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).