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Spain until the Jews were expelled thence by Ferdinand and Isabella (1492), when he went to Naples. In both countries he rendered important services to the government as financier. From 1496 till 1503 he lived at Monopoli in Apulia, southern Italy, occupied with literary work, and later settled in Venice. He wrote commentaries on the Pentateuch (Venice, 1579) and on the earlier and the later Prophets (Pesaro, 1520 [?]) which show little originality, and are valuable chiefly for the extracts he makes from his predecessors. In his Messianic treatises (Yeshtt`ot meshihho, " The Salvation of his Anointed," Carlsruhe, 1828; Ma'yene ha-yeshu'ah, " Sources of Salvation," Ferrara, 1551; Mashmia` Yeshu'ah, " Proclaiming Salvation," Salonica, 1526) he criticizes Christian interpretations of prophecy, but with no great insight. His religio-philosophical writings are less important. In the interest of Jewish orthodoxy he defends the creation of the world from nothing (in Mif'alot Elohim, " Works of God," Venice, 1592) advocates the thirteen articles of faith of Ma nides (in Rosh amanah, " The Pinnacle of Faith," Constantinople, 1.505). His eschatological computations made the year of salvation due in 1503. (G. DALMAN.)
Abrabanel held a place of some importance in the history of Christian exegesis due to the facts that he appreciated and quoted freely the earlier Christian exegetes and that many of his own writings were in turn condensed and translated by Christian scholars of the next two centuries (Alting, Buddicus, the younger Buxtorf, Carpzov, and others). J. F. M.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. H. Majus, Vita Don Isaac Abrabanielia, Giessen(?), 1707(?); C. F. Bischoff. Dis8ertatio ... do . vita atqw .criptis Isaaci Abrabanielie, Altdorf,
1708; M. Schwab, Abravanel et son epoque, Paris, 1865; JQR, i. (1888) 37-52; H. Graetz, Geschichte der Juden, viii. 324-334, ix. 5-7, ii. 208, 213, Eng. transl., London, 1891- 98; Winter and Wtinsche, Geechichde der judischen Lit- teratur, ii. 333, 339, 443, 451, 791-792, Berlin, 1894; D. Cassel, Jiidiache Geach%chte and Litterdtur, Leipsic, 1879, pp. 321 sqq., 427, 425 sqq.ABRAHAM, 6'bra-ham or d'brG-hdm. Sources of his Biography Analyzed (§ 1). Historicity of Abraham Defended (§ 2).
Historicity of the Patriarchs Defended (§ 3). Impossibility of Fully Reconstructing the Sources (§ 4).This article will be limited to an attempt to establish the credibility of the tradition which represents Abraham as the first ancestor of the Israelites, against the arguments of those who doubt or deny the existence of the patriarch as an historical personage.
Knowledge of Abraham's history must be derived exclusively from Gen. xi. 26-xxvi. 10. Other accounts-Josephus, Ant., I. vi. 5-xvii; Philo, De Abrahamo, De migratione Abrahami, De eon gressu queerendle eruditionis causa, De profugis, Quis rerum divinarum hteres sit; the haggadie narratives (collected by B. Beer, Leben r. Sources Abrahama nach Aujjaasung der pdi- of His schen Sage, Leipsic, 1859); the notices Biography in Eusebius, Prleparatio evangelica, ix. Analyzed. 16-20-are all excluded by their late origin. Many maintain that the Bib lical narrative is also discredited for the same reason. It is true that the beginnings of the patriarchal.|
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history cannot be dated later than about 1900 B.C., and even if Genesis was written by Moses (c. 1300 B.C.) its account is from 500 to 600 years later than the life of Abraham. If, as so many believe, the present Genesis originated between 500 and 400 B.C., a period of from 1,400 to 1,500 years intervenes. Whenever it may have been written, however, the Book of Genesis presents the conception of the life of Abraham current in the pious circles of Israel at the time of composition; and this conception may be shown to have been handed down from earlier periods. The narrative is a piecing together of the sources (E, J, and P) without essential additions by R. For the present purpose it matters little when P originated, since this portion of the narrative is a mere sketch, barren of details. It is generally assumed that E and J originated between the time of Jehoshaphat and Uzziah (850-750 B.C.); others think it more probable that E belongs to the time of the Judges (c. 1100 B.C.), J to that of David (B.C.). If the latter assumption be correct, a combination of E and J (which are supplementary rather than contradictory) gives what passed for the history of Abraham at the end of the period of the Judges and at the beginning of the monarchy. The Book of Deuteronomy contains passages which imply facts and conceptions written down in EJ (cf. vi. 3, 10, 18; vii. 7, 8, 12, 13; viii. 1, 18; ix. 5, 27; xiii. 18; xix. 8; xxvi. 3, 7, 15). If, then, Deuteronomy be Mosaic, the history of Abraham is traced back to the Mosaic time. It can not be the product of the inventive fancy of Israel during the sojourn in Egypt; for during the first half of the sojourn the patriarchal period was too near to admit of fancies, and during the oppression there was no thought of migrating to Canaan and settling there. It is thus quite improbable that fancy transformed wishes into promises once given to the fathers.
Most of the critics ascribe Deuteronomy to the last century of the monarchy of Judah. The narrative of EJ is, then, the oldest s. Historic- written attestation of Abraham; andity o: the question arises, how far can this Abraham narrative be accepted as historical?
