CASPARI, Karl Paul. – Theologian and Orientalist, b. at Dessau (Germany) on 8 Feb. 1814, d. at Kristiania (now Oslo) on 11 Apr. 1892. Born a Jew, in 1838 he converted to Lutheranism. He studied at Leipzig, Berlin, and Königsberg. A pupil of Hengstenberg, he held conservative views. From 1848 he served as a reader at the University of Kristiania; from 1857 he was professor of theology, a position he held until his death.
He wrote a *Grammatica arabica in usum scholarum* in two volumes, translated into several languages, and many works on the Old Testament, including *Der Prophet Obadja* (Leipzig 1842); *Beiträge zur Einleitung in das Buch Jesaja* (Berlin 1848); *Über den syrisch-ephraimitischen Krieg* (Kristiania 1849); studies on Micah (ibid. 1852) and on Daniel (Leipzig 1869). From 1858 to 1891 he played a leading role in the revision of the Norwegian Bible. On the history of the symbols of the early Church he published the monumental work: *Quellen zur Geschichte des Taufsymbols und der Glaubensregel* (3 vols., Kristiania 1866–1875), as well as other biblical, patristic, and ecclesiastical-historical works (e.g., *Kirchenhistorische Anekdota*, ibid. 1883) in Norwegian (mainly in the journal *Theologisk Tidsskrift for den evangelisk-lutherske Kirke i Norge*, which he founded with G. Johnson in 1857).