Johann Heinrich Callenberg

Johann Heinrich Callenberg (January 12, 1694, Molschleben — July 11, 1760, Halle) was a German Orientalist, Lutheran professor of theology and philology, and promoter of conversion attempts among Jews and Muslims.

He was born of peasant parents in 1694. Beginning in 1715 he studied philology and theology at the University of Halle. Sometime before 1720 Salomon Negri, professor of Syriac and Arabic at Rome, stayed in Halle for six months. Callenberg studied Arabic under him. In 1727 Callenberg was appointed extraordinary professor of theology at the University of Halle, and in 1735 professor of philology.

From his youth he cherished the idea of working for the conversion of the Muslims in the Middle East, Russia and Tartary, but later he devoted himself to missionary work among the Jews. He established, in 1728, the Institutum Judaicum, the first German Protestant mission to the Jews, to which he attached a printing-office. In this office he printed the Gospel and other Christian books in the Judæo-German dialect, and distributed them among the Jews. He also sent missionaries to other European countries, and was a patron of converted Jews. His plans for the conversion of Muslims were resumed somewhat later, but in these he utterly failed. The Institutum Judaicum existed until 1791.

Among the works he published are the following:

* "Prima rudivuenta linguse arabicx", Halle, 1729
* "Scriptores de reliçione duhammedica", 1734
* "Spécimen bibliolhecx arabicx", 1736
* Arabic translations of the New Testament, "The Imitation of Christ", Luther's Catechism, etc.

External links

* [http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Callenberg_Johann_540269242.aspx A short biography]
*JewishEncyclopedia|article=Callenberg, Johann Heinrich|author=Crawford Howell Toy and A. Rhine|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=54&letter=C