Oliver Shaw Rankin was born on 28 January 1885. He was the younger brother of Sir George Claus Rankin (1877-1946) who became Chief Justice of Bengal. Rankin was educated at the then John Watson's Institution, Edinburgh, and at George Watson's College, Edinburgh. He studied at Edinburgh University where he received his MA in 1906, and at Berlin University. He held the Vans Dunlop Scholarship in Hebrew, Arabic and Syriac in 1908. In 1912, Rankin became Parish Minister in Sorbie, Wigtownshire, where he was ordained. In 1937 he was appointed to the Chair of Old Testament Language, Literature and Theology at Edinburgh University. His publications include The origins of the festival of Hannukah (1930) which grew out of his D.Litt. thesis in 1928, Israel's wisdom literature: its bearing on theology and the history of religion (1936), and Jewish religious polemic: a study of documents here rendered in English (published posthumously 1956). The Rev. Professor Oliver Shaw Rankin died on 7 February 1954.
From the guide to the Papers of Rev. Professor Oliver Shaw Rankin (1885-1954), 1908-1956, (Edinburgh University Library)
