Siegfried Herbert Horn (March 17, 1908 – November 28, 1993) was a
Seventh-day AdventistThe Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ. It is the eighth largest international body of...
archaeologistArchaeology or archeology is the science that studies human cultures through the recovery, documentation, analysis, and interpretation of material culture and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, and landscapes...
and
BibleThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
scholar. He is perhaps best known for his numerous books and articles and for his excavations at
Tell HesbanHeshbon was an ancient town located east of the Jordan River in the modern Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and historically within the territories of Ammon and Ancient Israel.-Biblical References :...
in
JordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in Western Asia spanning the southern part of the Syrian Desert down to the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan shares borders with Syria to the north, Iraq to the northeast, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest,...
. He was Professor of History of Antiquity at the
Seventh-day Adventist Theological SeminaryThe Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary is the seminary located at Andrews University in Michigan, the Seventh-day Adventist Church's flagship university...
in
Berrien SpringsBerrien Springs is a village in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,862 at the 2000 census. The village is located within Oronoko Charter Township.-History:...
,
MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
(now part of
Andrews UniversityAndrews University is a Seventh-day Adventist university in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Founded in 1874 as "Battle Creek College" in Battle Creek, Michigan, it was the first higher education facility started by Seventh-day Adventists, and today is the flagship university of the Seventh-day Adventist...
). The Siegfried H. Horn Museum at Andrews University was named in his honor. In 1953, Horn became the first scholar to inspect the SDA Kinglist, now on permanent loan to the Seminary. A scholar of wide-ranging interests and abilities, he made significant contributions especially in the areas of
Ancient Near EastThe Ancient Near East refers to early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia , ancient Egypt, ancient Iran , Armenia, Anatolia and the Levant...
ern chronology and
archaeologyNear Eastern Archaeology is a regional branch of the wider, global discipline of Archaeology...
. In a 1985 questionnaire of
North American AdventistThe Seventh-day Adventist Church in the United States, Canada, and Bermuda is officially organized as the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists...
lecturers, Horn tied for seventh place among the Adventist authors who had most influenced them.
Biography
Horn was born March 17, 1908, to Albin and Klara Horn in
WurzenWurzen is a town in the Leipzig district, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Mulde, here crossed by two bridges, 25 km east of Leipzig, by rail N.E. of Leipzig on the main line to Dresden...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. His father was one of the world's earliest aviators, trained as a pilot by
Louis BlériotLouis Blériot was a French aviator, inventor and engineer. In 1909 he completed the first flight across a large body of water in a heavier-than-air craft, when he crossed the English Channel. For this achievement, he received a prize of GB£. He also is credited as the first person to make a...
. Horn served as a minister and as a missionary from 1930 to 1940, first in the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
and then in the
Dutch East IndiesThe Dutch East Indies, or Netherlands East Indies, was the Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II.It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the former Dutch East India Company that came under the administration of the Netherlands in 1800...
. Because he was German, Horn spent six and a half years as a prisoner of war during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, from 1940 to 1946, first as a prisoner of the Dutch in
IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and then imprisoned by the
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. Granted access to books, Horn made use of this time to develop his skills in
GreekKoine Greek is the popular form of Greek which emerged in post-Classical antiquity . Other names are Alexandrian, Hellenistic, Patristic, Common, Biblical or New Testament Greek...
and Hebrew and to teach his fellow inmates. Upon gaining his freedom at the end of World War II, Horn immigrated to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and completed his education. He earned a B.A. at Walla Walla College (now a University) in Washington State (1947), an M.A. at the
Seventh-day Adventist Theological SeminaryThe Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary is the seminary located at Andrews University in Michigan, the Seventh-day Adventist Church's flagship university...
in Washington, D.C. (1948), and a Ph.D. in
EgyptologyEgyptology Egyptology Egyptology (from Egypt and Greek , -logia. , is a major field of archaeology, the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century...
at the
Oriental InstituteThe Oriental Institute , established in 1919, is the University of Chicago's archeology museum and research center for ancient Near Eastern studies....
of the University of Chicago (1951). He studied briefly under
William F. AlbrightWilliam Foxwell Albright was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, linguist and expert on ceramics. From the early twentieth century until his death, he was the dean of biblical archaeologists and the universally acknowledged founder of the Biblical archaeology movement...
at
Johns Hopkins UniversityThe Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Johns Hopkins also maintains full-time campuses elsewhere in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Italy, China, and Singapore...
.
Horn taught at the Adventist Theological Seminary from 1951 to 1976. He started an
archaeological museum (later named for him), was the founding editor of the journal
Andrews University Seminary StudiesAndrews University Seminary Studies is a refereed scholarly Christian journal published by the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University. It is issued twice a year from Berrien Springs, MI. The journal was founded in 1963 and currently has a circulation of 600 copies...
, started up the Seminary's doctoral programs, and initiated and directed the archaeological dig at Tell Hesban, biblical
HeshbonHeshbon was an ancient town located east of the Jordan River in the modern Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and historically within the territories of Ammon and Ancient Israel.-Biblical References :...
. The dig at Hesban eventually developed into the Madaba Plains Project, with excavations at
Hesban,
Umayri, and
Jalul. Horn also dug at Tell Balatah, biblical
ShechemShechem was a Canaanite city mentioned in the Amarna letters, and later became an Israelite city in...
, in the early 1960's. A prolific author, he authored some 800 books and articles. Horn died of malignant
lymphomaLymphoma is a cancer that begins in the lymphocytes of the immune system and presents as a solid tumor of lymphoid cells. They often originate like balls in lymph nodes, presenting as an enlargement of the node...
on November 28, 1993, in
St. HelenaSt. Helena is a city in Napa County, California, United States. It is part of the Napa, California Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its area code 707. Its zip code is 94574. It is in the Pacific time zone. The population was 5,950 at the 2000 census.Ellen White, co-founder of the Seventh-day...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
, at the age of 85.
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