VOLF, wolf, PETER RUDOLF: Danish clergyman; b. at Naur (162 m. n.w. of Copenhagen) Aug. 25, 1838. He was graduated from the gymnasium in Odense, 1857, and from the University of Copenhagen, 1864. As a student he was attracted to Semitic philology and was awarded, in 1861, an "Aceessit" for a prize essay in this branch. It was also in his student days that he perceived the necessity of energetic missionary work in the large, partly dechristianized cities. The keynote in his scientific career became Old-Testament research; in his practical work, home missions. In 1859 he traveled in England, and in the year following published a translation from the works of the Scotch FreeChurch theologian Thomas Guthrie (q.v.): Hovedstaden,, dens Synder og Sorger. After teaching some years in the Danish School for Missions, he was chaplain in Ballerup-Maalev, 1867-70; and in Farum-Varlose, 1870-74. But his greatest labors are connected with the Church of St. Stephen in Copenhagen, whose pastor he was, 1874-99. He gained the confidence of the poor and was instrumental in calling forth many congregational activities, up to that time little known in Copenhagen-the parish mission, Princess Thyras Asylum, the Martha Society, and the "Carmel" hall for home missions. He was member of the board for home missions, 1878-99, and for a long time its president.

During these years of practical activity he was not, however, forgetful of theology proper. In 1875 he was made Lie. theol., having presented his thesis on the "Integrity of the Book of Zechariah." He subsequently lectured for some semesters at the Uni- versity of Copenhagen, and was member of the censor committee on examination of candidates for the theological degree. In 1888 he was given by the University of Rostock the degree of Th.D. for the dissertation Die 70. Wochen Daniel&. He wrote a learned commentary on Zechariah, and popular expositions of Isaiah, Hoses, and Joel (1902). He is author also of indre Missions Historic (1870); and of biographies of Johann Heinrich Wichern and Johann Albrecht Bengel (1904). His attitude to civil marriage and marriage of the divorced, both muchdiscussed questions in State churches, as well as his conception of a church are made known in his Xgtesskabsskilamisse og fraskiltes Yielse (1885); T or Kirken onske borgerlig Xgteforeniytg (1902); sad Folkekirken, dens Begreb, OPgave og Forfatning i korte Hovedtreek (1901). Since 1899 he has been provost in Storehedinge.

John O. Evjen.

Bibliography: C. F. Bricks, Dansk bioAraphiak Lexikon, ais. 154-155, 19 vols., Copenhagen, 1887-1905.