PETERS, NORBERT

PETERS, Norbert. – Biblical scholar, born in Allendorf (Westphalia) on 5 August 1863, died in Paderborn on 20 January 1938. Ordained priest in 1887, after special studies in biblical science, classical and Oriental philology, he became a respected professor of the Old Testament at the Philosophical-Theological Academy of Paderborn (1892–1934), a keen scholar and prolific writer, particularly on the “biblical question.” He was also a co-founder and co-editor of the series *Biblische Studien* (from 1895) and of the journal *Theologie und Glaube* (from 1909).

Among his most important works are:
*Die grundsätzliche Stellung der kath. Kirche zur Bibelforschung*, Paderborn 1905;
*Bibel und Naturwissenschaft nach den Grundsätzen der kath. Theologie*, ibid. 1906;
*Glauben und Wissen in der Erklärung des ersten biblischen Schöpfungsberichtes*, ibid. 1907;
*Kirche und Bibellesen*, ibid. 1908;
*Die Religion des Alten Testamentes in ihrer Einzigartigkeit unter den Religionen des alten Orients*, Kempten-Munich 1911;
*Das Buch Jesus Sirach oder Ecclesiasticus*, Münster 1913;
*Die Leidensfrage im Alten Testament*, ibid. 1923;
*Das Trostbuch Israels, Isaias*, Paderborn 1923;
*Die Frau im Alten Testament*, Düsseldorf 1926;
*Das Buch Job*, Münster 1928;
*Unsere Bibel*, Paderborn 1929, 3rd ed. 1935;
*Die Psalmen*, ibid. 1930;
*Die soziale Fürsorge im Alten Testament*, ibid. 1936.

Bibl.: Autobiography in E. Stange, *Die Religionswissenschaft der Gegenwart in Selbstdarstellungen*, III, Leipzig 1927, pp. 91–126; F. Blomo, N. P., in *Theologie und Glaube*, 30 (1938), pp. 119–124; Th. Paffrath, *Erinnerung an N. P.*, in *Kirche und Kunst*, 21 (1938), pp. 108–10. Adalberto Metzinger