Abstract
IN the number of the Johns Hopkins University Circulars for June (vol. xxii. No. 163), Prof. Paul Haupt has published an article entitled “Bible and Babel,"referring to the somewhat heated controversy on Babel and the Bible which has raged recently in Germany, with which our readers are probably familiar. The line which he takes up is briefly that all the heterodox views which were expressed by Prof. F. Delitzsch in his famous lecture delivered in the august presence of the German Emperor had already been promulgated by himself, Prof. Haupt, at various periods during the last twenty-four years. Prof. Haupt claims to have made correct deductions in respect of the origins of the Biblical accounts of the Creation, the Deluge, &c, long before Prof. Delitzsch's lecture was delivered, but it must be clearly pointed out that, although such may be the case, he was not the first, even twenty-four years ago, to prove that the narratives usually accredited to Moses are merely modified recensions which we owe to the prophets of the captivity in Babylon. Whatever credit is due either to Paul Haupt or Prof. Delitzsch in this matter, it must never be forgotten that all important statements made by them with regard to the Creation and Deluge tablets are derived from the works, writings, and oral remarks which were made by the late General Sir Henry Rawlinson, G.C.B., and the late Mr. George Smith, of the British Museum. Both Profs. Delitzsch and Haupt are skilled elaborators, but in our opinion they are not discoverers, and certainly neither of them can be placed side by side with such publishers and translators of text as the two famous Englishmen we have already mentioned. Still less can either be regarded as the authcrr of the heterodox views and statements which so thoroughly shocked His Majesty the German Emperor.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bible and Babel . Nature 68, 349 (1903). https://doi.org/10.1038/068349a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/068349a0