William Henry Green (January 27, 1824February 10, 1900), was an American scholar of the

Hebrew language 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 ...

. He was born in Groveville, near

Bordentown, New Jersey Bordentown is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 3,924.Jonathan Dickinson Jonathan Dickinson (1663–1722) was a merchant from Port Royal, Jamaica who was shipwrecked on the southeast coast of Florida in 1696, along with his family and the other passengers and crew members of the ship. The party was held captive by Job ...

, first president of the College of New Jersey (now

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

). His ancestors had been closely connected with the Presbyterian church. He graduated in 1840 from Lafayette College, where he was tutor in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

(1840–1842) and adjunct professor (1843–1844). In 1846 he graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary, and was instructor in Hebrew there from 1846 to 1849. He was ordained in 1848 and was pastor of the Central Presbyterian church of Philadelphia from 1849 to 1851. From August 1851 until his death, in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

, aged 75, he was professor of Biblical and Oriental Literature in Princeton Theological Seminary. From 1859 the title of his chair was Oriental and Old Testament Literature. Green was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1863. In 1868 Green refused the presidency of

Princeton College Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

; as senior professor he was long acting head of the Theological Seminary. His ''Grammar of the Hebrew Language'' (1861, revised 1888) was a distinct improvement in method on

Gesenius Gesenius is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Justus Gesenius (1601–1673), German theologian *Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius (3 February 178623 October 1842) was a German orientalist ...

, Rödiger, Ewald and Nordheimer. All his knowledge of Semitic languages he used in a conservative Higher Criticism, which is maintained in the following works: *''The

Pentateuch The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the sa ...

Vindicated from the Aspersions of Bishop Colenso'' (1863) *''Moses and the Prophets'' (1883) *''The Hebrew Feasts in their Relation to Recent Critical Hypotheses Concerning the Pentateuch'' (1885) *''The Unity of the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...

'' (1895) *''The Higher Criticism of the Pentateuch'' (1895) *''A General Introduction to 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 ...

'', vol. i. Canon (1898), vol. ii. Text (1899) Additionally, in 1890 he published a highly influential article in ''Bibliotheca Sacra'' entitled "Primeval Chronology"Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies: Primeval Chronology
/ref> in which he strongly criticized Irish Archbishop James Ussher's popular chronology of the world back to Creation and its association with the

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

: He was the scholarly leader of the orthodox wing of American

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 ...

ism, and was the

moderator of the General Assembly The moderator of the General Assembly is the chairperson of a General Assembly, the highest court of a Presbyterian or Reformed church. Kirk sessions and presbyteries may also style the chairperson as moderator. The Oxford Dictionary states th ...

of 1891. Green was chairman of the

committee of the Anglo-American Bible revision committee.

References

Attribution: * That article's endnotes: **See the articles by John D Davis in ''The Biblical World'', new series, vol. xv., pp. 406–413 (Chicago, 1900), and ''

The Presbyterian and Reformed Review ''The Princeton Theological Review'' is an annual academic journal published by students of Princeton Theological Seminary. It was first published with the title ''Biblical Repertory'' in 1825 by the Princeton Seminary graduate and professor, Charl ...

'', vol. xi. pp. 377–396 (Philadelphia, 1900).

External links

A Grammar of the Hebrew Language
by William Henry Green, 1872 Third Edition; PDF available on Internet Archive * {{DEFAULTSORT:Green, William Henry 1824 births 1900 deaths Lafayette College faculty American Presbyterians Lafayette College alumni People from Princeton, New Jersey Princeton Theological Seminary alumni