ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIAN CHRISTIAN AUTHORS AND … · 2013-10-03 · John Cassian John Cassian, also...

ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIAN CHRISTIAN AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS

NOTABLE CHRISTIAN WRITERS AND THEOLOGIANS

John Cassian

John Cassian, also called Johannes Eremita or Johannes Massiliensis

(360?-433?), early Christian monk and theologian. After spending

perhaps 15 years among the ascetics of the Egyptian deserts with his

friend Germanus, Cassian studied in Constantinople (present-day

İstanbul) with Saint John Chrysostom, by whom he was ordained a

deacon. Cassian lived in Rome for several years and became friends

with the future pope Leo I. About 415, by now a priest, he settled in

Marseille (in what is now southern France), where he founded the

monasteries of Saints Peter and Victor, for men, and Saint Savior,

for women, and brought Eastern monasticism to the West. Cassian

was one of the first of the Semi-Pelagians, who rejected the view of

the Latin Father Saint Augustine that humankind generally is

damned by the sin of Adam and that some souls are saved purely

through the grace of God, which cannot be earned (see

Pelagianism). He also opposed the Augustinian concept of moral

choice in attaining salvation. Cassian wrote two works on asceticism

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as well as a doctrinal treatise on the incarnation of Christ; the latter

work was intended to refute the heresy of Nestorianism.



Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria, full name TITUS FLAVIUS CLEMENS (150?-215?), Greek

theologian and an early Father of the Church. He was probably born in Athens,

Greece, and was educated at the catechetical school in Alexandria, where he

studied under the Christian philosopher Pantaenus. Some time after Clement's

conversion from paganism, he was ordained a presbyter. In about 190 he

succeeded Pantaenus as head of the catechetical school, which became famous

under his leadership. Origen, who later achieved distinction as a writer, teacher,

and theologian, may have been one of Clement's pupils. During the persecution of

the Christians in the reign of Septimius Severus, emperor of Rome, Clement

moved from Alexandria to Caesarea (Mazaca) in Cappadocia. Little is known of

his subsequent activities. At times, he was considered a saint; his name appeared in

early Christian martyrologies. Many scholars regard Clement as the founder of the

Alexandrian school of theology, which emphasized the divine nature of Christ. It

was Alexandrian theologians such as Saint Cyril and Saint Athanasius who took

the lead in opposing Adoptionism and Nestorianism, both of which emphasized

Christ's humanity at the expense of his divinity. According to Clement's system of

logic, the thought and will of God exhorts, educates, and perfects the true

Christian. This process is described in A Hortatory Address to the Greeks, The

Tutor, and Miscellanies, Clement's major works. The first work is addressed to the

educated public with an interest in Christianity; it is modeled on the Hortatory

Address of Aristotle, a lost work in which Aristotle addressed the general reader

with an interest in philosophy. The Tutor is designed to broaden and deepen the

foundation of Christian faith imparted in baptismal instruction. Miscellanies is a

discussion of various points of doctrinal theology, designed to guide the mature

Christian to perfect knowledge. Clement was also the author of a number of tracts

and treatises, including Slander, Fasting, Patience, and Who Is the Rich Man That

Is Saved?



Saint Cyril of Alexandria

Saint Cyril of Alexandria (376?-444), bishop and theologian, famous for his

refutation of Nestorianism. Born and educated in Alexandria, Cyril was elected

patriarch of Alexandria in 412. Thereafter he pursued a course of zealous and

merciless hostility toward those he considered incompatible with the Christian

community of the city. He looted and closed the churches of the heretical sect

founded by the 3rd-century Roman priest Novatian. In retaliation for Jewish

attacks on Christians, he instigated assaults on the Jewish inhabitants of

Alexandria, destroying their homes and finally driving them from the city. During

one of the riots, the noted philosopher Hypatia was torn apart by a mob of

Christians; there is no evidence, however, for the supposition that Cyril was

instrumental in her death.

Cyril is best known as the guiding spirit of the Council of Ephesus (431), which

condemned the teachings of Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople (present-day

İstanbul). Nestorius denied the title theotókos (mother of God) to the Virgin Mary

on the grounds that she was the mother of Jesus Christ's human nature only, and

not of his divine nature. After reviewing the issues, Pope Celestine I appointed

Cyril to excommunicate and depose Nestorius unless he recanted. Cyril presided at

the Council of Ephesus and succeeded in having Nestorius condemned before all

the participating bishops had arrived. The condemnation of Nestorius was upheld

by the emperor, and the word theotókos became a touchstone of orthodoxy.

Cyril was a prolific writer and a gifted theologian. Most of Cyril's works are

commentaries on Scripture or doctrinal expositions. He is considered one of the

Fathers of the Church and Doctors of the Church. His feast day is June 27 in the

West and June 9 in the East.



Doctors of the Church

Doctors of the Church, eminent Christian teachers, proclaimed by the church

to be worthy of the title, which is taken from the Latin doctor ecclesiae. In

according the title, the church recognizes the cited theologian's contribution

to doctrine and the understanding of the faith. The person so named must be a

canonized saint. In addition, those selected must be distinguished by their

learning. The proclamation must be made by a pope or by an ecumenical

council. The original Doctors of the Church were the Western theologians

Saints Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome and Pope Gregory I, who were

named in 1298. The corresponding Eastern Doctors of the Church are Saints

Athanasius, Basil, John Chrysostom, and Gregory of Nazianzus. They were

named in 1568, in the same year as was Saint Thomas Aquinas. The first

women Doctors of the Church, Saints Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Ávila,

were named in 1970.



Eusebius of Caesarea

Eusebius of Caesarea (260?-340?), theologian, church historian, and scholar, probably

born in Palestine. Called Eusebius Pamphili, he took the name Pamphili from his friend

and teacher Pamphilus of Caesarea, whose extensive library furnished much of the

historical materials for Eusebius's later literary work. Eusebius also collaborated with

Pamphilus on an edition of the Septuagint from the text in the Hexapla of the early

Christian writer Origen, and in the preparation of an apology (five books, now lost) for

Origen's teachings. After the martyrdom of Pamphilus, Eusebius left Caesarea for Tyre.

He subsequently fled Tyre during the persecutions of Christians at the beginning of the

4th century, presumably only to be imprisoned on his arrival in Egypt. After 310 the

persecutions ceased, and he was released.

About 314 he became bishop of Caesarea. At the Council of Nicaea in 325 Eusebius

delivered the opening address and was made the leader of the Semi-Arians, the moderate

party, who were averse to discussing the nature of the Trinity and preferred the simple

language of the Scriptures to the subtleties of metaphysical distinctions. At Nicaea he

accepted the Athanasian position, although he showed Arian leanings at the synods of

Antioch (324) and Tyre (335). Eusebius stood in high favor with Constantine the Great,

emperor of Rome, and was one of the most learned men of his time.

Apart from his historical writings, Eusebius was responsible for the Eusebian Canons, a

system of cross-references to the Gospels employed in many biblical manuscripts.

Eusebius edited or improved the work of the 3rd-century Alexandrian theologian

Ammonius by dividing the Gospel of Matthew into 355 sections, Mark into 236, Luke

into 342, and John into 232, the number of each of these so-called Ammonian Sections

being written on the margin of the text. Because of the similarity of matter, many sections

of one Gospel were nearly identical with other sections of one or more of the other

Gospels. For convenience of reference, Eusebius constructed ten clarifying tables or lists.

Eusebius was a prolific writer, producing mostly apologetics, but also a history of the

world until 303 and a history of the Christian church until 324.



Fathers of the Church

Fathers of the Church, name given by the Christian church to the writers who

established Christian doctrine before the 8th century. The writings of the Fathers,

or patristic literature, synthesized Christian doctrine as found in the Bible,

especially the Gospels, the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, ecclesiastical

dictums, and decisions of church councils (see Council). They provided a

standardized body of Christian teaching for transmission to the peoples of the

Roman Empire. The so-called Doctors of the Church consist of four Western

Fathers, including Saints Ambrose, Augustine, Pope Gregory I, and Jerome, and

four Eastern Fathers, including Saints Athanasius, Basil, John Chrysostom, and

Gregory of Nazianzus. The earlier Eastern Fathers, including Clement of

Alexandria, St. Justin Martyr, and Origen, were strongly influenced by Greek

philosophy. The Western Fathers, however, including Tertullian and Saints

Gregory I and Jerome, generally avoided the synthesis of pagan and Christian

thought.

The church established four qualifications for bestowing the honorary title of

church father on an early writer. In addition to belonging to the early period of the

church, a Father of the Church must have led a holy life. His writings must be

generally free from doctrinal error and must contain an outstanding defense or

explanation of Christian doctrine. Finally, his writings must have received the

approval of the church.



Saint Gregory of Nazianzus

Saint Gregory of Nazianzus (circa 329-89), with Saints Athanasius, Basil,

and John Chrysostom, a Father of the Church and one of the four Eastern

Doctors of the Church. Called Gregorius Theologus (Greek, “Gregory the

Theologian”), he was born near Nazianzus, in Cappadocia (now Turkey), and

educated in Alexandria and Athens. He was baptized in 360 by his father,

who was bishop of Nazianzus. Deciding to pursue a life of devotion, he went

to Pontus, where he lived in the desert near the Iris River (now the Yeşil

River in Turkey) with St. Basil. The two men compiled an anthology of the

writings of the Christian teacher and theologian Origen, called the Philokalia

(Greek, “Love of the Beautiful”). Basil later became bishop of Caesarea and,

in 371 or 372, prevailed upon Gregory to accept the see of Sasima, a small

village in Cappadocia. Gregory disliked public life, however, and retired until

the death of his father in 374.

In 378 or 379 Gregory took charge of the Nicene congregation of

Constantinople (present-day İstanbul). There he delivered five discourses on

the Trinity that earned him fame as The Theologian. He was appointed

bishop, but retired in the face of resistance from the Arians. Hoping to

prevent further schism, he returned to Nazianzus, where he remained until his

death. His feast day is January 2 in the Roman Catholic church and January

25 in the Orthodox church. His surviving works comprise about 45 sermons,

243 letters, and 407 dogmatic and moral poems.



Saint Gregory of Nyssa

Saint Gregory of Nyssa (circa 335-394), bishop of Nyssa, in Cappadocia, and an

early Father of the Church, born in Neocaesarea (now Niksar, Turkey), younger

brother of Saint Basil. Gregory married, but on the death of his wife he entered the

monastery founded by Basil in Pontus, near the Iris River. About 371 he was

ordained by his brother and made bishop of Nyssa. Gregory's religious position

was strictly orthodox, and he was particularly zealous in combating the doctrine of

Arianism. The Arians charged Gregory with fraud in his election to the bishopric

and with mishandling the funds of his office. Convicted of these charges, he was

exiled from Nyssa in 376 to 378. After his return Gregory was a strong supporter

of the orthodox position against the Arians at the first Council of Constantinople in

381. In the next year he was sent by the church to reorganize the churches of

Arabia.

Gregory's fame is chiefly as a theologian. Among his important theological

treatises are Great Catechetical Discourse, a defense of the Christian faith against

Jews and pagans; On Faith, a treatise against the Arians; and Ten Syllogisms,

directed against the Apollinarists, who in many ways were allied to the

Manichaeans. His feast day is March 9.



Saint Hippolytus of Rome

Saint Hippolytus of Rome (170?-235?), considered the most important 3rd-century

theologian of the Roman church. Hippolytus challenged the papal election of Callistus in

217 and declared himself the first antipope.

Born before 170, probably in the Greek-speaking East, Hippolytus appears to have come

to Rome during the reign of Saint Victor I in the last decade of the second century. He

soon became the leading intellectual of the Roman church; when the eminent theologian

Origen visited Rome, he attended one of Hippolytus's sermons. Hippolytus took an active

part in combatting Modal Monarchianism, which denied the reality of distinctions

between the persons of the Trinity. A fierce controversialist, he denounced both Pope

Zephyrinus and his adviser, who would become Pope Callistus I, for laxity in enforcing

church discipline, and he accused them of modalist tendencies in their christology.

Zephyrinus and Callistus in turn denounced Hippolytus for the ditheism latent in the

theology he had adopted from Saint Justin Martyr.

After the election of Callistus as successor to Zephyrinus, Hippolytus appears to have set

himself up as antipope. He treated Callistus as a misguided factional leader and attempted

to realize his own vision of the church as an ideal community of saints. After the death of

Callistus, Hippolytus perpetuated the schism with attacks on Pope Urban I and Pope

Pontian. Around 235, during the reign of Emperor Maximinus, both Hippolytus and

Pontian were arrested and sent to the mines of Sardinia, where they died. The fact that

Pope Fabian went to the effort of having the bodies of both men returned to Rome

suggests that a reconciliation was believed to have taken place before their deportation.

Because Hippolytus wrote in Greek, the bulk of his works was lost and his history

became confused in the Latin West. Saint Damasus I, for example, believed that

Hippolytus was a follower of Novatian, and in later writings Hippolytus is represented as

a soldier converted by Saint Lawrence.



Saint Isidore of Seville

Saint Isidore of Seville (560?-636), Spanish theologian, archbishop, and

encyclopedist, whose most influential work was Etymologiae, a remarkably

comprehensive early encyclopedia. He was born in Seville and was educated at a

monastery under the supervision of his brother St. Leander, whom he later

succeeded as archbishop of Seville. As archbishop, Isidore helped unify the

Spanish church by converting the Visigoths, who had completed the conquest of

Spain in the 5th century, to orthodox Christianity from Arianism—one of the most

divisive heresies in the history of the church. He also presided over a number of

important church councils. Most notable among these was the fourth national

Council of Toledo (633), which decreed the union of church and state, the

establishment of cathedral schools in every diocese, and the standardizaton of

liturgical practice.

Chief among Isidore's writings is the Etymologiae, in which he attempted to

compile all secular and religious knowledge. Divided into 20 sections, it contains

information that Isidore drew from the works of other writers and Latin authorities.

The Etymologiae was a favorite textbook for students during the Middle Ages, and

it remained for centuries a standard reference book. Isidore's other works include

treatises on theology, Scripture, linguistics, science, and history. His Sententiarum

Libri Tres (Three Books of Sentences) was the first manual of Christian doctrine

and ethics in the Latin church.

