ausgabe ohne Tafeln, Hinrichs, Leipzig 1905. *
Der erste Clemensbrief in altkoptischer Übersetzung
untersucht und herausgegeben von Carl Schmidt.'' Mit Lichtdruckfaksimile der Handschrift, Hinrichs, Leipzig 1908. *
Die alten Petrusakten
'' im Zusammenhang der apokryphen Apostellitteratur nebst einem neuentdeckten Fragment, untersucht von Carl Schmidt, Hinrichs, Leipzig 1903. In: ''Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur.'' herausgegeben von Oskar von Gebhardt und Adolf Harnack, Neue Folge Neunter Band, der ganzen Reihe XXIV Band. This translation refers to the papyrus manuscript P 8502 in the Berliner Papyrussammlung. *
Altchristliche Texte
'' bearbeitet von C. Schmidt und W. Schubart. Mit zwei Lichtdrucktafeln, Weidmannsche Buchhandlung in Berlin 1910. In: Berliner Klassikertexte herausgegeben von der Generalverwaltung der kgl. Museen zu Berlin, Heft VI Altchristliche Texte. Contains:

Ignatius Ignatius is a male given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name Religious * Ignatius of Antioch (35–108), saint and martyr, Apostolic Father, early Christian bishop * Ignatius of Constantinople (797–877), Cath ...

, Epistula ad Smyrnacos III-XII, 1.; Der Hirt des Hermas; Anthologie aus den Briefen des Basileios; Anthologie aus der Vita Mosis des Gregor von Nyssa; Osterfestbrief des Alexander, Patriarch von Alexandrien; Liturgische Stücke; Amulette. *
Gespräche Jesu mit seinen Jüngern nach der Auferstehung
ein katholisch-apostolisches Sendschreiben des 2. Jahrhunderts nach einem koptischen Papyrus des Institut de la Mission archéol. française au Caire'' unter Mitarbeit von Herrn Pierre Lacau ... herausgegeben, übersetzt und untersucht, nebst drei Exkursen von Carl Schmidt. Übersetzung des äthiopischen Textes von Dr. Isaak Wajnberg, Hinrichs, Leipzig 1919. * ''Neue Originalquellen des Manichäismus aus Ägypten, Vortrag gehalten auf der Jahreshauptversammlung der Gesellschaft für Kirchengeschichte in Berlin am 9. November 1932.'' Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1933. * ''Ein Mani-Fund in Ägypten: Originalschriften des Mani und seiner Schüler / von Carl Schmidt und

Hans Jakob Polotsky Hans Jakob Polotsky ( he, הנס יעקב פולוצקי; also Hans Jacob Polotsky, Hans Jakob Polotzky; 13 September 1905 – 10 August 1991) was an Israeli orientalist, linguist, and professor of Semitic languages and Egyptology at the Hebrew U ...

.'' In: ''Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften : Phil.-Hist. Klasse ; 1933,1.'' Verlag der Akadademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1933. * ''Manichäische Handschriften der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin. Kephalaia.'' Bd. 1. Hälfte 1. hrsg. unter der Leitung von Carl Schmidt, Stuttgart 1940.

Literature

* Stefan Rebenich: ''Theodor Mommsen und Adolf Harnack. Wissenschaft und Politik im Berlin des ausgehenden 19. Jahrhunderts.'' Berlin 1997 * Christoph Markschies: ''Carl Schmidt und kein Ende. Aus großer Zeit der Koptologie an der Berliner Akademie und der Theologischen Fakultät der Universität.'' In: ''

Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum The ''Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity'' is an academic journal published by Walter de Gruyter. It covers topics related to early Christianity and Patristics Patristics or patrology is the study of the e ...

'' 13, 2009, pp. 5–28. * Stefan Rebenich
"Da steht mir der Verstand still"
(PDF; 360 kB), Adolf Harnack und Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff über die Schmidt-Spiegelberg-Kontroverse. In: M. Mülke (Hrsg.), Wilamowitz und kein Ende, Hildesheim 2003, pp. 189–207. *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Carl 1868 births 1938 deaths People from Hagenow People from the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Coptologists German antiquarians German male non-fiction writers