Alexander Souter (14 August 1873 – 17 January 1949) was a Scottish

biblical scholar Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Jewish usage and the Christian Bible including the can ...

and university professor

Biography

Souter was born in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, and studied at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

and the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. He subsequently became a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

assistant at Aberdeen. While at Cambridge he studied under J. E. B. Mayor, whom Souter would credit with influence on his later scholarship. In 1903 he was appointed professor of

New Testament Greek The New Testament was written in a form of Koine Greek, which was the common language of the Eastern Mediterranean from the conquests of Alexander the Great (335–323 BC) until the evolution of Byzantine Greek (c. 600). Hellenistic Judaism The ...

and

Exegesis Exegesis ( ; from the Ancient Greek, Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation (philosophy), interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Bible, Biblical works. In modern us ...

at Mansfield College, Oxford. In 1911 he moved back to the University of Aberdeen, succeeding William Ramsay as Regius Professor of Humanity, in which position he remained until his retirement in 1937. Upon his retirement, Souter moved back to Oxford, where he became editor-in-chief of the proposed ''

Oxford Latin Dictionary The ''Oxford Latin Dictionary'' (or ''OLD'') is the standard English lexicon of Classical Latin, compiled from sources written before AD 200. Begun in 1933, it was published in fascicles between 1968 and 1982; a lightly revised second edition ...

''. The outbreak of World War II prevented its completion within his lifetime, but Souter did publish a smaller work borne of this endeavour, ''Glossary of Later Latin, A.D. 150–600''. Souter married Elizabeth Barr Anderson, daughter of Aberdeen Photographer William Blair Anderson. They had three daughters, Isabella Elsie Souter (who married Alfred Thomson Barclay Dickson) born in 1900, Elizabeth Barr Anderson Souter (who died suddenly at the age of 16) born in 1903 and Alexandra Margaret Souter (known as Peggy, who married Peter Jackson) born in 1908. His brother-in-law was William Blair Anderson, who was Kennedy Professor of Latin at Cambridge University and a leading Latin scholar of his day. A portrait of Souter by his brother John Bulloch Souter is held by Aberdeen University.

Scholarship

Souter's two main interests were in the text of the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

and in early Latin commentaries on the

Pauline epistles The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest ext ...

. He published an edition of the New Testament in 1910 (revised edition 1947) giving the Greek text on which the English

Revised Version The Revised Version (RV) or English Revised Version (ERV) of the Bible is a late-19th-century British revision of the King James Version. It was the first (and remains the only) officially authorised and recognised revision of the King James Vers ...

of 1881 was based, along with commentary on variants. His work on the Pauline epistles included proposed revisions to many accepted attributions, notably of Ambrosiaster, as well as numerous commentaries on and editions of other works. A public lecture is held annually in the University of Aberdeen in memory of this scholar.

Works

* * * ''Tertullian’s Treatises Concerning Prayer, Concerning Baptism'', London: SPCK, 1919. * ''Hints on Translation from Latin into English'', London: SPCK, 1920 * ''Hints on the Study of Latin (A.D. 125–750)'', London: SPCK, 1920 * ''Tertullian against Praxeas'', London: SPCK, 1920 * ''Tertullian Concerning the Resurrection of the Flesh'', London: SPCK, 1922 * * ''A Glossary of Later Latin to 600 A.D.'', London: Oxford University Press, 1949

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Souter, Alexander 1873 births 1949 deaths Biblical studies Scottish classical scholars Writers from Perth, Scotland Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Academics of the University of Aberdeen Fellows of Mansfield College, Oxford Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America