W. O. E. Oesterley Explained

Rev. William Oscar Emil Oesterley (Calcutta 1866–1950) was a Church of England theologian, and professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at King's College, London, from 1926.^[1] His many books span a wide range of topics from Bible commentary and Christian doctrine, Judaism and ancient Israel to more general subjects such as Sacred Dance.

His father Emil was representative of the London-based German firm Ernsthausen and Oesterley in Calcutta, and from 1860 British Consul.^[2]

Oesterley was educated at Brighton College, Jesus College, Cambridge (BD, 1902^[3]) and Wells Theological College.^[4] He was vicar of St Alban's Church, Acton Green, Chiswick in 1923.^[5] He was Rector of St. Mary, Aldermary in 1923 and had curacies in Houghton-le-Spring, Co. Durham, St. Botolph's, Colchester, St. Nicholas, Brighton, and Prebendary of St. Paul's, London in 1936.^[6]

Works

• The Doctrine of The Last Things: Jewish and Christian (1908)
• The Evolution of The Messianic Idea: A Study In Comparative Religion (1908)
• The First Book of Samuel: The Revised Version. Edited with Introduction and Notes. For the use of schools (1913)
• Books of The Apocrypha: Their Origin Teaching and Contents (1915)
• The Wisdom of Ben Sira (1916)
• Immortality and The Unseen World: A Study In Old Testament Religion (1921)
• Sacred Dance in the Ancient World: a Study in Comparative Folklore (1923) - analysis of history of sacred dance and ecstatic dance
• A History of Israel vol. 2; From 586 B.C.E. to A.D. 135 (1932)
• An Introduction to the Books of the Apocrypha (1935)
• The Gospel Parables In The Light of Their Jewish Background (1936)
• Sacrifices In Ancient Israel: Their Origin, Purposes and Development (1937)
• The Jews and Judaism During the Greek Period (1941)
• Commentary on the Psalms (1939)
• Proverbs (1929)
• Studies In The Greek And Latin Versions Of The Book Of Amos
• A Fresh Approach to the Psalms (1937)
• Ancient Hebrew Poems (1938)
• The Jews and Judaism during The Greek Period: The Background of Christianity (1941)
• Wisdom of Egypt and the Old Testament in the Light of the Newly discovered Teaching of Amen-em-ope
• The General Epistle of James [The Expositor's Greek Testament, vol. 4, ed. W.R. Nicoll] (1910, reprinted in 1960 and 1983)

With the illustrator T. H. Robinson:

• The Jewish Background of Christian Liturgy (1925)
• Introduction to the Books of the Old Testament (1934)

With G. H. Box:

• The Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (Pirke Aboth) (Translation and Commentary) (1919)
• A Short Survey of the Literature of Rabbinical and Mediaeval Judaism (1920)

External links

• • • LibraryThing: List of works by W.O.E. Oesterley

Notes and References

1. biography in Who was who: a companion to Who's who : containing the biographies of those who died during the period Vol 4: 1941 – 1950 1967 p862
2. Bulletins and other state intelligence compiled and arranged from ...: Part 1 – Page 756 1860 The Queen has been pleased to approve of Mr. Emil Oesterley, as Consul at Calcutta
3. University intelligence. 23 May 1902 . 4 . 36775.
4. biography in Elgin Sylvester Moyer Who was who in church history 1968 p313
5. https://books.google.com/books?id=Z_JnqEmR_RUC&pg=PR6 Sacred Dance (Preface), February 1923.
6. Who Was Who.(1941–1950) Vol. IV. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1952. pp. 862–3.