MICHAELIS: A family of German Lutheran exegetes of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 1. Johann Heinrich: b. at Klettenberg (20 m. s.w. of Blankenburg), Brunswick, July 26, 1688; d. at Halle Mar. 10,1738. Educated in thec logy, philosophy, and orientalia at Frankfort-on-she-Oder, he began to lecture in Halle in 1698, becoming suooessively associate professor of oriental languages (1699), full professor in the theological faculty (1709), and senior and inspector of the theological seminary (1732). He was important primarily
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the early versions, and such was his attention to the Peshito that he may be considered one of the founders of Syriac philology. Note should be made here of his Grammatica Chaldaica (Leipsic, 1771) and Grammatica Syriaca. He also made valuable contributions to Biblical antiquities, especially in his Mosaisches Recht (6 vols., 2d ed., Frankfort, 1771-75; Eng. transl. by A. Smith, Commentaries on the Laws of Moses, 4 vols., London, 1814), in which he advanced the view, then new, that the Pentateuchal laws were a product of the statesmanship of Moses, who aimed at the separation of Israel from the heathen [involving denial of the directly divine character and universal validity of the laws], thus judging antiquity by the standards of its own time, instead of by the criterion of the Christian Church; as well as in his Abhandlung von den Ehegesetzen Mosis (Göttingen, 1755). His geographical and archeological interests, already evinced by his securing from Frederick V. of Denmark the sending of an expedition to Arabia in 1761 (for which he wrote his Fragen an eine Gesellschaft reisender Gelehrten, Frankfort, 1762), found expression in his Spicilegium geographite exterorum (2 vols., Göttingen, 1769-80) and in many places in his Syntagma commentationum (2 parts, 1759-67) and Vermischte Schriften (2 parts, Frankfort, 1766-69).
Although never a member of the theological fac ulty, Michaelis lectured on systematic, dogmatic, and moral theology, writing in these departments his Gedanken über die Lehre. der heiligen Schrift van Sitnde and Genugthuung (Bremen, 1748); Compen dium theologise dogmaticw (Göttingen, 1760; Ger man ed., 1787); and Entwurf einer typischen Gottesgelehrtheit (Göttingen, 1753). These works, inferior to the rest, were weakened by his attempt not to break with external orthodoxy, though secretly he had renounced- it, thus leading him to an attitude of untenable compromises. At the same time, this position gained him great popu larity with both pupils and the Government, be sides winning him the title of "regent of Göttingen" and the posts of secretary, director, and editor of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences. In the last two decades of his life, however, his pres tige declined.Bibliography: 1. L. Diestel, GewAirhte des A. T. in der christlichen Kirche, pp. 415 sqq., Jena, 1868. 3. His Briefwechael, ed. Buhle, is in 3 volg., Leipsic, 1784-96, and big autobiography, ed. E. R. Hessenkamp, appeared at Rinteln, 1793. Consult further: L. Diestel, ut sup., pp. 583 sqq., 683 sqq., 745 sqq.; R. Smend, Johann David Michaelis, Göttingen,1898; and especially Roethe, Johann David Michaelia, in the Festschrift der GBthnger Gelehrten Gesellschaft, Berlin, 1901.
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