ABBOT, EZRA. - Reformed theologian of the United States, b. at Jackson, Maine, 28 April 1819, d. at Cambridge, Massachusetts, 21 March 1884.

From 1856 he worked in the library of Harvard University at Cambridge, Mass. and, besides an excellent alphabetical and systematic catalogue (perhaps the first of its kind), there he compiled The Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life (a list of 5,300 works, with notes), New York 1864. From 1871 he taught New Testament criticism there and published learned articles in journals, but especially (more than 400) in the enlarged edition of W. Smith's Dictionary of the Bible (New York 1868-70). With Hort he was a reviser of the New Testament in the Revised Version (1871-81); from 1878 until his death he helped Gregory (v.) in preparing the Prolegomena to the 8th edition of Tischendorf's New Testament.

His best work is the able defense of the authenticity of the Fourth Gospel (The Authorship of the Fourth Gospel: External Evidences, 2nd ed. edited by his follower J. H. Thayer, Boston 1889), in which he examines the testimonies of the ancient ecclesiastical writers, especially of St. Justin, pointing out their probative value.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: C. R. Gregory, in Realeuc. für prot. Theol. u. Kirche, I (1896), pp. 27-28; E. Jacquier, Histoire des livres du Nouveau Test., IV, 5th ed., Paris 1921, p. 35.

Antonino Romeo

@incollection{ec1_abbot_ezra, author = {Romeo, Antonino}, title = {Abbot, ezra}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {40}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/abbot-ezra} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

Abbot, Ezra

About this entry