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SIMON, RICHARD (1638–1712)

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 131 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIMON, See also:RICHARD (1638–1712) , See also:French biblical critic, was See also:born at See also:Dieppe on the 13th of May 1638. His See also:early studies were carried on at the See also:college of the Fathers of the See also:Oratory in that See also:city. He was soon, by the kindness of a friend, enabled to enter upon the study of See also:theology at See also:Paris, where he early displayed a See also:taste for See also:Hebrew and other See also:Oriental See also:languages. At the end of his theological course he was sent, according to See also:custom, to See also:teach See also:philosophy at Juilly, where there was one of the colleges of the Oratory. But he was soon recalled to Paris, and employed in the congenial labour of preparing a See also:catalogue of the Oriental books in the library of the Oratory. His first publication was his Fides Ecclesiae orientalis, seu Gabrielis Metropolitae Philadelphiensis opuscula, cum interpretatione See also:Latina, cum notis (Paris, 1671), the See also:object of which was to demonstrate that the belief of the See also:Greek See also:Church regarding the See also:Eucharist was the same as that of the Church of See also:Rome. Simon entered the priesthood in 167o, and the same See also:year wrote a pamphlet in See also:defence of the See also:Jews of See also:Metz, who had been accused of having murdered a See also:Christian See also:child. It was shortly before this See also:time that there were sown the seeds of that enmity with the See also:Port Royalists which filled Simon's after See also:life with many See also:bitter troubles. See also:Antoine See also:Arnauld (1612–1694) had written a See also:work on the See also:Perpetuity of the Faith, the first See also:volume of which treated of the Eucharist. The criticisms of Simon excited lasting indignation among Arnauld's See also:friends and admirers. Another See also:matter was the cause of inciting against him the See also:ill-will of the monks of the See also:Benedictine See also:order. In support of a friend who was engaged in a lawsuit with the Benedictine monks of See also:Fecamp, Simon composed a strongly-worded memorandum.

The monks were greatly exasperated, and made loud complaints to the new See also:

general of the Oratory. The See also:charge of Jesuitism was also brought against Simon, apparently on no other ground than that his friend's See also:brother was an eminent member of that order. The commotion in ecclesiastical circles was See also:great, and Simon's removal not only from Paris but from See also:France was seriously considered. A See also:mission to Rome was proposed to him, but he saw through the See also:design, and, after a See also:short delay dictated by prudential motives, declined the proposal. He was engaged at the time in superintending the See also:printing of his Histoire critique du Vieux Testament. He had hoped, through the See also:influence of Pere la See also:Chaise, the See also:king's See also:confessor, and the duc de See also:Montausier, to be allowed to dedicate the work to See also:Louis XIV., but, as the king was absent in See also:Flanders at the time, the volume could not be published until he had accepted the See also:dedication, though it had passed the censorship of the See also:Sorbonne, and the See also:chancellor of the Oratory had given his imprimatur. The printer of the See also:book, in order to promote the See also:sale, had caused the titles of the various chapters to be printed separately, and to be put in circulation. These, or possibly a copy of the work itself, had happened to come into the hands of the Port Royalists. It seems that, with a view to injure the sale of the work, which it was well known in theological circles had been See also:long in preparation by Simon, the Messieurs de Port Royal had undertaken a See also:translation into French of the Prolegomena to See also:Walton's See also:Polyglott. To counteract this proceeding Simon announced his intention of See also:publishing an annotated edition of the Prolegomena, and actually added to the See also:Critical See also:History a translation of the last four chapters of that work, which had formed no See also:part of his See also:original See also:plan. Simon's announcement prevented the See also:appearance of the projected translation, but his enemies were all the more irritated. They had now obtained the opportunity which they had long been seeking.

The freedom with which Simon expressed himself on various topics, and especially those chapters in which he declared that See also:

