Walther Eichrodt, (born Aug. 1, 1890, Gernsbach, Ger.—died May 20, 1978, Basel, Switz.), German scholar who showed the importance to biblical studies of an understanding of the theology of the Old Testament.
After studying theology at Bethel, Greifswald, Heidelberg, and Erlangen, Eichrodt taught at Bethel and Erlangen, then became professor of Old Testament at the University of Basel (1922), where he was later rector (1953–55). His chief work, Theologie des Alten Testaments, 2 vol. (1933–35, 4th ed. 1957; Theology of the Old Testament), marked the beginning of a new epoch in Old Testament studies. Without reducing the theology of the Old Testament to the history of Israelite religion, Eichrodt made extensive use of the results of literary and comparative analysis to envisage the religion of the Old Testament as a unity of permanent reality throughout the vicissitudes of history. The triple aspect of God’s covenant, with his people, with the world, and with man, formed the plan of Eichrodt’s book. By this method he presented the great dogmatic realities in a dialectic appropriate to the Old Testament, preserving both the historical character of the revelation and the unity of the Old and the New Testaments. Eichrodt’s other principal works include Die Quellen der Genesis (1916; “The Sources of Genesis”), Die Hoffnung des ewigen Friedens im alten Israel (1920; “The Hope of Eternal Peace in Ancient Israel”), Das Menschenverständnis des Alten Testaments (1946; Man in the Old Testament).