HUPFELD, HERMANN:
German Christian Biblical scholar; born at Marburg March 31, 1796; died at Halle April 24, 1866. He was professor of Old Testament exegesis at Marburg from 1825 to 1843, when he succeeded Gesenius at Halle (1843-1866). In his "Die Quellen der Genesis und die Art Ihrer Zusammensetzung von Neuem Untersucht" (1853), Hupfeld, reviving a suggestion of Ilgen (1798), with fresh proofs demonstrated the distinction between E and P, and the independence of J, and showed that the combination of J, E, and P was the work of a redactor. He thus refuted the then current supplementary hypothesis, established the documentary hypothesis, and permanently directed Pentateuch analysis into its present channels. His commentary on the Psalms ("Die Psalmen Uebersetzt und Ausgelegt," 1855-62; later eds., 1867-71 and 1888) is highly esteemed for its grammatical analysis. He wrote also" De Rei Grammaticæ apud Judæos Initiis Antiquissimisque Scriptoribus" (Halle, 1846), on Jewish grammatical writers, and "Commentatio de Primitiva et Vera Festorum apud Hebræos Ratione" (Halle, 1851-64), on the Jewish festivals.
- Riehm, D. Hermann Hupfeld, Lebens- und Charakterbild eines Deutschen Professors, Halle, 1867;
- All-gemeine Deutsche Biographie, xiii. 423-426.
