BONWETSCH, bon"vetch', GOTTLIEB NATHANAEL: German Protestant theologian; b. at Nortla, Russia, Feb. 17, 1848. He was educated at the universities of Dorpat (1866-70), Göttingen (1874-75), and Bonn (1877-78), the time between his residence at these universities being spent in practical pastoral work. He became privat-docent at Dorpat in 1878 and associate professor of church history four years later, while from 1883 to 1891 he was full professor in the same university. Since 1891 he has been professor of church history at Göttingen. In addition to numerous contributions to theological journals and religious encyclopedias, he edited Thomasius's Dogmengeschichte der alten Kirche (Erlangen, 1886) and the Studien zur Geschichte der Theologie und Kirche in collaboration with R. Seeberg (Leipsic, 1897 sqq.); and has written Die Schriften Tertullians untersucht (Bonn, 1878); Die Geschichte des Montanismus (Erlangen, 1881); Unser Reformator Martin Luther (Dorpat, 1883); Kyrill und Methodius, die Lehrer der Slaven (Erlangen, 1885); Methodius von Olympus, i, Schriften (Leipsic,1891); Studien zu den Kommentaren Hippolytus zum Buche Daniel und Hohenliede (1897); Hippolytus Werke (Berlin, 1897; in collaboration with H. Achelis); and Die Apokalypse Abrahams, das Testament der vierziq Märtyrer (1898). He also edited, in collaboration with P. Tschackert, the thirteenth and fourteenth editions of J. H. Kurtz's Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte (2 vols., Leipsic, 1899, 1906).

BOOS, MARTIN: Roman Catholic priest; b. at Huttenried near Schongau, Bavaria, Dec. 25, 1762; d. at Sayn, near Coblenz, Aug. 29, 1825. He studied at Dillingen under Sailer, Zimmer, and Weber. He followed the extreme practises of asceticism as a penance for sin, all to no avail, as he believed, and then developed a doctrine of salvation by faith which came very near to pure Lutheranism. This he preached with great effect. He was driven from Bavaria by the opposition of the ecclesiastical authorities and other priests and lived in Austria from 1799 to 1816, when he was compelled to leave that country. His last years were spent at Düsseldorf and Sayn.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: His autobiography was edited by J. Gossner, Leipsic, 1831, Eng. transl., London, 1836, who also issued two volumes of his sermons Berlin, 1830. Consult also F. W. Bodemann, Gesammelte Briefe von, an und über Martin Boos, Frankfort, 1854.