THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
der; Edinburgh, 1860); I. A. Dorner's History of the Development of the Doctrine of the Person of Christ (5 vols., 1861-63); H. Cremer's Biblico-Theological Lexicon of New Testament Greek (in collaboration with W Urwick; 1872); and L. Stahlin's Kant, Lotze, Ritschl (1889); and wrote The Bible an Outgrowth of Theocratic Life (Edinburgh, 1886); The Redemption of Man (1886); Reconciliation by Incarnation (1S98); Some Bible Problems (London, 1898); and The Making of a Preacher (1907).
SIMON, JOHN SMITH: Wesleyan Methodist; b. in Glasgow June 25, 1843. He was educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey, and Victoria College, Jersey, and, after being a lawyer's assistant for four years, entered the Wesleyan ministry in 1863. He has served on many of the most important committees of his denomination, and in 1895 became one of the members of its Legal Conference. He was a delegate to the Methodist Ecumenical conferences of 1891 (Washington) and 1901 (London), and in 1907 was president of the Wesleyan conference. Since 1901 he has been governor of the Wesleyan Methodist Theological College at Didsbury, and is the author of Manual of Instruction and Advice for Class Leaders (London, 1892) ; Summary of Methodist Law and Discipline (1897); and The Revival of Religion in England in the Eighteenth Century (1907).
SIMON, RICHARD: French Roman Catholic and the real founder of Biblical criticism; b. at Dieppe (33 m. n. of Rouen) May 13, 1638; d. there Apr. 11, 1712. In 1658 he became a novice of the Oratorians, and, after withdrawing, returned in 1662 on receiving permission to continue his studies during his novitiate. He was ordained to the priesthood in Sept., 1670, but on May 21, 1678, was expelled from the Oratorians because of the publication of his Histoire critique du Vieux Testament (Paris, 1678, and often; Eng. transl. by R. Hampden, Critical History of the Old Testament, 4 parts, London, 1682). He then retired to the parish of Bolleville in Normandy, which he had received in 1676, and later lived at Dieppe, Rouen, and Paris. Before his expulsion from the Oratorians he was for a time professor of philosophy at Juilly, though he found a more congenial task in cataloguing the oriental manuscripts of the library and in Biblical, rabbinical, and patristic studies. Rationalistic in temperament, and quarrelsome in disposition, the fresh knowledge which he acquired involved him in countless controversies, the most famous being that which centered about the Histoire critique just mentioned. This work, after seven years of preparation, had been passed by the censor and was in print, with the exception of the title and the dedication to the king, when the preface and table of contents fell into the hands of Bossuet. The heading of the fifth chapter, " Moses can not be the author of all the books attributed to him," was enough to cause Bossuet to interfere, and on June 19, 1678, the copies of the work, with a few exceptions, were destroyed. From one of those which escaped Daniel Elzevir prepared an incorrect edition (Amsterdam, 16S0), and in 168.5 Simon himself published another edition at Rotterdam with a preface as if from a Protestant and notes referring to Simon in the third
person. The work was vehemently attacked, but the New-Testament portions were so increased in size that they were issued in separate parts under the titles of Histoire critique du texte du Nouveau Testament (Rotterdam, 1689; Eng. transl., 2 parts, London, 1689), Histoire critique des versions du Nouveau Testament (Rotterdam, 1690; Eng. transl., London, 1692), and Histoire critique des principaux commentateurs du Nouveau Testament (2 parts, Rotterdam, 1693), these being followed by the Nouvelles observations sur le texte et les versions du Nouveau Testament (Paris, 1695) and by an anonymous French translation of the Vulgate (4 vols., Trevoux, 1702). This version was also attacked by Bossuet, and although Simon printed slips bearing changes in translation and explanations to be pasted over his first text, the book was prohibited. Toward the end of his life Simon printed Lettres choisies de M. Simon (Amsterdam, 1700) and, under the pseudonym of M. de Sain j ore, Bibliotheque critique, ou recueil de diverses pieces (4 parts, Paris and Amsterdam, 1708-10). After his death his Nouvelle bibliotheque choisie appeared (2 vols., 1714), and among his other writings special mention may be made of his Histoire critique des dogmes, des controverses, des coutumes et des cirSmonies des Chretiens orientaux (Trevoux, 1711; Eng. transl. by A. Lovell, London, 1685).
Richard Simon was the first to attempt to write a history of the Bible as a piece of literature, an astounding innovation considering the intellectual conditions of his time. He did not, however, direct his attention to the contents of the Bible or to the development of religious concepts, but rather to the text, the versions, and the commentaries. Disregarding the traditional and dogmatic presuppositions of the age, he critically discussed the Septuagint and the Vulgate, and defended the translation of the Bible into the vernacular. He regarded the Masoretic text as representing a good tradition, but postulated the late origin of the Hebrew vowelpoints and square script. In New-Testament criticism he defended the Hellenistic idiom against the purists. In regard to the origin of the Old Testament, he maintained that there were in Israel, from the time of Moses, public scribes whose duty it was to record all matters pertaining to religion and the State, and also, in their capacity of public orators, to give directions to the people, these addresses being published from time to time, and after the Exile giving rise to the Old Testament in its present form. The verdict of succeeding generations was most unfavorable to Simon, nor was it until the rise of Johann Salomo Semler (q.v.) that the true merits of Simon, with all his shortcomings, received full recognition. E. Nestle.
Bibliography: A. Bernus, Richard Simon et son Hist. critique du Vieux Testament, Lausanne, 1869; idem, Notice bibliographique sur Richard Simon, Basel, 1882; L. Diestel, Geschichte des Allen Testaments in der christlichen Kirche, Jena, 1869; C. H. Wright, Introduction to the Old Testament, London, 1891 (the first part contains a history of criticism); H. Margival, in Revue d'hist. et litterature religieuses, i (1896), 159, ii (1897), 17, 223, 525, iii (1898), 117, 138, 508, iv (1899), 122, 192, 310, 435; A. Bludau, in Der Katholik, 1904, i. 29-422, ii. 114-122; A. Duff, Hist, of O. T. Criticism, New York, 1910.