Wellhausen, Julius
WELLHAUSEN, JULIUS (1844- ), German biblical scholar and Orientalist, was born at Hameln on the Weser, Westphalia, on the 17th of May 1844. Having studied theology at the university of Gottingen under Heinrich Ewald, he established himself there in 1870 as privat-docent for Old Testament history. In 1872 he was appointed professor ordinarius of theology in Greifswald. Resigning in 1882 owing to conscientious scruples, he became professor extraordinarius of oriental languages in the faculty of philology at Halle, was elected professor ordinarius at Marburg in 1885, and was transferred to Gottingen in 1892. Wellhausen made his name famous by his critical investigations into Old Testament history and the composition of the Hexateuch, the uncompromising scientific attitude he adopted in testing its problems bringing him into antagonism with the older school of biblical interpreters. The best known of his works are De genlibus et familiis Judaeis (Gfittingen, 1870); Der Text der BUcher Samuells untersuchl (Gottingen, 1871); Die Pharisaer und SadducSer (Greifswald, 1874); Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels (Berlin, 1882; Eng. trans., 1885; 5th German edition, 1899; first published in 1878 as Geschichte Israels); Mvhammed in Medina (Berlin, 1882); Die Komposition des Hexateuchs und der historischen Bticher des Alien Testaments (1889, 3rd ed. 1899); Israelilische und jtidische Geschichte (1894, 4th ed. 1901); Reste arabischen Heidenlums (1897); Das arabische Reich und sein Stun (1902); Skizzen und Vorarbeiten (1884-1899); and new and revised editions of F. Bleek's Einleitung in das Alte Testament (4-6, 1878-1893). In 1906 appeared Die chrislliche Religion, mil EinscUuss der israelitisch-judischen Religion, in collaboration with A. Julicher, A. Harnack and others. He also did useful and interesting work as a New Testament commentator. He published Das Evangelium Marci, iibersetzt und erklart in 1903, Das Evangelium Matthai and Das Evangelium Lucae in 1904, and Einleitung in die drei ersten Evangelien in 1905. WELLINGBOROUGH, a market town in the eastern parliamentary division of Northamptonshire, England, 63$ m. N.N.W. from London by the Midland railway; served also by the London & North-Westem railway. Pop. of urban district (1001), 18,41 2. It lies on the declivity of a hill near the junction of the Ise with the Nene, in a pleasant well-wooded district. The church of St Luke is a beautiful building with Norman and Early English portions, but is mainly Decorated, with a western tower and spire. The grammar-schools, founded in 1594 and endowed with the revenues of a suppressed gild, include a school of the second and a school of the third grade, the former a building of red brick in the Renaissance style erected in 1880, and the latter an old Elizabethan structure. Another educational endowment is Freeman's school, founded by John Freeman in 1711. There are also several charities. The principal public building is the corn exchange. The town is of some importance as a centre of agricultural trade; but the staple industry is in leather. A great impulse to the prosperity of the town was given by the introduction of the boot and shoe trade, especially the manufacture of uppers. Smelting, brewing and iron-founding are also carried on, as well as the manufacture of portable steam-engines, and iron ore is raised in the vicinity.
In 948 Edred gave the church at WeUingborough to Crowland Abbey, and the grant was confirmed by King Edgar in 966. In the reign of Edward II. the abbot was lord in full. The town received the grant of a market in 1201. It was formerly famed for the chalybeate springs to which it owes its name, and in 1621 was visited by Charles I. and his queen, who resided in tents during a whole season while taking the waters. It was after its almost total destruction by fire in 1738 that the town was built on its present site on the hill.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
