Christian David Ginsburg (, 25 December 1831 – 7 March 1914) was a Polish-born British
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...
scholar and a student of the
Masoretic
The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...
tradition in
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in th ...
.
He was born to a Jewish family in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...
but converted to
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
at the age of 15.
Coming to
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
shortly after the completion of his education in the
Rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...
nic College at Warsaw, Ginsburg continued his study of the
Hebrew Scriptures
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach" '' Megillot''. The first result was a translation of the '' Song of Songs'', with a historical and critical commentary, published in 1857. A similar interpretation of ''
Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes (; hbo, קֹהֶלֶת, Qōheleṯ, grc, Ἐκκλησιαστής, Ekklēsiastēs) is one of the Ketuvim ("Writings") of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly us ...
Essenes
The Essenes (; Hebrew: , ''Isiyim''; Greek: Ἐσσηνοί, Ἐσσαῖοι, or Ὀσσαῖοι, ''Essenoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi'') were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st ce ...
, and the ''Kabbala'', kept the author prominently before biblical students while he was preparing the first sections of his ''magnum opus'', the critical study of the ''Masorah''.
Magnum opus
Beginning in 1867 with the publication of Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah's ''Introduction to the Rabbinic Bible, Hebrew and English, with notices'', and the ''Masoret haMasoret'' of
Elias Levita
Elia Levita (13 February 146928 January 1549) ( he, אליהו בן אשר הלוי אשכנזי), also known as Elijah Levita, Elias Levita, Élie Lévita, Elia Levita Ashkenazi, Eliahu Levita, Eliyahu haBahur ("Elijah the Bachelor"), Elye Bok ...
, in
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 ...
, with translation and commentary, Ginsburg took rank as an eminent Hebrew scholar. In 1870, he was appointed one of the first members of the committee for the revision of the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
version of the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
under contract with the
Trinitarian Bible Society
The Trinitarian Bible Society was founded in 1831 "to promote the Glory of God and the salvation of men by circulating, both at home and abroad, in dependence on the Divine blessing, the Holy Scriptures, which are given by inspiration of God and ...
. His life-work culminated in the publication of the ''Masorah'', in three volumes (1880–1886), followed by the ''Massoretico-critical edition of the Hebrew Bible'' (1894), and the elaborat introduction to it (1897).
Other works
Ginsburg had one predecessor in the field; the learned
Jacob ben Hayyim
Jacob ben Hayyim ben Isaac ibn Adonijah or Jacob ben Chayyim (c. 1470 – before 1538), was a scholar of the Masoretic textual notes on the Hebrew Bible, and printer. Born in Tunis (hence sometimes called Tunisi), he left his native country to esc ...
, who, in 1524–1525, had published the second ''Rabbinic Bible'' (Mikraot Gedolot), containing what has ever since been known as the ''Masorah''. Still, the materials were not available, and criticism was not sufficiently advanced for a complete edition. Ginsburg took up the subject almost where it was left off by those early pioneers, and he collected portions of the ''Masorah'' from the countless manuscripts scattered throughout
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and the
East
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
.
Ginsburg published ''Facsimiles of Manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible'' (1897 and 1898), and ''The Text of the Hebrew Bible in Abbreviations''(1903), in addition to a critical treatise ''on the relationship of the so-called Codex Babylonicus of A.D. 916 to the Eastern Recension of the Hebrew Text''(1899, for private circulation). In the last-mentioned work, he seeks to prove that the ''St. Petersburg Codex'', for so many years accepted as the original text of the Babylonian school, is, in reality, a Palestinian text that was carefully altered to render it conformable to the Babylonian recension. He subsequently undertook the preparation of a new edition of the Hebrew Bible for the
British and Foreign Bible Society
The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world.
The So ...
.
He also contributed many articles to John Kitto's ''Encyclopaedia'', William Smith's "Dictionary of Christian Biography and the
Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...
(1877–1887).
References
*
Selected bibliography
*The Massorah; Compiled from Manuscripts; BAND I, London/Vienna, Brög, 1880; Digital Copy Ginsburg, The Massorah Ia