Defended. If it is not historical the origin of its conception of Abraham must be ex plained. It has been suggested that Abraham was a deity adored in antiquity and afterward humanized (Dozy, Noldeke, E. Meyer). But in all Semitic literature no god named Abraham is found; and no indication exists that Abraham was ever conceived of in Israel as a deity or higher being. More plausible is the view that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were ethnographic collective names (Wellhausen, Prolegomena, Berlin, 1895, pp. 322 sqq.). Abraham in particular was a com bination of Israelitic, Edomitic, Moabitic, and Ammonitic nations. These collective names were afterward conceived of as names of individuals of remote antiquity, to whom fancy involuntarily ascribed a history reflecting the views and wishes of the later period. But there is little to prove that the names of the patriarchs were originally collective names; and against the supposition is the fact that the Israelites did not call themselvesafter the name of Abraham but after that of Isaac, Jacob, Israel. Moreover, the picture of Abraham presented by EJ is not what one would expect Israel's fancy of the time of the Prophets to paint as the portrait pf a patriarch par excellence. Wellhausen says of the patriarchs as they appear in EJ: " They are not courageous and manly, but good house-masters, a little under the influence of their more judicious wives." It is hardly conceivable, that the Israel of the monarchy should have imagined as the type of an Israelite indeed a man without courage, devoid of manliness, and ruled by his wife.' Abraham's faith and obedience are emphasized and he is depicted as interceding with Yahweh; but EJ also makes him marry his halfsister, which was incest according to the Israelitic conception; he took Lot with him against Yahweh's command; though Yahweh had promised him Canaan as his abode, he went thence to Egypt; more than once he endangered the honor of his wife; his faith is occasionally, though only momentarily, not free from doubt (Gen. xv. 8, xvii. 17, 18). If, then, the origin of Abraham as a fictitious personage can not be explained and traced, nothing remains but to conclude that his history rests upon traditiotl. Like all tradition, that of Abraham may contain inaccuracies, amplifications, or gaps; but the less it answers the expectation of an ideal form or can be proved to be a product of later times developed from the past, the greater is its claim to credibility.
Another point raised against the historicity of the Biblical narratives of the patriarchs is that in the
time of Moses, and later, Yahweh was 3. Historic- a thunder-god dwelling on Sinai and ity of the was worshiped in a fetishistic manner patriarchs by the Israelitic tribes, which at the
Defended. same time were devoted to totemism.But this objection reste upon a rash inference, from single phenomena of the religious life at the time of Moses and the subsequent period, that the religious conceptions and usages of the Israelites were identical with those of the Arabs who lived two thousand years later in the time before Mohammed's appearance. The Israelites were not conscious of any special relationship with the Arabs, and the religion of the latter before Mohammed can not be proved to be a petrifaction of former millenniums.
The effort to prove the patriarchs unhistorical from the narrative of the sending of the spies (Num. xiii.-xiv.)-because it appears questionable in that narrative whether it was worth while or possible for Israel to take Canaan, whereas on the basis of the history of the patriarchs both were certainfalls to the ground when it is remembered that the authors who wrote the story of the spies were fully convinced that Yahweh had promised Canaan to the fathers, and that they wrote with the supposition that no intelligent reader would see in their narrative a contradiction of this conviction. The most plausible objection to the historicity of the narratives of the patriarchs is the length of time between the events recorded and the origin of the documentary sources extant in Genesis. But that tradition may preserve a faithful record of former events
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ABRAHAM, APOCALYPSE OF. See PsEUD EPIVBAPHA, OLD TESTAMENT, II., 21.
ABRAHAM A SANCTA CLARA: Monastic name by which a famous German preacher, Ulrich Megerle, is usually known; b. at Kreenheinstetten (20 m. n. of Constance), Baden, July 2, 1644; d. in Vienna Dec. 1, 1709. He was the son of an innkeeper, and received his education from the Jesuits at Ingolstadt and from the Benedictines at Salzburg. In 1662 he entered the order of the barefooted Augustinians, and rose to positions of authority, becoming prior of his house, provincial, and definitor. After 1668 or 1669, with the exception of seven years (1682-89) spent at Graz, he was attached to the Augustinian Church in Vienna. He was primarily a preacher, and his first published works were reprints of sermons. His definite literary activity dates from the plague of 1679, which called forth three small books; but these, as well as similar occasional writings-such as Auf, auf, ihr Christen (1683), inspired by the danger of the Turkish invasion and imitated by Schiller in the Capuchin's address in Wallenateins Lager, viii.; Gawk Gack (1685), a book for pilgrims; Heilsames Gemisch-Gemasch (1704)-are of comparatively slight importance. His principal work, Judas, der EmxS'chelm (4 parts, 1686-95), is an imaginary biography of the betrayer of Christ, written from the standpoint of a satirical preacher. About the same time he wrote a compendium of moral theology, Grammatica religiosa (1691) in which the more dignified Latin precludes the characteristic pungent flavor of his vernacular works.
