How Joseph Fowler Read his Hebrew Bible
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/post.13777Keywords:
Hebrew Bible, reading, devotionAbstract
How did a work-a-day Victorian Hebraist read the Hebrew Bible? Suggestive information on the subject is found in the unpublished memoirs of Canon Dr Joseph Thomas Fowler (1833–1924), Durham Hebraist and antiquarian. Interesting as an example of contemporary devotional practice among Durham-based and Durham-trained Anglican clergy, Fowler’s Hebrew Bible reading habit also illustrates the informal aspect of his working relationships with colleagues in the fledgling university of Durham. This article offers, too, a frame of reference, by exploring Fowler’s biography, his Durham undergraduate career (1858–1861), and his work as university Hebrew lecturer for almost half a century (1871–1917). Incidental light is shed on the ecclesiastical ethos, the staff, the curriculum, and the pedagogy of Durham University in the mid-nineteenth century.
References
References
1.Archival material
Durham University Library, Special Collections, Additional MS 199, Joseph T. Fowler, Durham University: Earlier Foundation and Present Colleges. London: Robinson, 1904; Fowler’s interleaved copy.
Durham University Library, Special Collections, Additional MS 201, John Low, “The Psalms, Translated by John Low Low, with Other Poetical Passages from the Old Testament; Author’s Manuscript”, c. 1880.
Durham University Library, Special Collections, Additional MS 206, “Guardbook of 156 letters from Edward Augustus Freeman, at Wells, etc., mostly to Joseph Thomas Fowler”, 29 July 1875 - 1 March 1892,
Durham University Library, Special Collections, Additional MS 770, Joseph T. Fowler, “Memoirs and Diaries”, fascicles 5 (1858-61), 9 (1870-80), 10 (1881-1900), 11 (1901-04), 12 (1906-08), 17 (1916-17) (quotations reproduced by permission of Durham University Library).
Durham University Library, Special Collections, Additional MS 837/1-129, “Chevallier correspondence: 129 letters mainly between Rev. Temple Chevallier (1794-1873) and Rev. George Elwes Corrie (1793-1885)”, 1832-1865.
2. Published works
Ackroyd, Peter R. 1978. Doors of Perception: A Guide to Reading the Psalms. London: SCM.
Altick, Richard D. 1957. The English Common Reader. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
anon. 1906a. “Athenae Dunelmenses – Evans, Hugh.” Durham University Journal 17: 24.
anon. 1906b. “Deaths – the Rev. Thomas Matthew Freeman.” DUJ 17: 11.
anon. 1907a. “Deaths - Bennett, William.” Durham University Journal 17:180.
---1907b. “Deaths – the Rev. Thomas Edward Wilson.” Durham University Journal 17: 191.
---1908. “Athenae Dunelmenses – Hudson, Joseph.” Durham University Journal 18: 37
Arberry, Arthur J., trans., 1964. The Koran. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Attenborough, Richard. 1993. Shadowlands. Paramount Pictures.
Cherry-Garrard, Apsley. 1970. The Worst Journey in the World. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Cooke, George A. 1913-14. “Samuel Rolles Driver.” Expository Times 25: 342-44.
Craig, Amabel, ed., 2008. Fides Nostra Victoria: A Portrait of St John’s College, Durham. London: Third Millennium.
Creaton, Heather compiler, 2003. Unpublished London Diaries: a Checklist of Unpublished Diaries by Londoners and Visitors... London: London Record Society.
Crockford’s Clerical Directory [CCD]
Dirac, G. A. “Percy John Heawood.” Journal of the London Mathematical Society 38 (1963): 263-77.
Cruse, Amy. 1935. The Victorians and their Books. London: George Allen and Unwin.
Driver, Samuel R. 1904. The Book of Genesis. London: Methuen, 1904.
Eden, George R. and McDonald, Frederick C., eds, 1932. Lightfoot of Durham: Memories and Appreciations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Feldman, D. 1992. “Popery, Rabbinism and Reform.” In Christianity and Judaism, edited by D. Wood, 379-86. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fowler, Joseph T. 1868-69. “Querns, etc., found at Winterton.” Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London 2/4: 14.
---1873-4. “On Certain ‘Starrs” or Jewish Documents, Partly Relating to Northallerton.” Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal 3: 55-63.
---1875. “The Poenulus of Plautus.” Notes and Queries 5/3: 195.
---1877. “The Use of the Hebrew Tenses.” Durham University Journal 2/5: 5-8.
---1878. “Moses’ Horns.” Notes and Queries 5/9: 145, 453
---1882a. “A Coverdale Bible of 1535.” Notes and Queries 6/6: 481-2.
