KITTEL, RUDOLF. — Protestant biblical scholar and moderate critic, born at Eningen near Reutlingen (Württemberg) on 28 March 1853, died in Leipzig on 29 October 1929. Pastor until 1879 in his native province; thereafter répétiteur at Tübingen, secondary-school teacher in Stuttgart; professor at Breslau (1888–98), ordinary professor of Old Testament studies at Leipzig (1898–1924). He was a (Protestant) canon at Meissen.
K. began his scholarly career with a determined attack on the theses of Wellhausen and Stade concerning the history of Israel. Drawing on the new discoveries at Elephantine (1904–1908) and Tell el-’Amirnah (v.), he sought to establish the historical value of the sources in the text of the Old Testament, preparing for each historical period a detailed 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 established itself through its critical merit and remains indispensable in the 3rd ed., revised by P. Kahle (1937). In the study of ancient maternal religions, he sought to vindicate Israel’s religious independence. Meanwhile he worked on his great Geschichte des Volkes Israel, which enjoyed ever-increasing success. All this won the author many sympathizers, even in the field of Catholic exegesis. Yet K. remained far removed from strictly Catholic positions concerning inspiration, inerrancy, and the election of Israel, as well as 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; stereotyped 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).