Abraham represents the Catholicism of his age not in its noblest, but in its most usual form. He is fanatical, eager to make converts, intolerant; constant in praise of the Jesuits, full of the bitterest reproaches %gainst Protestants and Jews. He has the most childish notions of science; but he makes very skilful use of his scanty equipment of learning. He has a perfect command of every rhetorical artifice, and knows how to play upon the feelings of his hearers, to appeal to their weaknesses, and to call up vivid pictures before their minds, not disdaining to raise a laugh. Satire is his strongest weapon; and he is a direct inheritor of the old German satiric tradition. He exercises the functions of a critic with the fearlessness of a mendicant friar; neither his audience, nor the court, nor his brethren of the clergy are spared. The burlesque manner which he uses in treating the most serious subjects was popular in the fifteenth century, and may have suited that age; but it was out of place in the second half of the seventeenth. The force of the contrast becomes apparent when it is =em. bered that Abraham was appointed court preacher in 1677, sixteen years after the same title had been conferred on a Bossuet. It is only fair, however, to recall what the general level of education was in Roman Catholic Germany at the time, and to see in Abraham rather a popular entertainer than a preacher.
A complete edition of his works in twenty-one volumes was published at Passau and Lindau
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BIBLIOGRAPHY: T. G. von Haraian, Abraham a Sancta Clara, Vienna, 1867; W. Scherer, Vortr4ge and Aufsatze zur Geschiehte des peistlirhen Lebena in Deutschland and Oesterreich, Berlin, 1874; H. Mareta, Ueber Judas den Brzschelm, Vienna, 1875; A. Silberstein, Denksdulen zm Gebiete der Cultur and Literatur. Abraham a Sancta Clara, ib. 1879; E. Schnell, Pater Abraham a Sancfa Clara, Munich, 1895; C. Blanckenburg, Studien aber du Sprache Abrahams a Sancta Clara, Halle, 1897.
ABRAHAM ECCHELLENSSIS, ek"el-en'sis: A learned Maronite; b. at Eckel, Syria, in the latter part of the sixteenth century; d. at biome in 1664. He was educated in the college of the Maronites at Rome and was promoted to doctor of philosophy and theology. For a time he was professor of Arabic and Syriac at Pisa, and afterward at Rome, where he was called by Urban III. He was one of the first to promote Syriac studies in Europe, and his Syriac grammar (Rome, 1628) was long used. In 1640 he was called to Paris by Le Jay to assist in the Paris Polyglot. The Arabic and Syriac texts for this work had been entrusted to Gabriel Sionita, a Maronite professor at Paris, who per formed his work in an unsatisfactory manner. Abraham agreed to undertake the books of Ruth, Esther, Tobit, Judith, Baruch, and Maccabees, on the ground that he possessed better codices than Gabriel. The latter, however, took offense; where upon Abraham resigned the work and returned to Rome (1642), having edited only the books of Ruth and III Maccabees. He was attacked in four letters (Paris, 1646) by Val6rien de Flavigny, who wrote on the side of his friend Gabriel, and a sharp controversy ensued (cf. A. G. Masch, Bibliotheca sacra, Halle, 1778, p. 358). During a second resi dence in Paris (1645-53) Abraham taught at the Sorbonne, and published the concluding volume of an edition of the works of St. Alithony (1646; vol. i., containing the letters, had appeared in 1641), as well as Catalogue librorum Chaldteorum auctore Hebed Jesu (1653) and Chronicon orientale (1653), a history of the patriarchate of Alexandria, trans lated from the Arabic of Ibn al-Rahib, with an appendix treating of Arabia and the Arabs before Mohammed. In 1653 he returned to Rome. He published two works in answer to the views of John Selden (q.v.) concerning the early position of the episcopate, viz., De origins nominis papce (Rome, 1660) and Eutychius pt%triarcha Alezandrinus vindicatus (1661). (A. JEREMIAs.)BIBLIOasAPHY: For his life consult J. 8. Ersch and J. G. Gruber, Allpemeine Encyclopadie der Wiesenschaften, i. 30, 360, Leipsie, 1818; Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne, xii. 457-458, Paris, 1814.
ABRAHAMITES: A deistic sect which appeared in the district Of Pardubitz, eastern Bohemia, after 1782. They claimed to hold to the faith of Abraham before his circumcision; rejected most of the Christian doctrines, but professed belief in one God, and accepted, of the Scriptures, only the Decalogue and the Lord's Prayer. The government took measures against them, and they were
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOGsoon suppressed. The name was also applied to the followers of one Abraham. (Ibrahim) of Antioch at the beginning of the ninth century; they were charged with idolatrous and licentious practises, probably on insufficient grounds, and may have been related to the Paulicians.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: LP. A. Winkoppl, Geschichte der b6hmischen Deisten, Leipsic, 1785; J. G. Meusel, Vermischts Nachrichten and Bemerkunpen, Erlangen, 1818; H. Grdgoire, Hietoire des sectea rglipieuees, v. 419 Hqq., 6 vols., Paris, 1828-45.
ABRAHAMS, ISRAEL: English rabbinical scholar and author; b. at London Nov. 26, 1858. He was educated at Jews' College and University College, London (M.A., 1881). After teaching at Jews' College for several years, he was appointed senior tutor there in 1900, but in 1902 accepted a call to Cambridge as reader in Talmudic and Rabbinic Literature. He has been a member of the Committee for Training Jewish Teachers, the Committee of the Anglo-Jewish Association, was the first president of the Union of Jewish Literary Societies, and has been successively honorary secretary and president of the Jewish Historical Society.
