Francis Andersen
Encyclopedia
Francis Ian Andersen is an Australian scholar in the fields of biblical studies
and Hebrew. Together with A. Dean Forbes, he pioneered the use of computers for the analysis of biblical Hebrew syntax
. He taught Old Testament
, History, and Religious Studies
at various institutions in Australia and the United States, including Macquarie University
, the University of Queensland
, and Fuller Theological Seminary
. His published works include the Tyndale commentary on Job
, and Anchor Bible commentaries on Hosea
, Amos
, Habakkuk
and Micah
, and over 90 papers (some as co-author).
, Queensland
, Australia. In his final high school examinations in 1942, he topped the state of Queensland, winning an Open Scholarship to the University of Queensland
. He received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Queensland in Chemistry in 1947. He accepted a position as Demonstrator in Chemistry at the University of Melbourne
, where he taught until 1953. He received a Master of Science in Physical Chemistry in 1951, and a Bachelor of Arts in Russian in 1955, both from the University of Melbourne.
In 1952 he married Lois Garrett, a medical doctor. They had five children: John (born 1954), David (born 1956), Martin (born 1958), Nedra (born 1961), and Kathryn (born 1965).
While he was undertaking a postgraduate degree in chemistry at the University of Melbourne, he was attracted into the field of biblical studies by Stuart Barton Babbage, the principal of Ridley College, an Anglican theological college in Melbourne, who persuaded him to join the staff there. In 1957 he received a Fulbright Scholarship
to study at Johns Hopkins University
in Baltimore
, Maryland under William F. Albright
. He received a Ph.D. with a dissertation entitled "Studies in Hebrew Syntax".
In 1960 he returned to Ridley College as Vice-Principal. In 1963 he accepted an appointment as Professor of Old Testament at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific
, in Berkeley, California
. In 1973 he became Warden of the College of Saint John the Evangelist
in Auckland
, New Zealand. A year later, he returned to Australia. From 1974-1975 he was Exchange Professor at the Department of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan
in Ann Arbor, Michigan
. In 1975 he became Associate Professor of History at Macquarie University
, in North Ryde, New South Wales
, where he taught until 1980. In 1981 he became Professor of Studies in Religion at the University of Queensland
, in St Lucia, Queensland
.
In 1988 he returned to the United States, where he taught at New College for Advanced Christian Studies
, in Berkeley California until 1993. He subsequently became David Allan Hubbard Professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary
, in Pasadena, California
. He now lives in Melbourne
, Australia.
, biblical studies
, chemistry
, computational linguistics
, Hebrew orthography
, morphology
, and syntax
, pseudepigrapha, Semitic languages
, sociology
, and theology
.
Much of his most significant work has been the result of two academic partnerships he formed when he was teaching at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific
in Berkeley, California
in the 1960s. The first was with David Noel Freedman
, who was teaching at the San Francisco Theological Seminary
. They teamed up commencing in 1965 to write three commentaries on the minor prophets in the Anchor Bible series, which was edited by Freedman. Andersen wrote a fourth commentary on Habakkuk
by himself.
The other research partnership was with A. Dean Forbes, who was Project Manager for Computer Speech Recognition
Research at Hewlett-Packard
Laboratories in Palo Alto, California
. Over a period of more than thirty-five years, Andersen and Forbes have carried out research in the field of computer-assisted corpus linguistics
, developing a computer database of all the clauses in the Hebrew Bible. During the initial period of research from 1971 to 1979, Andersen transcribed the entire text of the Leningrad Codex
of the Hebrew Bible into machine readable form. The orthographic words were then segmented into grammatical segments. A linguistic dictionary was generated by the computer, which included grammatical information on each segment.
This database enabled Andersen and Forbes to produce a series of computer generated keyword-in-context concordances, as well as analyses of the vocabulary of the Old Testament (see bibliography on computational linguistics). Their database has been licensed to Logos Bible Software
and provided with a syntax search engine.
