Johann Leusden
Johann Leusden (sometimes Johannes; b. 26 April 1624 in Utrecht, Spanish Netherlands, Holy Roman Empire; d. 30 September 1699 ibidem) was a Calvinist theologian, professor of Hebrew at the University of Utrecht and one of the foremost biblical scholars of his time, who wrote several treatises on the Bible and Hebrew philology.[1] Johan was educated at Utrecht University in Oriental languages. Leusden became an extraordinary professor of Hebrew in 1649/50 and a full professor in 1653 at the University of Utrecht, where he served as rector in 1661/62, 1676/77 and 1693/94[2]
Works
- 1656 Philologus Hebraeus
- also deals with Judaism and its commandments, and includes a list of the 613 commandments, divided into positive and negative (following Maimonides in "Mihsneh Torah"). A special chapter is dedicated to Kabbalah and Kabbalists, and a discussion of God's names.[3]
- 1663 Philologus Hebraeo-Mixtus
- discusses tradition of seventeenth-century Hebraists and includes engravings of Jewish customs by anonymous artists.
- 1668 Philologus Hebraeo-Latino-Belgicum
- 1670 Philologus Hebraeo-Graecus
- 1686 Korte Hebreusche en Chaldeusche taalkonst
In collaboration with the Jewish printer and publisher Joseph Athias from Amsterdam, Leusden published the first Hebrew Bible with numbered verses (1661, 2nd edition 1667). The 1667 edition was strongly criticized in 1669 by the Protestant Samuel Desmarets, who died in 1673. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 dismissed Leusden's copious notes to the text as being "of little value". In 1694, Leusden and German orientalist scholar Johann Andreas Eisenmenger (1654–1704) edited the unvocalized Hebrew Bible Biblia Hebraica non punctata which was published in Frankfurt am Main, HRE.
