{{For|the American sportswriter|Frederick C. Klein}} {{Portal|Christianity}}'''Frederick Augustus Klein''' (1827–1903),<ref>''The Religion of Islam'' by F A Klein, P. C. K. Press, Madras (1906)</ref> or F. A. Klein as he is called in much of the literature, was a Church Missionary Society (CMS) missionary in the Middle East. He is remembered for his 1868 discovery of the Moabite Stone, which dates from about 840 B.C. It gives qualified confirmation of some events mentioned in the biblical Book of Kings.
==Early life==
Klein was born in Strasbourg, France, in 1827. He later studied at the Basel Mission Institute and then attended the Church Missionary Society College, Islington. He later received Anglican holy orders.<ref name="CMSatlasHme">{{cite web|author= |title= The Church Missionary Atlas (Church Missionary Society)|pages= 67–76|date= 1896| url= http://www.churchmissionarysociety.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Details/CMS_OX_Atlas_01|accessdate=19 October 2015 | publisher = Adam Matthew Digital}}</ref>
==Missionary career==
He left for Ottoman Palestine under the CMS in 1851.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kildani|first=Hanna|title=Modern Christianity in the Holy Land|year=2010|publisher=AuthorHouse|page=546}}</ref> His wife died in Nazareth on October 10, 1851.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Church Missionary Society|journal=Missionary Register|year=1855|volume=43|page=78|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vagoAAAAYAAJ&q=augustus+klein+missionary&pg=PA78}}</ref> He ministered in Nazareth until 1855 and then in Jerusalem for some 22 years; and also travelled into Jordan.<ref name="Jan1869">{{cite web |first = | last = |title= The Church Missionary Gleaner, January 1869|work= Explorations Beyond the Jordan|accessdate=24 October 2015 |url= http://www.churchmissionarysociety.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Images/CMS_OX_Gleaner_1869_01/9| publisher = Adam Matthew Digital}}</ref> During his time in Palestine he worked with John Zeller and Samuel Gobat, among others. While in the Galilee he served at Christ Church, Nazareth. He left for Germany around 1877 and engaged in Arabic translation.
He labored in Cairo from 1882 to 1893, where the CMS had reopened work, wishing to evangelize among Muslims. He established public worship in Arabic. Upon returning to Europe for good his translation work continued, and he revised the Arabic version of the Book of Common Prayer.
Klein also write a book titled ''The Religion of Islam'' which was republished in 2012.<ref>{{cite book|last=Klein|first=Frederick Augustus|title=The Religion of Islam|year=2012|publisher=Forgotten Books}}</ref>
==Legacy== He is most remembered for discovering the Moabite Stone. However, he was also one of numerous long-lived German missionaries who acquired great proficiency in Arabic. Anticipating later developments in evangelical missions, he was also intent on sharing the Christian faith with Muslims.<ref>{{cite book|last=Murray|first=Jocelyn|title=Proclaim the Good News: A Short History of the Church Missionary Society|year=1985}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Stock|first=Eugene|title=History of the Church Missionary Society|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofchurchm02stoc|year=1899}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Frederick Augustus Klein|url=http://www.dacb.org/stories/egypt/klein_frederick.html|work=Dictionary of African Christian Biography|accessdate=19 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524201158/http://dacb.org/stories/egypt/klein_frederick.html|archive-date=24 May 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=Gerald|title=Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions|year=1998|publisher=Eerdmans|location=Grand Rapids}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Frederick Augustus}} Category:1827 births Category:1903 deaths Category:French Anglican missionaries Category:Clergy from Strasbourg Category:Alumni of the Church Missionary Society College, Islington Category:Anglican missionaries in Palestine (region) Category:Anglican missionaries in Egypt Category:French expatriates in Egypt Category:Anglican missionaries in Jordan Category:Anglican missionaries in the Ottoman Empire Category:French expatriates in the Ottoman Empire