HOONACKER, ALBIN van. - Professor of Sacred Scripture at the Catholic University of Louvain, consultant to the Pontifical Biblical Commission, born in Bruges on 19 Nov. 1857, died there on 1 Nov. 1933. He was the most eminent figure of the Faculty of Theology at Louvain after its restoration in 1834.
H. received his theological and philological training at Louvain, but in Old Testament criticism he was largely self-taught and formed his views by discussing and refining the hypotheses of A. Kuenen and J. Wellhausen, two eminent representatives of liberal criticism.
He began his teaching and publications with extensive and detailed studies on the institutions of the Hebrews and the composition of the Pentateuch: *Le lieu du culte dans la législation rituelle des Hébreux* (Ghent and Leipzig 1894); *Le sacerdoce lévitique dans la Loi et dans l'histoire des Hébreux* (London and Louvain 1899). His numerous contributions to the interpretation and chronology of Ezra and Nehemiah, presented in 1896 in a major synthesis: *Nouvelles études sur la restauration juive après l'exil* (Paris 1896), and the monograph *Une communauté judéo-araméenne à Eléphantine* (1915), may be regarded as complements to his studies on the Hexateuch, from which his theory on the literary origins of the books of Moses developed. The early decrees of the Biblical Commission were not favorable to him; H. then chose not to continue his work in this field or to make known the results he had reached; these became public only in the posthumous work: *De compositione litteraria et de origine mosaica Hexateuchi disquisitio historico-critica* (Bruges-Paris 1949). In it, he generally adhered to the theory of the existence of four documents in the Hexateuch (J, E, D, and P); but he tended to consider the Deuteronomic redaction as the latest, and was ready to admit a Mosaic nucleus for these documents; yet, in his view, what needs to be established and can be proven is not so much the Mosaic redaction of the Hexateuch as the Mosaic origin of the fundamental beliefs and institutions of the Israelite people. In particular, there would be no reason to deny Moses the promulgation of Yahwism and the Decalogue.
H.’s second major work was the commentary on the *Douze petits Prophètes* (Paris 1908), included in the *Études bibliques* series of Fr. Lagrange; here he engaged in textual criticism in a personal and bold manner, often with success; likewise noteworthy is his exegesis, especially of messianic texts.
Lastly, H. took a particular interest in the books of Ezekiel and Isaiah. A translation of Ezekiel was not published; however, a Dutch translation with commentary of Isaiah appeared: *Het Boek Isaia* (Bruges 1932). He also devoted several important articles to Isaiah; H. admitted ALZON, EMMANUEL D' (v.) is messianic according to the literal sense, as is that of the Suffering Servant of Yahweh. Personally, he was convinced of the non-authenticity of Isaiah 40–66, but refrained from publicly expressing this opinion.
Posthumous publications by H.: *Le sens de la protestation d'Amos, VII, 14-15*, in *Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses*, 18 (1941), pp. 65–68; *Quelques notes sur «Absolute und relative Wahrheit in der Heiligen Schrift»*, ibid., pp. 201–36.