Edward Robinson (scholar)

Edward Robinson (April 10, 1794 – January 27, 1863) was an American biblical scholar known for his magnum opus, Biblical Researches in Palestine, the first major work in biblical geography and biblical archaeology, which earned him the epithets "Father of Biblical Geography" and "Founder of Modern Palestinology."¹

He studied in the United States and Germany, centers of biblical scholarship and exploration of the Bible as history. He translated scriptural works from classical languages as well as German translations. His Greek and English Lexicon of the New Testament (1836; last revision, 1850) became a standard authority in the United States and was reprinted several times in Great Britain.

Biography

Robinson was born in Southington, Connecticut, and raised on a farm. His father was a minister in the Congregational Church of the town for four decades. Robinson taught at schools in East Haven and Farmington in 1810–11 to earn money for college. He attended Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, where his maternal uncle, Seth Norton, was a professor.² He graduated in 1816.

In 1821, he went to Andover, Massachusetts, where he published his translation of books i–ix, xviii and xix of the Iliad. There he aided Moses Stuart in the preparation of the second edition (1823) of the latter's Hebrew Grammar. He translated into English (1825) Wahl's Clavis Philologica Novi Testamenti.

Robinson went to Europe to study ancient languages, largely in Halle and (1826–30). While in Halle, in 1828 he married German writer . After the couple returned to the United States, Robinson was appointed professor extraordinary of sacred literature at (1830–1833). Robinson founded the (1831), which he edited for four years. In 1836, Robinson published both a translation of ' and a Greek New Testament Lexicon.