Isidore died in Seville on April 4, 636. He was canonized in 1598 and declared a

Doctor of the Church in 1722. His feast day is April 4.



Saint John of Damascus

Saint John of Damascus or Saint John Damascene (675?-749?), theologian, writer,

scholar, Father of the Church, and Doctor of the Church, born in Damascus, Syria.

Although a Christian, he served as a high-ranking financial officer under the

Saracen caliph of Damascus. Because of the caliph's hostility to Christians, John

resigned his post about 700. He retired to the monastery of Mar Saba, near

Jerusalem, where he was ordained a priest before the outbreak of the controversy

over iconoclasm. John opposed and fought the edicts of the Byzantine emperor Leo

III against the veneration of statues and images; he was able to do so with impunity

because he was not Leo's subject. He spent the rest of his life in religious study,

except for a period shortly before his death, when he journeyed throughout Syria

preaching against the iconoclasts.

John was considered one of the ablest philosophers of his day and was known as

Chrysorrhoas (Greek, “Golden Stream”) because of his oratorical ability. He was

the author of the standard textbook of dogmatic theology in the early Greek

church. This textbook, Source of Knowledge, is divided into three parts: Heads of

Philosophy, Compendium of Heresies, and An Exact Exposition of Orthodox Faith.

The third and most important section contains a complete theological system based

on the teachings of the early Greek church fathers and church synods from the 4th

to the 7th century. John of Damascus is considered a saint by both the Roman

Catholic church and the Greek church. His feast day in the Roman Catholic church

is March 27; in the Greek, December 4.



Saint Justin Martyr

Saint Justin Martyr (100?-165?), philosopher, theologian, and one of the earliest

apologists of the Christian church, who sought to reconcile Christian doctrine and

pagan culture. He was born in Flavia Neapolis (now Nābulus, West Bank), a

Roman city built on the site of the ancient Shechem, in Samaria. His parents were

pagans. As a young man Justin devoted himself to the study of Greek philosophy,

notably the writings of Plato and the Stoic philosophers (see Stoicism). Justin first

encountered Christianity in Ephesus. After his conversion to the religion, he went

to Rome, where he established a school. He died in Rome as a martyr during the

reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

The books that are ascribed to Justin with certainty are the two Apologies for the

Christians, which comprise an erudite defense of Christians against charges of

atheism and sedition in the Roman state, and the Dialogue with Trypho the Jew,

which professes to be the record of an actual discussion at Ephesus. The Apologies

were addressed to Emperor Antoninus Pius, but they were intended primarily for

the educated public of the provinces. Their central theme is the divine plan of

salvation, fulfilled in Christ the Logos. In Justin's view, Christianity was the final

revelation toward which Greco-Roman philosophy had gradually been moving. He

was the first writer of the early church to introduce philosophical terminology into

the discussion of Christian teachings. Although Justin was not an original thinker,

his works are valuable for the information they give about the 2nd-century

Christian church.



Novatian Novatian (200?-258?), Roman theologian, who became the second antipope in 251.

A leader among the Roman clergy, Novatian espoused a rigorism in church

discipline that was akin to Montanism.

After the martyrdom of Pope Fabian in 250 during the persecutions of Emperor

Decius, the Roman church postponed electing a successor. In 251 the church

elected Cornelius as pope. Cornelius advocated the forgiveness and readmittance

of Christians who had committed apostasy under persecution. Novatian, however,

believed that after baptism there could be no forgiveness for grave sins. He had

himself consecrated pope by three bishops from southern Italy and went into

schism with his followers; in 251 they were excommunicated by Cornelius. The

Novatianists established their own church, which endured until they were formally

reunited with the Catholic church by the Council of Nicaea in 325. Novatian

himself is thought to have been martyred during the persecutions of the Roman

emperor Valerian.

Novatian was the first Roman theologian to write in Latin. Two of his nine known

treatises have survived: On the Trinity and On Jewish Foods.



Saint Paul

Born to Jewish parents in a thoroughly observant home in Tarsus (now in Turkey),

Paul was originally named for the ancient Hebrew king Saul. On the eighth day he

was circumcised, as stipulated by the Jewish Law; indeed, in all respects he was

reared in accordance with the Pharisaic interpretation of the Law. As a young Jew

of the Diaspora (the dispersion of Jews into the Greco-Roman world), Saul took as

his everyday name the Latin Paul, a name with a sound similar to that of his

Hebrew birth name.

Paul's letters reflect a keen knowledge of Greek rhetoric, something he doubtless

learned as a youth in Tarsus. But his patterns of thought also reflect formal training

in the Jewish Law as preparation for becoming a rabbi, perhaps received in

Jerusalem from the famous teacher Gamaliel the Elder (flourished AD 20-50). By

his own account Paul excelled in the study of the Law (see Galatians 1:14;

Philippians 3:6); and his zeal for it led him to persecute the nascent Christian

church, holding it to be a Jewish sect that was untrue to the Law and that should

therefore be destroyed (see Galatians 1:13). Acts portrays him as a supportive

witness to the stoning of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr.

Paul became a Christian after experiencing a vision of Christ during a journey from

Jerusalem to Damascus (see Acts 9:1-19, 22:5-16, 26:12-18). Paul himself, in

referring to this event, never uses the term conversion, which implies shifting

allegiance from one religion to another; he clearly perceived the revelation of Jesus

Christ to mark the end of all religions, and thus of all religious distinctions (see

Galatians 3:38). Instead, he consistently spoke of God's having “called” him (see

Election below). Paul viewed his call to be a Christian and his call to be an

evangelist to the Gentiles as a single and indivisible event.



Theodore of Mopsuestia

Theodore of Mopsuestia (350?-428), theologian of the school of Antioch,

whose use of philological, critical, and historical methods in biblical exegesis

anticipated modern biblical criticism. Born in Antioch, he studied under the

pagan rhetorician Libanus and in 369 entered the monastic school of Diodore

(330?-390?), a bishop of Tarsus, where he remained for about ten years. He

was ordained in 381; in 392 he became bishop of Mopsuestia (now Misis,

Turkey), where he died in 428.

In his biblical commentaries, Theodore rejected allegorical interpretation,

emphasizing instead literal meaning and historical context. His theological

works were particularly concerned with the state of immortality, which he

understood as a conjunction of the human and divine prefigured by the union

of humanity and God in Christ and initiated through the reception of the

sacraments. Theodore's interpretation of the two natures (human and divine)

of Christ was considered orthodox during his lifetime but was associated at

the Council of Ephesus (432) with the teachings of his pupil Nestorius (?-

451?), which the council declared heretical (see Nestorianism). Although the

Nestorian church subsequently came to consider Theodore its primary

theological authority, scholars have recently reexamined his surviving works

and have found them orthodox rather than Nestorian in tendency.



Saint Vincent of Lérins

Saint Vincent of Lérins (died before 450), theologian, noted for his

Commonitoria, which contains the Vincentian Canon, a formula for

determining orthodoxy. In about 425 he became a monk at the abbey on

the island of Lérins (near present-day Cannes, France). About 435 he

wrote, under the pseudonym Peregrinus (“pilgrim”), two volumes called

Commonitoria, of which only one has survived. This work was intended

to address the growing problem of conflicting theological opinions. The

Vincentian Canon strongly emphasized tradition, defining orthodoxy as

“what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.” The

Commonitoria by implication attacked St. Augustine, whose doctrine of

predestination and grace Vincent considered a disturbing innovation. His

own position was that of Semi-Pelagianism (see Pelagianism), which

acknowledged the necessity of grace but held that the human will also

has a role in achieving salvation.



Isaac Abrabanel

Isaac Abrabanel (1437-1508), Jewish statesman, philosopher, and

theologian, born in Lisbon. He was a favorite of Afonso V, king of

Portugal, who made him his treasurer. The king died in 1481, and two

years later Abrabanel was accused of conspiracy and fled to Castile. He

served as a minister under King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella I from

1484 to 1492. When the Jews were banished from Spain in 1492, he

moved on to Naples and Venice (1503), where he was employed in

diplomatic service. His theological writings include Sources of Salvation

(1496) and Salvation of His Anointed (1497). The name is also spelled

Abravanel.



Judah León Abrabanel

Judah León Abrabanel, also called Leo Hebreus (1460?-1523?),

Jewish physician and philosopher. Born in Lisbon, he was the son of

statesman, philosopher, and theologian Isaac Abrabanel. He

followed his father to Spain in 1483, and when the Jews were

expelled from there in 1492, he settled in Naples, where he was

physician to the viceroy Hernández Gonzalo de Córdoba. Abrabanel

is best known for his influential Philosophy of Love (1535; trans.

1937), which extols love as the motive force of the universe.



Joseph Albo

Joseph Albo (1380?-1444?), Jewish theologian, known mainly for his

theological work Sefer haikkarim (Book of Principles, 1485). In this

book Albo deals with such questions as the existence of God, divine

revelation, and a retributive divine as they relate to Judaism. Albo

borrowed some of his teachings from Simon ben Zemach Duran, a

contemporary scholar, and some of his ideas show the influence of 12th-

century Islamic philosopher Averroës. His writings also show the

influence of the works of 12th-century Jewish philosopher Maimonides

and of Hasdai Crescas, a contemporary philosopher and Talmudist.



Abraham Geiger

Abraham Geiger (1810-74), German rabbi and theologian, born in

Frankfurt am Main, and educated at the universities of Heidelberg and

Bonn. He became rabbi at Wiesbaden in 1832. Three years later he

assisted in the founding of the Jewish theological review Zeitschrift für

Jüdische Theologie. In Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland), where he served

as rabbi from 1840 until 1863, Geiger became the leader of the Reform

movement in Judaism. From 1863 until 1870 he was rabbi in Frankfurt.

He was called to Berlin in 1870 to become chief rabbi of the Jewish

congregation of that city and to head the newly established Jewish

seminary there. His principal works include Lehr- und Lesebuch zur

Sprache der Mischna (A Grammar and Reader of the Language of the

Mishnah, 1845); Studien (1850), studies from the works of the medieval

Jewish philosopher Maimonides; and Das Judentum und seine

Geschichte (Judaism and Its History, 1865-71).



Abraham Joshua Heschel

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-72), American rabbi, scholar, philosopher,

and theologian, known for his evocative presentation of Jewish mysticism,

prophecy, and philosophy of religion, and for his social activism. Born in

Warsaw, he earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Berlin, and

taught in Berlin and Frankfurt. After being deported by the Nazis to Poland in

1938, he taught in Warsaw and London. In 1940 he went to the United States,

where he taught at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio. From

1945 until his death, he was professor of Jewish ethics and mysticism at the

Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.

In his writings Heschel attempted to evoke religious reality for rootless

contemporary people out of the traditional sources of the Jewish religion. He

presented a living, concerned God and a fragile but noble humanity. His best-

known works include The Earth Is the Lord's (1950), Man's Quest for God:

Studies in Prayer and Symbolism (1954), God in Search of Man: A

Philosophy of Judaism (1956), and The Prophets (1962). Heschel also

expressed his religious-ethical concerns through participation in the

American civil rights and antiwar movements, as well as in extensive

interfaith activities.



Solomon ben Yehuda Ibn Gabirol

Solomon ben Yehuda Ibn Gabirol (1021?-1058?), Spanish Jewish

philosopher and poet, born in Málaga, and educated in Zaragoza. He is

also known by the Latin name Avicebron. His Mekor hayim (Fountain of

Life), a Neoplatonic dialogue written in Arabic, was known to medieval

European scholastic philosophers in its Latin translation, Fons Vitae. It

was considered the work of a Christian philosopher, and as such its

theory of the universality of matter was ably upheld by the Scottish

philosopher and theologian John Duns Scotus, but severely attacked by

the Italian philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas. The Fons Vitae

had little influence on Jewish philosophy, but is believed by some

authorities to have played a role in the development of the Kabbalah. Of

his deeply felt religious poetry, the best-known work is the ode Keter

malkhut (Royal Crown); it concludes with a confession of sin now

included in the service for Yom Kippur. Ibn Gabirol's secular poetry

deals with nature and love and gives a description of his own life. He

also wrote, in Arabic, a well-regarded treatise on ethics, The

Improvement of Moral Qualities.



Mordecai Menahem Kaplan

Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (1881-1983), American rabbi, who founded

Reconstructionism, a movement based on the view that Judaism is essentially

a religious civilization.

Kaplan was born in Švenčionys, Lithuania. At the age of eight, he was

brought to the United States. After studying at the College of the City of New

York and at Columbia University, he was ordained (1902) at the Jewish

Theological Seminary of America, where he later became principal (1909) of

the teachers institute, dean (1931), and dean emeritus (1947).

In 1916 he established the Jewish Center in New York City, where he served

as rabbi until 1922. He then established the Society for the Advancement of

Judaism, which became the core of Reconstructionism. The movement was

defined in the Reconstructionist, a periodical he edited, that was dedicated to

“the advancement of Judaism as a religious civilization, to the upbuilding of

Eretz Yisrael [the land of Israel] as the spiritual center of the Jewish People,

and to the furtherance of universal freedom, justice, and peace.” Among

Kaplan's writings that define the movement are Judaism as a Civilization

(1934) and The Religion of Ethical Nationhood (1970).



Alexander Kohut

Alexander Kohut (1842-1894), Hungarian rabbi and lexicographer who

wrote prolifically in German, Hungarian, and English. Born in

Félegyháza, Hungary, Kohut received his Ph.D. degree from the

University of Leipzig in 1865 and was ordained two years later. In 1872

he became Chief Rabbi of Pécs, Hungary, and in 1885 he was invited to

the pulpit of a congregation in New York City. A brilliant orator, Kohut

participated in contemporary theological controversies in the United

States, staunchly upholding the conservative point of view. He also

helped found the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, where he

taught methods for studying the Talmud, the body of Jewish civil and

religious law. His most important work is the Aruck Completum or

Aruck Hashalem (1878-1892), a Talmudic dictionary in nine volumes.



