BLASS, FRIEDRICH. – Classical and New Testament philologist, born in Osnabrück on 22 January 1843, died in Halle on 5 March 1907. Privatdozent in classical philology at Königsberg in 1874, he became full professor there at Kiel from 1876 and at Halle from 1892. A highly learned Hellenist, he elucidated Hellenistic oratory from Alexander to Augustus (Berlin 1865), and subsequently Attic oratory (3 vols., Leipzig 1868–80; 2nd ed. 1887–98). He published in the col-
Devoting himself to the philological-critical exposition of the New Testament, he offered an original, though ultimately untenable, solution to the textual problem of Luke’s writings, which he held to have been published in two authentic recensions.
He regarded the first recension of Acts as represented in the Western text («Roman form»), and the prevailing canonical text as a more concise and elegant reworking made by Luke after his return to the East (Acta Apostolorum sive Lucae ad Theophilum liber alter: Editio philologica apparatus critica, commentario perpetuo, indice verborum illustrata, Göttingen 1895; Acta Apost... secundum formam, quae videtur, romanam, Leipzig 1896). In the 3rd Gospel (Evangelium sec. Lucam sive Lucae ad Theophilum liber prior secundum editionem, quae videtur, romanam, ibid. 1897), on the other hand, the Western text would be a reworking that Luke made in Rome. B.’s hypothesis concerning the Lucan writings was adopted, wholly or in part, by J. Dräsecke, O. Zöckler, E. Nestle, J. Belser, J. Haussleiter, E. Grafe, Th. Zahn, H. Vogels, V. WEBER, MAX, F. C. Conybeare, G. Salmon, and D. Plooy; but it was and remains rejected by the majority of critics.
On the Synoptic problem, B. maintains the «mutual dependence» of Mark–Luke–Matthew (Die Entstehung und der Charakter unserer Evangelien, Leipzig 1907). He also devised a theory of the rhythm of literary prose (Die Rhythmen der aritischen Kunstprosa, ibid. 1901; Die Rhythmen der asiatischen und römischen Kunstprosa, Leipzig 1905), on the basis of which he elucidated the text of Hebr. (Barnabau, Brief an die Hebräer, Halle 1903) and various passages from the Pauline epistles. He published a critical edition of the Greek First and Fourth Gospels (Evang. sec. Ioannem cum variae lectionis delecta, Leipzig 1901; Evt. sec. Matthaeum..., ibid. 1902). His grammar of New Testament Greek (Göttingen 1896, 2nd ed. 1902) was expanded by A. Debrunner (ibid. 1921; 6th ed. 1931, 7th ed. 1943). A «conservative» Protestant, he opposed the «liberal» or rationalist tendency (Die Heilige Schrift und die Evangelische Kirche, Berlin 1900, 2nd ed. 1902).