---1882b. “University Prizes.” Durham University Journal 5: 19
---1888. “In Memoriam John Low Low.” Durham University Journal 8: 15.
---1890-95. “Mural Paintings in Pittington Church.” Transactions of the Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland 4: 1-4.
----, ed. 1897. Life and Letters of J. B. Dykes, Vicar of St Oswald’s, Durham. London: John Murray, 1897.
---1898-1901. Extracts from the Account Rolls of the Abbey of Durham..., 3 vols. Publications of the Surtees Society [PSS], 99, 100, 103; Durham: Andrews.
---1903a. Rites of Durham... PSS, 107; Durham: Andrews.
---1903b. “Grave Slab of Abbot Barwick in Selby Abbey Church 1526.” Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal 17: 373.
---1904. “Fireplaces in the Vestries at Morpeth and Warkworth.” Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries 2/20: 24-25.
---1912. “William Consitt Boulter.” Durham University Journal 20: 180-81.
---1915. “The Last Fifteen days of the World in Medieval Art and Literature.” Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 23: 313-37.
---1919. Senilia: Recollections of University Life in Durham, 1858-1917. Durham: Veitch.
Fremantle, Anne. 1950. Desert Calling: The Story of Charles de Foucauld. London: Hollis and Carter.
Fürst, Julius. 1840. Librorum Sacrorum Veteris Testamenti Concordantiae Hebraicae atque Chaldaicae... Leipzig: Tauchnitz.
Goldingay, John. 2002. An Ignatian approach to reading the Old Testament. Cambridge: Grove Books.
Hart, Henry St J. 1951. A Foreword to the Old Testament. An Essay of Elementary Introduction. London: Adam and Charles Black.
Heeney, Brian. 1969. Mission to the Middle Classes: The Woodard Schools 1848-1891. London: SPCK.
Heeney, Brian. 1976. A Different `Kind of Gentleman: Parish Clergy as Professional Men in Early and Mid-Victorian England. Hamden, Conn: Archon Books.
Heitland, W. E. 1926. After Many Years. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Huntford, Roland. 1979. Scott and Amundsen. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
Knox, Bernard. 1994. Backing into the Future: the Classical Tradition and its Renewal. New York: W.W. Norton.
Kynaston, Herbert. 1880. Exemplaria Cheltoniensia sive Quae Discipulis Suis Carmina Identidem Latine Reddenda Proposuit Ipse Reddidit ex Cathedra Dictavit. London; [n. pub.].
---1908. “Ad Amicum J. T. Fowler Picta Ipsius Imagine Donatum.” Durham University Journal 18: 80.
Leigh, Mike. 1999. Topsy-Turvy. Goldwyn Films and others.
Lewis, C. S. 1955. Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life. London: Geoffrey Bles.
Marett, Robert R. A Jerseyman at Oxford. 1941. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1941.
McCaul, Alexander. 1846. The Old Paths: or, a Comparison of the Principles and Doctrines of Modern Judaism with the Religion of Moses and the Prophets. London: The London Society’s House.
McFadyen, John. 1916. “Preface.” In A. B. Davidson, An Introductory Hebrew Grammar with Progressive Exercises in Reading, Writing and Pointing, twentieth edition revised by John McFadyen. Edinburgh: T and T Clark, xi.
McInnes, E. M. [n. d.] “J. T. Fowler, Medical Student.” St Thomas’ Hospital Gazette: [n.p.].
Maier, Bernhard. 2009. William Robertson Smith: His Life, His Work and His Times. Tu?bingen: Mohr Siebeck.
Robert R. Marett. 1941. A Jerseyman at Oxford (Oxford: Oxford University Press.
May, Trevor. 2006. The Victorian Clergyman. Oxford: Shire Publications Ltd.
Monk, William H., ed., 1861, 1867(?). Hymns Ancient and Modern for Use in the Services of the Church, with Accompanying Tunes. London: Novello.
Monk, William. H., ed., 1869. Hymns Ancient and Modern for Use in the Services of the Church, with Accompanying Tunes. London: William Clowes and Sons.
Monk, William. H., ed., 1875. Hymns Ancient and Modern for Use in the Services of the Church, with Accompanying Tunes. Revised and Enlarged Edition. London: William Clowes and Sons.
Neill, Stephen. 1964. The Interpretation of the New Testament 1861-1961. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nicholson, Norman. 1975. Wednesday Early Closing. London: Faber.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography [ODNB]
Ogilvie, Robert M. 1964. Latin and Greek. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Oman, Charles. 1941. Memories of Victorian Oxford and Some Early Years. London: Methuen.
