Joachim Begrich (13 June 1900 – 26 April 1945) 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 ...

and

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

born in Predel, a hamlet now belonging to

Elsteraue Elsteraue is a municipality in the Burgenlandkreis district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated near the White Elster river, about southwest of Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of S ...

in the state of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

. He was the son of a pastor and the son-in-law of

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 ...

scholar

Hermann Gunkel Hermann Gunkel (23 May 1862 – 11 March 1932), a German Old Testament scholar, founded form criticism. He also became a leading representative of the history of religions school. His major works cover Genesis and the Psalms, and his major inte ...

(1862–1932). He studied

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 ...

Assyriology Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , '' -logia'') is the archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic study of Assyria and the rest of ancient Mesopotamia (a region that encompassed what is now modern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southea ...

and

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

, then transferred to Halle, where he focused his studies on theology. In 1923/24 he attended the

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin language, Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Po ...

, earning his doctorate at Halle in 1926.Joachim Begrich
Catalogus Professorum Halensis In 1930 he was appointed associate professor of

Old Testament studies 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 For ...

at the University of Leipzig.Prof. Dr. theol. Joachim Begrich
Professorenkatalog der Universität Leipzig During World War II he served as a paramedic, and lost his life in Dussoi, near

Belluno Belluno (; lld, Belum; vec, Belùn) is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Located about north of Venice, Belluno is the capital of the province of Belluno and the most important city in the Eastern Dolomites region ...

, Italy less than two weeks prior to the end of hostilities in Europe. Begrich was the author of a scholarly work on the

chronology Chronology (from Latin ''chronologia'', from Ancient Greek , ''chrónos'', "time"; and , '' -logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. I ...

of the kings of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and Judah called ''Die Chronologie der Könige von Israel und Juda'' (1929), and a book on "

Deutero-Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( he, ספר ישעיהו, ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BCE ...

" titled ''Studien zu Deuterojesaja'' (1938). He also assisted Hermann Gunkel with the latter's ''Einleitung in die Psalmen'', later translated into English and published with the title ''Introduction to Psalms : the genres of the religious lyric of Israel''. Two of his most memorable essays are on the priestly oracle of salvation/deliverance and the priestly Torah; these appear in his ''Gesammelte Studien''.

Bibliography

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References

1900 births 1945 deaths People from Burgenlandkreis People from the Province of Saxony 20th-century German Protestant theologians German male non-fiction writers Academic staff of Leipzig University German military personnel killed in World War II {{Germany-academic-bio-stub