Konrad Pellikan - Works

Works

Pellikan wrote the Chronikon and also translated Hebrew works into Latin, such as Bechji Ben Asher's commentary on the Torah and the work of Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer (Eliezer filius Hircani), the Liber sententiarum Judiacarum, in 1546.

Pellikan's autobiography describes the gradual multiplication of accessible books on the subjects, and he not only studied but translated a vast mass of rabbinical and Talmudic texts, his interest in Jewish literature being mainly philological. The chief fruit of these studies is the vast commentary on the Bible (Zürich, 7 vols., 1532–1539), which shows a remarkably sound judgment on questions of the text, and a sense for historical as opposed to typological exegesis. Pellikan's scholarship, though not brilliant, was really extensive; his sound sense, and his singularly pure and devoted character gave him a great influence.

He was remarkably free from the pedantry of the time, as is shown by his views about the use of the German vernacular as a vehicle of culture (Chron. 135, 36). As a theologian his natural affinities were with Zwingli, having grown up to the views of the Reformation, by the natural progress of his studies and religious life. Thus he never lost his sympathy with humanism and Erasmus.

Pellikan's Latin autobiography (Das Chronikon des Konrad Pellikan) is one of the most interesting documents of the period. It was first published by Riggenbach in 1877, and in this volume the other sources for his life are registered.

Early modern imprints
  • De modo legendi et intelligendi Haebrarum. Strasbourg, 1504.
  • Quadruplex Psalterium. Basel, 1516.
  • Quadruplex Psalterium Davidis. Strasbourg, 1527.
  • Comentaria bibliorum. 7 volumes. Zurich, 1532-1539.
  • Explicatio libelli Ruth. Zurich, 1531.
  • Index bibliorum. Zurich, 1537.
  • Ruth: Ein heylig Büchlin des alten Testament, mit einer schoenen kurtzen außlegung. Zurich, 1555.
Modern editions
  • Die Hauschronik Konrad Pellikans von Rufach. trans. Theodor Vulpinus, Strasbourg: Heitz, 1892.
  • Das Chronikon des Konrad Pellikan, ed. Bernhard Riggenbach. Basel, 1877
Bibliography
  • See Erich Wenneker, "Pellikan, Konrad" in Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, vol. VII, Herzberg, 1994, col. 180-183, online article

Read more about this topic:  Konrad Pellikan

Famous quotes containing the word works:

    Reason, the prized reality, the Law, is apprehended, now and then, for a serene and profound moment, amidst the hubbub of cares and works which have no direct bearing on it;Mis then lost, for months or years, and again found, for an interval, to be lost again. If we compute it in time, we may, in fifty years, have half a dozen reasonable hours.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    The whole idea of image is so confused. On the one hand, Madison Avenue is worried about the image of the players in a tennis tour. On the other hand, sports events are often sponsored by the makers of junk food, beer, and cigarettes. What’s the message when an athlete who works at keeping her body fit is sponsored by a sugar-filled snack that does more harm than good?
    Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)

    They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep.
    Bible: Hebrew Psalms 107:23-24.