Abrahams has been one of the editors of the Jewish Quarterly Review since 1889, and contributes each week to the Jewish Chronicle. His works include Aspects of Judaism (London, 1895; in collaboration with Claude G. Montefiore); Jewish Life in the Middle Ages (1896); Chapters on Jewish Literature (1899); Maimonides (Philadelphia, 1903; in collaboration with D. Yellin); and Festival Thoughts (London, 1905-06).
ABRAHAMSON, LAURENTIUS GUSTAV: Lu-theran; b. at Medaker, Sweden, Mar. 2, 1856. He was educated at the public schools of his native country, and at Augustana College and Theological Seminary (Rock Island, 111.), graduating in 1880. He entered the Lutheran ministry in the same year, and in 1886 was called to the pastorate of the Salem Lutheran Church, Chicago, where he has since remained. He was associate editor of Augustana, the official organ of the Augustana Synod, from 1885 to 1896, and for six years was president of the Illinois Conference of the same synod. He is also a member of the board of directors of Augustana College and Theological Seminary, president of the board of directors of Augustana Hospital, Chicago, a member of the board of missions of the Augustana Synod and the Illinois Conference, and was a delegate to the International Lutheran World's Congress at Lund, Sweden, in 1901. In 1894 he received the Swedish decoration of Knight Royal of the Order of the Polar Star from King Oscar II. In theology he belongs to the historic Evangelical Lutheran Church, and adheres to its original unaltered creeds. He has written Jubel Album (Chicago, 1893).
ABRASA%, .ab'ra-sax (ABRAXAS, ab-raxras). Various Explanations (¢ 1). The Abrasax Gems (§ 2).Abrasax (which is far commoner in the sources than the variant form Abraxas) is a word of mystic meaning in the system of the Gnostic Basilides, being there applied to the " Great
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Neilos, of which the same is true. And the number 365 is made use of not only by Basilides, but by other Gnostics as well.
The Gnostic sect which comes into light in Spain and southern Gaul at the end of the fourth century and at the beginning of the fifth, which Jerome connects with Basilides, and which (according to his Epist., lxxv.) used the name Abrasax, is considered by recent scholars to have nothing to do with Basilides. Moreover, the word is of frequent occurrence in the magic papyri; it is found on the Greek metal tesserm among other mystic words, and still more often on carved gems. The fact that the name occurs on these gems in connection with representations of figures with the head of a cook, a lion, or an ass, and the tail of a serpent was formerly taken in the light of what Irenaeus says (Adversvs htereses, I. xxiv. 5) about
2. The the followers of Basilides: " These Abrasax men, moreover, practise magic, and Gems. use images, incantations, invocations, and every other kind of curious art. Coinine also certain names as if they were those of the angels, they proclaim some of these as belonging to the first, and others to the second heaven; and then they strive to set forth the names, principles, angels, and powers of the 365 imagined heavens." From this an attempt was made to explain first the gems which bore the name and the figures described above, and then all gems with unintelligible inscriptions and figures not in accord with pure Greco-Roman art, as Abrasax-stones, Basilidian or Gnostic gems. Some scholars, especially Bellermann and Matter, took great pains to classify the different representations. But a protest was soon raised against this inter pretation of these stones. De Beausobre, Passe rius, and Caylus decisively declared them to be pagan; and Harnack has gone so far as to say that it is doubtful whether a single Abrasax-gem is Basilidian. Having due regard to the magic papyri, in which many of the unintelligible names of the Abrasax-gems reappear, besides directions for making and using gems with similar figures and formulas for magical purposes, it can scarcely be doubted that these stones are pagan amulets and instruments of magic. (W. DREXLER.)BiHLraanAPHy: C. Salmaaius, De armis climacfericis, p. 572, Leyden, 1848; Wendelin, in a letter in J. Macarii Abraxas . acceditAbramaProteus,aeumultiformispemma·.Basiliaiana portentosa roarietae, exhibila . . a J. Chifetio, pp. 112-115. Antwerp, 1657; 1. de Beausobre, Histoire critique de Manichbs et du Manichbieme, Iii. 50-89, Amsterdam, 1739; J. B. Paaserius, De pemmis Baeilidianis diadwba, in Gori, Thesaurus psmmarum antiquarum astai/erarum, ii. 221-286, Florence, 1750; Tubibres de Grimvard, Count de Caylus, Recueil d'antiquitie, vi. 65-68, Paris, 1764; F. Winter, Versuch Qher die kirchlichen Alterthamer der Gnostiker, pp. 203-214, Anepae6, 1790; J. J. Bellermann, Versuch fiber die Gemmen der Alton mit den A bramasBilde, 3 parts, Berlin, 1818-19; J. Matter, Histoire critique du Gnosticism, i., Paris, 1828, and Strasburg, 1843; idem, Abrams in Herzog, RE, 2d ed., 1877; S. Sharpe, Egyptian Mythology, p. 252, note, London, 1863; Geiger, Abraxas and Elzai, in ZDMO, xviii. (1864) 824-825; G. Barsilai, Gli Abroma, studio archeolopdco, Triest, 1873; idem,(AppendicealladisserfcuioneaupliA6raxaa,ib.1874; E. Renan, Histoire des original du Chrisdanieme, vi. 160, Paris, 1879; C. W. King, The Gnostic and their Remains, London, 1887; Harnack, Ouchichte, i.181. The older material is listed by Matter. ut sup., and Wessely,Epheeia prammata,
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vol. ii., Vienna,1886. Worth consulting are B. de Monfaucon, L'AntiquiU expliqube, ii. 356, Paris 1719-24. Eng. transl., 10 vols., London, 1721-25; R,. E. Raspe, De8criptive'catalopue of . . . engraved Gema . . . cast . . by J. Tame
. 2 vols., London, 1791; J. M. A. Chabouillet, Catalogue general et raiaoane des camees et yierres pravees de la Bibliotheque Imperiale, Paris, 1858; DACL, i. 127-155. Plates of the so-called Abrazae-gems are to be found in the works of Count de Caylus, Matter, King, and in the DACL.
