author
Julius Wellhausen
1844–1918
Best known for reshaping the study of the Hebrew Bible, this German scholar helped popularize the documentary approach to the Pentateuch and later turned his attention to early Islam and the New Testament. His work left a lasting mark on modern biblical criticism and the history of religion.
1 Audiobook
Prolegomena to the History of Israel
by Julius Wellhausen
About the author
Born in Hamelin on May 17, 1844, Julius Wellhausen was a German biblical scholar and orientalist whose ideas became hugely influential in the modern study of scripture. He taught at the University of Greifswald and later held positions at Halle, Marburg, and Göttingen, building a career that moved across Old Testament studies, Islamic history, and New Testament scholarship.
He is especially remembered for his analysis of the Pentateuch, where he argued that its books were formed from different textual layers rather than written as a single unit. That line of thought became closely associated with the documentary hypothesis, and his book Prolegomena to the History of Israel helped bring those debates to the center of biblical studies.
Wellhausen did not limit himself to the Hebrew Bible. Over time, he also produced important work on the early history of Islam and on the New Testament, showing the same interest in how religious traditions develop over time. He died in Göttingen on January 7, 1918, but his scholarship continues to be discussed wherever the history and composition of sacred texts are studied.