EWALD, GEORG HEINRICH AUGUST VON (1803 1875), German Orientalist and theologian, was born on Nov. 16. 1803, at Gottingen, where his father was a linen-weaver. Educated at the university of his native town, he was made professor extra ordinarius in philosophy and lecturer in Old Testament exegesis in 1827, professor ordinaries (in 1831) in philosophy, and in 1835 of Oriental languages. Having in 1837, along with six of his col leagues signed a formal protest against the action of King Ernst August (duke of Cumberland) in abolishing the liberal constitu tion of 1833, which had been granted to the Hanoverians by his predecessor William IV., he was expelled from the university. Early in 1838, however, Ewald received a call to Tubingen, and there for upwards of ten years he held a chair as professor ordi naries, first in philosophy and afterwards, from 1841, in theology. To this period belong some of his most important works, and also the commencement of his bitter feud with F. C. Baur and the Tubingen school. In 1847 he returned to Gottingen, the liberal constitution having been restored. But the chief crisis in his life arose out of the political events of 1866. His loyalty to King George (son of Ernst August) would not permit him to take the oath of allegiance to the victorious king of Prussia, and he was therefore placed on the retired list, though with his full salary as pension. The violent tone of some of his printed manifestoes about this time, especially of his Lob des Konigs u. des Volkes, led to his being deprived of the vend legendi (1868) and also to a criminal process, which, however, resulted in his acquittal (May 1869) . Then, and on two subsequent occasions, he was returned by the city of Hanover as a member of the North German and German parliaments. In June 1874 he was found guilty of a libel on Prince Bismarck. He died on May 4, As a teacher Ewald had a great power of kindling enthusiasm. His Hebrew Grammar marked a new era in biblical philology; and as an exegete and biblical critic no less than as a grammarian he has left his abiding mark. His Geschichte des V olkes Israel, the result of 3o years' labour, was epoch-making in that branch of research. Taking up the idea of a divine education of the human race, which Lessing and Herder had made so familiar to the modern mind, and firmly believing that to each of the leading nations of antiquity a special task had been assigned, Ewald felt no difficulty about Israel's place in universal history. The history of Israel, according to him, is simply the history of the manner in which the one true religion came into the possession of man. The historical interval between the exodus and the appearance of Christ is treated as dividing itself into the periods of Moses, David and Ezra, and indicated by the successive names by which the chosen people were called—Hebrews, Israelites, Jews.