Wellhausen, Julius | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

WELLHAUSEN, JULIUS (1844–1918), was a German Orientalist of signal importance for the study of the history of ancient Israel and early Islam. Wellhausen began his career as professor of Old Testament at the University of Greifswald (1872–1882) and continued as Semitist at the universities of Halle (an der Saale, 1882–1885), Marburg (1885–1892), and Göttingen (1892–1913). He received his early training from Heinrich Ewald (1803–1875) in Göttingen. Wellhausen represents a high point in the literary-critical method in Protestant historical theology: For Wellhausen the critical analysis of literary tradition according to motives and sources, whether in the Old and New Testaments or early Islam, constituted the basis for any historical research. He was critical of the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule (e.g., the work of Hermann Gunkel) that was in the early stages of development at this time.

Wellhausen's work began with his Old Testament studies. With his works "Die Composition des Hexateuchs" (in Jahrbücher für deutsche Theologie, 1876–1877; published as a book in 1885) and Geschichte Israels (vol. 1, 1878; 2d ed. published as Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels, 1883), he provided the final breakthrough in the Pentateuch criticism that had been initiated by Edvard Reuss, Karl Heinrich Graf, Abraham Kuenen, and Wilhelm Vatke. With this advance in research Wellhausen also created the basis for a modern view of the history of ancient Israel, which he himself then presented in his work Israelitische und jüdische Geschichte (1894). Wellhausen was the first to make use of the insight that the "law" (torah) as it dominates the Pentateuch as it is known, does not represent the earliest constituent of this collection but rather the final (postexilic) stage of its composition. He recognized, too, that the remaining historical sources (Yahvist, Elohist, and Deuteronomic sources) are older than this, the so-called Priestly source. For Wellhausen, Judaism is a new stage in the history of Israel and is to be distinguished from ancient Israel. For this reason Wellhausen also carried through the notion of historical development to its logical end.

In order to better understand ancient, pre-exilic Israel he applied himself increasingly to the study of Old Arabian and early Islamic history. Employing here a method that was characterized by a critical analysis of the sources, he gave impetus to the study both of pre-Islamic religious history (Reste arabischen Heidentums, 1887) and of the life of Muḥammad (Muhammad in Medina, 1882; Medina vor dem Islam, 1889), and early Islamic history (Prolegomena zur ältesten Geschichte des Islams, 1889; Die religiös-politischen Oppositionsparteien im alten Islam, 1901). The consequences of these works are still felt today. His most significant achievement, Das arabische Reich und sein Sturz (1902), provides the crowning finish to his work.

Following this, Wellhausen devoted himself primarily to study of the New Testament. His explanations and translations of the Gospels and the histories of the apostles brought him less acclaim than his earlier works, but these, too, still belong in the inventory of indispensable historical-critical research. Wellhausen's works are outstanding not only for their masterful command of the source materials but also for an excellent and impressive style that is particularly conspicuous in his translations.

Religionsgeschichtliche Schule.

A bibliography of Wellhausen's publications can be found in Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 27 (1914): 351–368. This bibliography leaves out Wellhausen's article, "Über den bisherigen Gang und gegenwärtigen Stand der Keilentzifferung," Rheinisches Museum für Philologie 31 (1876): 153–175. A collection of important essays by Wellhausen was published in Skizzen und Vorarbeiten, 6 vols. (Berlin, 1884–1899).

Publications on Wellhausen and his thought include Friedemann Boschwitz's Julius Wellhausen: Motive und Mass-Stäbe seiner Geschichtsschreibung (1938; reprint, Darmstadt, 1968); Horst Hoffmann's Julius Wellhausen: Die Frage des absoluten Massstabes seiner Geschichtsschreibung (Marburg, 1967); William A. Irwin's article, "The Significance of Julius Wellhausen," Journal of Bible and Religion 12 (1944): 160–173; a special issue of Semeia entitled "Julius Wellhausen and his Prolegomena to the History of Israel," edited by Douglas A. Knight, Semeia 25 (1983); and my Wellhausen als Arabist (Berlin, 1983).

Lothar Perlitt's Vatke und Wellhausen. Geschichtsphilosophische Voraussetzungenn und historiographische Motive für die Darstellung der Religion und Geschichte Israels durch Wilhelm Vatke und Julius Wellhausen (Berlin, 1965); Helmut Weidmann's Die Patriarchen und ihre Religion im Licht der Forschung seit Julius Wellhausen (Göttingen, 1968); and Kurt Rudolph's Wellhausen als Arabist (Berlin, Germany, 1983). Ernest Nicholson, The Pentateuch in the Twentieth Century: The Legacy of Julius Wellhausen (Oxford, 1998), argues that Wellhausen's work remains the securest basis for understanding the Pentateuch. See also Hans Georg Kippenberg, Die Entdeckung der Religionsgeschichte (Munich, 1997), pp. 100–103 (stressing the revolutionary consequences of Wellhausen's Bible criticism).

Betz, Hans Dieter. "Wellhausen's dictum Jesus was not a Christian, but a Jew in light of present scholarship." STh 45 (1991): 83–110.

Smend, Rudolf. "Der Alttestamentler Julius Wellhausen und Wilamowitz." In Wilamowitz in Greifswald. Akten der Tagung zum 150. Geburtstag Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorffs in Greifswald, 19.–22. Dezember 1998, edited by William M. Calder et al., pp. 197–215. Hildesheim, 2000.

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