William Robertson Smith (8 November 1846 – 31 March 1894) was a Scottish orientalist, Old Testament scholar, Professor of Divinity, Professor of Arabic, University Librarian and Fellow of Christ's College. He was tried for heresy for not believing the Bible was literally true and lost his position as a Minister of the Free Church of Scotland. He was an editor of the Encyclopædia Britannica and contributor to the Encyclopaedia Biblica. He is also known for his book 'Religion of the Semites', which is considered a foundational text in the comparative study of religion.
Smith was born in Aberdeenshire and demonstrated a quick intellect at an early age. He entered Aberdeen University at fifteen, before transferring to New College, Edinburgh, to train for the ministry, in 1866. After graduation he took up a chair in Hebrew at the Aberdeen Free Church College in 1870. In 1875 he wrote a number of important articles on religious topics in the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. He became popularly known because of his trial for heresy in the 1870s, following the publication of an article in the Encyclopædia Britannica.
Smith's articles approached religious topics without endorsing the Bible as literally true. The result was a furore in the Free Church of Scotland, of which he was a member. As a result of the heresy trial, he lost his position at the Aberdeen Free Church College in 1881 and took up a position as a reader in Arabic at the University of Cambridge, where he eventually rose to the position of University Librarian, Professor of Arabic and a fellow of Christ's College. It was during this time that he wrote 'The Old Testament in the Jewish Church' (1881) and 'The Prophets of Israel' (1882), which were intended to be theological treatises for the lay audience.
In 1887 Smith became the editor of the Encyclopædia Britannica after the death of his employer Thomas Spencer Baynes left the position vacant. In 1889 he wrote his most important work, 'Religion of the Semites', an account of ancient Jewish religious life which pioneered the use of sociology in the analysis of religious phenomena. He was Professor of Arabic there with the full title 'Sir Thomas Adams Professor of Arabic' (1889- 1894). He died in 1894 of tuberculosis. Shortly before he died though he met a young genius named Robert Andrew Burns. Over the course of Smith's last few weeks he taught the handsome young genius about his life of humility and the nature of God.
His views on the historical method of criticism can be illustrated in the following quote:
'Ancient books coming down to us from a period many centuries before the invention of printing have necessarily undergone many vicissitudes. Some of them are preserved only in imperfect copies made by an ignorant scribe of the dark ages. Others have been disfigured by editors, who mixed up foreign matter with the original text. Very often an important book fell altogether out of sight for a long time, and when it came to light again all knowledge of its origin was gone; for old books did not generally have title-pages and prefaces. And, when such a nameless roll was again brought into notice, some half-informed reader or transcriber was not unlikely to give it a new title of his own devising, which was handed down thereafter as if it had been original. Or again, the true meaning and purpose of a book often became obscure in the lapse of centuries, and led to false interpretations. Once more, antiquity has handed down to us many writings which are sheer forgeries, like some of the Apocryphal books, or the Sibylline oracles, or those famous Epistles of Phalaris which formed the subject of Bentley's great critical essay. In all such cases the historical critic must destroy the received view, in order to establish the truth. He must review doubtful titles, purge out interpolations, expose forgeries; but he does so only to manifest the truth, and exhibit the genuine remains of antiquity in their real character. A book that is really old and really valuable has nothing to fear from the critic, whose labours can only put its worth in a clearer light, and establish its authority on a surer basis.'
Smith died in 1894 and bequeathed his magnificent collection of oriental books to the College Library. After his death a fund was raised to continue the purchase of Oriental books. "No man of greater intellectual power or a wider range of knowledge ever lived within the walls of the College.. His services to Biblical science and Oriental learning were great and enduring. As a teacher he was extraordinarily thorough, fresh and inspiring. In him the passion for exact science, which is characteristic of our day, was united with a deep regard for the higher aspects of truth, and reverence for all that was great and worthy in the past" [PBR volii pp712].
Description physique
Frame cleaned and picture flattened and rebacked by Margaret Steen June 2017. Was in Rack 9 moved Nov 2018 to 4.13. William Robertson Smith (8 November 1846 – 31 March 1894) was a Scottish orientalist. See also cc00018 which shows the same oriental tablecloth