Solomon Schechter

Solomon Schechter (1847-1915), Romanian-American Jewish scholar and

founder of Conservative Judaism, born in Focşani, Romania, and educated in

Vienna and Berlin. In 1882 he moved to England, where from 1890 to 1901

he was a lecturer on the Talmud at the University of Cambridge. At

Cambridge he gained wide recognition as a scholar when he identified a

fragment of Hebrew text brought from Egypt as part of the missing Hebrew

original of Ecclesiasticus. He then traveled to Cairo for the university and

collected thousands of manuscripts in the old synagogue there. Schechter

came to the United States in 1901, and from that year until his death served

as president of the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York City. He was a

founder of the United Synagogue of America, which was established to foster

the principles of Conservative Judaism. He edited the Jewish Quarterly

Review (1889-1908) and the Jewish Encyclopedia (1904, 2 volumes); his

writings include Studies in Judaism (1908).



Roscelin

Roscelin (circa 1050-c. 1125), French theologian and Scholastic

philosopher, regarded as the founder of nominalism. Also called

Roscellinus and Jean Roscelin, he taught that only individual objects are

real, whereas universals, or general concepts, are merely words.

Applying this theory to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, Roscelin

argued that the Trinity must consist of three divine persons separate in

substance and that the unity traditionally attributed to it is essentially

verbal, or nominal. This tritheistic view was declared heretical at the

Synod of Soissons (1092), and Roscelin was forced to recant. He fled to

England to avoid persecution, but there his theories brought him into

controversy with the Scholastic philosopher Anselm, then archbishop of

Canterbury. As a result of his conflict with Anselm, Roscelin left

England and went to Rome, where he was eventually reconciled with the

church.



Ockham or William of Occam

Ockham or William of Occam (1285?-1349?), known as Doctor Invincibilis (Latin,

“unconquerable doctor”) and Venerabilis Inceptor (Latin, “worthy initiator”),

English philosopher and Scholastic theologian, who is considered the greatest

exponent of the nominalist school, the leading rival of the Thomist and Scotist

schools. See Nominalism; Scholasticism.

Ockham was born in Surrey, England. He entered the Franciscan order and studied

and taught at the University of Oxford from 1309 to 1319. Denounced by Pope

John XXII for dangerous teachings, he was held in house detention for four years

(1324-1328) at the papal palace in Avignon, France, while the orthodoxy of his

writings was examined. Siding with the Franciscan general against the pope in a

dispute over Franciscan poverty, Ockham fled to Munich in 1328 to seek the

protection of Louis IV, Holy Roman emperor, who had rejected papal authority

over political matters. Excommunicated by the pope, Ockham wrote against the

papacy and defended the emperor until the latter's death in 1347. The philosopher

died in Munich, apparently of the plague, while seeking reconciliation with Pope

Clement VI.

Ockham won fame as a rigorous logician who used logic to show that many beliefs

of Christian philosophers (for example, that God is one, omnipotent, creator of all

things; and that the human soul is immortal) could not be proved by philosophical

or natural reason but only by divine revelation. His name is applied to the principle

of economy in formal logic, known as Ockham's razor, which states that entities

are not to be multiplied without necessity.



Peter Lombard

Peter Lombard (1100?-1160), Italian theologian and bishop of Paris, whose

Four Books of Sentences became the standard theological text of the Middle

Ages. Born in Novara, Lombardy (Lombardia), he studied in Bologna,

Reims, and Paris, where he was the student of the French philosopher Peter

Abelard. Lombard taught theology in the school of Notre Dame, Paris, from

1136 to 1150. In 1159 he became bishop of Paris, but he died the following

year.

Lombard's principal work, the Four Books of Sentences, earned for him the

title Magister Sententiarum (“Master of the Sentences”). It is a systematic

compilation of the teachings of the Fathers of the Church and opinions of

earlier theologians. It is especially important for its clarification of the

theology of the sacraments; Lombard was one of the first to insist on the

number seven, to distinguish them from sacramentals; earlier writers had

enumerated as many as 30 sacraments. The Sentences remained the chief

theological textbook in European universities until the 16th century. Many of

the greatest Scholastic philosophers and theologians, including Thomas

Aquinas, wrote commentaries on it. See Sacrament; Sacramental.



John XXI

John XXI (1215?-1277), pope (1276-1277), one of the most learned pontiffs

in papal history. He was renowned for his studies in philosophy, theology,

and medicine. Born Pedro Giuliano in Lisbon, Portugal, he was the son of a

physician. In 1247 he became professor of medicine at the University of

Siena; there he wrote several treatises on medicine and Summulae Logicales

(Logical Summaries), a manual on logic famous for almost 300 years. He

became archbishop of Braga in 1273, cardinal bishop of Tusculum later in

1273, and pope in 1276. During his 8-month pontificate John improved the

condition of the church in Portugal; excommunicated Afonso III, king of

Portugal, for persistent interference in Portuguese episcopal elections; sent

legates to the Great Khan of the Tatars in an effort to form a crusade against

the Saracens; effected a temporary reunion of Eastern and Western

Christendom; and prevented war between France and Castile.



Hugh of Saint Victor

Hugh of Saint Victor (1096-1141), French philosopher and theologian, who

founded a school of mysticism that made the monastery of Saint Victor in

Paris one of the great medieval centers of learning.

Descended from the royal family of Blankenburg in Saxony (Sachsen), he

joined at an early age the canons of St. Augustine at the monastery of

Hamersleven. About 1115, he went to Paris and entered the Augustinian

monastery of St. Victor. In 1133 he became head of the monastery school,

where he remained until his death on February 11, 1141.

Influenced by St. Augustine's teachings, Hugh arrived at a three-stage

division of the contemplative life: (1) cogitatio, or thought, by which we

recognize God in nature; (2) meditatio, or meditation, by which we see God

in ourselves; and (3) contemplatio, or contemplation, by which we see God as

if face to face. He also proposed a classification of knowledge, consisting of

theoretical science (including theology, mathematics, physics, and music),

practical science (ethics), mechanical science (the mechanical arts), and the

science of discourse (rhetoric and dialectic). His writings cover a very wide

field. Among Hugh's important works are the Didascalion, a compendium of

knowledge, and the Summa Sententiarum, a manual of philosophy and

theology.



Jean de Gerson Jean de Gerson (1363-1429), French churchman and theologian, remembered for

his efforts to settle the Great Schism (see Schism, Great) and for his writings on

contemplation.

Gerson was born in Gerson in the Ardennes on December 13, 1363. He entered the

University of Paris in 1377, and in 1395, shortly after receiving his doctorate in

theology, he became chancellor of the university. The schism was then at its peak,

and Gerson began his efforts to end it through a council, hoping to use the occasion

for a thoroughgoing reform of the church. In 1415 he attended the Council of

Constance (see Constance, Council of), where he urged a moderate conciliar

theory, contended that doctors of theology as well as bishops had a right to vote,

and led in the condemnation of Jan Hus (John Huss). Meanwhile he had incurred

the hostility of the duke of Burgundy, which prevented him from returning to Paris.

Instead, he went to Austria and later to Lyons, where he spent the last ten years of

his life in writing, prayer, and ministry. He died in Lyons on July 12, 1429.

Gerson's reputation during his lifetime was so great and his interests so broad and

typical of his age that historians often speak of the “century of Gerson.” Besides

writing on speculative and mystical theology, he was one of the greatest preachers

of his day. He participated actively in the religious confraternity at the university

and severely criticized religious superstition.



Marsilio Ficino

Marsilio Ficino (1433-99), Italian philosopher and theologian, whose

translations of and commentary on the works of Plato contributed to the

Platonic revival during the Renaissance. Ficino was born at Figline, near

Florence. After studying medicine and philosophy and preparing for the

priesthood, he undertook to learn Greek. Encouraged by the Italian banker

and statesman Cosimo de' Medici—particularly by his gift of a villa outside

Florence—Ficino set up the Platonic Academy and made the first complete

translation of Plato's writings into Latin (1463-69). He later translated works

by the Roman philosopher Plotinus and other Neoplatonic writers.

Following his ordination as a priest in 1473, Ficino became a canon of the

Cathedral of Florence. His original work Theologica Platonica (1482), a

study of the immortality of the human soul, demonstrates Ficino's knowledge

of St. Thomas Aquinas; it also takes account of the Plotinian cosmology and

of the influence of the stars on human lives. His commentary on Plato's

Symposium introduced the notion of platonic love. This concept of a special

friendship based on love of God was seminal in the literature of the later

Renaissance.



Meister Eckhart

Meister Eckhart, full name JOHANNES ECKHART (1260?-1328?), German mystic

and Christian theologian. Born in Hochheim, Eckhart joined the Dominicans at the

age of 15 and continued his theological studies as a member of the order. He

received a master's degree in theology from the University of Paris in 1302 and

then served as prior at Erfurt and as Dominican vicar-general for Bohemia. He was

a professor of theology in Paris in 1311, and between 1314 and 1322 he taught and

preached in Strasbourg and was also a preacher in Cologne, where he was

respected for both his administrative ability and his sermons.

Eckhart's theology followed that of another Dominican, St. Thomas Aquinas, but it

also incorporated much Neoplatonic thought. His teachings on the union of the

soul with God led to accusations of pantheism, a charge also made against the

Rhineland mystics who followed him. In 1327 the Avignonese pope John XXII

summoned Eckhart to defend himself against accusations of heresy. Eckhart

recanted on some 26 articles (or propositions), but a papal bull issued in 1329 to

condemn Eckhart's teaching named 28.

Modern scholars consider Eckhart's mysticism generally orthodox, although

surviving sermons and tracts are usually thought to have been edited by Eckhart's

friends and foes. Talks of Instruction (1300?), The Book of Divine Consolation

(1308?), and a score of sermons are considered among the most authentic works.

Eckhart had a profound influence on the development of the German language, as

he wrote in German as well as in Latin. The German idealists looked to Eckhart as

a forerunner of their movement, and modern scholars have traced his influence in

the development of Protestantism and existentialism.



John Duns Scotus

John Duns Scotus (1266?-1308), Scottish theologian and philosopher, founder of a school

of Scholasticism known as Scotism.

Born in Duns, Duns Scotus entered the Franciscan order and studied at the universities of

Oxford and Paris. He later lectured at both universities on the Sentences, the basic

theological textbook by the Italian theologian Peter Lombard. In 1303 he was exiled from

Paris for refusing to support Philip IV, king of France, in his quarrel with Pope Boniface

VIII over the taxation of church property. After a brief exile Duns Scotus returned to

Paris, and he lectured there until 1307. Toward the end of that year he was sent to

Cologne, where he lectured until his death on November 8, 1308, in Cologne. His most

important writings are two sets of Commentaries on the Sentences and the treatises

Quodlibetic Questions, Questions on Metaphysics, and On the First Principle. Because of

his intricate and skillful method of analysis, especially in his defense of the doctrine of

the Immaculate Conception, he is known as Doctor Subtilis (Latin, “the Subtle Doctor”).

In his system of philosophy Duns Scotus closely analyzed the concepts of causality and

possibility in an attempt to set up a rigorous proof for the existence of God, the primary

and infinite being. He held, however, that in order to know the truth in all its fullness and

to fulfill one's eternal destiny, a person must not only make use of the insights afforded

by natural knowledge or philosophy but must also be taught by divine revelation.

Revelation supplements and perfects natural knowledge, and, in consequence, no

contradiction can exist between them. For Duns Scotus, theology and philosophy were

distinct and separate disciplines; they were, however, complementary, because theology

uses philosophy as a tool. In his view, the primary concern of theology is God,

considered from the standpoint of his own nature, whereas philosophy properly treats of

God only insofar as he is the first cause of things. With regard to the nature of theology

as a science, however, Duns Scotus departed sharply from his Dominican forerunner,

Thomas Aquinas.



Saint Dominic

Saint Dominic (circa 1170-1221), Spanish theologian and founder of the Roman Catholic

religious order of Friars Preachers, or Dominicans.

He was born Domingo de Guzmán about 1170 in Caleruega, Castile. At the age of 17

Dominic entered the University of Palencia, where he studied theology and philosophy.

Known for his generosity, he is said to have sold all of his possessions to help the poor

during a famine in 1191. About 1196 he became canon of the Cathedral of Osma, in

Castile, and was soon actively engaged in local ecclesiastical reforms. He accompanied

his superior, Didacus of Acebes, bishop of Osma, on a religious mission to Rome in

1203; on his way back to Spain he was overwhelmed by the clerical abuses and the

prevalence of the Albigensian heresy (a dualist doctrine that rejected creation as evil,

affirming two eternal principles of good and evil) that he observed in the Languedoc

region of southern France. He observed that the Albigenses were able to spread their

teachings because they were well educated and well organized. He set up the opposition

along similar lines, determined that his preachers would be even better educated and

organized. Dominic and a few companions were given a house and church at Prouille,

near Toulouse, where they began their life of penance, study, and preaching. In 1206 a

convent for women was formed, and in 1216 the Order of Friars Preachers was granted

ecclesiastical approval. Dominic's preachers traveled throughout Europe, instructing not

only the common people, but civic and religious leaders as well.

Dominic insisted on the importance of education. His friars studied theology at the

University of Paris and canon law at the University of Bologna. They were also involved

in academic pursuits in Toulouse, Madrid, and Rome. In the four years after the order

was recognized, Dominic established the following priories: six in Lombardy

(Lombardia), four in France, three in Tuscany (Toscana) and Rome, four in Provence,

and two in Spain. Dominican preachers went to England, Scandinavia, Hungary, and

Germany.



Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger

Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger (1799-1890), German Roman Catholic

theologian and historian, born in Bamberg, Bavaria, and educated at the lyceum for

philosophy and Roman Catholic theology. He was ordained a priest in 1822 and

four years later became professor of theology at the University of Munich. In 1844

he represented his university in the second chamber of the Bavarian legislature. In

Die Reformation (1848) and Luther (1850; trans. 1853) he attacked the theologians

of the Reformation. Döllinger delivered two addresses in Munich in 1861 that were

regarded as hostile to the temporal sovereignty of the pope; he attempted to justify

his position in The Church and the Churches; or, The Papacy and the Temporal

Power (1861; trans. 1862). See Papacy.

