KITTEL, RUDOLF. - Protestant biblical scholar, a moderate critic, b. at Eningen near Reutlingen (Württemberg) on 28 March 1853, d. at Leipzig on 29 Oct. 1929. A pastor until 1879 in his native province; then a tutor at Tübingen, a secondary-school teacher at Stuttgart; full professor at Breslau (1888-98), full professor for Old Testament studies at Leipzig (1898-1924). He was a (Protestant) canon at Meissen.
K. began his scholarly career with a decisive attack against the theses of Wellhausen and Stade on the history of Israel. Relying on the new discoveries of Elephantine (1904-1908) and Tell el-Amarna (v.), he sought to establish the historical value of the sources in the Old Testament text, working out for each historical period a meticulous study of the sources (Quellenkunde).
From the Hebrew text of the Old Testament he published (1906-1909), with the help of many collaborators, an edition that won recognition for its critical value and that remains indispensable in the 3rd edition, revised by P. Kahle (1937). In the study of the ancient material religions, he sought 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 won the author much sympathy, even in the field of Catholic exegesis. But K. remained far from strictly Catholic positions regarding inspiration, inerrancy, the election of Israel, and theological questions in general.
Principal works: Die neuesten Wendungen der Fantasienchischen 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).