ABRAVANEL. See ABRABANEL. ABSALOM. See DAVID.ABSALON (AXEL): Archbishop of Lund (11781201), one of the principal figures in Scandinavian medieval history; b. on the island of Zealand, then under his father's government, probably in Oct., 1128; d. in the abbey of Sorb (on the island of Zealand, 44 m. w.s.w. of Copenhagen) Mar. 21, 1201. He was brought up with the future king Waldemar, amid surroundings which befitted his birth. When he was eighteen or nineteen, his father retired from the world to the Benedictine monastery of Sorts, which he had built, and the lad went to Paris to study theology and canon law. He came back to Denmark to find civil war raging among the partizans of three princes. As he was already a priest, he probably took no part in the bloody battle of Gradehede near Viborg (1157) which finally decided the strife in favor of his old playmate Waldemar; but in the following spring he and his retainers repelled an attack of Wendish pirates who were ravaging Zealand. When Bishop Asser of Roskilde died (on Good Friday, 1158), the chapter and the citizens quarreled over the choice of a successor, and the armed intervention of Waldemar became necessary. At an election held in his presence, Absadon was unanimously chosen, and soon showed that he considered the defense of his country not the least among his episcopal duties. The Danes now assumed the offensive against the pagan Wends, rind two campaigns were made against them in 1159. The next year Waldemar joined forces with Henry the Lion, with the result that Mecklenburg was added to the German territory, and the island of Ragen to the Danish.
All this time Absalon was busy building fortresses and providing guards for the coasts, sometimes undertaking perilous winter voyages to inspect the defenses, with the aspect of a Viking but the spirit of a crusader. At the same time he was laboring for internal peace by endeavoring to attach the partizans of the defeated factions to the king, and busily providing for monastic reform and extension. He brought to Denmark his old fellow student William, canon of St. Genevi&e at Paris, and placed him over the canons of Eakilab near Roskilde, whose house he later removed to Ebelholt near Arresb, helping them to build their new church and richly endowing it. After his father's death (c. 1157) discipline had decayed among the Benedictines of Sorb, and Absalop brought Cistercian monks from Earom to restore it, making it one of the richest of Cistercian abbeys. He and his kinsfolk were buried in the great church there which he began to build after 1174. In 1162 he accompanied Waldemar to St. Jean de Laune on
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOGthe Saane, where Frederick Barbarossa solemnly recognized Victor IV. as the legitimate pope and banned Alexander III. and his adherents. Absalon was much dissatisfied with this result; he desired Waldemar to refuse the oath of allegiance to the emperor, and induced him to withdraw from the sitting in which Alexander was denounced. He also protested later when Victor IV. undertook to consecrate a bishop for Odense, and was supported in his attitude by the bishops of Viborg and B6rglum and by most of the monastic communities, while Archbishop Eskil of Lund took the same position so strongly that he had to spend seven years in exile at Clairvaux. The bishops of Sleswick, Ribe, Aarhus, and Odense were on the side of the imperial pope.
In the fresh campaigns against the Wends, between 1164 and 1185, Absalon took an active part, winning from his contemporaries the name of pater patrice. In 1167 the king gave him the town of Havn (Copenhagen), and he erected a strong fortress, which was of great importance for the development of commerce. He was active in es tablishing a system of tithes, which aroused much opposition. The disturbances in Eskil's juris diction (he had now become reconciled with the king) induced him to resign his archbishopric, naming Absalon as his successor. The latter accepted his promotion unwillingly, and was allowed to retain the see of Roskilde for thirteen years after his assumption of the higher office in 1178. As archbishop he withdrew more and more from political activity to devote himself to the interests of the Church. The part taken by the Danes in the third crusade was no doubt due to his influence. He was a strong upholder of clerical celibacy, and the purity of his own life was universally admired. He is also credited with having done much for liturgical uniformity; and it was at his wish that Saxo, one of his clergy, undertook to write his His" Danica, one of the most important sources for Danish history. (F. NIELSEN.)BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Langebek [continued by P. F. Suhm and Others], Scriptoree rerum Danicarum medii arvi, 9 vols., Copenhagen, 1774-87; H. J. F. Estrup, Life (in Danish), Some, 1826, Germ. tranel., Leipsic, 1832; Saxo Grammaticue, Hietoria Danica, part i., ed. P. E. Miiller, part ii., ed. J. M. Velsohow, Copenhagen, 1839-58.
