Alfred Edersheim

1825-1889. Biblical scholar. Born in Vienna of Jewish parentage, he entered the University of Vienna in 1841 but was forced to leave after a few months by the illness of his father. Shortly after, he came under the influence of the Scottish Presbyterian John Duncan, who was chaplain to workmen on the Danube bridge at Pesth. Edersheim accompanied Duncan to Scotland and was enrolled as a student at New College, Edinburgh, and later at the University of Berlin. In 1846 he entered the Presbyterian ministry and became a missionary to the Jews at Jassy, Rumania. Three years later he was inducted as minister of the Free Church in Old Aberdeen. In 1861 the church of St. Andrew (Presbyterian) was built for him at Torquay. In 1875 he took orders in the Church of England, and was subsequently vicar of Loders, Dorset (1876-82). Of his writings the most widely read was his Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (1883- 90).