Theodore Bibliander

Theodore (or Theodorus) Bibliander (German: Theodor Buchmann; 1509 in Bischofszell – 26 September 1564 in Zurich) was a Swiss orientalist, publisher, Protestant reformer and linguist. Born Theodor Buchmann (Bibliander is a Greek translation of this surname) in Bischofszell, he studied Latin under Oswald Myconius, and Greek and Hebrew under Jakob Ceporin, and attended lectures in Basel between 1525–7 given by Johannes Oecolampadius and Konrad Pelikan. He also became familiar with the Arabic language and other languages from the East; he became a professor of theology. He published a Hebrew grammar in 1535, and commentaries on the Bible. He published the first printed edition of the Qur'an in Latin (Basel, 1543), based on the medieval translation of Robert of Ketton. The edition included Doctrina Machumet, a translation of the Arabic theological tract known as the Book of a Thousand Questions. Considered the father of biblical exegesis in Switzerland, Bibliander became involved in a doctrinal controversy with Pietro Martire Vermigli (Peter Martyr) over predestination; he was removed from his theological professorship at the Carolinum academy in 1560. He died of the plague.

Theodore Bibliander