James Muilenburg (1 June 1896 – 10 May 1974) was a pioneer in the field of

rhetorical criticism Rhetorical criticism analyzes the symbolic artifacts of discourse—the words, phrases, images, gestures, performances, texts, films, etc. that people use to communicate. Rhetorical analysis shows how the artifacts work, how well they work, and how ...

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 ...

. Muilenburg was born in

Orange City, Iowa Orange City is a city in, and the county seat of, Sioux County, Iowa, United States. Its population was 6,267 in the 2020 census, an increase from 5,582 in 2000. Named after William of Orange, the community maintains its Dutch settler traditio ...

, and studied at

Hope College Hope College is a private Christian liberal arts college in Holland, Michigan. It was originally opened in 1851 as the Pioneer School by Dutch immigrants four years after the community was first settled. The first freshman college class matricu ...

, the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

, and

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. He taught at

Mt. Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private liberal arts college, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters (colleges), Seve ...

and the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...

before successive appointments as Billings Professor of Old Testament literature and Semitic Languages at the

Pacific School of Religion The Pacific School of Religion (PSR) is a private Protestant seminary in Berkeley, California. It maintains covenantal relationships with the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, and the Disciples of Christ, ensuring the school ...

(1936-1945), Davenport Professor of Hebrew and the Cognate Languages at Union Theological Seminary (1945-1963), and Gray Professor of Hebrew Exegesis and Old Testament at

San Francisco Theological Seminary The San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS) is a seminary in San Anselmo, California with historic ties to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). SFTS became embedded in a new Graduate School of Theology of the University of Redlands in 2019. It was ...

(1963-1972). Muilenburg was also one of the original translators of the Revised Standard Version. Muilenburg had two ''

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

en'' published in his honor: ''Israel's Prophetic Heritage : Essays in Honor of James Muilenburg'' (1962) and ''Rhetorical Criticism : Essays in Honor of James Muilenburg'' (1974). Contributors to the former included

Walther Eichrodt Walther Eichrodt (August 1, 1890 in Gernsbach, Baden – May 20, 1978 in Basel) was a German Old Testament scholar and Protestant theologian. From 1908 to 1914 he studied theology in Bethel, Greifswald and Heidelberg, obtaining his habilita ...

G. Ernest Wright George Ernest Wright (September 5, 1909 – August 29, 1974), was a leading Old Testament scholar and biblical archaeologist. An expert in Ancient Near Eastern archaeology, he was especially known for his work in the study and dating of pottery. H ...

Martin Noth Martin Noth (3 August 1902 – 30 May 1968) was a German scholar of the Hebrew Bible who specialized in the pre-Exilic history of the Hebrews and promoted the hypothesis that the Israelite tribes in the immediate period after the settlement in Can ...

, and

H. H. Rowley Harold Henry Rowley (24 March 1890 – 4 October 1969) was an English Old Testament scholar from the Baptist tradition. Biography H. H. Rowley was born in Leicester on 24 March 1890 to Richard Rowley and Emma (née Saunt) Rowley. The family Ba ...

; while contributors to the latter included

Walter Brueggemann Walter Brueggemann (born March 11, 1933) is an American Protestant Old Testament scholar and theologian who is widely considered one of the most influential Old Testament scholars of the last several decades. His work often focuses on the Hebrew p ...

, and

Norman Gottwald Norman Karol Gottwald (October 27, 1926 – March 11, 2022) was a 20th-century American Marxist, political activist, and Old Testament scholar who pioneered the use of social theory and method in biblical studies. Education Gottwald received a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muilenburg, James 1896 births 1974 deaths American biblical scholars Old Testament scholars Translators of the Bible into English People from Orange City, Iowa Hope College alumni University of Nebraska alumni Yale University alumni Mount Holyoke College faculty University of Maine faculty Union Theological Seminary (New York City) faculty San Francisco Theological Seminary faculty 20th-century translators