When Vatican Council I issued a decree in 1870 affirming the infallibility of the

pope, Döllinger refused to accede to the doctrine. The following year he organized

a meeting of theologians in Nürnberg that publicly repudiated the doctrine, and he

later was a principal organizer of the Old Catholic movement. In 1871 Döllinger

was excommunicated by the archbishop of Munich. In 1874 and 1875 he presided

over joint conferences of theologians of the Old Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican

churches that were convened in Bonn to formulate plans for church unity.



Saint Bonaventure

Saint Bonaventure (circa 1217-74), Christian theologian and minister general of the

Franciscans; especially noted for his spiritual writings, he was called the Seraphic Doctor.

Bonaventure was born at Bagnoregio (near Viterbo, Italy), the son of John of Fidanza.

Called John, he went to the university at Paris in 1235, where he studied under Alexander

of Hales. He joined the Franciscans in 1243, taking the name Bonaventure and

progressing in his theological studies to become a master (professor) of theology in 1254.

During this period he wrote a commentary on Scripture, the Breviloquium, and, like his

contemporary, Thomas Aquinas, worked to integrate Aristotelian insights into the

Augustinian tradition. Bonaventure accepted much of Aristotle's scientific philosophy,

but he rejected what he knew of Aristotle's metaphysics as insufficient because Aristotle

was not guided by the light of Christian faith. The doctrine of the illumination of the

human mind (the soul) by the divine—a means of identifying truth or falsity of

judgment—he took from St. Augustine. His Journey of the Mind to God (1259) and his

short mystical treatises reflect his concern with the way in which the soul recognizes and

unites with God.

Noted for his learning and good judgment, Bonaventure was elected minister general

(superior) of the Franciscans in 1257, at a time when the order was divided over how

strictly it could, as an order, observe St. Francis's commitment to poverty. He healed the

division and thus came to be regarded as the order's second founder. He wrote (1263) the

official Life of St. Francis of Assisi, and he himself traveled and preached the Franciscan

way of life.

Pope Gregory X (reigned 1271-76) made him cardinal archbishop of Albano in May

1273, and Bonaventure assisted in the preparations for a council at Lyons called to repair

the breach with the Eastern church. He died at Lyons on July 15, 1274.



Berengar of Tours

Berengar of Tours (1000?-1088), French Scholastic theologian and

philosopher, known in Latin as Berengarius.

Born in Tours, Berengar studied under the bishop and scholar Fulbert of

Chartres until about 1029, when he returned to Tours and became director of

the school of Saint Martin. There he won a reputation as a staunchly

independent thinker, excelling in logic, medicine, and poetry as well as in

theology. Sometime after 1040 he began criticizing the traditional

interpretation of the Eucharist. He argued that the body and blood of Christ

are symbolically but not physically present in the consecrated bread and

wine. Repeatedly condemned by Rome for his opinions, he never

permanently recanted, although he ultimately retreated in silence to a

monastery near Tours, where he died. See Transubstantiation.



Saint Thomas Aquinas

Saint Thomas Aquinas, sometimes called the Angelic Doctor and the Prince of

Scholastics (1225-1274), Italian philosopher and theologian, whose works have

made him the most important figure in Scholastic philosophy and one of the

leading Roman Catholic theologians. Aquinas was born of a noble family in

Roccasecca, near Aquino, and was educated at the Benedictine monastery of

Monte Cassino and at the University of Naples. He joined the Dominican order

while still an undergraduate in 1243, the year of his father's death. His mother,

opposed to Thomas's affiliation with a mendicant order, confined him to the family

castle for more than a year in a vain attempt to make him abandon his chosen

course. She released him in 1245, and Aquinas then journeyed to Paris to continue

his studies. He studied under the German Scholastic philosopher Albertus Magnus,

following him to Cologne in 1248. Because Aquinas was heavyset and taciturn, his

fellow novices called him Dumb Ox, but Albertus Magnus is said to have predicted

that “this ox will one day fill the world with his bellowing.” Aquinas was ordained

a priest about 1250, and he began to teach at the University of Paris in 1252. His

first writings, primarily summaries and amplifications of his lectures, appeared two

years later. His first major work was Scripta Super Libros Sententiarum (Writings

on the Books of the Sentences, 1256?), which consisted of commentaries on an

influential work concerning the sacraments of the church, known as the

Sententiarum Libri Quatuor (Four Books of Sentences), by the Italian theologian

Peter Lombard. In 1256 Aquinas was awarded a doctorate in theology and

appointed professor of philosophy at the University of Paris. Pope Alexander IV

(reigned 1254-1261) summoned him to Rome in 1259, where he acted as adviser

and lecturer to the papal court. Returning to Paris in 1268, Aquinas immediately

became involved in a controversy with the French philosopher Siger de Brabant

and other followers of the Islamic philosopher Averroës.



Saint Anselm

Saint Anselm (circa 1033-1109), theologian, philosopher, and church leader, who proposed an

argument for God's existence that is still being debated.

Anselm was born of a well-to-do family at Aosta, in northern Italy; in 1060 he joined the

Benedictine monastery at Bec, in Normandy (Normandie), where the English prelate Lanfranc

was prior. Some time later, after Lanfranc was called to England to become archbishop of

Canterbury, Anselm was elected abbot of Bec. During these years he acquired a reputation for

learning and piety, and his monks urged him to write out the meditations that were the basis of

his instructions to them. Thus, he composed the Monologium (Soliloquy, 1077) in which—

reflecting the influence of St. Augustine—he spoke of God as the highest being and investigated

God's attributes. Encouraged by its reception, in 1078 he continued his project of faith seeking

understanding, completing the Proslogium (Discourse), the second chapter of which presents the

original statement of what in the 18th century became known as the ontological argument.

Anselm argued that even those who doubt the existence of God would have to have some

understanding of what they were doubting: Namely, they would understand God to be a being

than which nothing greater can be thought. Given that it is greater to exist outside the mind rather

than just in the mind, a doubter who denied God's existence would be making a contradiction

because he or she would be saying that it is possible to think of something greater than a being

than which nothing greater can be thought. Hence, by definition God exists necessarily.

The basic criticism of Anselm's argument is that one cannot infer the extramental existence of

anything by analyzing its definition. In Anselm's own time a fellow monk, Gaunilo of

Marmoutier, challenged his argument, as did the later philosophers Thomas Aquinas and

Immanuel Kant. Nonetheless, René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Leibniz, and some

contemporary philosophers have offered similar arguments.

In 1093 Anselm was called to succeed Lanfranc as the archbishop of Canterbury. As archbishop,

Anselm entered into a time of great strife with King William II, the successor of William the

Conqueror, over the church's independence of the king's control (see Investiture Controversy). In

and out of England, in exile in Italy, Anselm led a life of conflict with the secular powers.



Saint Albertus Magnus

Saint Albertus Magnus (circa 1200-80), called Albert the Great and known as doctor universalis for his

wide interest in natural science. He was especially noted for his introduction of Greek and Arabic science

and philosophy to the medieval world.

Born in Lauingen, Bavaria, to a noble military family, Albert was studying at Padua (Padova) in 1223,

when he was attracted to the Dominican Order of Preachers, then less than ten years old. He was ordained

in Germany and taught there before going on to the University of Paris, where he became a master of

theology in 1245 and subsequently held one of the Dominican chairs of theology. Among his early

students was Thomas Aquinas. Albert was an influential teacher, church administrator, and preacher. He

traveled through western Europe on behalf of his order and served as a provincial and, briefly, as bishop

of Regensburg (1260-62) before returning to teaching and research.

Albert was a key figure in the assimilation of Aristotelian philosophy into medieval Scholasticism and in

the revival of natural science that it inspired. Early in the 13th century, a body of philosophical and

scientific writings previously unknown to Western philosophers and theologians became a disturbing

force in Scholastic circles. These Latin writings, based on Arabic translations of the works of Aristotle,

were accompanied by the writings of Arab commentators, notably Avicenna and Averroës. As such, they

presented a point of view foreign to the church-trained Scholastics, whose knowledge of Aristotle was

confined to his logic, as taught and interpreted for centuries by the church, in the tradition of St.

Augustine and the Neoplatonists. See Scholasticism.

Albert had, on his journeys, shown an intense interest in natural phenomena, and he seized on Aristotle's

scientific writings. He examined them, commented on them, and occasionally contradicted them on the

evidence of his own careful observations. He produced essentially new works and, according to the

English philosopher Roger Bacon, held much the same authority in his time as did Aristotle himself.

As a theologian, Albert was outstanding among the medieval philosophers but not as innovative as his

pupil Aquinas. In his Summa Theologiae (circa 1270), he attempted to reconcile Aristotelianism and

Christian teachings. He maintained that human reason could not contradict revelation, but he defended the

philosopher's right to investigate divine mysteries.

Albert died at Cologne on November 15, 1280. He was beatified in 1622 and declared a saint by Pope

Pius XI in 1931, at which time he was acclaimed an official Doctor of the Church. In 1941 Pope Pius XII

made him the patron of all who study the natural sciences. His feast day is November 15.



Peter Abelard Peter Abelard (1079-1142?), French philosopher and theologian, whose fame as a teacher

made him one of the most celebrated figures of the 12th century.

Born in Le Pallet, Brittany, Abelard left home to study at Loches with the French

nominalist philosopher Roscelin and later in Paris with the French realist philosopher

William of Champeaux. Critical of his masters, Abelard began to teach at Melun, at

Corbeil and, in 1108, at Paris. He soon gained fame throughout Europe as a teacher and

original thinker. In 1117 he became tutor to Héloïse, the niece of Fulbert, a canon of the

Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris.

Héloïse and Abelard fell in love, and she gave birth to a son whom they named Astrolabe.

At Abelard’s insistence they were married secretly. Abelard persuaded Héloïse to take

holy vows at the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Argenteuil. Her uncle Fulbert, at first

enraged by the relationship between Héloïse and Abelard and later somewhat placated by

their marriage, finally decided that Abelard had abandoned Héloïse at the abbey and had

him castrated. Abelard, too, retired to a religious retreat at the Abbey of Saint-Denis-en-

France, in Paris.

Abelard’s first published work, a treatise on the Trinity (1121), was condemned and

ordered burned by a Roman Catholic council that met at Soissons in the same year.

Forced by criticism to leave Saint-Denis-en-France, Abelard founded a chapel and

oratory, called the Paraclete, at Nogent-sur-Seine. In 1125 he was elected abbot of the

monastery at Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuis. Héloïse, who meanwhile had become prioress at

Argenteuil, was called to the Paraclete as abbess of the convent established there. At

Saint-Gildas, Abelard wrote his autobiographical Historia Calamitatum (History of

Misfortunes, 1132). At this time the famous exchange of letters with Héloïse began; these

letters have become classics of romantic correspondence. In 1140 Saint Bernard of

Clairvaux, an eminent French ecclesiastic who thought Abelard’s influence dangerous,

prevailed upon a Roman Catholic council in session at Sens, and upon Pope Innocent II,

to condemn Abelard for his skeptical, rationalistic writings and teaching. On his way to

Rome to appeal the condemnation, Abelard accepted the hospitality of Peter the

Venerable, abbot of the Abbey of Cluny, remaining there for many months. Abelard died

at a Clunist priory near Chalon-sur-Saône. His body was taken to the Paraclete; when

Héloïse died in 1164 she was buried beside him. In 1817 both bodies were moved to a

single tomb in the cemetery of Père Lachaise in Paris.

The romantic appeal of the life of Abelard often overshadows the importance of his

thought. In the emphasis he placed on dialectical discussion, Abelard followed the 9th-

century philosopher and theologian Johannes Scotus Erigena, and he foreshadowed the

Italian Scholastic philosopher Thomas Aquinas. Abelard’s important dialectical thesis

that truth must be attained by carefully weighing all sides of any issue is presented in Sic

et Non (Thus and Otherwise, 1123?). He also foreshadowed the later theological reliance

on the works of Aristotle, rather than on those of Plato.



Filaret

Filaret (1782-1867), one of the most prominent leaders in the Russian

Orthodox church in the 19th century. He was originally named Vasily

Drozdov and took the name Filaret when he became a monk in 1808. A noted

preacher and biblical scholar, he promoted the translation of the Bible, which

was previously available only in Church Slavonic, into modern Russian. As

the metropolitan of Moscow (1821-1867), he was an influential member of

the Holy Synod. His Catechism (1823) became a standard school textbook.

Filaret also drafted the manifesto of 1861, signed by Tsar Alexander II,

which emancipated the Russian serfs.



Saint Gregory of Nyssa

Saint Gregory of Nyssa (circa 335-394), bishop of Nyssa, in Cappadocia, and an

early Father of the Church, born in Neocaesarea (now Niksar, Turkey), younger

brother of Saint Basil. Gregory married, but on the death of his wife he entered the

monastery founded by Basil in Pontus, near the Iris River. About 371 he was

ordained by his brother and made bishop of Nyssa. Gregory's religious position

was strictly orthodox, and he was particularly zealous in combating the doctrine of

Arianism. The Arians charged Gregory with fraud in his election to the bishopric

and with mishandling the funds of his office. Convicted of these charges, he was

exiled from Nyssa in 376 to 378. After his return Gregory was a strong supporter

of the orthodox position against the Arians at the first Council of Constantinople in

381. In the next year he was sent by the church to reorganize the churches of

Arabia.

Gregory's fame is chiefly as a theologian. Among his important theological

treatises are Great Catechetical Discourse, a defense of the Christian faith against

Jews and pagans; On Faith, a treatise against the Arians; and Ten Syllogisms,

directed against the Apollinarists, who in many ways were allied to the

Manichaeans. His feast day is March 9



Aleksey Stepanovich Khomyakov

Aleksey Stepanovich Khomyakov (1804-60), Russian philosopher and

theologian, a leading figure of the Slavophile movement, which defended

traditional Russian culture against the influence of the West. A member of

the gentry, he wrote books on history and theology, which were initially

published abroad in French. His influential theology emphasized the concept

of sobornost (Russian, “togetherness”), which he interpreted as a collective

responsibility for truth, as opposed to institutional or juridical authority. In

his pamphlet The Church Is One (1862; trans. 1948), he strongly affirmed the

Orthodox church, based on sobornost, as opposed to Western Christianity,

which he regarded as too authoritarian in its Roman Catholic form and too

individualistic in its Protestant form.



