Oswald Thompson Allis (September 9, 1880 – January 12, 1973) was an American Presbyterian

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 ...

and

Bible scholar Biblical criticism is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible. During the eighteenth century, when it began as ''historical-biblical criticism,'' it was based on two distinguishing characteristics: (1) the concern to ...

Biography

He was born in 1880 and studied at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

and

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of t ...

. He received a master's degree from

Princeton University 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 ...

and a doctorate from 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 ...

. Later, Allis received an honorary

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...

degree from Hampden Sydney College in 1927. Allis taught in the Department of Semitic Philology at

(1910–1929). In 1929, Allis,

J. Gresham Machen John Gresham Machen (; 1881–1937) was an American Presbyterian New Testament scholar and educator in the early 20th century. He was the Professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary between 1906 and 1929, and led a revolt against modernist ...

, Robert Dick Wilson and others founded

Westminster Theological Seminary Westminster Theological Seminary is a Protestant theological seminary in the Reformed theological tradition in Glenside, Pennsylvania. It was founded by members of the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1929 after Princeton chose to ...

. Allis was independently wealthy and it was his property in Philadelphia which initially served as the home of the new seminary. He taught at Westminster for six years, and resigned in 1935 to devote himself to writing and study. Two of his more notable works are ''Prophecy and the Church'' (1945) and ''God Spake By Moses'' (1951). Allis was a conservative Christian theologian who believed in

Mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

authorship of 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 ...

as well as single authorship of the

book of 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 B ...

. He served as editor of the '' Princeton Theological Review'' from 1918 to 1929. In 1946 he lectured at

Columbia Theological Seminary Columbia Theological Seminary is a Presbyterian seminary in Decatur, Georgia. It is one of ten theological institutions affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). History Columbia Theological Seminary was founded in 1828 in Lexington, Geor ...

. Allis also condemned dispensationalism as a modern error in his journal article, 'Modern Dispensationalism and the Doctrine of the Unity of Scripture,' published in the Evangelical Quarterly (1936): " Higher Criticism is the error of the Bible-disbeliever, “Dispensationalism “, as it is called, is the error of many a Bible-believer."

Legacy

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 ...

in his honor was published in 1974 under the title ''The Law and the Prophets''. Contributors included

Cornelius Van Til Cornelius Van Til (May 3, 1895 – April 17, 1987) was a Dutch-American reformed philosopher and theologian, who is credited as being the originator of modern presuppositional apologetics. A graduate of Calvin College, Van Til later received ...

, John Murray, R. Laird Harris, Walter Kaiser,

Allan Harman Allan Macdonald Harman, (born 7 June 1936)Douglas J. W. Milne (ed.), ''Israel and the Church: Essays in Honour of Allan Macdonald Harman'' (2001). is an Australian Presbyterian theologian and Old Testament scholar. He has been described as a "w ...

John Whitcomb John Clement Whitcomb Jr. (June 22, 1924 – February 5, 2020) was an American theologian and young Earth creationist. Along with Henry M. Morris, he wrote ''The Genesis Flood'', which influenced many conservative American Christians to adopt flo ...

Meredith Kline Meredith George Kline (December 15, 1922 – April 14, 2007) was an American theologian and Old Testament scholar. He also had degrees in Assyriology and Egyptology. Academic career Kline received his AB from Gordon College, Th.B. and Th.M. ...

and E. J. Young.

Books

*''The Five Books of Moses''. The Presbyterian and Reformed Pub. Co. (1943) *''The Old Testament: Its Claims and Its Critics'' *''The Five Books of Moses: A reexamination of the modern theory that the Pentateuch is a late compilation from diverse and conflicting sources by authors and editors whose identity is completely unknown'' *''God Spake by Moses: An Exposition of the Pentateuch'' (1951) *''Prophecy and the Church: An examination of the claim of dispensationalists that the Christian church is a mystery parenthesis which interrupts the fulfilment ... the kingdom prophecies of the Old Testament'' (1945) *''The Unity of Isaiah: A Study in Prophecy'' (1977) *''Dr. Moffat's "New Translation " of the Old Testament'' *''The New English Bible, the New Testament of 1961: A comparative study'' *''Revision or New Translation?: The Revised Standard Version of 1946: A comparative study''

References

External links

The Mosaic Tradition and the Consequences Of Rejecting it
– excerpt from ''The Five Books of Moses'' by Allis {{DEFAULTSORT:Allis, Oswald T. 1880 births 1973 deaths American Calvinist and Reformed theologians American biblical scholars Princeton Theological Seminary alumni Westminster Theological Seminary faculty Princeton Theological Seminary faculty Humboldt University of Berlin alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Academic journal editors Princeton University alumni People from Nether Providence Township, Pennsylvania Columbia Theological Seminary faculty 20th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians Old Testament scholars