The German theologian Gerhard von Rad (1901-1971) developed the "tradition history" approach to the Old Testament that has dominated the study of the Bible for nearly 40 years.

Gerhard von Rad was born to a patrician medical family in Nürnberg on October 21, 1901. After studying theology at Erlangen and Tübingen, he served briefly as a pastor in a Bavarian church before preparing himself to teach Old Testament. On completing a dissertation on Das Gottesvolk im Deuteronomium (The People of God in Deuteronomy), he took a teaching position at Erlangen. Here he wrote Das Geschichtsbild des Chronistischen Werkes (The Concept of History in the Work of the Chronicler) and studied Semitics with Albrecht Alt at Leipzig. In 1930 von Rad moved to Leipzig, where he taught until 1934. During these years he gained competence in archaeology and wrote several important essays, the main one of which dealt with the...