Saint Seraphim of Sarov

Saint Seraphim of Sarov (1759-1833), Russian monk, ascetic, and spiritual

counselor, who followed the contemplative tradition of ancient Eastern

Christian hesychast monks (see Hesychasm). Born Prokhor Moshnin in

Kursk, he entered the monastery of Sarov at the age of 19 and took the name

Seraphim on becoming a monk. From 1794 to 1810 he was a hermit in the

forest near Tambov. His way of life included constant mental prayer (the

Jesus Prayer) and the weekly reading of all four Gospels. Toward the end of

his life he settled in the convent of Diveyevo, near Sarov, welcoming

pilgrims and giving spiritual direction. Some of his teachings and visions

were recorded by a man he cured of illness, Nicholas Motovilov, in

Conversations with Motovilov. Canonized in 1903, he has become one of the

most popular saints of the modern Orthodox church.



Saint Vincent of Lérins

Saint Vincent of Lérins (died before 450), theologian, noted for his

Commonitoria, which contains the Vincentian Canon, a formula for

determining orthodoxy. In about 425 he became a monk at the abbey on the

island of Lérins (near present-day Cannes, France). About 435 he wrote,

under the pseudonym Peregrinus (“pilgrim”), two volumes called

Commonitoria, of which only one has survived. This work was intended to

address the growing problem of conflicting theological opinions. The

Vincentian Canon strongly emphasized tradition, defining orthodoxy as

“what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.” The Commonitoria

by implication attacked St. Augustine, whose doctrine of predestination and

grace Vincent considered a disturbing innovation. His own position was that

of Semi-Pelagianism (see Pelagianism), which acknowledged the necessity of

grace but held that the human will also has a role in achieving salvation.



Karl Barth

Karl Barth (1886-1968), Swiss Protestant theologian, widely regarded as one of the most

notable Christian thinkers of the 20th century.

The son of the Swiss Reformed minister and New Testament scholar Fritz Barth, Karl

Barth was born in Basel, May 10, 1886, and was reared in Bern, where his father taught.

From 1904 to 1909, he studied theology at the universities of Bern, Berlin, Tübingen, and

Marburg. In 1913 he married Nelly Hoffman; they had five children. Barth held

professorships successively at Göttingen and Münster universities from 1923 to 1930,

when he was appointed professor of systematic theology at the University of Bonn. He

opposed the Hitler regime in Germany and supported church-sponsored movements

against National Socialism; he was the chief author of the Barmen Declaration, six

articles that defined Christian opposition to National Socialist ideology and practice. In

1934 he was expelled from Bonn. Barth's further defiance led, the following year, to

deportation to his native Switzerland, where he pursued his literary and teaching work at

the University of Basel, enjoying a special extension beyond the usual retirement age of

70. He remained in Basel until his death, December 10, 1968.

He regarded the Bible, however, not as the actual revelation of God but as only the record

of that revelation. For Barth, God's sole revelation of himself is in Jesus Christ. God is

the “wholly other,” totally unlike humankind, who are utterly dependent on an encounter

with the divine for any understanding of ultimate reality. Barth saw the task of the church

as that of proclaiming the “good word” of God and as serving as the “place of encounter”

between God and humankind. Barth regarded all human activity as being under the

judgment of that encounter.

Barth left more than 600 writings. Among his better known works are Epistle to the

Romans (1919; trans. 1933), The Word of God and the Word of Man (1924; trans. 1928),

Credo (1935; trans. 1936), Evangelical Theology, an Introduction (1962; trans. 1963),

and the monumental multivolume Church Dogmatics (1932-62; trans. 1936-62).



Ferdinand Christian Baur

Ferdinand Christian Baur (1792-1860), German Protestant theologian, who

founded the Tübingen School of New Testament studies; he is considered the

father of modern study of church history and the history of theology.

Baur was educated at Blaubeuren and the University of Tübingen. He taught

history and philosophy at Blaubeuren from 1817 until he was called to Tübingen in

1826 to become professor of historical theology, a position he held until his death.

Believing that faith must be grounded in history, Baur used the historical-critical

method to reconstruct the development of the early church. Influenced by the

German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's conception of history as a

movement of opposing forces that become resolved into a synthesis, Baur

theorized in The So-called Pastoral Epistles of the Apostle Paul (1835) that

primitive Christianity was characterized by a struggle between Petrine Jewish-

Christian and Pauline Gentile-Christian views, the synthesis of which became the

Roman Catholic church.

Using the same methodological principles, Baur in later years traced the

development of the Christian doctrines of the atonement, the Trinity, and the

incarnation and wrote extensively on the history of dogma. In Paul the Apostle of

Jesus Christ (1845; trans. 1873-1875) Baur aroused controversy by regarding only

Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Romans as genuine Pauline epistles.



Theodore Beza

Theodore Beza (1519-1605), French theologian and educator, who assisted, then

succeeded, John Calvin as head of the Protestant Reformation in Geneva. Born in

Vézelay, Burgundy, on June 24, 1519, Beza studied law and letters at Orléans

(1535-39), Bourges, and Paris. In 1548, after recovering from a serious illness, he

converted to Protestantism, then joined Calvin in Geneva. A year later he began

teaching Greek at Lausanne. In 1559 he founded the Genevan Academy with

Calvin and became its first rector.

As Calvin's successor Beza upheld the reformer's views, emphasizing God's eternal

decrees and the centrality of predestination in the divine plan. In addition, he

espoused supralapsarianism, the doctrine that God's determination of the saved and

the damned had preceded Adam's fall.

Beza contributed two Greek editions (1565, 1582) and an annotated Latin

translation (1556) of the New Testament; these texts were used by Protestants for

more than a century. Both the Geneva Bible (1560) and the King James Version

(1611) were based on Beza's works. In 1581 he gave to the University of

Cambridge the Codex D or Codex Bezae, a 5th-century manuscript containing

Greek and Latin texts of the Gospels and Acts, which he claimed to have

discovered in a monastery in Lyon. Among Beza's own writings are a biography of

Calvin and the Histoire ecclésiastique des églises réformées au royaume de France

(Ecclesiastical History of the Reformed Church in the Kingdom of France, 1580).

He died in Geneva on October 13, 1605.



Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), German Lutheran theologian, whose life and

thought have had increasing influence on the church since his execution by the

Nazis.

The son of a noted physician, Bonhoeffer was born in Breslau, Prussia (now

Wrocław, Poland), on February 4, 1906. He received his theological education at

the universities of Tübingen and Berlin. After serving (1928-1929) as an assistant

pastor in a German-speaking congregation in Barcelona, Spain, and a further year

of study at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, he became a lecturer in

theology in Berlin in the fall of 1931.

An outspoken opponent of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime on their rise to power

in 1933, Bonhoeffer joined the Confessing Church, which resisted the Nazi attempt

to impose anti-Semitism on the church and society. Leaving Berlin in protest, he

spent two years (1933-1935) as pastor of German-speaking congregations in

London. Called back to Germany in 1935, Bonhoeffer became director of a

seminary of the Confessing Church at Finkenwald, Pomerania. This “illegal”

enterprise was eventually closed by the Gestapo; after the start of World War II,

Bonhoeffer joined in the political resistance to Hitler that led to his imprisonment

in April 1943 in Berlin and his death by hanging at the Nazi concentration camp at

Flossenbürg on April 9, 1945.

Bonhoeffer is important for his ecumenism, his efforts toward world peace, and his

firm belief in the need for a reinterpretation of Christianity for the modern secular

world. His most influential books have been The Cost of Discipleship (1937; trans.

1949), Life Together (1939; trans. 1954), and the posthumously edited Letters and

Papers from Prison (1951; trans. 1953).



Emil Brunner

Emil Brunner (1889-1966), Swiss Protestant theologian, born in

Winterthur. He received a doctorate from the University of Zürich in

1913 and was ordained in the Swiss Reformed church. With another

Swiss theologian, Karl Barth, Brunner was a leader in the post-World

War I revolution in Protestant theology that emphasized the Bible as

divine revelation, and redemption as that which must be perceived and

obtained by man through faith. Brunner differed from Barth in regarding

man as retaining a spark of divinity. Brunner taught theology at the

University of Zürich (1924-1953), Princeton University (1938-1939),

and International Christian University, Tokyo (1953-1955). He was a

founder (1948) of the World Council of Churches, an ecumenical body

consisting of many Christian denominations. His books include The

Divine Imperative (1932; trans. 1947) and The Divine-Human Encounter

(1937; trans. 1938; revised ed., Truth as Encounter,1964).



Martin Bucer

Martin Bucer (1491-1551), German ecumenical theologian and Protestant

reformer, who strove to reconcile the divergent reform groups of his time.

Originally surnamed Kuhhorn, Bucer (or Butzer) was born on November 11, 1491,

at Schlettstadt (now Sélestat, France). At the age of 15, he entered the Dominican

order. He became a Lutheran and, under the influence of the Dutch writer

Desiderius Erasmus, a humanist. In 1521 he withdrew from the order and married

Elizabeth Silbereisen, a former nun. Bucer soon became a leader in Strasbourg,

France, where reformers were seeking to implement religious and governmental

reform. In the conflict that arose between the reformers Martin Luther and

Huldreich Zwingli over the wording of the Eucharist, Bucer tried vigorously to

mediate between northern German groups that supported Luther and Swiss and

southern German groups that supported Zwingli. He debated frequently with the

radical Anabaptists in an attitude of openness and mutual respect. He even

attempted to reconcile Roman Catholics and Protestants in a compromise theology

expressed at the Colloquy of Regensburg (1541). Exiled from Strasbourg for his

opposition to the Augsburg Interim (1548) imposed by Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V, Bucer took refuge in England, where he taught theology at the

University of Cambridge and helped to guide the reform of the English church

under Thomas Cranmer, then archbishop of Canterbury. Bucer died in England on

February 28, 1551. Modern ecumenical scholars increasingly appreciate Bucer's

contributions, though his pragmatism was not popular in his own time. He

recognized the need for church discipline but wanted it to be flexible and merciful.

When Philip the Magnanimous married a second time, for example, Bucer justified

the act by citing patriarchal precedents. This position eventually aroused

controversy and brought discredit to Bucer, who regarded marriage and divorce in

a more contextual fashion than did his contemporaries.



William Buckland

William Buckland (1784-1856), British geologist and minister, who made important

contributions to geology and paleontology, and who attempted to reconcile 19th-century

geological discoveries with the Bible. Buckland was born in Devonshire, England. He

graduated from Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford, in 1804, and was ordained

in the Church of England in 1809. He was reader in mineralogy at Oxford from 1813 to

1818, and reader in geology from 1818 to 1845; in 1845 he was appointed dean of

Westminster Cathedral. Buckland was also a canon of Christ Church, Oxford, and held

other church appointments during his life.

In the midst of scientific and religious controversies surrounding geology in the 19th

century, Buckland sought to reconcile creation, as described in the Bible, with emerging

scientific theories. He believed that the essential construction of the world had been

carried out over a long period of time before the events described in biblical accounts,

such as the Deluge. He also believed that in the more recent past, the daily effects of

erosion, as well as more dramatic events such as land elevation and flooding, had all left

their marks on the earth's surface. Also, by 1840 Buckland became the first in England to

recognize the role of glaciers in shaping the landscape. Buckland used fossils in

conjunction with observations of rock distributions and strata to interpret the geological

history of an area.

In addition to his academic and clerical positions, Buckland was president of the

Geological Society of London from 1824 to 1825 and 1840 to 1841, and a member of the

Council of the Royal Society of London from 1827 to 1849. His written works include

Geology and Mineralogy Considered With Reference to Natural Theology (1836).



Johann Bugenhagen

Johann Bugenhagen, known as POMERANUS (1485-1558), German Protestant

reformer, born in Wolin, Pomerania (now in Poland). Ordained a priest in 1509, he

was converted to Lutheranism in 1520 after reading The Babylonian Captivity of

the Church by Martin Luther, with whom Bugenhagen formed an enduring

friendship. From 1521 to 1528 he was professor of theology at the University of

Wittenberg and pastor of a church, and then for 14 years he worked on the

organization of Protestant churches in Brunswick (Braunschweig), Hamburg,

Lübeck, Pomerania, and Denmark. Bugenhagen assisted Luther in translating the

Bible and made his own translation into Low German. Of his own works, the best

known is Interpretatio in Librum Psalmorum (Interpretation for the Book of

Psalms, 1523).



Rudolf Karl Bultmann

Rudolf Karl Bultmann (1884-1976), German Lutheran New Testament scholar,

who pioneered the form-critical method of studying the Synoptic Gospels.

Born in Wiefelstede, Oldenburg, on August 20, 1884, Bultmann studied at the

universities of Marburg, Tübingen, and Berlin. He taught at Breslau and Giessen

before becoming professor of New Testament at Marburg in 1921, a post he held

until his retirement in 1951. A world-renowned theologian, Bultmann continued to

lecture and to write until his death in Marburg an der Lahn on July 30, 1976.

Bultmann, a skeptic in regard to the historical elements of the Bible, believed that

the Scriptures, and especially the Gospels, must undergo a demythologization, or

reinterpretation, of those mythical elements that have no application or relevance

to contemporary concerns. His theology was strongly influenced by the writings of

the existentialist philosopher Martin Heidegger (see Existentialism).

Bultmann became known as a radical critic when, in his History of the Synoptic

Tradition (1921; trans. 1963), he concluded that the Gospels are not biographies of

Jesus Christ (although he did not deny that Jesus was a historical figure). He

asserted that the Gospels are, rather, devotional and apologetic materials of the

early church that were more or less strung together and are capable of being

classified according to their literary forms. In Jesus and the Word (1926; trans.

1934) he scandalized many by claiming that little can be known of the life and

personality of Jesus and that what is important to Christians is Jesus' call for

believers to make a decision to accept the gospel message (which Bultmann called

the kerygma, or proclamation) and to obey its commands. His major work is

Theology of the New Testament (1948-53; trans. 1952-55).



