Christians you should know about but probably don’t
Bobby was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania on February 4th, 1856. He had 5 brothers and 4 sisters. By the time he was 8, he had read, among several other books, “Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World” by George Rawlinson. When he was 9, he & his brother went with their dad on a trip to Philadelphia. Their dad dropped them off at a bookstore while he did business. He told them they could buy a few books. When the dad came back to pick them up, they had chosen 50 volumes on history and English poetry.
By the time he was 13, he was ready for college but an illness kept him at home for 2 more years. He used this time wisely. He learned French, Greek, German, Spanish and Italian. He entered the College of New Jersey (later to be called Princeton), received a B.A. degree in 1876 and an M.A. in 1879 and Phd. He entered seminary at Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh. While there he taught about 10 languages and studied another dozen or so. After graduation, he went to Heidelberg, Germany for post-doctoral study. While there, he made up his life plan.
For the next 15 years, he would study all the Semitic languages that had an effect on the Old Testament theology.
For the next 15 years, he would study all the languages that had an effect on the historyof the Old Testament.
For the last 15 years, he would study the Higher Criticism of the Old Testament. This is where some scholars tried to discredit the historicity and validity of the Old Testament. Robert was one of the most articulate scholars against Higher Criticism and for defending the historicity and validity of the bible, especially the Old Testament.
He authored 11 books, 4 published articles and one manuscript.
By the time he entered his eternal reward, on October 11th, 1930, he had mastered 45 foreign languages and dialects.
His Writings:
Robert was able to mount one of the most successful attacks on Higher Criticism ever. In the early 20th century, he defended the biblical position of the bible being inerrant and infallible in every way. He showed how the Higher Criticism school was illogical,irrational and unscientific. His two most popular books, “Studies in the book of Daniel” and “A Scientific Investigation in the Old Testament” published in 1926. He applied the evidence in the same way it would be used in a courtroom. In this way, he demonstrated the Old Testament reliability. He used the word ‘Scientific’ because these conclusions are based on knowledge but also because he presented the evidence in an orderly manner, treating the text , grammar, vocabulary & history in a logical sequence. These two books are unparalleled to this day in their ability to defend the truthfulness of the Old Testament.
These two books are availiable on at http://home-earth-link.net/~ironmen/wilson/robert.htm and www.pcahistory.org/findinginaids/wilson/siot.html.
He died quietly with his wife and a friend at his bedside on Saturday, October 11th at 2:30 PM. Very few men have had the impact of the truthfulness. We owe much to this brilliant scholar for ably defending the accuracy of the bible.
The name of the Christian , who led the Christian view of life, love, freedom and anything else is….Robert Dick Wilson.
Robert Dick Wilson knew what God’s calling was for his life. Do you know what calling God has for your life? Are you living it out?
References:
https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/187-remarkable-robert-dick-wilson-the
https://www.tms.edu/m/tmsj19e.pdf
For His Kingdom,
Dave Maynard
http://BSSSB-LLC.com