Another area of Andersen’s work arose out of his study of Russian. He became an authority on the book of 2 Enoch
, a book of the Pseudepigrapha preserved in the Old Church Slavonic
language (see bibliography on Pseudepigrapha). He made a number of trips to the Soviet Union, including a visit in January 1989 under an exchange agreement between the University of Queensland
and the USSR Academy of Sciences. He spent much time examining ancient manuscripts in various libraries in Leningrad
(now Saint Petersburg), including the Russian National Library
(Saltykor-Shchedrin), the Library of the Oriental Institute
, and the Library of the Academy of Sciences. He was able to shed light on a number of important manuscripts hitherto little accessed by Western scholars. One of these was the Karasu-Bazar Codex of the Latter Prophets, which may be the oldest extant biblical codex
in Hebrew. Another was manuscript A, representing the shorter recension of 2 Enoch
, the very existence of which had previously escaped the attention of Western scholars. He also made a visit to Bulgaria
in 1986 and published an article on Pseudepigrapha studies there.
, "one of the best on any biblical book.")
Biblical studies
Biblical studies is the academic study of the Judeo-Christian Bible and related texts. For Christianity, the Bible traditionally comprises the New Testament and Old Testament, which together are sometimes called the "Scriptures." Judaism recognizes as scripture only the Hebrew Bible, also known as...
and Hebrew. Together with A. Dean Forbes, he pioneered the use of computers for the analysis of biblical Hebrew syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
. He taught Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
, History, and Religious Studies
Religious studies
Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.While theology attempts to...
at various institutions in Australia and the United States, including Macquarie University
Macquarie University
Macquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney...
, the University of Queensland
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
, and Fuller Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary is an accredited Christian educational institute with its main campus in Pasadena, California and several satellite campuses in the western United States...
. His published works include the Tyndale commentary on Job
Book of Job
The Book of Job , commonly referred to simply as Job, is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. It relates the story of Job, his trials at the hands of Satan, his discussions with friends on the origins and nature of his suffering, his challenge to God, and finally a response from God. The book is a...
, and Anchor Bible commentaries on Hosea
Book of Hosea
The Book of Hosea is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. It stands first in order among what are known as the twelve Minor Prophets.-Background and Content:...
, Amos
Book of Amos
The Book of Amos is a prophetic book of the Hebrew Bible, one of the Twelve Minor Prophets. Amos, an older contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah, was active c. 750 BCE during the reign of Jeroboam II, making the Book of Amos the first biblical prophetic book written. Amos lived in the kingdom of Judah...
, Habakkuk
Book of Habakkuk
The Book of Habakkuk is the eighth book of the 12 minor prophets of the Hebrew Bible. It is attributed to the prophet Habakkuk, and was probably composed in the late 7th century BC. A copy of chapters 1 and 2 is included in the Habakkuk Commentary, found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.Chapters 1-2...
and Micah
Book of Micah
The Book of Micah is one of fifteen prophetic books in the Hebrew bible/Old Testament, and the sixth of the twelve minor prophets. It records the sayings of Mikayahu, meaning "Who is like Yahweh?", an 8th century prophet from the village of Moresheth in Judah...
, and over 90 papers (some as co-author).
Biography
Francis Ian Andersen was born in WarwickWarwick, Queensland
Warwick is a town in Queensland, Australia, lying south-west of Brisbane. It is the administrative centre of the Southern Downs Local Government Area. In 2006 the town of Warwick had a population of 12,562....
, Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, Australia. In his final high school examinations in 1942, he topped the state of Queensland, winning an Open Scholarship to the University of Queensland
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
. He received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Queensland in Chemistry in 1947. He accepted a position as Demonstrator in Chemistry at the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
, where he taught until 1953. He received a Master of Science in Physical Chemistry in 1951, and a Bachelor of Arts in Russian in 1955, both from the University of Melbourne.
In 1952 he married Lois Garrett, a medical doctor. They had five children: John (born 1954), David (born 1956), Martin (born 1958), Nedra (born 1961), and Kathryn (born 1965).
While he was undertaking a postgraduate degree in chemistry at the University of Melbourne, he was attracted into the field of biblical studies by Stuart Barton Babbage, the principal of Ridley College, an Anglican theological college in Melbourne, who persuaded him to join the staff there. In 1957 he received a Fulbright Scholarship
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
to study at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Maryland under William F. Albright
William F. Albright
William Foxwell Albright was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist and expert on ceramics. From the early twentieth century until his death, he was the dean of biblical archaeologists and the universally acknowledged founder of the Biblical archaeology movement...
. He received a Ph.D. with a dissertation entitled "Studies in Hebrew Syntax".
In 1960 he returned to Ridley College as Vice-Principal. In 1963 he accepted an appointment as Professor of Old Testament at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific
Church Divinity School of the Pacific
Church Divinity School of the Pacific is one of the eleven seminaries of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. It is located in Berkeley, California, and is a member of the Graduate Theological Union...
, in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
. In 1973 he became Warden of the College of Saint John the Evangelist
St John's College, Auckland
The College of St John the Evangelist, located in Meadowbank, Auckland, New Zealand, is the theological college of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia...
in Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, New Zealand. A year later, he returned to Australia. From 1974-1975 he was Exchange Professor at the Department of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
. In 1975 he became Associate Professor of History at Macquarie University
Macquarie University
Macquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney...
, in North Ryde, New South Wales
North Ryde, New South Wales
North Ryde is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. North Ryde is located 15 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Ryde...
, where he taught until 1980. In 1981 he became Professor of Studies in Religion at the University of Queensland
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
, in St Lucia, Queensland
St Lucia, Queensland
St Lucia is an inner suburb of Brisbane, Australia located 4 km south-west of the Brisbane CBD. The suburb is bordered on three sides by the Brisbane River and is dominated by the main campus of the University of Queensland.-History:...
.
In 1988 he returned to the United States, where he taught at New College for Advanced Christian Studies
New College Berkeley
New College Berkeley is a Christian tertiary institution located at 2029 Durant Ave, in Berkeley, California. It was founded in 1977 and is an affiliate of the Graduate Theological Union. It focuses on providing interdisciplinary studies to equip lay Christians for active ministry...
, in Berkeley California until 1993. He subsequently became David Allan Hubbard Professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary is an accredited Christian educational institute with its main campus in Pasadena, California and several satellite campuses in the western United States...
, in Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
. He now lives in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia.
Work
Andersen has a wide range of research interests, so much so that he has been described as a polymath. As can be seen from his bibliography, he has published research in such diverse fields as archaeologyArchaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
, biblical studies
Biblical studies
Biblical studies is the academic study of the Judeo-Christian Bible and related texts. For Christianity, the Bible traditionally comprises the New Testament and Old Testament, which together are sometimes called the "Scriptures." Judaism recognizes as scripture only the Hebrew Bible, also known as...
, chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, computational linguistics
Computational linguistics
Computational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the statistical or rule-based modeling of natural language from a computational perspective....
, Hebrew orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
, morphology
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
, and syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
, pseudepigrapha, Semitic languages
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
, sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, and theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
.
Much of his most significant work has been the result of two academic partnerships he formed when he was teaching at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific
Church Divinity School of the Pacific
Church Divinity School of the Pacific is one of the eleven seminaries of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. It is located in Berkeley, California, and is a member of the Graduate Theological Union...
in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
in the 1960s. The first was with David Noel Freedman
David Noel Freedman
David Noel Freedman , son of the writer David Freedman, was a biblical scholar, author, editor, archaeologist, and ordained Presbyterian minister ....
, who was teaching at the San Francisco Theological Seminary
San Francisco Theological Seminary
San Francisco Theological Seminary is a graduate school affiliated with Presbyterian Church located in San Anselmo, California. Founded in 1871, SFTS is a graduate theological institution that is focused on graduate theological education in the Reformed tradition...
