W. O. E. Oesterley

Rev. William Oscar Emil Oesterley (Calcutta 1866–1950) was a Church of England theologian, and professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at King's College, London, from 1926. His many books span a wide range of topics from Bible commentary and Christian doctrine, Judaism and ancient Israel to more general subjects such as Sacred Dance.

His father Emil was representative of the London-based German firm Ernsthausen and Oesterley in Calcutta, and from 1860 British Consul.

Oesterley was educated at Brighton College, Jesus College, Cambridge (BD, 1902 ) and Wells Theological College. He was vicar of St Alban's Church, Acton Green, Chiswick in 1923. He was Rector of St. Mary, Aldermary in 1923 and had curacies in Houghton-le-Spring, Co. Durham, St. Botolph's, Colchester, St. Nicholas, Brighton, and Prebendary of St. Paul's, London in 1936.

Works

 * The Doctrine of The Last Things: Jewish and Christian (1908)
 * The Evolution of The Messianic Idea: A Study In Comparative Religion (1908)
 * The First Book of Samuel: The Revised Version. Edited with Introduction and Notes. For the use of schools (1913)
 * Books of The Apocrypha: Their Origin Teaching and Contents (1915)
 * The Wisdom of Ben Sira (1916)
 * Immortality and The Unseen World: A Study In Old Testament Religion (1921)
 * Sacred Dance in the Ancient World: a Study in Comparative Folklore (1923) - analysis of history of sacred dance and ecstatic dance
 * A History of Israel vol. 2; From 586 B.C.E. to A.D. 135 (1932)
 * An Introduction to the Books of the Apocrypha (1935)
 * The Gospel Parables In The Light of Their Jewish Background (1936)
 * Sacrifices In Ancient Israel: Their Origin, Purposes and Development (1937)
 * The Jews and Judaism During the Greek Period (1941)
 * Commentary on the Psalms (1939)
 * Proverbs (1929)
 * Studies In The Greek And Latin Versions Of The Book Of Amos
 * A Fresh Approach to the Psalms (1937)
 * Ancient Hebrew Poems (1938)
 * The Jews and Judaism during The Greek Period: The Background of Christianity (1941)
 * Wisdom of Egypt and the Old Testament in the Light of the Newly discovered Teaching of Amen-em-ope
 * The General Epistle of James [The Expositor's Greek Testament, vol. 4, ed. W.R. Nicoll] (1910, reprinted in 1960 and 1983)

With the illustrator T. H. Robinson:
 * The Jewish Background of Christian Liturgy (1925)
 * Introduction to the Books of the Old Testament (1934)

With G. H. Box:
 * The Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (Pirke Aboth) (Translation and Commentary) (1919)
 * A Short Survey of the Literature of Rabbinical and Mediaeval Judaism (1920)