Charles Taylor (1840–1908) was an English

Christian Hebraist A Christian Hebraist is a scholar of Hebrew who comes from a Christian family background/belief, or is a Jewish adherent of Christianity. The main area of study is that commonly known as the Old Testament to Christians (and Tanakh to Jews), but C ...

Life

Taylor was born on 27 May 1840 in London. He was educated at

King's College School King's College School, also known as Wimbledon, KCS, King's and KCS Wimbledon, is a public school in Wimbledon, southwest London, England. The school was founded in 1829 by King George IV, as the junior department of King's College London and ...

, and

St. John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...

, where graduated BA as 9th wrangler in 1862 and became a fellow of his college in 1864. He became Master of St John's in 1881. In 1874 he published an edition of '' Coheleth''; in 1877 ''Sayings of the Jewish Fathers'', an elaborate edition of the ''

Pirḳe Abot Pirkei Avot ( he, פִּרְקֵי אָבוֹת; also transliterated as ''Pirqei Avoth'' or ''Pirkei Avos'' or ''Pirke Aboth''), which translates to English as Chapters of the Fathers, is a compilation of the ethical teachings and maxims from ...

'' (2 ed., 1897); and in 1899 a valuable appendix giving a list of manuscripts. Taylor discovered the Jewish source of the ''

Didache The ''Didache'' (; ), also known as The Lord's Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations (Διδαχὴ Κυρίου διὰ τῶν δώδεκα ἀποστόλων τοῖς ἔθνεσιν), is a brief anonymous early Christian tr ...

'' in his ''Teaching of the Twelve Apostles'', 1886, and published also an ''Essay on the Theology of the Didache'', 1889. Taylor took a great interest in

Solomon Schechter Solomon Schechter ( he, שניאור זלמן הכהן שכטר‎; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a Moldavian-born British-American rabbi, academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the ...

's work in Cairo, and the ''

genizah A genizah (; , also ''geniza''; plural: ''genizot'' 'h''or ''genizahs'') is a storage area in a Jewish synagogue or cemetery designated for the temporary storage of worn-out Hebrew-language books and papers on religious topics prior to proper ceme ...

'' fragments presented to the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

are known as the Taylor-Schechter Collection. He was joint editor with Schechter of ''The Wisdom of Ben Sira'', 1899. He published separately ''Cairo Genizah Palimpsests'', 1900. He wrote also several works on geometry and participated in the creation and running of the journal ''

Messenger of Mathematics The ''Messenger of Mathematics'' is a defunct British mathematics journal. The founding editor-in-chief was William Allen Whitworth with Charles Taylor and volumes 1–58 were published between 1872 and 1929. James Whitbread Lee Glaisher was the ...

''. On 19 October 1907 he married Margaret Sophia Dillon, daughter of the Hon. Conrad Dillon. He died in Nuremberg on 12 August 1908Janus: Papers of Charles Taylor
/ref> and is buried in the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

*''Who was Who: Vol. 1: 1897–1915''. London: A. & C. Black

External links

*
Charles Taylor
in

The Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Charles 1840 births 1908 deaths Christian Hebraists People educated at King's College School, London Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge Masters of St John's College, Cambridge Academic journal editors Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge