Cassel, Paulus Stephanus (Selig)

CASSEL, PAULUS STEPHANUS (SELIG): German Protestant theologian; b. at Gross-Glogau (55 m. n.w. of Breslau), Silesia, Feb. 27, 1821; d. at Friedenau, a suburb of Berlin, Dec. 23, 1892. He was of Jewish parentage, studied history at Berlin, and from 1850 to 1856 edited a newspaper at Erfurt. On May 28, 1855, he was baptized at Büssleben near Erfurt, and the next year became librarian of the Royal Library at Erfurt. In 1859 he settled at Berlin, where he acted as tutor and devoted himself to literary work. In 1866–67 he was a member of the Prussian Parliament, then he entered the service of the London Jewish Missionary Society and became its minister at the Christuskirche in Berlin. In 1891 he resigned his position and died shortly afterward. Cassel was a most prolific writer, and his article on the history of the Jews from the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus to the year 1847, written while still a Jew for Ersch and Gruber's Allgemeine Encyklopädie, sect. II., vol. xxvii., pp. 1–238, Leipsic, 1850, is still valuable. By public lectures delivered in different cities of Germany, he tried to influence the educated Jews in favor of Christianity, and baptized many. He also combated anti-Semitism. Other works by him include the commentaries on Judges and Ruth in Lange's Commentary; also Weihnachten, Ursprünge, Bräuche und Aberglauben (Berlin, 1862); Altkirchlicher Festkalender nach Ursprüngen und Bräuchen (1869); Vom Wege nach Damaskus (Gotha, 1872); Die Gerechtigkeit aus dem Glauben (1874); Das Buch Esther (Berlin, 1878); and Die Symbolik des Blutes (1882).

(H. L. Strack.)