The son of Franz Julius Delitzsch (the one who wrote tons of biblical commentaries with Keil), Friedrich Delitzsch was drawn to the young field of Assyriology and made important contributions, writing Sumerian and Akkadian grammars as well as an Akkadian dictionary. He is also attributed the accomplishment of proving that Sumerian was indeed a language. Though he did help with a new edition of his father’s Psalms commentary, and published a book on scribal errors in the HB, he greatest impact upon biblical studies was his start of the Babel und Bibel controversy. Delitzsch himself comes from a time when the comparative religions was just beginning and value judgments were upon religions and cultures was common in scholarship. Thus, as Delitzsch began to show that cuneiform evidence could help illuminate the Bible, he at the same time used this to show that the HB was an inferior derivative of the preeminent and morally superior Babylonian culture. His lectures caused no small stir, among HB scholars and Assyriologists. Delitzsch’s debates are representative of the often strained relationship between biblical studies and Assyriology since its inception. One Delitzsch’s most influential students was Paul Haupt who in turn was Albright’s mentor.
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Friedrich Delitzsch
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