Pace, Edward G. 1924. “Joseph Thomas Fowler.” Durham University Journal 24: 107-126.
Park, Trevor. 2018. Godly Communities of Sound Learning: A Study of How Ten New Colleges were Founded to Provide Professional Training for Clergy of the Church of England. [n. p.]: St Bega Publications.
Pawley, Margaret. 1989. Donald Coggan: Servant of Christ. London: SPCK.
Plummer, A. 1891a. The Pastoral Epistles. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
---1891b. The General Epistles of St James and St Jude. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
---1901. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to St Luke. Edinburgh: T and T Clark.
Riesen, Richard A. 1985. Criticism and Faith in Late Victorian Scotland: A. B. Davidson, William Robertson Smith and George Adam Smith. London: University Press of America, 1985.
Rodwell, J. M. 1873. “The Phoenician Passage in the Poenulus of Plautus.” Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 2: 235-242.
Sanderson, Michael, ed. 1975. The Universities in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Michael Sanderson. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975.
Seaver, George. 1933. Edward Wilson of the Antarctic. London: John Murray.
Seaver, George. 1948. The Faith of Edward Wilson of the Antarctic. London: John Murray.
Stephen, Martin, ed., 1993. Never Such Innocence: Poems of the First World War. London: Dent, 1993. xvi-xvii.
Sternberg, S. 1989. Fourscore Years. To the Right Reverend, the Right Honourable Lord Coggan of Canterbury and Sissinghurst on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday. [n. p.]: Sir S. Sternberg.
Stone, Edward D. 1912. Herbert Kynaston: A Short Memoir with Selections from his Occasional Writings. London: Macmillan.
Sutherland Black, J. and Chrystal, George. 1912a. Life of William Robertson Smith. London: Adam and Charles Black.
----, eds. 1912b. Lectures and Essays of William Robertson Smith. London: Adam and Charles Black.
Vest, Norvene. 1994. No Moment Too Small: Rhythms of Silence, Prayer and Holy Reading. Boston, MA: Cowley Publications.
Waite, Joseph. 1893. “Memoir.” In Latin and Greek Verse by the Rev Thomas Saunders Evans, edited by Joseph Waite, i-lii. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Westcott, Arthur. 1905. Life and Letters of Brooke Foss Westcott. London: Macmillan.
Whitworth, A. 1971. Yellow Sandstone and Mellow Brick: an Account of Hatfield College, Durham, 1846-1971. Durham: University of Durham, Hatfield College.
Witton Davies, T. 1923. “The Passing of a Great Churchman.” The Welsh Outlook: 3-8.
1.Archival material
Durham University Library, Special Collections, Additional MS 199, Joseph T. Fowler, Durham University: Earlier Foundation and Present Colleges. London: Robinson, 1904; Fowler’s interleaved copy.
Durham University Library, Special Collections, Additional MS 201, John Low, “The Psalms, Translated by John Low Low, with Other Poetical Passages from the Old Testament; Author’s Manuscript”, c. 1880.
Durham University Library, Special Collections, Additional MS 206, “Guardbook of 156 letters from Edward Augustus Freeman, at Wells, etc., mostly to Joseph Thomas Fowler”, 29 July 1875 - 1 March 1892,
Durham University Library, Special Collections, Additional MS 770, Joseph T. Fowler, “Memoirs and Diaries”, fascicles 5 (1858-61), 9 (1870-80), 10 (1881-1900), 11 (1901-04), 12 (1906-08), 17 (1916-17) (quotations reproduced by permission of Durham University Library).
Durham University Library, Special Collections, Additional MS 837/1-129, “Chevallier correspondence: 129 letters mainly between Rev. Temple Chevallier (1794-1873) and Rev. George Elwes Corrie (1793-1885)”, 1832-1865.
2. Published works
Ackroyd, Peter R. 1978. Doors of Perception: A Guide to Reading the Psalms. London: SCM.
Altick, Richard D. 1957. The English Common Reader. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
anon. 1906a. “Athenae Dunelmenses – Evans, Hugh.” Durham University Journal 17: 24.
anon. 1906b. “Deaths – the Rev. Thomas Matthew Freeman.” DUJ 17: 11.
anon. 1907a. “Deaths - Bennett, William.” Durham University Journal 17:180.
---1907b. “Deaths – the Rev. Thomas Edward Wilson.” Durham University Journal 17: 191.