. They teamed up commencing in 1965 to write three commentaries on the minor prophets in the Anchor Bible series, which was edited by Freedman. Andersen wrote a fourth commentary on Habakkuk
Book of Habakkuk
The Book of Habakkuk is the eighth book of the 12 minor prophets of the Hebrew Bible. It is attributed to the prophet Habakkuk, and was probably composed in the late 7th century BC. A copy of chapters 1 and 2 is included in the Habakkuk Commentary, found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.Chapters 1-2...
by himself.
The other research partnership was with A. Dean Forbes, who was Project Manager for Computer Speech Recognition
Speech recognition
Speech recognition converts spoken words to text. The term "voice recognition" is sometimes used to refer to recognition systems that must be trained to a particular speaker—as is the case for most desktop recognition software...
Research at Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
Laboratories in Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
. Over a period of more than thirty-five years, Andersen and Forbes have carried out research in the field of computer-assisted corpus linguistics
Corpus linguistics
Corpus linguistics is the study of language as expressed in samples or "real world" text. This method represents a digestive approach to deriving a set of abstract rules by which a natural language is governed or else relates to another language. Originally done by hand, corpora are now largely...
, developing a computer database of all the clauses in the Hebrew Bible. During the initial period of research from 1971 to 1979, Andersen transcribed the entire text of the Leningrad Codex
Leningrad Codex
The Leningrad Codex is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the masoretic text and Tiberian vocalization. It is dated AD 1008 according to its colophon...
of the Hebrew Bible into machine readable form. The orthographic words were then segmented into grammatical segments. A linguistic dictionary was generated by the computer, which included grammatical information on each segment.
This database enabled Andersen and Forbes to produce a series of computer generated keyword-in-context concordances, as well as analyses of the vocabulary of the Old Testament (see bibliography on computational linguistics). Their database has been licensed to Logos Bible Software
Logos Bible Software
Logos Bible Software is a Bellingham, Washington software company and electronic publisher specializing in Bible study. Their flagship product is Logos Bible Software 4, a bible study software application for Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, iPhone/iPad and Android platforms...
and provided with a syntax search engine.
Another area of Andersen’s work arose out of his study of Russian. He became an authority on the book of 2 Enoch
Second Book of Enoch
The Second Book of Enoch is a pseudepigraphic of the Old Testament. It is usually considered to be part of the Apocalyptic literature. Late 1st century CE is the dating often preferred...
, a book of the Pseudepigrapha preserved in the Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Church Slavic was the first literary Slavic language, first developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek...
language (see bibliography on Pseudepigrapha). He made a number of trips to the Soviet Union, including a visit in January 1989 under an exchange agreement between the University of Queensland
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
and the USSR Academy of Sciences. He spent much time examining ancient manuscripts in various libraries in Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
(now Saint Petersburg), including the Russian National Library
Russian National Library
The National Library of Russia in St Petersburg, known as the State Public Saltykov-Shchedrin Library from 1932 to 1992 , is the oldest public library in Russia...
(Saltykor-Shchedrin), the Library of the Oriental Institute
Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences , formerly Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences, is Russia's leading research institution for the study of the countries and cultures of Asia and North Africa...
, and the Library of the Academy of Sciences. He was able to shed light on a number of important manuscripts hitherto little accessed by Western scholars. One of these was the Karasu-Bazar Codex of the Latter Prophets, which may be the oldest extant biblical codex
Codex
A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...
in Hebrew. Another was manuscript A, representing the shorter recension of 2 Enoch
Second Book of Enoch
The Second Book of Enoch is a pseudepigraphic of the Old Testament. It is usually considered to be part of the Apocalyptic literature. Late 1st century CE is the dating often preferred...
, the very existence of which had previously escaped the attention of Western scholars. He also made a visit to Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
in 1986 and published an article on Pseudepigrapha studies there.
Biblical studies
(This commentary is, according to Tremper LongmanTremper Longman
Tremper Longman, III is an Old Testament theologian, professor and author of several books, including 2009 ECPA Christian Book Award winner Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings. He serves as Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara,...
, "one of the best on any biblical book.")
External links
- Biography from the Australian Institute of Archaeology
- Andersen-Forbes Resources