ABSOLUTION. See CONFESSION OF SINS.ABSTINENCE. See FASTING; TOTAL ABSTINENCE.
ABULFARAJ (Abu al-Faraj ibn Harun, commonly called Bar Hebrceus ; his real name was Gregory): Syriac writer and bishop; b. in the Cappadocian town of Melitene (200 m. n.e. of Antioch) 1226; d. at Maragha (60 m. a. of Tabriz), Azerbaijan, Persia, July 30, 1286.. He belonged to a Jewish family which had gone over to Jacobite Christianity, but whether his father or a more remote ancestor made the change is uncertain. He finished his studies at Antioch and lived for a time there as a monk in a cave; he went to Tripoli, Syria, to perfect himself in medicine (his father's profession) and rhetoric; became bishop of Gubos, near Melitene (1246), of Lakabhin (1247), of Aleppo (1253); maphriau (primate) of the Jacobites in
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Chaldea, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, with his seat at Takrit on the Tigris (1284). It was the time of the Mongol inroads under Hulaku, and the- country was sorely devastated; but by his discretion and the high repute in which he was held at the Tatar court, Abulfaraj was able to do much to ameliorate the condition of the Christians. As a writer his importance is due to his wide acquaintance with the knowledge of his time; his works are exceedingly numerous upon the most diverse subjects. A few of them are in Arabic, but the greater number in Syriac.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Nestle, Syrisehe Grammatik, " Likratura," pp 40-50 Berlin 1888 (gives-published works of Abulfaraj); life by T. N51deke, in thaentalische Skizzen, pp. 250 sqq., Berlin, 1892, Eng. tranel., London, 1892; W. Wright, Short History of Syriac Literature, pp. 265281, London, 1894 (reprinted, with additions, from Encyc. Brit., xxii.; gives complete list of works of Abulfaraj); Hauck-Herzog, RE, i. 123-124, ii. 780; E. A. W. Budge, The Laughable Stories collected by Mar Gregory John Bar Hebraue, Syriac Text . . . and Enp. Iranel.. London, 1897.
ABUNA. See ABYSSINIA AND THE AByssimAN CHuxcH, §§ 2, 5.
ABYSSINIA AND THE ABYSSINIAN CHURCH. Worthlessness of Traditional History (§ 1.) Introduction of Christianity (§ 2).Close Connection with Egypt in Doctrine (¢ 3). The Canon and Creed ($ 4).
Organization of the Church (§ 5). Beliefs and Practises (5 B).
The Falashas (§ 7). Christian Missions (§ 8).The modern Abyssinia is a country of East Africa, between the Red Sea and the Blue Nile, to the southeast of Nubia. Its boundaries are not definite, and its area is variously given from 150,000 to 240;000 square miles. Estimates of the population vary from 3,500,000 to 8,500,000. In antiquity the term " Ethiopia " was used rather vaguely to signify Abyssinia (with somewhat wider extent than at present), Nubia, and Sennar. These were the lands of the Ethiopian Church, of which the Abyssinian Church is the modem representative. Christianity is now confined to the plateau and mountain regions of Abyssinia.
Native tradition ascribes the name of the country and the foundation of the state to Ethiops, the son of Cush, the son of Ham. The queen
I. Worth- of Sheba who visited Solomon is I-snags of identified with an Abyssinian queen, Traditional Makeda; and her visit is said to have History. led to the conversion of the people to Judaism. The tradition continues that she bore to Solomon a son, Menelik, who was educated in Jerusalem by his father. He then returned to the old capital, Axum, and brought with him both Jewish priests and the ark, which was carried away from the Temple in Jerusalem and deposited in the Ethiopian capital; and from that time to the present Abyssinia is said to have been ruled by a Solomonic dynasty, the succession having been broken only now and then by usurpers and conquerors. Of course, all this has no historic value. That Judaism preceded Christianity in the land is not proved by the observance of certain j Jewish customs (such as circumcision, the Mosaic laws about foods, the Sabbath, etc.); these may
have been introduced from ancient Egypt or the Coptic Church. A Jewish immigration, however, must have taken place, as it is proved by the presence in the land of numerous Jews, the socalled Falashas (see below, §7); but the time, manner, and magnitude of this immigration can not be ascertained.
There is no independent native tradition of the conversion of the Abyssinians to Christianity.
According to the Greek and Roman 2. Intro- Church historians (Rufinus, i. 9; duction of Theodoret, i. 22; Socrates, i. 19;Christi- Sozomen, ii. 24), in the time of Conanity. stantine the Great (about 330), Fru-
mentius and Edesius accompanied the uncle of the former from Tyre on a voyage in the Red Sea. They were shipwrecked on the Ethiopian coast and carried by the natives to the court at Axum. There they won confidence and honor, and were allowed to preach Christianity. Edesius afterward returned to Tyre; but Frumentius continued the work, went to Alexandria, where Athanasius occupied the patriarchal see, obtained missionary coworkers from him, and was himself consecrated bishop and head of the Ethiopian Church, with the title Abba Salama, " Father of Peace," which is still in use along with the later Abuna, " Our Father." It is not improbable that Christianity was known to the Abyssinians before the time of Frumehtius (whose date has been fixed by Dillmann at 341); but he is properly regarded as the founder of the Ethiopian Church. In the fifth and sixth centuries the mission received a new impulse by the immigration of a number of monks (Monophysites) from upper Egypt.