Moses could not be the author of much in the writings attributed to him, especially aroused their opposition. The powerful influence of See also:Bossuet, at that time See also:tutor to the dauphin, was invoked; the chancellor See also:Michael le Tellier See also:lent his assistance; a See also:decree of the See also:council of See also:state was obtained, and after a See also:series of paltry intrigues the whole impression, consisting of 1300 copies, was seized by the See also:police and destroyed, and the animosity of his colleagues in the Oratory See also:rose to so great a height against Simon that he was declared to be no longer a member of their See also:body. Full of bitterness and disgust, Simon retired in 1679 to the curacy of Bolleville, to which he had been lately appointed by the See also:vicar-general of the See also:abbey of Fecamp. The work thus "confiscated in France it was proposed to republish in See also:Holland. Simon, however, at first opposed this, in hopes of overcoming the opposition of Bossuet by making certain changes in the parts objected to. The negotiations with Bossuet lasted a considerable time, but finally failed, and the Critical History appeared, with Simon's name on the See also:title See also:page, in the year 1685, from the See also:press of Reenier Leers in See also:Rotterdam. An imperfect edition had previously been published at Amster-See also:dam by See also:Daniel See also:Elzevir, based upon a MS. transcription of one of the copies of the original work which had escaped destruction and had been sent to See also:England, and from which a Latin and an See also:English translation were afterwards made. The edition of Leers was a See also:reproduction of the work as first printed, with a new See also:preface, notes, and those other writings which had appeared for and against the work up to that date. The work consists of three books. The first deals with questions of Biblical See also:criticism, properly so called, such as the See also:text of the Hebrew See also:Bible and the changes which it has undergone down to the See also:present See also:day, the authorship of the See also:Mosaic writings and of other books of the Bible, with an exposition of Simon's See also:peculiar theory of the existence during the whole extent of Jewish history of recorders or See also:annalists of the events of each See also:period, whose writings were pre-served in the public archives, and the institution of which he assigns to Moses. The second book gives an See also:account of the See also:principal See also:translations, See also:ancient and See also:modern, of the Old Testament, and the third contains an examination of the principal commentators. I-Ie had, with the exception of the theory above mentioned, contributed nothing really new on the subject of Old Testament criticism, for previous critics as L.

See also:

Cappel, Johannes l%iIorinus (1591–1659) and others had established many points of importance, and the value of Simon's work consisted chiefly in bringing together and presenting at one view the results of Old Testament criticism. The work encountered strong opposition, and that not only from the Church of Rome. The Protestants See also:felt their stronghold—an infallible Bible —assailed by the doubts which Simon raised against the integrity of the Hebrew text. J. le Clerc (" Clericus ") in his work Sentimens de quelques theologiens de Hollande, controverted the views of Simon, and was answered by the latter in a See also:tone of considerable asperity in his Reponse aux Sentimens de quelques theologiens de Hollande, over the See also:signature " See also:Pierre Ambrun, " it being a marked peculiarity of Simon rarely to give his own name. The remaining See also:works of Simon may be briefly noticed. In 1689 appeared his Histoire critique du texte du Nouveau Testament, consisting of See also:thirty:three chapters, in which he discusses the origin and See also:character of the various books, with a See also:consideration of the objections brought against them by the Jews and others, the quotations from the Old Testament in the New, the See also:inspiration of the New Testament (with a refutation of the opinions of See also:Spinoza), the Greek See also:dialect in which they are written (against C. See also:Salmasius), the Greek See also:MSS. known at the time, especially Codex D (Cantabrigiensis), &c. This was followed in 1690 by his Histoire critique See also:des versions du Nouveau Testament, where he gives an account of the various translations, both ancient and modern, and discusses the manner in which many difficult passages of the New Testament have been rendered in the various versions. In 1693 was published what in some respects is the most valuable of all his writings, viz. Histoire critique des principaux commentateurs du Nouveau Testament depuis le commencement du Christianisme jusques a noire temps. This work exhibits immense See also:reading, and the See also:information it containsis still valuable to the student. The last work of Simon that we need mention is his Nouvelles Observations sur le texte et See also:les versions du Nouveau Testament (Paris, 1695), which contains supplementary observations upon the subjects of the text and translations of the New Testament.

As a controversialist Simon displayed a bitterness which tended only to aggravate the unpleasantness of controversy. He was entirely a See also:

man of See also:intellect, See also:free from all tendency to sentimentality, and with a strong vein of See also:sarcasm and See also:satire in his disposition. He died at Dieppe on the 11th of See also:April 1712 a t the See also:age of seventy-four. The principal authorities for the life of Simon are the life or eloge " by his See also:grand-See also:nephew De la Martiniere in vol. i. of the Lettres choisies (4 vols., See also:Amsterdam, 1730) ; K. H. See also:Graf's See also:article in the first vol. of the Beitr. zu d. theol. Wissensch., &c. (See also:Jena, 1851) ; E. W. E. See also:Reuss's article, revised by E. Nestle, in See also:Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie (ed.

1906) ; Richard Simon et son Vieux Testament, by A. See also:

Bern's (See also:Lausanne, 1869); H. Margival, Essai sur Richard Simon et is critique biblique au X VII' siecle (1900). For the bibliography, see, in addition to the various See also:editions of Simon's works, the very See also:complete and accurate account of A. Bernus, See also:Notice bibliographique sur Richard Simon (See also:Basel, 1882).

End of Article: SIMON, RICHARD (1638–1712)

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