Alexander Geddes 1737-1802

'Geddes was incontestably a man of great learning and independence of mind and his work as a pioneer of modern biblical scholarship is one of the greatest historical importance' (J.G. Macgregor). Yet the work of this eighteenth-century scholar is largely unknown today, though his name is often linked with the 'fragment hypothesis' of Pentateuchal composition which he initiated and which was developed by Vater. But perhaps his most significant contribution is in the field of mythology at the moment when J.G. Eichhorn was himself engaged in this development. Making full use of contemporary sources, and drawing upon hitherto unpublished material, Dr Fuller has now written the first full-scale study of this remarkable man who with courage, not unmixed with rashness, stood almost alone in his endeavours to introduce principles of literary and historical criticism into Bible study in Britain.>