The close connection between the Abyssinian Church and Egypt is very apparent in the sphere
of doctrine. Like the Coptic Church, 3. Close the Abyssinian holds a monophysiticConnection view of the person ·of Christ. This with question has long been settled; but
Egypt in it is still debated whether Christ had Doctrine. a double or threefold birth. TheAbuna and the majority of the priests hold to the twofold view, which is the more purely monophysitic. The threefold view was introduced by a monk about 100 years ago, and is prevalent in Shoa (the southern and southeastern district). Also the questions of the person and dignity of Mary, whether she really bore God, or was only the mother of Jesus; whether she is entitled to the same worship as Christ, etc.,-are eagerly debated thoilgh it seems to be the general view that an almost divine worship is due to the Virgin, and that she and the saints are indispensable mediators between Christ and man. Some even assert that the saints, who died not for their own sins, died like Christ for the sins of others.
The church books are all in the Ethiopic language, which is a dead tongue, studied only by the priests, and not understood by them. For the Ethionio Bible translation see BIBLE VERSIONS, A, VIII. The Abyssinian canon, called Samanya Ahadu, " Eighty-one," because it consists of eighty-one sacred books, comprises, besides the sixty-five books of the usual canon, the Apocrypha, the
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Epistles of Clement, and the Synodus (that is, the decrees of the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem;
cf. W. Fell, Canones apostolorum The Ethiopire, Leipsic, 1871). Only a Canon and very slight difference, however, is
Creed. made between this canon and some other works of ecclesiastical literature, -the Didascalia or Apostolic Constitutions (text and transl. by T. P. Platt, published by the Oriental Translation Fund, London, 1834); the Haimanot Abo, giving quotations from the councils and the Fathers; the writings of the Eastern Fathers, Athanasius, Cyril, and Chrysostom; and the Fethc Nagast, the royal law-book. On the whole, the tradition of the Church has the same authority 'as the Scriptures. Of the councils, only those before the Council of Chalcedon (451) are recog nized, because at Chalcedon the monophysite heresy was condemned. The Apostles' Creed is unknown; the Nicene is used.At the head of the Church stands the Abuna, who resides in Gondar. He is appointed by the
Coptic patriarch of Cairo; and, ac s. Organi- cording to a law, dating from the
zation of thirteenth century, no Abyssinian, the Church. but only a Copt, can be Abuna. Healone has the right to anoint the king and to ordain priests and deacons. Both in secular and in ecclesiastical affairs he has great power. The duties of the priests are to conduct divine service three or four times daily and for three or four hours on Sunday, to attend to the church business, and to purify houses and utensils. Priests, monks, and scholars celebrate the Holy Communion every morning. The deacons bake the bread for the Lord's Supper and perform menial duties. Any one who can read may be ordained deacon, and a priest is merely required to recite the Nicene Creed. To learn the long liturgies, however, is often a matter of years. It is usual to marry before ordination, as marriage is not allowed afterward. Besides priests and deacons each church has its alaka, who looks after church property and attends to secular business. The debturas sing at divine service; and the larger churches have a komofat who settles disputes among the clergy. Beside the secular clergy stand the monastic under the head of the Etsh'ege, who ranks next to the Abuna and decides many ecclesiastical and theological questions in common with him. The number of monks and nuns (living after the rule of Pachomius) is very great. At Debra Damo, one of the chief monasteries, about 300 monks live together in small huts. A part of their duties is the education of the young. The church buildings are exceedingly numerous, generally small, low, circular structures, with a conical roof of thatch and four doors, one toward each of the cardinal points. Surrounding the building is a court, occupied during service by the laymen, and often serving at night as a place of refuge to travelers. The interior, dirty and neglected, is divided into two apartments,-the holy for the priests and deacons, and the holy of holies, where stands the ark. This ark is the principal object in the whole church. Neither the deacons, laymen, nor non-
20Christians dare touch it; if they do, the church and the adjacent cemetery become unclean, and must be purified. Indifferent pictures of the numerous saints, the Virgin, the angels, and the devil adorn the interior; but statues are forbidden. Crosses are found, but no crucifixes.
Service consists of singing of psalms, recitals of parts of the Bible and liturgy, and prayers, especially to the Virgin and the wonder-working saints; it is undignified and unedifying. They believe that every one has a guardian spirit and
therefore venerate the angels. The 6. Beliefs archangel Michael is consdered esand pecially holy, They divide the good
Practises. angels into nine classes, of which therewere originally ten, but one fell away under Satanael. Relics are preserved and venerated as by the Roman Catholic Church. Of sacraments, the Church numbers two, baptism and the Lord's Supper. Both adults and children are baptized, the former by immersion, the latter by sprinkling. For boys the rite is performed forty days after birth; for girls, eighty days. The purpose of baptism is the forgiveness of sins. The Lord's Supper is preceded by a severe fast; and offerings of incense, oil, bread, and wine are usually brought. The Jewish Sabbath is kept as well as the Christian Sunday; and altogether there are one hundred and eighty holidays in the year. Fasting, observed with great strictness, plays a prominent part in the discipline, and about half the days of the year are nominally fast-days.
