Burnett Hillman Streeter (17 November 1874 – 10 September 1937) was an English

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

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 textual critic.

Life

Streeter was born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, on 17 November 1874 and educated at

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

. He was ordained in 1899 and was a member of the Archbishops' Commission on Doctrine in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

(from 1922 to 1937). In 1910, Streeter formed a group of Oxford dons known as The Group, which met weekly to discuss theological topics. He attended the 1935 Nuremberg Rally with Frank Buchman. He wrote a dozen volumes in the fields of

philosophy of religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known Text (literary theo ...

comparative religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including human migration, migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study ...

, and

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 ...

textual studies. He was

Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture The position of Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture was established at the University of Oxford in 1847. This professorship in the critical interpretation or explanation of biblical texts, a field known as exegesis, was ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

from 1932 to 1933, when he became Provost of Queen's College. The most important work of Streeter was ''The Four Gospels: A Study of Origins'' (1924), in which he proposed a "

four-document hypothesis The four-document hypothesis or four-source hypothesis is an explanation for the relationship between the three Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It posits that there were at least four sources to the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke ...

" (instead of the "

two-source hypothesis The two-source hypothesis (or 2SH) is an explanation for the synoptic problem, the pattern of similarities and differences between the three Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It posits that the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke were base ...

") as a new solution to the

synoptic problem The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical wording. They stand in contrast to John, whose c ...

. In this work, he also developed the theory of "local texts" in the manuscript transmission of the

(pp. 27–50). Johann Leonhard Hug was his forerunner. Streeter found a new textual family: Caesarean text-type. He remarked a close textual relationship between

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (; Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), also called the Sinai Bible, is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonica ...

and

Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...

Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...

. Streeter and his wife, Irene, were the only passengers on a Koolhoven FK.50, HB-AMO which crashed into Mount Kelleköpfli on a flight from

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

on 10 September 1937. The crew started the descent to Basel in low visibility due to foggy conditions. The plane hit Mount Kelleköpfli located near Waldenburg, 25 kilometres southeast of Basel airport. The pilot Walter Eberschweiler and the Streeters were killed immediately, while the radio operator/navigator Hans Huggler survived the accident, but was severely injured.

Works

''Foundations: A Statement of Christian Belief in Terms of Modern Thought''
(Macmillan and Co.: London 1912).
''Restatement and Reunion: A Study in First Principles''
(Macmillan and Co.: London 1914)
''War: This war (1914–1918) and the Sermon on the Mount''
(Oxford University Press: London 1915)
''Immortality: an Essay in Discovery Coordinating Scientific Psychical and Biblical Research''
(Macmillan Company: New York 1917)
''Woman and the Church''
(T. Fisher Unwin: London 1917)
''God and the Struggle for Existence''
(Association Press: New York 1919)
''The Message of Sadhu Sundar Singh: A Study in Mysticism and Practical Religion''
(Macmillan Company: New York 1921).
''The Spirit: the Relation of God and Man, Considered from the Standpoint of Recent Philosophy and Science''
(Macmillan Company: New York 1922).

(4th Revised Edition, Macmillan and Co.: London 1930).
''Reality: A New Correlation of Science and Religion''
(Macmillan and Co.: London 1926); reprinted subsequently.
''Primitive Church Studied with Special Reference to the Origins of the Christian Ministry''
(Macmillan Company: New York 1929).
''The Chained Library''
(Burt Franklin: New York 1931). * ''The Buddha and the Christ'',

Bampton Lectures The Bampton Lectures at the University of Oxford, England, were founded by a bequest of John Bampton. They have taken place since 1780. They were a series of annual lectures; since the turn of the 20th century they have sometimes been biennial ...

(1932).
''The God who speaks''
(Macmillan Company: New York 1936).

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * *

External links