James Barr (biblical scholar)

Scottish biblical scholar

James Barr (20 March 1924 – 14 October 2006) was a Scottish Old Testament scholar, known for his critique of the notion that the vocabulary and structure of the Hebrew language may reflect a particular theological mindset. At the University of Oxford, he was the Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture from 1976 to 1978, and the Regius Professor of Hebrew from 1978 to 1989.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland (although one obituary claims he was born in Edinburgh on 20 March 1924), educated at Daniel Stewart's college in Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh, Barr was ordained to the ministry of the Church of Scotland in 1951. He held professorships in New College in the University of Edinburgh, University of Manchester, in Princeton Theological Seminary and at Vanderbilt University in the United States. He was Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at Oxford from 1976 to 1978 and Regius Professor of Hebrew from 1978 to 1989. Following service in World War II in the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy where he was a pilot of torpedo bombers and took part in air sea rescue missions, followed by appointments in the University of Manchester (1965–76) as Professor Semitic Languages and Literatures, and in Oxford University, initially as Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture (1976–78) and then as Regius Professor of Hebrew (1978–89). After his retirement from Oxford, he was appointed Professor of Hebrew Bible in Vanderbilt University (1989–98). He was a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters from 1977.

His The Semantics of Biblical Language (1961), in which he criticised the tendency of many scholars to rely on linguistically flawed arguments, such as arguments from etymology or based upon misconceptions about the relation between Hebrew thought and language was very influential. Much of the critique was built upon the work of French linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. In turn, Barr's student Moisés Silva built on Barr's work in Biblical Words and Their Meaning (1983). In another important study, Comparative Philology and the Text of the Old Testament (1968), he criticised the tendency to ascribe meanings to difficult Hebrew words based on words in other Semitic languages (e. g., Ugaritic). This study has been described as having "put comparative Semitic philology on a new and firmer footing." He edited Journal of Semitic Studies 1965–76, and served as editor of the Oxford Hebrew Dictionary project. He was also an outspoken critic of conservative evangelicalism, which he attacked in his 1977 book Fundamentalism. In particular he criticised evangelical scholars such as J. I. Packer for affirming the doctrine of scriptural inerrancy, the teaching that the Bible is without error. Barr's other works about fundamentalism include The Scope and Authority of the Bible (1980) and Escaping Fundamentalism (1984). He was often invited to appear in BBC religious programming.

Barr married Jane Hepburn in 1950 and had two sons and a daughter. He was the grandson of the minister and politician James Barr. He died in Claremont, California, on 14 October 2006, aged 82.