A Practical Commentary On Holy Scripture 1

This Bible study book is a classic of the German Catholic world, composed by the popular the bishop Friedrich Justus Knecht (1839-1921). The book went through 16 editions and was recommended by 14 bishops when first published.

About the author:

The Protestant baptized Friedrich Justus Knecht converted in 1855 together with his father and the then living three siblings at the request of his mother to the Catholic faith. After graduation from high school and studying Catholic theology in University, he was ordained a priest in 1862.

He was later appointed an archbishop school inspector (1874). During this time there were clashes between church and state. From 1877 to 1879 Justus Knecht was parish administrator in Erlach and received his doctorate in 1878 in Tübingen. In 1882 Archbishop Johann Baptist Orbin entrusted him with the special responsibility for school and religious education in the Archdiocese of Freiburg. In the same year, Justus Knecht wrote the "Practical Commentary on Biblical History", which came to be used in German-speaking countries for an entire generation.

This was followed by the publication of Biblical History for the lower years of the Catholic elementary school. This textbook was extremely popular in its time and has been translated into 20 languages.

On 4 February 1894 Knecht was appointed titular bishop of Neve and auxiliary bishop in Freiburg. He was appointed to the papal throne assistant in 1903.