Louis Cappel

Louis Cappel was a French Protestant churchman and scholar. He was born in a noble Huguenot family that had to flee the country due to religious persecution. He studied theology at the Academy of Sedan and the Academy of Saumur, and Arabic at the University of Oxford, where he spent two years. He became a professor of Hebrew at Saumur in 1613, and a professor of theology in 1633. He was a pioneer of biblical criticism, especially on the history and origin of the Hebrew text of the Bible. He argued that the vowel points and accents were not part of the original Hebrew language, but were added by the Masoretes in the 5th century or later. He also claimed that the square characters were not the primitive Hebrew script, but were derived from Aramaic. He published his views anonymously in his book Arcanum punctuationis revelatum (The Secret of the Points Revealed) in 1624. He faced fierce opposition from his fellow Protestants, who considered his views as undermining the authority and inspiration of Scripture. He also wrote another important work, Critica sacra (Sacred Criticism), which dealt with the variant readings and textual emendation of the Old Testament. He published it in 1650 with the help of his son Jean, who had converted to Catholicism. He died in 1658 at Saumur. He was regarded as one of the most learned and moderate theologians of his time.