REINKE, LAURENTIUS. – Catholic exegete, born on 6 February 1797 in Langförden (Germany), died at Münster in V. on 4 June 1879. Ordained a priest (1822), he devoted himself fervently to the study of the Semitic languages, having been a student in Bonn of G. W. Freytag, author of the Lexicon Arabico-Latinum. From 1827 he was a privatdocent in Oriental languages and a répétiteur in the exegesis of the Old Testament; he became a professor at the University of Bonn, extraordinary in 1831 and ordinary in 1837, and held the chair until his death.
Pious and zealous for the honor of Catholic scholarship, he spent his life between study and prayer. Distressed by the situation of exegesis, “devastated” by rationalism, and by the lack of Catholic works scientifically equal to those produced by rationalists, after his fiftieth year he devoted himself to publishing works of scientific exegesis, contributing his savings toward the printing costs. His method being rather philological and concerned with textual criticism, his works still retain their value today, owing to many sound observations and instances of subtle philology amid other, outdated material, and to the careful analysis of the works of so many of his adversaries. His preferred subject was the messianism of the Old Testament, for which he proved a capable defender. He published: Exegesis critica in Is. 52,13-53,18 (Münster 1836); Exegesis critica in Is. 2,2-4 (ibid. 1838); Beiträge zur Erklärung des Alten Testamentes (47 monographs on more difficult and disputed biblical passages: vols. I-VII, ibid. 1851-66; vol. VIII, Giessen 1872). In addition, commentaries on Malachia (1856), Salmi messianici (2 vols., 1856-57), Profezie messianiche nei Libri dei Profeti (4 vols., 1859-62), Aggeo (1868), Sofonia (1868), Abacuc (1870), Michea (1871).