History and founding texts

The books of the founders of what is now called «Rhetorical biblical analysis» are very difficult to find in thHistory and founding textse libraries. They are therefore available to the public here. It is now possible to find some of them on the net. We would be very grateful if readers pointed out any mistakes that may have slipped into our own editions.

The history of Biblical and Semitic rhetoric

This history is available in R. Meynet, Rhetorical Analysis. An Introduction to Biblical Rhetoric, JSOT.S 256, Sheffield 1998, 43-166.

Updated, these pages are also available here: History.

Founding Fathers

Robert Lowth (1710-1787)

Robert Lowth

Robert LOWTH (1710-1787) was professor at Oxford, after what he became bishop of Oxford, then of London. He is considered the father of rhetorical analysis. In 1753 he published his Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews he taught in Oxford between 1741 and 1751. The most famous one is the nineteen one, on the parallelism of the members, which represents the first principle of biblical and Semitic rhetoric.

John Jebb (1775-1833)

Thomas Boys (1792-1880)

John Forbes (1802-1898)