Harris, James Rendel (1852-1914)

English biblical scholar. His was a leading New Testament scholar. His works include the lost Apology of Aristides (1891), an important Syriac manuscript of the 7th century, which he discovered in a convent on Mount Sinai in 1889, and The Odes and Psalms of Solomon (1910), a collection of primitive Christian hymns.

Harris was born in Plymouth, England. He was educated at Plymouth Grammar School and at Cambridge University. He held a professorship at Johns Hopkins University (1882-85) and at Haverford College (1886-92). He was curator of manuscripts at the John Rylands Library (1918-25), lecturer in palaeology at Cambridge University (1893-1903), professor of theology at Leiden (1903-04), and Haskell lecturer at Oberlin College (1910). Among his other publications are Study of Codex Bezae (1890) and Eucharistic Origins (1927).