"In the humanities, if they are to remain alive, it is necessary to have a relationship to the thought as well as to the thinker from the past" (Karl Rahner). Rudolf Smend attempts to establish such a relationship for one single branch of the humanities, which however can be seen as particularly paradigmatic. He does this in rough descriptions of 15 scholars who had a certain share in contributing to the history of Old Testament scholarship. He begins with the French physician Jean Astruc and the English Bishop Robert Lowth. Using the names for God, Astruc was the first to show that Genesis was based on various sources and manuscript traditions, and Lowth discovered the fundamental principle of Hebrew poetry (the "parallelismus membrorum"). At the end of the book the author discusses scholars whom he knew personally: Albrecht Alt, Gerhard v. Rad, Martin Noth, Isac Leo Seeligmann and Walther Zimmerli.

Geboren 1932; Studium in Tübingen, Göttingen, Basel; 1958 Promotion; 1962 Habilitation; 1963-65 Professor für Altes Testament in Berlin; 1965-71 in Münster; seit 1971 in Göttingen; 1998 emeritiert.