August Gall


August von Gall, Baron was a German theologian and orientalist. He was an associate professor of theology at University of Giessen.

Life

August was a member of the baronial family of the House of von Gall. His parents were August Johann Ludwig Karl Wilhelm von Gall, the principal of the secondary school in Darmstadt, and his wife Alma Lindemann von Gall.
After attending high schools in Mainz and Darmstadt, he studied theology and oriental studies at the universities of Halle and Giessen. He became a member of the Wingolfs of Halle, Berlin, and Giessen.
In 1897, he initially worked as a minister and religion teacher, and in 1909, he became senior teacher and professor at the Giessen high school.
In 1910, he qualified as a professor at the University of Giessen, where he received an honorary professorship. In 1914, he became an extraordinary professor in Giessen. From 1920, he was a full honorary professor of theology in Giessen until his retirement in 1937.
Gall married Marie Rumpf, the daughter of a forester, on April 18, 1900, in Ockstadt in Friedberg, Hesse. The couple had two sons:
  • Werner, killed in the Battle of Stalingrad; forester, married in 1934 Irmgard Decker
  • Waldemar, retired colonel, married in 1932 Annegret Wiegand
August von Gall worked on depictions of the Kingdom of God in the Old Testament and pre-Christian religions. He became known, however, primarily for his publication of the Samaritan Pentateuch. He used manuscript sources scattered throughout Europe and the Near East as his basis. Later, he studied Aztec culture and published, among other works, an annotated selection of Aztec medical books in German.
Reprints:
A. von Gall : Der hebräische Pentateuch der Samaritaner. Berlin 1966, reprint: Walter de Gruyter, 1993, ISBN 3-11-009258-1.
A. von Gall: Medizinische Bücher der alten Azteken aus der ersten Zeit der Conquista. VWB-Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung, reprint 1997, ISBN 3-927408-11-5.

Cites