KITTEL, RUDOLF.— Protestant biblical scholar, moderate critic, b. at Eningen near Reutlingen (Württemberg) on 28 March 1853, d. at Leipzig on 29 Oct. 1929. He served as a pastor until 1879 in his native province; then as a tutor at Tübingen, a secondary school teacher at Stuttgart, and full professor at Breslau (1888–98), before becoming ordinary professor of Old Testament studies at Leipzig (1898–1924). He was a canon (Protestant) at Meißen.
K. began his scholarly career with a decisive attack on the theories of Wellhausen and Stade regarding the history of Israel. Drawing on the new discoveries at Elephantine (1904–1908) and Tell el-Amiranah (q.v.), he sought to establish the historical value of the sources in the text of the Old Testament, elaborating for each historical period a minute study of the sources (Quellenkunde).
From the Hebrew text of the Old Testament he published (1906–1909), with the assistance of many collaborators, an edition that gained recognition for its critical value and remains indispensable in the 3rd edition revised by P. Kahle (1937). In his study of ancient mystical religions, he endeavored to vindicate the religious independence of Israel. Meanwhile, he worked on his great History of the People of Israel, which met with ever-growing success. All this earned the author much sympathy, even among Catholic exegetes. Yet on questions of inspiration, the Incarnation, the election of Israel, and theological matters in general, he remained distant from strictly Catholic positions.
Principal works: Die neuesten Wendungen der Pentateuchischen Frage (1881–82); Geschichte der Hebräer (2 vols., 1888–92); The books of the Chronicles (1895); Biblia Hebraica (I, 1905; II, 1906, 1909; stereotype ed. 1913; 2nd ed. 1929; 3rd ed. 1937; 4th ed. 1949); Geschichte des Volkes Israel (I–II, 1909; 3rd ed. 1916; I, 5th–6th ed., 1923; II, 6th–7th ed. 1925; III, 1927; 2nd ed. 1929); Die Psalmen, übersetzt und erklärt (1st–2nd ed. 1914; 3rd–4th ed. 1922; 5th–6th ed. 1929); Die Religion Israels von der Urzeit bis auf Christus (1920; 2nd ed. 1929); Der Bibel-Babel-Streit und die Offenbarungsfrage (1st–2nd ed. 1903; 5th ed. 1908); Gedanken und Gestalten in Israel (1925; 2nd ed. 1932). He published his autobiography in Die Religionswissenschaft der Gegenwart in Selbstdarstellungen, I (1925).
RAIMONDO KÖBERT