Horace Bushnell

Horace Bushnell (1802-76), American theologian, born in Bantam,

Connecticut, and educated at Yale College (now Yale University). In

1833 he became pastor of the North Congregational Church in Hartford,

Connecticut, which he served for 26 years. He was strongly evangelical

in belief but denied the Calvinistic theory of the atonement. For this and

other deviations from orthodoxy he was accused of heresy, but he was

never brought to trial. Bushnell was a voluminous writer, an inspiring

preacher, and a bold and original thinker on theology. His influence

extended to almost all Protestant denominations in the U.S., profoundly

modifying 19th-century religious thought. His works include Christian

Nurture (1847), God in Christ (1849), Nature and the Supernatural

(1858), and The Vicarious Sacrifice (1866).



John Calvin

John Calvin (1509-1564), French theologian, humanist, pastor, and a leading figure in the

Protestant Reformation. Protestant denominations in the Reformed tradition regard him

as a major formulator of their beliefs (see Reformed Churches). His religious theories and

teachings are collectively referred to as Calvinism. See also Protestantism: History:

Calvin.

John Calvin was probably the greatest theologian of the Reformation. He did much to

shape religious thinking as Protestantism advanced in Europe, and Calvinism became the

basis of Presbyterianism. He also had a direct influence on the later relationships between

Protestant churches and civil governments. Calvin founded a system of government that

was based upon the teachings of the Bible and in which the civil powers were subordinate

to the church and its ruling council. He encouraged production and commerce and

insisted on the individual virtues of honesty, thrift, simplicity, and hard work. His ideas

were well suited to the emerging capitalism of the 16th century.

Calvin was born in Noyon, France, on July 10, 1509. He received formal instruction for

the priesthood at the Collège de la Marche and the Collège de Montaigue, branches of the

University of Paris. Encouraged by his father to study law instead of theology, Calvin

also attended universities at Orléans and Bourges. Along with several friends he grew to

appreciate the humanistic and reforming movements, and he undertook studies in the

Greek Bible. In 1532 he published a commentary on Seneca’s De Clementia, proving his

skills as a humanist scholar. His association with Nicholas Cop, newly elected rector of

the University of Paris, forced both to flee when Cop announced his support in 1535 of

Protestant reformer Martin Luther. Although he seldom spoke of it, Calvin underwent a

personal religious experience about this time.

Calvin moved frequently during the next two years, avoiding church authorities while he

studied, wrote, and formulated from the Bible and Christian tradition the primary tenets

of his theology. In 1536 he published the first edition of his Institutes of the Christian

Religion, a succinct and provocative work that thrust him into the forefront of

Protestantism as a thinker and spokesman. During the same year, Calvin visited Geneva,

Switzerland, on his way to Strasbourg, France, and was asked by Guillaume Farel to

assist in the city’s reformation movement. Calvin remained in Geneva with Farel until

1538, when the town voted against Farel and asked both men to leave. Calvin completed

his interrupted journey to Strasbourg and participated in that community’s religious life

until September 1541. While in Strasbourg, Calvin married Idelette de Bure, a widow.

The couple had one child, who died in infancy. At Strasbourg, Calvin also published his

Commentary on Romans (1539), the first of his many commentaries on books of the

Bible.



Thomas Chalmers Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), British theologian and preacher, born in

Anstruther, Scotland, and educated at the University of Saint Andrews. In

1803 he was minister of the parish of Kilmany, Fife County, and in 1815 he

was called to Tron Church, Glasgow, as pastor. He became one of the most

popular preachers in England and Scotland and was noted for his work in

social welfare. In 1819 he became minister of Saint John's parish, where he

established schools, revived church attendance, and increased public well-

being even while he drastically reduced relief expenditures.

Chalmers was professor of moral philosophy at Saint Andrews from 1823 to

1828, when he joined the faculty of the University of Edinburgh as professor

of theology. He taught there until 1843, when he led a group of 470 Scottish

clerics in a movement of secession from the Scottish church. The new

organization, the Free Church of Scotland, took a position of independence

from civil authority in spiritual matters; it was highly successful and within

four years had no fewer than 654 churches. The Free Church founded a

college in Edinburgh, and Chalmers became its first principal, or vice-

chancellor. His chief writings are Christian and Civic Economy of Large

Towns (1826), Political Economy (1832), On the Adaptation of External

Nature to the Moral and Intellectual Constitution of Man (1833), and

Institutes of Theology (1843-47).



Martin Chemnitz

Martin Chemnitz (1522-86), German Lutheran theologian, born in

Brandenburg and educated in Frankfurt and Wittenberg. Chemnitz

(sometimes spelled Kemnitz) was placed in charge of the ducal library at

Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia) in 1550 but returned to

Wittenberg three years later to lecture on Loci Communes Rerum

Theologicarum (Commonplaces of Theology), by the German religious

reformer Melanchthon. This exposition of the Lutheran doctrine became

the basis for Chemnitz's own posthumously published Loci Theologici

(Theological Arguments, 1591). In 1554 Chemnitz became a preacher in

Brunswick (Braunschweig), and in 1567 he was appointed

superintendent there. He was influential in inducing the Lutherans of

Saxony (Sachsen) and Swabia to unite in accepting the Formula of

Concord, which ended a split in the Lutheran movement. His other

works include Examen Concilii Tridentini (Examination of the Council

of Trent, 4 volumes, 1565-73).



Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), American theologian and Congregational

clergyman, whose sermons stirred the religious revival called the Great

Awakening. Born October 5, 1703, in East Windsor, Connecticut Colony,

Edwards was a child prodigy. At the age of ten he wrote an essay on the

nature of the soul. At 13 he entered the Collegiate School of Connecticut

(now Yale University) and he graduated in 1720 as valedictorian of his class.

After two additional years of study in theology at Yale, he preached for eight

months in a New York church and then returned to Yale as a college tutor,

studying, at the same time, for his master's degree. He was ordained in 1727

and received a call to assist his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, pastor of the

church at Northampton, Massachusetts Bay Colony, which had one of the

largest and wealthiest congregations in the colony. When Edwards was 26,

his grandfather died, and the young man became pastor at Northampton. He

was a firm believer in Calvinism and the doctrine of predestination; a

tendency toward belief in Arminianism, an ideology that challenged several

fundamental principles of strict Calvinism, however, existed in the New

England colonies. In 1731, in Boston, Edwards preached his first public

attack on Arminianism and, in a sermon entitled “God Glorified in Man's

Dependence,” called for a return to rigorous Calvinism. Three years later he

delivered a series of powerful sermons on the same subject in his own

church; the series included the famous “Reality of Spiritual Light,” in which

the preacher combined Calvinism with mysticism, religious experience

directly given and experienced.



Guillaume Farel

Guillaume Farel (1489-1565), French reformer and preacher, who played a

major role in the introduction of the Reformation into Switzerland. He was

born into an aristocratic family in Dauphiné. As a student at the University of

Paris, he was strongly influenced by the humanist scholar and moderate

Roman Catholic reformer Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples. By 1520 Farel had

adopted Protestant views, and in 1523 he was expelled from France for

expounding them. He went to Basel, Switzerland, but his vigorous attacks on

Roman Catholicism soon resulted in his banishment. He continued to preach

reform, chiefly in French-speaking Switzerland and became known for his

courage and fiery eloquence. In 1532 he went to Geneva, where his preaching

and public disputations helped bring about the triumph of Protestantism,

which the town council formally adopted in 1535. In 1536 Farel persuaded

the French theologian and reformer John Calvin to assist him in reforming

and standardizing church practices. Their severe initial measures aroused

opposition, and both men were forced to leave Geneva in 1538. Farel settled

in Neuchâtel but persuaded the Genevans to allow Calvin's return in 1541,

and he remained one of Calvin's closest advisers.



Matthias Flacius Illyricus

Matthias Flacius Illyricus (1520-75), German Lutheran reformer, born in

Albona, Illyria (now Istria, Croatia). After attending the universities of Basel

and Tübingen, he went to Wittenberg, where he met the German reformer

Melanchthon and came under the influence of Martin Luther. In 1544 he was

made professor of Hebrew at Wittenberg. After Luther's death, Flacius came

into conflict with Melanchthon by opposing the Augsburg Interim (1548),

and in 1549 he moved to Magdeburg. Again he became involved in

theological controversy, defending Luther's doctrine “by faith alone” against

those who claimed that good works following from faith are necessary for

salvation. In 1557 he became professor of New Testament at Jena. There he

was involved in a controversy over his position on original sin, which he

believed was the physical substance of humanity. Most Lutherans rejected

this position, and Flacius was dismissed. He served briefly as pastor in

Antwerp, then moved to Strasbourg, where he was accused of heresy and

expelled. He next fled to Frankfurt, where he died. Besides his defense of a

strict Lutheran position, Flacius is best known for his contribution to church

history as an editor of the Historia Ecclesiae Christi. A severely Lutheran,

antipapal history of the Christian church, from its beginnings until the early

1400s, it later became known as the Magdeburg Centuries.



Washington Gladden

Washington Gladden (1836-1918), American Congregationalist minister

and journalist, known for his pragmatic social theology. After graduating

from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, he entered the

ministry and served congregations in New York, Massachusetts, and

Ohio. He was also the religion editor for the New York Independent from

1871 to 1875. Gladden linked theological liberalism with strong social

concern. His attempts to apply biblical teachings to the problems of

industrialization made him a leader in the Social Gospel movement.

Gladden's more than 38 books include Working People and Their

Employers (1876) and Social Salvation (1901).



Adolf von Harnack

Adolf von Harnack (1851-1930), leading German Protestant theologian and

historian, whose critical views were a major influence in late 19th- and early 20th-

century theology.

Born in Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia), he was educated at the universities of Dorpat

and Leipzig. He was appointed professor extraordinary of church history at the

University of Leipzig in 1876 and later held professorships at the universities of

Giessen, Marburg, and Berlin. He served as president of the Evangelical Congress

from 1902 to 1912 and as director of the Prussian National Library from 1905 to

1921.

Harnack traced the evolution of the early church from biblical Christianity, which

he claimed had been corrupted by the introduction of Greek metaphysics. He

advocated a return to the simple faith of the original Gospel, but his distrust of the

institutional church, creeds, dogmas, and sacraments provoked the opposition of

much more conservative scholars. Harnack’s best-known works include the

multivolume Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte (1886-1890; trans. History of

Dogma, 1894-1899) and Das Wesen des Christentums (1900; trans. What Is

Christianity? 1901).



Charles Hartshorne

Charles Hartshorne (1897-2000), American philosopher and theologian, born

in Kittanning, Pennsylvania. He taught at the University of Chicago, Emory

University, and the University of Texas. Hartshorne was one of the chief

advocates of process thought, an approach that emphasizes the progressive or

evolutionary nature of reality. Even God is considered in process through his

association with the changing world. Among Hartshorne's principal works are

The Divine Relativity (1948) and The Logic of Perfection (1962). See Process

Philosophy.



Richard Hooker

Richard Hooker (1554?-1600), English theologian, born in Exeter, and

educated at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford. He took holy

orders in 1581, becoming a clergyman in the Church of England. Thereafter

he lived in London and then at Boscombe and, finally, Bishops- bourne. He is

noted for his Of the Lawes of Ecclesiasticall Politie (8 volumes, 1594-1662);

the definitive edition, edited by the British clergyman and poet John Keble,

was published in 1836. The immediate purpose of Hooker's work was to

demonstrate the advantages of the episcopal form of organization of the

Church of England over the presbyterian form used by its opponents. The

lasting value of the work stems from its recognition that natural law is

unchangeable and eternal, but that the law of the state (positive law),

including law affecting the form of government, can be altered when change

is necessary or expedient.



Jan Hus

Jan Hus or John Huss (1369?-1415), Bohemian religious reformer, whose efforts to

reform the church anticipated the Protestant Reformation.

Hus was born in Husinec, in southern Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), and was

educated at the University of Prague, receiving his M.A. degree in 1396. Two years later,

he became a lecturer in theology at the university and in 1401 was made dean of its

philosophical faculty. Ordained a priest in 1400, two years later he took up additional

duties as preacher at the Bethlehem Chapel, where the sermons were given in Czech

instead of the traditional Latin.

The Czech nationalist and reformist movement that had been initiated by the popular

15th-century Bohemian preacher Jan Milíč was prevalent at both the university and

Bethlehem Chapel, and Hus quickly became involved in it. Less radical than the English

church reformer John Wycliffe, Hus nonetheless agreed with him on many points. On a

practical level, both men vigorously condemned church abuses and attempted, through

preaching, to bring the church to the people. On the doctrinal level, both believed in

predestination and regarded the Bible as the ultimate religious authority. Believing that

ecclesiastical officials are inevitably corrupt, they also held that Christ, rather than any

official, is the true head of the church.

In 1408 the subject matter of some of Hus's sermons was made grounds of complaint to

the archbishop, and Hus was forbidden to exercise his priestly functions in the diocese.

The following year, Alexander V, one of the three rival popes then contending for

authority in the church (see Schism, Great), issued a bull condemning the teachings of

Wycliffe and ordering his books burned. Hus, who was teaching Wycliffe's doctrines,

was excommunicated in 1410, but he had already gained great popular support, and riots

broke out in Prague. Backed by popular demonstrations, Hus continued to preach, even

after the city was laid under interdict in 1412.



Karlstadt

Karlstadt, real name Andreas Rudolf Bodenstein (1480?-1541), German

religious reformer, born in Karlstadt, Bavaria, and educated at the universities

of Cologne, Erfurt, and Wittenberg. He adopted doctrines later espoused by

Martin Luther. Becoming associated with Luther in 1517, Karlstadt joined

him in theological disputation with the German Roman Catholic theologian

Johann Eck at Leipzig, Saxony (Sachsen), in 1519. He was the leader of the

Protestant cause during Luther's absence at the castle of Wartburg in 1521-

1522, but he later championed radical reforms that brought him into conflict

with Luther and the latter's protector, Frederick III, elector of Saxony (1463-

1525). Karlstadt was banished from Saxony in 1524 and during his exile was

accused of participation in the Peasants' War. Upon retracting statements,

made earlier, of disbelief in the Lutheran doctrine of the Eucharist, he was

allowed to return to Wittenberg on Luther's request. Once again, though, he

engaged in disputation on the Eucharist and in 1529 had to flee to

Switzerland, where he was warmly received by the Swiss religious reformer

Huldreich Zwingli and became professor of theology at the University of

Basel.



