Graf, Karl Heinrich°

views updated

GRAF, KARL HEINRICH°

GRAF, KARL HEINRICH ° (1815–1869), German Protestant Bible scholar. Graf was born in Mulhouse, Alsace, and died in Meissen, Saxony. He began as a teacher of French and Hebrew in Paris and Meissen, where, in 1852, he became a professor. The hypothesis of his teacher, E. Reuss, that the prophetic books preceded the literary formulations of the Pentateuchal laws led Graf to the further hypothesis (Die geschichtlichen Buecher des Alten Testaments, 1866) that the Priestly Code, i.e., the source which includes Leviticus, which had until then been considered the earliest source of the Pentateuch, was actually the latest of the Pentateuchal sources. This contribution to the reconstruction of the history of ancient Israel was later developed by J. *Wellhausen. He also wrote commentaries on Moses' blessing (1857) and the Book of Jeremiah (Der Prophet Jeremia, 1862).

add. bibliography:

R. Smend, in: dbi, 1, 460–61.