DUHM, BERNHARD°

DUHM, BERNHARD ° (1847–1928), German Protestant biblical scholar. Born in Bingum on the Ems, East Friesland, Duhm studied at Goettingen (chiefly under H. Ewald). In 1877 he was appointed professor at Goettingen University and in 1899, at Basle University. His activities in Basle, which included teaching in secondary schools and lecturing (Das Geheimnis in der Religion, 1896; Das kommende Reich Gottes, 1912; Eng. trans., The Evercoming Kingdom of God, 1914), extended beyond the academic sphere. His main works were devoted to the study of the Prophets. His early work Die Theologie der Propheten… (1875) reflects a somewhat dogmatic understanding of the prophets, whom Duhm regarded as analogous to the writers and orators of other ancient peoples, in particular the Greeks. In this work Duhm (simultaneously with Well-hausen, with whom he was friendly) rejects the presupposition of an older "Mosaic" law. His last work on the prophets, Israels Propheten (1918), is an overall exposition of the Israelite religion, based on his previous exegetical studies in his commentaries on Isaiah (1892), Jeremiah (1901), and Minor Prophets (1911), all of which contain impressive translations. His outstanding capacity for understanding the prophets, especially the irrational aspects of prophetic vision and audition and their subsequent expression, enabled him to set forth a frequently violent (e.g., in conjectural criticism of texts), but profound and imposing, portrayal of the prophetic personalities. Duhm isolated the Servant Songs of Isaiah 40–55 from Deutero-Isaiah. He proposed the separation of Isaiah 56–66 (as "Trito-Isaiah") from Isaiah 40–55 and the rejection of the authenticity of Jeremiah's prose orations. Of less importance are his commentaries on Job (1897) and Psalms (1899). The latter work contains exaggerated historical criticism (e.g., he dates most of the psalms to the Hasmonean period).

add. bibliography:

W. Thiel, dbi, 1, 310–11.

[Rudolf Smend]