Martin Luther

Martin Luther (1483-1546), German theologian and religious reformer, who initiated the

Protestant Reformation, and whose vast influence, extending beyond religion to politics,

economics, education, and language, has made him one of the crucial figures in modern

European history.

In the summer of 1505, however, Luther suddenly abandoned his studies, sold his books,

and entered the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt. The decision surprised his friends and

appalled his father. Later in life, Luther explained it by recalling several brushes with

death that had occurred at the time, making him aware of the fleeting character of life. In

the monastery he observed the rules imposed on a novice but did not find the peace in

God he had expected. Nevertheless, Luther made his profession as a monk in the fall of

1506, and his superiors selected him for the priesthood. Ordained in 1507, he approached

his first celebration of the mass with awe.

After his ordination, Luther was asked to study theology in order to become a professor at

one of the many new German universities staffed by monks. In 1508 he was assigned by

Johann von Staupitz, vicar-general of the Augustinians and a friend and counselor, to the

new University of Wittenberg (founded in 1502) to give introductory lectures in moral

philosophy. He received his bachelor’s degree in theology in 1509 and returned to Erfurt,

where he taught and studied (1509-1511). In November 1510, on behalf of seven

Augustinian monasteries, he made a visit to Rome, where he performed the religious

duties customary for a pious visitor and was shocked by the worldliness of the Roman

clergy. Soon after resuming his duties in Erfurt, he was reassigned to Wittenberg and

asked to study for the degree of doctor of theology. In 1512 he received his doctorate and

took over the chair of biblical theology, which he held until his death.

Although still uncertain of God’s love and his own salvation, Luther was active as a

preacher, teacher, and administrator. Sometime during his study of the New Testament in

preparation for his lectures, he came to believe that Christians are saved not through their

own efforts but by the gift of God’s grace, which they accept in faith.



Frederick Denison Maurice

Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-72), British Anglican theologian, educator,

and social reformer, who was one of the founders of Christian socialism.

Born in Normanston, England, Maurice studied law at the University of

Cambridge but was denied a degree because he refused to subscribe to the

Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England. Gradually, however, he

accepted Anglicanism and, in 1830, entered the University of Oxford, where

he was ordained four years later.

While serving as chaplain of Guy's Hospital in London, Maurice wrote The

Kingdom of Christ (1838), generally regarded as his most important work. In

1840 he was elected professor of English literature and modern history at

King's College, London, and six years later he was chosen professor of

theology at the same institution. Maurice was forced to resign after the

publication of his Theological Essays (1853), in which he expressed

skepticism about the eternity of hell. In 1848 he joined the British novelist

and clergyman Charles Kingsley, the British clergyman John Ludlow, and

others to found the Christian socialist movement. Six years later he

established the Working Men's College in London. From 1866 until his death

he was a professor of moral philosophy at Cambridge. Maurice was the

author of one novel, the autobiographical Eustace Conway (1834), and many

religious works, including Modern Philosophy (1862) and What Is

Revelation? (1859).



Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigné

Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigné (1794-1872), Swiss Protestant theologian,

born near Geneva, and educated in Geneva and Berlin. He was pastor of

the French Protestant Church in Hamburg from 1819 to 1823; in the

latter year he became court preacher to William I, king of the

Netherlands. After the revolution of 1830, which separated Belgium

from the Netherlands, Merle d'Aubigné returned to Geneva, where he

helped establish a new Evangelical church. He was professor of church

history at the Geneva École de Théologie Evangélique from 1831 until

his death. His most important work, Histoire de la Réformation au XV

siècle (History of the Reformation in the Fifteenth Century, 4 volumes,

1835-47), has been translated into most European languages. Among his

other works are Trois siècles de lutte en Écosse (Three Centuries of

Strife in Scotland, 1849) and Histoire de la Réformation en Europe au

temps du Calvin (History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of

Calvin, 8 volumes, 1862-78).



H. Richard Niebuhr

H. Richard Niebuhr (1894-1962), American Protestant theologian, born in

Wright City, Missouri, and educated at Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, Illinois;

Eden Theological Seminary, Webster Groves, Missouri; and Yale Divinity

School. Ordained in the Evangelical Synod of North America, he served a

pastorate for two years and then joined the faculty of Eden Theological

Seminary in 1919. He served as president of Elmhurst College from 1924 to

1927. In 1931 he joined the faculty of Yale Divinity School, where he spent

the rest of his teaching career; at retirement he was Sterling Professor of

Theology and Christian Ethics. Unlike his brother Reinhold, he was noted for

his technical expertness as a theologian. His major works, however, indicate

his concern with questions that also claimed the attention of his brother. They

examine the basis of denominationalism in the U.S., the interrelationship

between human beings and the culture within which they live, and the role of

Christian faith in the transformation of that culture. These books include The

Social Sources of Denominationalism (1929), The Meaning of Revelation

(1942), Christ and Culture (1951), Radical Monotheism and Western Culture

(1960), and The Responsible Self (posthumously pub. 1963).



Reinhold Niebuhr

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), American Protestant theologian, whose social

doctrines profoundly influenced American theological and political thought.

Born in Wright City, Missouri, June 21, 1892, he was educated at Elmhurst

College, Elmhurst, Illinois; Eden Theological Seminary, Webster Groves,

Missouri; and Yale Divinity School. In 1915 he was ordained in the ministry of the

Evangelical Synod of North America and made pastor of the Bethel Evangelical

Church of Detroit. He held that post until 1928, at which time he joined the faculty

of the Union Theological Seminary, New York City, where he taught for 30 years.

At the time of his retirement (1960) he held a chair of ethics and theology; he also

served as dean (1950-55) and vice president (1955-60). After retiring he continued

at Union as a lecturer.

An outstanding, although not a systematic, theologian, Niebuhr was notable

primarily for his examination of the interrelationships between religion,

individuals, and modern society. Outside the field of theology, he took a keen

interest in trade union and political affairs. He was an active member of the

Socialist Party in the 1930s, waged a vigorous fight against isolationism and

pacifism before and during World War II, and in 1944 helped to found the Liberal

Party in New York State. He received the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in

1964 and was made a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He

died on June 1, 1971.



Rudolf Otto

Rudolf Otto (1869-1937), German philosopher and theologian, who, in his The

Idea of the Holy (1917; trans. 1923), attempted to define “the Holy” and the

experience of apprehending it.

Born at Peine, September 25, 1869, Otto acquired a thorough knowledge of

comparative religion, natural science, and Oriental philosophy at the universities of

Erlangen and Göttingen. He taught theology at Göttingen and at the universities of

Breslau and Marburg. Early in his career he was influenced by the teachings of the

German philosopher Immanuel Kant and the German theologian Friedrich

Schleiermacher. Otto, however, later criticized Schleiermacher's concept of

religion as a feeling of absolute dependence because it suggested too close a

resemblance to the basic human feeling of dependency.

Otto understood the Holy as a nonhuman, pure “other,” which can be approached

on a rational level as well as on a nonrational level as a mysterium (Latin,

“mystery”). The existence of the Holy can be rationally determined through the

senses, by perceiving, for instance, the order apparent in nature. The nonrational

apprehension of the Holy, or “numinous,” has two aspects: fascination, or

attraction, and awe. This dual conception of the numinous experience has been

criticized by some philosophers who claim that it is appropriate only for primitive

religions.

Although The Idea of the Holy is his best-known work, Otto also wrote on his

other areas of study. Among his publications are Naturalism and Religion (1904;

trans. 1907), in answer to the theories of Charles Darwin, and Mysticism, East and

West (1926; trans. 1932). Otto died at Marburg an der Lahn, March 7, 1937.



Edward Bouverie Pusey

Edward Bouverie Pusey (1800-1882), British clergyman and theologian, a leader

of the Oxford movement.

Pusey was born near Oxford, England, on August 22, 1800, and educated at Christ

Church College, University of Oxford. In 1823 he was elected a fellow of Oriel

College, Oxford, where he became affiliated with the British divine John Keble,

the British religious leader John Henry Newman, and other members of the Oxford

movement. Members of this group hoped to inspire greater devotion to the Church

of England by stressing the church's catholic origins. In 1828 Pusey was ordained

in the Church of England, appointed Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford, and

made canon of Christ Church.

The Oxford movement began to publish Tracts for the Times in 1833, and Pusey

contributed tracts on fasting and on baptism. When Newman left the Oxford

movement in 1841, Pusey assumed leadership. In 1843 he delivered a sermon

defending certain catholic beliefs, and he was suspended from preaching at the

university for two years. In 1845 he aided in the formation of the first Anglican

sisterhood. The following year his sermon “The Entire Absolution of the Penitent”

established the Anglican practice of private confession. A later sermon, “The Rule

of Faith,” diminished the secessions to Roman Catholicism that his suspension had

inspired. He died at Ascot Priory on September 16, 1882. In addition to a number

of brief theological treatises, Pusey published the scholarly The Minor Prophets,

with Commentary (1860) and the three-part Eirecon (1865-1870), an attempt to

find a meeting ground for uniting the Roman Catholic church and the Church of

England.



Albrecht Ritschl

Albrecht Ritschl (1822-1889), German Protestant theologian, who

founded one of the most influential schools of modern theology. Born in

Berlin, Ritschl studied philosophy and theology at the universities of

Bonn, Halle, Heidelberg, and Tübingen. He was professor of theology at

Bonn (1846-1864) and at the University of Göttingen from 1864 until

his death. His major work was The Christian Doctrine of Justification

and Reconciliation (3 volumes, 1870-1874; trans. 1872-1900). Ritschl's

theology was characterized by an emphasis on history and a rejection of

metaphysics. Influenced by the 18th-century German philosopher

Immanuel Kant, he associated religious faith and doctrines with

judgments of value rather than of fact. The crucial Christian doctrines

for Ritschl were those of redemption, or the atonement, and the

Kingdom of God, which he understood in ethical terms as the fellowship

of human beings realized through mutual love. Ritschl accordingly

stressed the ethical Christian life, which can be attained only within the

community of faith founded by Christ.



Friedrich Schleiermacher

Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834), German preacher and philosopher, who is often

called the leading 19th-century theologian of the Protestant church.

Friederich Ernst Daniel Schleiermacher was born on November 21, 1768, in Breslau,

Lower Silesia (now Wrocław, Poland). Despite his being the son of a Reformed

clergyman, Schleiermacher studied under the Moravian Brethren (Herrnhuters), gaining

from them an appreciation for the Latin and Greek classics and a strong sense of religious

life. He found the teaching of the Herrnhuters too restrictive, however, because the

faculty refused to lecture on current intellectual trends. In 1787 he entered the University

of Halle, where he studied the philosophies of Aristotle and Immanuel Kant. After his

ordination in 1794 he accepted a position as a Reformed preacher in Berlin. There he

mingled with German romantic philosophers, became a friend of Friedrich von Schlegel,

and began a translation of the works of Plato.

In On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers (1799; trans. 1893), Schleiermacher

addressed the educated classes. He defined religion as “feeling and intuition of the

universe” and “a sense of the Infinite in the finite.” Independent of dogma, religion is a

deep-rooted, universal experience of humanity and necessary to all cultures. Knowledge

of the soul and knowledge of God are inseparable—a concept that had been presented

more than 1000 years earlier by St. Augustine.

Schleiermacher's greatest work, The Christian Faith (1821-22; trans. 1948), was a

crystallization of his theology. It defined religion as the feeling of absolute dependence—

dependence of oneself as a finite entity upon the Infinite, or God. Sin results from the

inability to distinguish between that on which an individual is totally dependent, namely,

God, and that on which dependence is only relative—the temporal world.

Schleiermacher died in Berlin on February 12, 1834. His other writings include The

Soliloquies (1800; trans. 1926), Christmas Eve (1806; trans. 1890), and Brief Outline of

the Study of Theology (1811; trans. 1850).



Albert Schweitzer

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), German-born theologian, philosopher,

musicologist, medical missionary, and Nobel laureate.

The son of a Lutheran pastor, Schweitzer was born in Kaysersberg, Upper Alsace,

Germany (now Haut-Rhin Department, France). Schweitzer was educated at the

universities of Strasbourg, Paris, and Berlin and received three advanced degrees

from Strasbourg—a doctorate in philosophy (1899), a licentiate (a higher degree

than a doctorate) in theology (1900), and a doctorate in medicine (1913). He was

ordained as the curate of the Lutheran Church of Saint Nicholas in Strasbourg in

1900; a year later he became principal of the theological seminary there. In music

he gained fame as an organist and authority on organ construction. His best-known

musicological work, Johann Sebastian Bach, was published in French in 1905 and

rewritten in German in 1908; an English translation appeared in 1911. In this work

Schweitzer emphasized the religious nature of Bach’s music and advocated the

simple, undistorted style of performing Bach’s works that was accepted afterward

as the standard type of presentation.

Schweitzer established his reputation as a theologian with The Quest of the

Historical Jesus (1906; trans. 1910), in which he interpreted the life of Jesus in the

light of Jesus’ beliefs about death and afterlife. In other theological studies such as

The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle (1930; trans. 1931), Schweitzer examined the

New Testament from the viewpoint of its reputed authors—for example,

Schweitzer examined Paul’s letters to learn about his personal experience of the

divine.



Socinus

Socinus, originally Sozzini or Sozini, name of an Italian family that in the 16th century

produced two theologians. They were noted as the founders of Socinianism, a system of

Protestant religious doctrines.

(1525-62), original name LELIO SOZINI, born in Siena and educated as a jurist. He studied

Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic and engaged in extensive biblical research, which led him to

a sympathetic interest in the work of the Protestant reformers. He visited Switzerland,

France, England, Holland, Germany, and Poland, meeting such Protestant leaders as the

German scholar Melanchthon and the French theologian John Calvin. He spent the last

years of his life in Zürich. Socinus wrote theological dissertations on the sacraments and

on the resurrection of the body and maintained an extensive correspondence with

Protestant theologians. Although he questioned the doctrine of the Trinity, he did not

profess anti-Trinitarian views; he insisted, however, on the right to free theological

inquiry.

(1539-1604), original name FAUSTO SOZINI, nephew of Laelius, born in Siena and

educated privately. In 1559 he was denounced by the Inquisition for holding heretical

opinions and took refuge for three years outside Italy, visiting Zürich, Lyon, and Geneva.

