KECKERMANN, BARTHOLOMAEUS: German Reformed theologian; b. at Danzig 1571 (1573?); d. there Aug. 25, 1609. He studied at Wittenberg, Leipsic, and Heidelberg, where he became professor of Hebrew. From 1601 till his death he was rector and professor of philosophy at the Reformed Gymnasium of his native city. All his literary works grew out of courses of lectures. His Opera omnia (2 vols., Geneva, 1614) comprise the whole sphere of philosophy, which he treated in the spirit of a strict Aristotelianism, while many other Reformed theologians adopted the method and ideas of Petrus Ramus. His theological works, Rhetorica ecclesiastica (3d. ed., Hanau, 1606), and Systema theologicum (1602, and often; Eng. transl., A Manuduetion to Theology [London, 1620?]) form only an appendix; and his dogmatic system is interesting chiefly on account of its method. Keckermann starts from a subjective point of view, from the enjoyment of God by man. The first book of the Systema treats of God as the highest aim of man. From the highest aim Keckermann proceeds analytically to the means for its attainment, which are knowledge of our misery and deliverance from it. Hence he distinguished two parts of theology, a theologia pathologike (book ii., doctrines of the original state, fall, and sin), and a theologia therapeutike (book iii., election, redemption, justification, and perfection). But he did not follow the consequences of his subjective starting-point beyond the structure of the external frame. Keckermann's attempt to transfer ethics from theology to philosophy is still worthy of note.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
M. Adam, Vitae Germanorum philosophorum,
pp. 232 sqq., Frankfort, 1706; P. Bayle, Dictionary Historical
and Critical, iii. 656, London, 1736; A. Schweizer,
Glaubenslehre der evangelisch-reformierten Kirche, i. 98,
ii. 151 sqq., Zurich, 1844; F. W. J. H. Gass, Geschichte
der protestantischen Dogmatik, i. 408 sqq., Berlin, 1854.
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KEDNEY, JOHN STEINFORT: Protestant Episcopal; b. at Bloomfield, N. J., Feb. 12, 1819. He was educated at Union College (A.B., 1838) and General Theological Seminary (1841). He was ordered deacon in 1841 and priested in 1843. After being a missionary in North Carolina from 1842 to 1845, he was rector of St. John's, Salem, N. J. (1847-52), Bethesda, Saratoga Springs, N. Y. (1852-59), Trinity, Society Hills, S. C. (1859-65), Trinity, Potsdam, N. Y. (1865-70), and Trinity, Camden, S. C. (1870-71). Since 1871 he has been professor of divinity in Seabury Divinity School, Faribault, Minn., although advancing years have compelled him to retire from active work. He has written: Catawba River, and Other Poems (New York, 1846); The Beautiful and the Sublime (1884); Hegel's Æsthetics (Chicago, 1886); Christian Dootrine Harmonized (2 vols., New York, 1888); Mens Christi (1890); and Problems in Ethics (1900).
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