---1908. “Athenae Dunelmenses – Hudson, Joseph.” Durham University Journal 18: 37
Arberry, Arthur J., trans., 1964. The Koran. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Attenborough, Richard. 1993. Shadowlands. Paramount Pictures.
Cherry-Garrard, Apsley. 1970. The Worst Journey in the World. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Cooke, George A. 1913-14. “Samuel Rolles Driver.” Expository Times 25: 342-44.
Craig, Amabel, ed., 2008. Fides Nostra Victoria: A Portrait of St John’s College, Durham. London: Third Millennium.
Creaton, Heather compiler, 2003. Unpublished London Diaries: a Checklist of Unpublished Diaries by Londoners and Visitors... London: London Record Society.
Crockford’s Clerical Directory [CCD]
Dirac, G. A. “Percy John Heawood.” Journal of the London Mathematical Society 38 (1963): 263-77.
Cruse, Amy. 1935. The Victorians and their Books. London: George Allen and Unwin.
Driver, Samuel R. 1904. The Book of Genesis. London: Methuen, 1904.
Eden, George R. and McDonald, Frederick C., eds, 1932. Lightfoot of Durham: Memories and Appreciations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Feldman, D. 1992. “Popery, Rabbinism and Reform.” In Christianity and Judaism, edited by D. Wood, 379-86. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fowler, Joseph T. 1868-69. “Querns, etc., found at Winterton.” Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London 2/4: 14.
---1873-4. “On Certain ‘Starrs” or Jewish Documents, Partly Relating to Northallerton.” Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal 3: 55-63.
---1875. “The Poenulus of Plautus.” Notes and Queries 5/3: 195.
---1877. “The Use of the Hebrew Tenses.” Durham University Journal 2/5: 5-8.
---1878. “Moses’ Horns.” Notes and Queries 5/9: 145, 453
---1882a. “A Coverdale Bible of 1535.” Notes and Queries 6/6: 481-2.
---1882b. “University Prizes.” Durham University Journal 5: 19
---1888. “In Memoriam John Low Low.” Durham University Journal 8: 15.
---1890-95. “Mural Paintings in Pittington Church.” Transactions of the Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland 4: 1-4.
----, ed. 1897. Life and Letters of J. B. Dykes, Vicar of St Oswald’s, Durham. London: John Murray, 1897.
---1898-1901. Extracts from the Account Rolls of the Abbey of Durham..., 3 vols. Publications of the Surtees Society [PSS], 99, 100, 103; Durham: Andrews.
---1903a. Rites of Durham... PSS, 107; Durham: Andrews.
---1903b. “Grave Slab of Abbot Barwick in Selby Abbey Church 1526.” Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal 17: 373.
---1904. “Fireplaces in the Vestries at Morpeth and Warkworth.” Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries 2/20: 24-25.
---1912. “William Consitt Boulter.” Durham University Journal 20: 180-81.
---1915. “The Last Fifteen days of the World in Medieval Art and Literature.” Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 23: 313-37.
---1919. Senilia: Recollections of University Life in Durham, 1858-1917. Durham: Veitch.
Fremantle, Anne. 1950. Desert Calling: The Story of Charles de Foucauld. London: Hollis and Carter.
Fürst, Julius. 1840. Librorum Sacrorum Veteris Testamenti Concordantiae Hebraicae atque Chaldaicae... Leipzig: Tauchnitz.
Goldingay, John. 2002. An Ignatian approach to reading the Old Testament. Cambridge: Grove Books.
Hart, Henry St J. 1951. A Foreword to the Old Testament. An Essay of Elementary Introduction. London: Adam and Charles Black.
Heeney, Brian. 1969. Mission to the Middle Classes: The Woodard Schools 1848-1891. London: SPCK.
Heeney, Brian. 1976. A Different `Kind of Gentleman: Parish Clergy as Professional Men in Early and Mid-Victorian England. Hamden, Conn: Archon Books.
Heitland, W. E. 1926. After Many Years. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Huntford, Roland. 1979. Scott and Amundsen. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
Knox, Bernard. 1994. Backing into the Future: the Classical Tradition and its Renewal. New York: W.W. Norton.
Kynaston, Herbert. 1880. Exemplaria Cheltoniensia sive Quae Discipulis Suis Carmina Identidem Latine Reddenda Proposuit Ipse Reddidit ex Cathedra Dictavit. London; [n. pub.].
---1908. “Ad Amicum J. T. Fowler Picta Ipsius Imagine Donatum.” Durham University Journal 18: 80.
Leigh, Mike. 1999. Topsy-Turvy. Goldwyn Films and others.
Lewis, C. S. 1955. Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life. London: Geoffrey Bles.
