Alfred Edersheim

Alfred Edersheim was a Jewish convert to Christianity and a Biblical scholar known especially for his book The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah.

He was born March 7, 1825, in Vienna, Austria and died at Menton, France on March 16, 1889. Education in the Talmud and Torah at a Hebrew school and attended the University of Vienna known especially for his book The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (1883).

He eventually moved to to Hungary and became a teacher of languages. He converted to Christianity in Pest when he came under the influence of John Duncan, a Church of Scotland chaplain to workmen engaged in constructing a bridge over the Danube.

He then moved to Scotland where he studied theology at New College, Edinburgh. He also studied at the University of Berlin.

By 1846 Alfred was ordained to the ministry in the Free Church of Scotland. And the same year he married to Mary Broomfield with whom he would have seven children.

As a minister

He was a missionary to the Jews at Iaşi, Romania for a year.

He was appointed to minister at the Free Church of Old Aberdeen in 1849.

In 1861 the Church of St. Andrew was built for him at Torquay.

In 1872 Edersheim's health again obliged him to retire, and for four years he lived at Bournemouth.

In 1875 he was ordained in the Church of England, and was Curate of the Abbey Church.

From 1876 to 1882 Vicar of Loders, Bridport, Dorset.

He was appointed to the post of Warburtonian Lecturer at Lincoln's Inn 1880-84.

In 1882 he resigned and relocated to Oxford.

He was Select Preacher to the University 1884-85 and Grinfield Lecturer on the Septuagint 1886-88 and 1888-89.

Author's works

• History of the Jewish Nation after the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus (Edinburgh, 1856)
• The Temple and Its Ministry and Services at the Time of Jesus Christ (London, 1874)[1]
• Bible History (7 vols., 1876–87)
  • Volume II, The Exodus and The Wanderings in the Wilderness[2]
  • Book five[[3]]
  • Volume VI, The Reign of Ahab to the Decline of the Two Kingdom[4]
  • Volume VII, From The Decline Of The Two Kingdoms To The Assyrian And Babylonian Captivity[5]
• Sketches of Jewish Social Life in the Days of Christ (1876)[6]
• The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (2 vols.,1883; condensation in one volume, 1890)[7]
  • Book 3 THE ASCENT: FROM THE RIVER JORDAN TO THE MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION.[8]
  • Book 4 THE DESCENT: FROM THE MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION INTO THE VALLEY. OF HUMILIATION AND DEATH[9]
  • Book 5, THE CROSS AND THE CROWN [10]
• Prophecy and History in Relation to the Messiah (Warburton Lectures for 1880-1884, 1885)
• Tohu va Bohu, "Without form and Void." A Collection of fragmentary Thoughts and Criticisms. Ed. with a Memoir, by Ella Edersheim (1890)
• Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim (London, 1898)
• Historical development of speculative philosophy, from Kant to Hegel 1854 translation of a philosophical book by Heinrich Moritz Chalybäus