WEEKS, FEAST OF. See Pentecost, I.

WEGSCHEIDER, veg'shai-der, JULIUS AUGUST LUDWIG: German rationalistic theologian; b. at Küblingen (20 m. e. of Brunswick) Sept. 17, 1771; d. at Halle Jan. 27, 1849. He received his preliminary education in the Helmstedt Padagogium and at the Carolinum in Brunswick; was tutor in the family of a Hamburg merchant (1795-1805), and during thin period studied Kant, to whom were devoted his first writings, Ethices Stoicorum reeentiorum fundaments cum ethicis principiis, quce critics rationis practicse secundum Kantium exhibet, comparata (Hamburg, 1797;) and Versuch, die Hauptsktze der philosophischen Religionslehre in Predigten darzttstellen (1797). Wegscheider was principally attracted by Kant's rational analysis of religion and morals, and wrote on this subject Ueber die von der neuesten Philosophie geforderte Trennung der Moral von der Religion, (1804). In 1805 Wegscheiderbecame privat-docent at the University of Göttingen; in 1806 professor of theology and philosophy in Rinteln, and in 1810, after the suppression of this university, professor of theology in Halle. Here he was influential and popular as a teacher almost until his death.

Of Wegscheider's works on New-Testament subjects, the Versuch einer vollstandigen Einleitung in das Evangelium des Johannes (1806) defends the authenticity of the Fourth Gospel; as does his Der 1. Brief des Apostel Paulus an den Timotheus (1810) that of Timothy. His principal work, however, is llstitutiones theologise Christianse dogmaticsE, suldita dogmatism singulorum historic et censura (1815), the standard dogmatic work of rationalism. The volume is not distinguished by originality of thought, and is based on the Lineaments institutionum fidei Christiance of Wegscheider's teacher Henke, and upon Amnion's Summa theologise Christiance. Its value consists in its clear presentation of rationalistic dogmatics and in the consequent yet moderate assertion of >'ationalistic premises. Wegscheider judges the traditional material of Christian dagma-

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ties by the standard of reason, rejecting everything as untrue that does not stand this test. He held that there were several types of doctrine contained in the Bible, suited to different periods, and that one of these, of more simple and sane character, is good for all time. To him the most important part of dogmatics is that relating to the concept of God. No single proof of God's existence is sufficient to enforce belief; but taken together they do away with all doubt, so that nothing more absurd than atheism can be conceived. A supernatural revelation was impossible, there could only be a mediate one. Jesus is the supreme messenger of God, founder of his kingdom, and a sublime example for mankind. But his resurrection is to be taken simply as a resuscitation from a trance (though this idea is cautiously insinuated); the Biblical authors wrote" not without inspiration," but they often accommodated themselves to the prejudices of their time and even shared them. The conceptions to be rejected by the " more liberal doctrine " of the present are miracles, angels, devils, original sin, and a sensuous eschatology. Wegacheider was uninfluenced by idealism, and rejected the ideas of God advanced by Fichte, Hegel, and Schelling. He was accused of heresy but acquitted. After Tholuck's work began at Halle in 1826, Wegscheider's popularity waned. In his later years he was interested in~the Friends of Light (see Free Congregations In Germany).

(Heinrich Hoffmann.)

Bibliography: W. Steiger, SriEik des Rationalismus in Tl'egscheiders Dogrnatik, Berlin, 1830; W. Lass, Geschichte der Protestantischen Dogmatik, iv. 458 sqq., Berlin, 1867; G. Frank, Geschichte der protestantischen Theologie, iii. 337-338, Leipsic, 1875; K. von Hase, Gesammelte WeTke, viii. 66 sqq., 337 sqq., ib. 1892; W. Schrader, Geschichte, der Friedrichs- Universitat zu Halle, ii. 24, 127 sqq., 165 sqq., Berlin, 1894; .J. F. Burst, Hist. of Rationalism, rev. ed., New York, 1902; ADB, vol. xli. Some of the literature under Rationalism will also furnish information.