Edward Reuss

1804-1891. Biblical scholar. A native of Strasbourg, he spent most of his life there. He taught at the Protestant seminary from 1834 (professor of NT from 1836 and of OT from 1864), and also at the state theological faculty from 1838. When the seminary was incorporated into the theological faculty of the new German university in 1872, Reuss was the first dean. Reuss was a keen advocate of the historico-critical approach to the Bible. His opposition with H.J. Holtzmann* to Baur's tendency criticism led to the latter's decline.

While recognizing a Jewish element in the early church, he considered Baur's theory of a conflict with Hellenism exaggerated and untenable. As early as 1834 he advocated a late date for the Grundschrift, later called the “Priestly Document,” behind the Pentateuch. His views paved the way for the later hypotheses of Graf, Kuenen, and Wellhausen. He founded the Theologische Gesellschaft (1828) and was a regular contributor to Colani's Revue de Théologie et de Philosophie. His many writings brought the ideas of German critical theology before the French public. He was an editor of the standard edition of Calvin's works in the Corpus Reformatorum (59 vols., 1863-1900). Reuss produced a new French translation and commentary on the Bible (16 vols., 1874-81). Reuss's writings include Geschichte der heiligen Schriften Neuen Testaments (1842), Histoire de la théologie chrétienne au siècle apostolique (2 vols., 1854), Geschichte der heiligen Schriften Alten Testaments (1881), and Das Alte Testament (7 parts in 6 vols., 1892-94).