Baron Hermann von Soden (16 August 1852 – 15 January 1914) was a German

Biblical scholar Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 Fo ...

, minister, professor of divinity, and textual theorist.

Life

Born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, on August 16, 1852, Soden was educated at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

. In 1881 he was appointed as the minister at

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

- Striesen and in 1887 he became minister of the Jerusalem Church in

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 ...

. In 1889 he also became a ''

privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...

'', a form of tutor, in the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

, and four years later was appointed as an extraordinary professor of

divinity Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine

. He fought for a more

presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

and democratic constitution in the congregations of the

Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces The Prussian Union of Churches (known under multiple other names) was a major Protestant church body which emerged in 1817 from a series of decrees by Frederick William III of Prussia that united both Lutheran and Reformed denominations in Pru ...

. His grave is preserved in the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

''Friedhof II der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirchengemeinde'' (Cemetery No. II of the congregations of the

Jerusalem's Church Jerusalem Church (german: Jerusalem(s)kirche, Jerusalemer Kirche) is one of the churches of the Evangelical Congregation in the Friedrichstadt (under this name since 2001), a member of the Protestant umbrella organisation Evangelical Church of ...

and the New Church) in

Berlin-Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in 1990 it has ...

, south of the

Hallesches Tor The Hallesches Tor was located in today's Berlin district Kreuzberg south of Mehringplatz. Today, as a historic monument listed underground station on the site of the former gate bears the name ''Hallesches Tor''. It is a major transfer point f ...

. Soden introduced a new notation of manuscripts and also developed a new theory of textual history. He believed that in the 4th century there were in existence three recensions of the text of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

, which he distinguished as ''K'', ''H'' and ''I''. After establishing the text of ''I'', ''H'' and ''K'', Soden reconstructed a hypothetical text, ''I-H-K'', which he believed to have been their ancestor. He then tried to show that this text was known to all the writers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries Soden died in a railway accident in

on January 15, 1914. His descendant Wolfram von Soden became a noted Assyriologist.

Works

His most important book is ''Die Schriften des neuen Testaments, in ihrer ältesten erreichbaren Textgestalt / hergestellt auf Grund ihrer Textgeschichte'' (4 vols., Berlin: Glaue, 1902-1910); certainly the most important work on the text of the

which had been published since Westcott and Hort's ''

The New Testament in the Original Greek ''The New Testament in the Original Greek'' is a Greek-language version of the New Testament published in 1881. It is also known as the Westcott and Hort text, after its editors Brooke Foss Westcott (1825–1901) and Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828 ...

''. Other works include: * ''Der Brief des Apostels Paulus an die Philipper'', Freiburg i. Br., 1880. * ''Hebräerbrief, Briefe des Petrus, Jakobus, Judas'', Freiburg i. Br., 1890. * ''Und was thut die evangelische Kirche? Erwogen angesichts der Reichstagswahlen, zumal in unseren Großstädten'', 3rd. ed., Berlin: Nauck, 1890 (a pamphlet written during the campaign for the Reichstag election) * ''Die Briefe an die Kolosser, Epheser, Philemon; die Pastoralbriefe'', Freiburg i. Br., 1891. * “Untersuchungen über neutestamentliche Schriften” in ''Protestantisches Jahrbuch für theologische Studien und Schriftkommentar'', 1895–1897.
''Palästina und seine Geschichte, sechs volkstümliche Vorträge''
Leipzig, 1899. * ''Die wichtigsten Fragen im Leben Jesu'', Ferienkurs-Vorträge Berlin, 1904. * ''Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments in ihrer ältesten erreichbaren Textgestalt hergestellt auf Grund ihrer Textgeschichte. 4 volumes, Berlin, 1902–1913. * ''Urchristliche Literaturgeschichte, die Schriften des Neuen Testaments'', Berlin: Duncker, 1905. * ''Hat Jesus gelebt? Aus den geschichtlichen Urkunden beantwortet von Hermann von Soden'', Berlin, 1910. He contributed to the 1903 ''

Encyclopaedia Biblica ''Encyclopaedia Biblica: A Critical Dictionary of the Literary, Political and Religion History, the Archeology, Geography and Natural History of the Bible'' (1899), edited by Thomas Kelly Cheyne and J. Sutherland Black, is a critical encyclopedi ...

'' and to the "Hand-Commentar zum Neuen Testament", several editions, started in 1855 by Heinrich Julius Holtzmann and Hans von Soden

References

External links

*
Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments in ihrer ältesten erreichbaren Textgestalt hergestellt auf Grund ihrer Textgeschichte Vol. 1
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

.
Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments in ihrer ältesten erreichbaren Textgestalt hergestellt auf Grund ihrer Textgeschichte Vol. 1
at the

CSNTM The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to digitally preserve Greek New Testament manuscripts. Toward that end, CSNTM takes digital photographs of manuscripts at institu ...

.
Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments in ihrer ältesten erreichbaren Textgestalt hergestellt auf Grund ihrer Textgeschichte Vol. 2
at the

.
Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments in ihrer ältesten erreichbaren Textgestalt hergestellt auf Grund ihrer Textgeschichte Vol. 3
at the

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Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments in ihrer ältesten erreichbaren Textgestalt hergestellt auf Grund ihrer Textgeschichte Vol. 4
at the

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Soden, Hermann, Freiherr von 1852 births 1914 deaths Educators from Cincinnati German scholars 19th-century German Protestant theologians 20th-century German Protestant theologians Critics of the Christ myth theory German biblical scholars New Testament scholars Religious leaders from Ohio German male non-fiction writers Barons of Germany 19th-century male writers