He returned to Italy about 1563 and for 12 years lived in Florence, conforming during

that period with the regulations of the Roman Catholic church. In 1575 he settled at Basel

and engaged in theological speculation and debates with Protestant leaders. Under the

influence of his uncle's writings, he developed a radical doctrinal system, named

Socinianism after both theologians. This system substituted the Unitarian concept of

Jesus Christ as a man and as a deputy of God for the doctrine of Christ as divine and as a

manifestation of a Trinitarian Godhead. Socinianism denied also the dogmas of the

inborn total depravity of humankind and the atonement of Christ for the sins of people,

the potency of the sacraments, and the possibility of damnation for eternity.



David Friedrich Strauss

David Friedrich Strauss (1808-1874), German theologian and philosopher,

whose controversial skeptical interpretation of the Gospel was an important

influence on modern biblical criticism.

Born in Ludwigsburg, in Württemberg, Strauss was educated at the

evangelical seminary of Blaubeuren and at the University of Tübingen, where

he obtained a post as lecturer. Under the influence of the German

philosophers Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Schleiermacher,

Strauss developed a skeptical attitude toward the Scriptures as divine

revelation. His theory of the origin of Christianity was formulated in his

famous treatise, The Life of Jesus (1835; trans. 1846), in which he sought to

explain the miracles of the Gospel narratives as a series of myths. Although

the work aroused fierce opposition, it exerted a pervasive influence on 19th-

century biblical criticism.

As a result of his views, Strauss was deprived of his post at Tübingen and

given a minor position in the lyceum (high school) of Ludwigsburg. His later

theological writings, including The Old Faith and the New (1872; trans.

1873), exhibit an even more extreme skepticism than The Life of Jesus.

Strauss also wrote several volumes of literary criticism and biography.



Paul Tillich

Paul Tillich (1886-1965), German American philosopher and theologian.

Paul Johannes Tillich was born in Starzeddel, Brandenburg, Germany, on August

20, 1886. He was the son of a Lutheran pastor. Tillich studied theology at the

universities of Berlin, Tübingen, and Halle. In 1912 he was ordained a minister in

the Evangelical Lutheran Church and served as chaplain in the German army

during World War I. From 1919 to 1933 he taught at several universities, including

the university at Frankfurt am Main, from which he was dismissed because of his

opposition to the Hitler regime. In 1933 Tillich accepted an appointment to teach at

Union Theological Seminary in New York City. In 1955 he went to the Divinity

School of Harvard University and in 1962, to the Divinity School of the University

of Chicago. He became an American citizen in 1940.

In his many books, Tillich developed ideas concerning the religious basis of life,

including The Religious Situation (1932), The Interpretation of History (1936), The

Protestant Era (1948), and Dynamics of Faith (1957). In The Courage to Be

(1952), he discussed the alienation of the individual in society and argued that

existence is rooted in God as the ground of all being. Tillich believed that

Protestant theology may incorporate the critical posture and scientific concepts of

contemporary thought without endangering its Christian faith. Thus, he was quick

to utilize the insights of depth psychology and existential philosophy in his

attempts to renew the relevance of theology for modern secular society. His

Systematic Theology (3 volumes, 1951-63) was the major instrument of this

reformulation. Tillich died in Chicago on October 22, 1965.



Ernst Troeltsch

Ernst Troeltsch (1865-1923), German Protestant theologian and scholar,

whose historical and sociological approach to the philosophy of religion

became a major influence in 20th-century theology. Born near

Augsburg, Bavaria, Troeltsch studied theology at the universities of

Erlangen, Göttingen, and Berlin. He taught theology at Göttingen and

the universities of Bonn and Heidelberg before becoming professor of

the history of philosophy and civilization at the University of Berlin in

1915. Influenced by the historical emphasis of the 19th-century German

theologian Albrecht Ritschl, Troeltsch denied that theology can attain an

absolute dogmatic truth that transcends historical and cultural

circumstances. In his work he tried to reconcile this historical relativism

with his belief in permanent and universal ethical values. Troeltsch was

actively concerned with political and social issues, and after World War

I he criticized the German tendency to idolize the state. His most

important work is The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches (1912;

trans. 1931), a historical and cultural analysis of Christian social ethics.



Willem Adolf Visser ’t Hooft

Willem Adolf Visser ’t Hooft (1900-1985), Dutch Protestant leader,

educator, and ecumenist. Born in Haarlem, he studied at the Leiden

University, earning a doctorate in theology in 1928. Eight years later he

was ordained a minister in the Reformed church. Visser 't Hooft was

secretary of the World Committee of Young Men's Christian

Associations (1924-1931) and then general secretary of the World

Student Christian Federation (1931-1938). In 1938 he was invited to

become general secretary of the newly formed World Council of

Churches, a position he held until 1966. Visser 't Hooft also founded and

edited the council's quarterly publication, the Ecumenical Review. His

many books on ecumenism include Peace Among Christians (1967) and

Has the Ecumenical Movement a Future? (1974).



John Wesley John Wesley (1703-91), English theologian, evangelist, and founder of Methodism.

Wesley was born in the rectory at Epworth, Lincolnshire, on June 17, 1703, the 15th child of the

British clergyman Samuel Wesley. He was educated at Charterhouse School and Christ Church,

University of Oxford. Ordained deacon in 1725 and admitted to the priesthood of the Church of

England in 1728, John Wesley acted for a time as curate to his father. In 1729 he went into

residence at Oxford as a fellow of Lincoln College. There he joined the Holy Club, a group of

students that included his brother Charles Wesley and, later, George Whitefield, who was to

become the founder of Calvinistic Methodism. The club members adhered strictly and

methodically to religious precepts and practices, among them visiting prisons and comforting the

sick, and were thus derisively called “methodists” by their schoolmates.

In 1735 Wesley went to Georgia as an Anglican missionary. On the ship to Savannah he met

some German Moravians, whose simple evangelical piety greatly impressed him. He continued

to associate with them while in Georgia and translated some of their hymns into English. Except

for this association, Wesley's American experience was a failure.

On his return to England in 1738, he again sought out the Moravians; while attending one of

their meetings in Aldersgate St., London, on May 24, 1738, he experienced a religious

awakening that profoundly convinced him that salvation was possible for every person through

faith in Jesus Christ alone.

In March 1739, George Whitefield, who had met with great success as an evangelist in Bristol,

urged Wesley to join him in his endeavors. Despite his initial opposition to preaching outside the

church, Wesley preached an open-air sermon on April 2, and the enthusiastic reaction of his

audience convinced him that open-air preaching was the most effective way to reach the masses.

Few pulpits would be open to him in any case, for the Anglican church frowned on revivalism.

Wesley attracted immense crowds virtually from the outset of his evangelical career. His success

also was due, in part, to the fact that contemporary England was ready for a revivalist movement;

the Anglican church was seemingly unable to offer the kind of personal faith that people craved.

Thus Wesley's emphasis on inner religion and his assurance that each person was accepted as a

child of God had a tremendous popular appeal. On May 1, 1739, Wesley and a group of his

followers, meeting in a shop on West St., London, formed the first Methodist society. Two

similar organizations were established in Bristol the same month. Late in 1739 the London

society began to meet in a building called the Foundry, which served as the headquarters of

Methodism for many years. With the growth of the Methodist movement, the need for tighter

organization became acute. In 1742 the societies were divided into classes, with a leader for each

class. These class meetings contributed greatly to the success of the movement, but equally

important were their leaders, many of whom Wesley designated lay preachers. Wesley called the

first conference of Methodist leaders in 1744, and conferences were held annually thereafter. In

1751, at the age of 48, Wesley married Mary Vazeille, a widow with four children. The marriage

was not successful, and she finally left him; Wesley had no children of his own. An indefatigable

preacher and organizer, Wesley traveled about 8000 km (5000 mi) a year, delivering as many as

four or five sermons a day and founding new societies.



Huldreich Zwingli

Huldreich Zwingli or Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531), Swiss theologian, leader of the

Reformation in Switzerland.

Zwingli was born on January 1, 1484, in Wildhaus, Sankt Gallen. He was educated

at the universities of Vienna and Basel.

During his formative years, Zwingli was deeply influenced by the spirit of liberal

humanism. In 1506 he was ordained and assigned to the town of Glarus as a parish

priest. Glarus then was well known as a center for recruiting mercenary soldiers for

Europe's armies. On two occasions Zwingli served as chaplain with Glarus troops

during bloody fighting on foreign soil, and these experiences led him to denounce

the mercenary system publicly. In retaliation certain town officials conspired to

make his position at Glarus untenable. In 1516 he accepted an appointment at

Einsiedeln, southeast of Zürich.

During his ministry at Einsiedeln, Zwingli began to entertain doubts about certain

church practices. In 1516 he read a Latin translation of the Greek New Testament

published by the Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus, which he later transcribed

into notebooks and memorized verbatim. On the basis of these and other scriptural

readings, Zwingli charged in sermons that church teachings and practice had

diverged widely from the simple Christianity of the Holy Writ. Among the

practices cited by Zwingli as unscriptural were the adoration of saints and relics,

promises of miraculous cures, and church abuses of the indulgence system. His

forthright affirmations of scriptural authority won him wide popular repute, and on

January 1, 1519, he was appointed priest at the Gross Münster (German, “Great

Cathedral”) in Zürich.



Saint Robert Bellarmine

Saint Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), Italian Roman Catholic churchman and theologian,

one of the leaders of the Counter Reformation.

Roberto Francesco Romolo Bellarmino was born in Montepulciano, Tuscany (Toscana),

October 4, 1542. The son of a local magistrate and a nephew of Pope Marcellus II, he

entered the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and was ordained a priest in 1570. Appointed

professor of theology at the University of Leuven (now in Belgium), he gained a

reputation as a brilliant controversialist. After 1576 he lectured in Rome on the conflicts

arising from the Reformation. His chief work was the multivolume Disputations on the

Controversies of the Christian Faith (1568-93). His exposition of the Roman Catholic

position was so clear and logical that his approach became the standard in textbooks for

several centuries. He also took a prominent part in the revision of the Vulgate published

in 1592.

Appointed a cardinal in 1599, Bellarmine served as archbishop of Capua from 1602 to

1605. He then returned to Rome, where he continued his scholarly work. An admirer of

Galileo, he defended Galileo's right to publish his writings on the solar system. Having

given all his money for the relief of the poor, Bellarmine died a pauper on September 17,

1621.

All of Bellarmine's works, written in Latin, were compiled between 1870 and 1874 and

were printed in 12 volumes. Many of them, especially his devotional and catechetical

works, had been translated into English as early as 1602. He was canonized in 1930 and

declared a Doctor of the Church the following year. Bellarmine's feast day is September

17.



Cajetan

Cajetan (circa 1469-1534), Italian theologian, prelate, and diplomat.

Originally named Giacomo de Vio, he was born in Gaeta. At the age of 16 he

entered the Dominican order, and after study at the universities of Naples and

Bologna, he taught theology at the University of Padua. He was appointed

vicar-general of the Dominicans in 1507. Made a cardinal in 1517, he became

bishop of Gaeta in 1519. He defended papal supremacy and ecclesiastical

reform at the Fifth Lateran Council and disputed the stand of Martin Luther at

Augsburg in 1518. Cajetan (from the Latin form of the name of his

birthplace) was a formidable diplomat and often served as papal legate. He

was a biblical scholar and an influential commentator on the theology of St.

Thomas Aquinas, and a major role in the revival of Thomism in the 16th

century is attributed to him. He wrote widely on many aspects of theology;

his commentaries on some portions of the Bible anticipated modern criticism,

raising contemporary opposition.



Saint Peter Canisius

Saint Peter Canisius (1521-1597), German Jesuit theologian. His original

name was Pieter de Hondt. Born in Nijmegen (now in the Netherlands), he

was the first German to join (1543) the Jesuit order. He established Jesuit

centers in many parts of Germany and taught at German universities,

including those at Cologne and Vienna. Canisius was a leader of the Counter

Reformation, the reform movement that arose in the Roman Catholic church

in answer to the Protestant Reformation. He participated actively in the

Council of Trent and the Diet of Augsburg (1556). His triple catechism,

written for different age levels, is his most important work. He was canonized

in 1925 and in the same year was named Doctor of the Church (see Doctors

of the Church). Canisius's feast day is December 21. Canisius College in

Buffalo, New York, a Jesuit institution founded in 1870, is named for him.



John Colet

John Colet (1467?-1519), English theologian, born in London, and educated

at the University of Oxford. After traveling in France and Italy, where he was

influenced by the French scholar Guillaume Budé and by the Dutch scholar

and humanist Desiderius Erasmus, he returned to England in 1496 and

became a priest. Colet's lectures on the Epistles of St. Paul attracted great

attention because of their originality. In 1499 Erasmus visited Oxford and

was greatly influenced by Colet's opinions on the proper methods of

Scripture interpretation and the value of scholastic philosophy. In 1509 Colet

became dean of Saint Paul's Cathedral, London, and continued to deliver

controversial lectures. With the large fortune he inherited when his father

died, he founded Saint Paul's School. In 1510 Colet appointed the Mercers'

Company of London managers of his school, thus establishing the first lay

management of an educational institution.



Pierre d’Ailly

Pierre d’Ailly (1350-1420), French philosopher and theologian, whose

principal aim was to settle the Great Western Schism (1378-1417) that

divided the Christian church (see Schism, Great). A native of Compiègne, he

studied at the University of Paris, where he obtained a doctorate in theology

in 1381. He quickly rose to prominence and by 1389 had become chancellor

of the university. He became a bishop in 1395 and was made a cardinal in

1412.

D'Ailly participated in two assemblies that attempted to end the schism: the

Council of Pisa (1409) and the Council of Constance (1414-18). He

advocated a moderate form of the conciliar theory, holding that the supreme

authority of the church lies with a general council (see Council) rather than

with the pope. Many of his opinions were later adapted and developed by

Martin Luther and the other religious reformers. D'Ailly also wrote on

astrology, geography, and philosophy. His best-known work, Imago Mundi

(Image of the World), in which he suggested that the Indies could be reached

from the West, was known to Christopher Columbus.

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