Robert Henry (R. H.) Charles, ( Cookstown, 6 August 1855–

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, 1931) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Anglican theologian, biblical scholar,

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

, and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. He is known particularly for his English translations of numerous apocryphal and

pseudepigraphal Pseudepigrapha (also anglicized as "pseudepigraph" or "pseudepigraphs") are falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past.Bauckham, Richard; "Pseu ...

Ancient Hebrew writings The earliest known precursor to Hebrew, an inscription in the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet, is the Khirbet Qeiyafa Inscription (11th–10th century BCE), if it can be considered Hebrew at that early a stage. By far the most varied, extensive, and his ...

, including the ''

Book of Jubilees The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Genesis (Leptogenesis), is an ancient Jewish religious work of 50 chapters (1,341 verses), considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as well as Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews), where it is ...

'' (1895), the '' Apocalypse of Baruch'' (1896), the ''

Ascension of Isaiah The ''Ascension of Isaiah'' is a pseudepigraphical Judeo-Christian text. Harris, Stephen L., ''Understanding the Bible''. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. Scholarly estimates regarding the date of the Ascension of Isaiah range from 70 AD to 175 AD.Hurtad ...

'' (1900), the '' Book of Enoch'' (1906), and the ''

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is a constituent of the apocryphal scriptures connected with the Bible. It is believed to be a pseudepigraphical work of the dying commands of the twelve sons of Jacob. It is part of the Oskan Armenian Ort ...

'' (1908), which have been widely used. He wrote the articles in the eleventh edition of ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (1911) attributed to the initials "R. H. C." He was born in Cookstown,

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, on 6 August 1855 and educated at the

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Queen's College, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

, and Trinity College, Dublin, with periods in

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and Switzerland. He gained a D.D. and became Professor of

Biblical Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

at the Trinity College. In 1906, he was elected Fellow of the

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and four years later he was appointed Fellow of the Merton College, Oxford. He also became

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in 1919, serving until his death in 1931. He is buried in

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Source "Queens University Belfast Collections & Archives " R H Charles married, Mary Lilias 1886...having no children.

Select bibliography

* ''The Book of Enoch'', Oxford: Clarendon, 1893, reprinted in 1895. Republished by Boston, MA:

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; 2003. * ''The Ethiopic Version of the Hebrew Book of Jubilees'', Oxford: Clarendon, 1895. * ''The Apocalypse of Baruch'', London: Black, 1896. * and W. R. Morfill, ''The Book of the Secrets of Enoch'', Oxford: Clarendon, 1896. Republished by Filiquarian Publishing, 2006. * ''The Assumption of Moses'', London: Black, 1897. * ''A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life'', London: Black, 1899
1999 reprint of 2nd edition
* ''Ascension of Isaiah'', London: Black, 1900. * ''The Book of Jubilees or the Little Genesis'', London: Black, 1902. * ''Encyclopaedia Biblica'' (contributor), 1903 * ''The Ethiopic Version of Book of Enoch'', Oxford: Clarendon, 1906. * ''The Greek Versions of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs'', Oxford: Clarendon, 1908. * trans. ''The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs''), London: Adam and Charles Black, 1908. * ''The Book of Enoch or 1 Enoch: Translated from the Editor's Ethiopic Text'', Oxford: Clarendon, 1912. * ''Fragments of a Zadokite Work. Translated from the Cambridge Hebrew Text and edited with Introduction, Notes, and Indexes'', Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1912. * ''Studies in the Apocalypse'', Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1913. * ''Eschatology: The Doctrine of a Future Life in Israel, Judaism and Christianity'', London: Black, 1913 (rpt. New York: Schocken 1963 with an introduction by G. W. Buchanan). * ed. ''The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament'', 2 vols.; Oxford: Clarendon, 1913. Republished in 1976. * '' Religious Development Between the Old and the New Testaments'', William and Norgate, 1914. Republished in 1925. * * ''Lectures on the Apocalypse'', Schweich Lecture for 1919. * ''A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St. John'', 2 vols., Edinburgh: Clark, 1920. * ''The Teaching of the New Testament on Divorce'', London: Williams & Norgate, 1921 * ''A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Daniel'', Oxford: Clarendon, 1929.

References

* T. W. Manson, "Charles, Robert Henry," in The Dictionary of National Biography, 1931–40, ed. L. G. Wickham Legg, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1949, pp. 169–70. * "Concise Dictionary of National Biography"

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, Robert Henry 1855 births 1931 deaths 19th-century British biblical scholars 20th-century British non-fiction writers 20th-century English theologians 20th-century Irish non-fiction writers Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Anglican biblical scholars Anglican priests from Northern Ireland Archdeacons of Westminster Bible commentators Canons of Westminster English Anglican theologians English Freemasons Fellows of the British Academy Ge'ez language Greek–English translators Irish Anglican theologians Irish biblical scholars Irish Freemasons People educated at the Belfast Royal Academy People from Cookstown People from Northern Ireland Translators of the Bible into English Fellows of Merton College, Oxford