Hermann Olshausen's Commentary on the New Testament was
incomparably the best work of its kind. No other
interpreter illustrates so fully the range of
significance pertaining to single words, the
distinctions between reputed synonyms, and the use and
force of particles. To him the Greek of the New
Testament seems like his native tongue, and he
penetrates with surpassing skill into the different
modes of self-consciousness indicated in different
writers by their peculiarities of diction, or in the
same writer at different times by his varying
phraseology. His Commentary on the first three Gospels
is based on their harmony, and presents their narratives
blended where they coincide, and alternating in the
order of events where their accounts differ.
Commenting on the Epistles, Olshausen abjures the
aphoristic style of interpretation, something which some
of the most distinguished expositors of today have not
succeeded in working themselves totally free of.
Olshausen's exegesis of every single text is derived
from its context, and from the main purpose of the
Epistle considered as an actual missive with a definite
intent. From his conclusions we often dissent, and it
seems to us that he occasionally detects in St. Paul
philosophic subtleties which could have had origins
nowhere else but in modern Germany; yet, where we cannot
accept his exegesis, we never fail to derive important
aid from him in determining our own (pp. 279-280).
Olshausen held tenaciously to the genuineness of the
four canonical gospels in an age when it was being
seriously threatened by attacks from modernistic
scholars. His Proof of the Genuineness of the Writings
of the New Testament, which is prefixed to the
commentary, is considered a classic in the field.
The great
German theologian Hermann Olshausen (August 21, 1796 -
September 4, 1839) was born at Oldeslohe in Holstein,
Germany.
He was
educated at the universities of Kiel (1814) and Berlin
(1816), where he was influenced by Friedrich Daniel
Ernst Schleiermacher and Joachim Neander. In 1820 he
became Privatdozent and in 1821 professor
extraordinarius at Berlin; in 1827 professor at
Königsberg, in 1834 at Erlangen.
Olshausen's
theological specialty was New Testament exegesis; his
New Testament Commentary (completed and revised by
Ebrard and Wiesinger) began to appear at Königsberg in
1830, and was translated into English in 6 vols
(Edinburgh, 1847-1849).
Previous to it
were his other works, Die Achtheit d. vier Kanon.
Evangelien (1823), Ein Wort über tieferen Schriftsinn
(1824) and Die biblische Schriftauslegung (1825).
Hard cover versions of these works
have sold for 10 times or more the cost of this disk. With
our CD, you can read, study, and print out the pages as many
times as you want.