Marett, Robert R. A Jerseyman at Oxford. 1941. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1941.
McCaul, Alexander. 1846. The Old Paths: or, a Comparison of the Principles and Doctrines of Modern Judaism with the Religion of Moses and the Prophets. London: The London Society’s House.
McFadyen, John. 1916. “Preface.” In A. B. Davidson, An Introductory Hebrew Grammar with Progressive Exercises in Reading, Writing and Pointing, twentieth edition revised by John McFadyen. Edinburgh: T and T Clark, xi.
McInnes, E. M. [n. d.] “J. T. Fowler, Medical Student.” St Thomas’ Hospital Gazette: [n.p.].
Maier, Bernhard. 2009. William Robertson Smith: His Life, His Work and His Times. Tu?bingen: Mohr Siebeck.
Robert R. Marett. 1941. A Jerseyman at Oxford (Oxford: Oxford University Press.
May, Trevor. 2006. The Victorian Clergyman. Oxford: Shire Publications Ltd.
Monk, William H., ed., 1861, 1867(?). Hymns Ancient and Modern for Use in the Services of the Church, with Accompanying Tunes. London: Novello.
Monk, William. H., ed., 1869. Hymns Ancient and Modern for Use in the Services of the Church, with Accompanying Tunes. London: William Clowes and Sons.
Monk, William. H., ed., 1875. Hymns Ancient and Modern for Use in the Services of the Church, with Accompanying Tunes. Revised and Enlarged Edition. London: William Clowes and Sons.
Neill, Stephen. 1964. The Interpretation of the New Testament 1861-1961. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nicholson, Norman. 1975. Wednesday Early Closing. London: Faber.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography [ODNB]
Ogilvie, Robert M. 1964. Latin and Greek. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Oman, Charles. 1941. Memories of Victorian Oxford and Some Early Years. London: Methuen.
Pace, Edward G. 1924. “Joseph Thomas Fowler.” Durham University Journal 24: 107-126.
Park, Trevor. 2018. Godly Communities of Sound Learning: A Study of How Ten New Colleges were Founded to Provide Professional Training for Clergy of the Church of England. [n. p.]: St Bega Publications.
Pawley, Margaret. 1989. Donald Coggan: Servant of Christ. London: SPCK.
Plummer, A. 1891a. The Pastoral Epistles. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
---1891b. The General Epistles of St James and St Jude. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
---1901. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to St Luke. Edinburgh: T and T Clark.
Riesen, Richard A. 1985. Criticism and Faith in Late Victorian Scotland: A. B. Davidson, William Robertson Smith and George Adam Smith. London: University Press of America, 1985.
Rodwell, J. M. 1873. “The Phoenician Passage in the Poenulus of Plautus.” Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 2: 235-242.
Sanderson, Michael, ed. 1975. The Universities in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Michael Sanderson. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975.
Seaver, George. 1933. Edward Wilson of the Antarctic. London: John Murray.
Seaver, George. 1948. The Faith of Edward Wilson of the Antarctic. London: John Murray.
Stephen, Martin, ed., 1993. Never Such Innocence: Poems of the First World War. London: Dent, 1993. xvi-xvii.
Sternberg, S. 1989. Fourscore Years. To the Right Reverend, the Right Honourable Lord Coggan of Canterbury and Sissinghurst on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday. [n. p.]: Sir S. Sternberg.
Stone, Edward D. 1912. Herbert Kynaston: A Short Memoir with Selections from his Occasional Writings. London: Macmillan.
Sutherland Black, J. and Chrystal, George. 1912a. Life of William Robertson Smith. London: Adam and Charles Black.
----, eds. 1912b. Lectures and Essays of William Robertson Smith. London: Adam and Charles Black.
Vest, Norvene. 1994. No Moment Too Small: Rhythms of Silence, Prayer and Holy Reading. Boston, MA: Cowley Publications.
Waite, Joseph. 1893. “Memoir.” In Latin and Greek Verse by the Rev Thomas Saunders Evans, edited by Joseph Waite, i-lii. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Westcott, Arthur. 1905. Life and Letters of Brooke Foss Westcott. London: Macmillan.
Whitworth, A. 1971. Yellow Sandstone and Mellow Brick: an Account of Hatfield College, Durham, 1846-1971. Durham: University of Durham, Hatfield College.
Witton Davies, T. 1923. “The Passing of a Great Churchman.” The Welsh Outlook: 3-8.
Published
2020-09-15
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Hardy, J. C. (2020). How Joseph Fowler Read his Hebrew Bible. Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts, 11(1), 55–79. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.13777