Not all the inhabitants of Abyssinia are Christians; and not all Christians belong to the State Church. The Zalanes, a nomadic tribe, consider themselves to be Jews, and keep aloof from the
Christians, thdugh they are described The as being really Christians. The Cha-
Falashas. mantes are baptized, and have Chris-tian priests; but in reality they are nearly pagans, and celebrate many thoroughly pagan rites. The real Jews, the Falashas, live along the northern shore of Lake Tsana, in the neighborhood of Gondar and Shelga, where they pursue agriculture and trade. They are more industrious than the Christians, but also more ignorant and spiritually more forlorn. Mohammedanism is steadily progressing. In order to distinguish themselves from all non-Christians, the Christians receive at baptism a cord of blue silk or cotton, called mateb, which they always wear around the neck.
The first missionary work which the Western Church undertook in Abyssinia was the Jesuit mission of 1555, which labored there for nearly a century; but the missionary activity of the Jesuits was deeply mixed with the politics of the country; and their main purpose seems to have been to establish there the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. At last they reached the goal. After a frightful massacre of the opposite party, King Sasneos declared the Roman Catholic Church the Church of the State. In 1640, however, the Jesuits, with their Roman archbishop, were compelled to leave the country, and the old religion with its old Church was reestablished. With the
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new Abuna who followed after this Roman Catholic interregnum, Peter Heyling, from Lubeck, a Protestant missionary, came into the country, but his great zeal led only to small results. The Church Missionary Society had more success in the first half of the nineteenth century. The circumstance that a pious Abyssinian monk, Abi-Ruch or Abreka, who had been guide to the traveler Bruce, translated the whole Bible into the Amharic language (1808-18), gave the first occasion to this attempt. The British and Foreign Bible Society bought and printed the translation, and in 1830
the missionaries Gobat and Kugler 8. Chris- were sent to Abyssinia. The latter tian Mis- was succeeded by Isenberg, and Gobat
sions. by Blumhardt in 1837. Later came Krapf. The work was partly spoiled by the opposition of the native priests and the intrigues of newly arrived Roman Catholics, and the missionaries were expelled in 1838. Krapf then spent three years in Shoa, but was driven thence in 1842. The Roman Catholics were expelled in 1854. In 1858 a Coptic priest who had frequented the school of a Protestant missionary in Alexandria, and favored the Protestant mission, became Abuna, and the St. Chrischona Society of Basel now sent a number of Protestant missionaries into the country. They labored with considerable success; but the disturbances of the reign of King Theodore overtook them, and almost destroyed their work. They were thrown into prison and were only released after the victory of the British. Since that time, few missionary attempts have been made in Abyssinia. The Swedes have one or two stations in the country; and during the past ten years there has been some effort to resume work on the part of the Roman Catholics (mainly French). There is a vicar apostolic for Abyssinia with residence in Alitiena, Tigre; and a Uniat " Geez Church " is said to number 10,000 members. See AFRICA, II., ABYRsINIA.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Makrisi (d. 1441), Historia Coptorum Christianorum, ad. T. Wiietenfeld, G6ttingen, 1845; H. Ludolf, Historia mthioyica and Commentarius, Frankfort, 1681, 1693; J. Lobo. Voyage d'Abyssinie (Eng. transl., with continuation of the history of Abyssinia by M. L. Grand,
London, 1735; J. 8taacklein, Allyrhand so Lshr- ale Geiat-reichea Brief, schriften and Reis-Beschreibunpen . . . von denen Misaionariie der Gesellschaft Te#u, I. viii., Augeburg, 1728; V. de la Croze, Histoire du Christianisme d'E!hiope, . . The Hague 1739; J. Bruce, Travels to Discover the Sources of the Nile, 1768-7773, Edinburgh, 1790 (often reprinted); G. A. Hoskins, Travels in Ethiopia, London, 1835; C. W. Isenberg and J. L. Krapf, Journals dotailing their Proceedings in the Kingdom of Shoa, London, 1843; C. W. Isenberg, Abessinien and die evangelieche Mission, Bonn, 1844; J. L. Krapf, Travels in East Africa, London, 1860; idem, Travels and Missionary Labours in Africa and Abyssinia, ib. 1867; Lady Mary E. Herbert, Abyssinia and its Apostle, ib. 1868; J. M. Flad, The Patashas of Abyssinia, ib. 1869; idem, Zwdlf Jahre inAbessinien, 2 vols., Basel, 1869-87; A. Dillmann, Die Anfange des axumitischen Reichea, Berlin, 1879; A. Raffray, Lee 2pltees monolith" de la vine de Lalib6la, Paris, 1882; T· Waldmeier, Autobiography, London, 1890; J. T. Bent, The Sacred City of the Ethiopians, ib. 1893; A. B. Wylde, Modern Abyssinia, ib. 1901; H. Vivian, Abyssinia, ib. 1901· M. Fowler, Christian Egypt, ch. vii., ib. 1901. For the liturgy, etc.: J A Giles, Codex apocryphus Novi Testaments, ib. 1852; E. Trumpp Dos Taufbuch der eethiopisdsn Kirde, Munich, 1878; C. A. 8wainson. Greek Liturgies, Cambridge 1884; C. von Arnhsrd, Liturpie sum Tauf-Fset der -thiopischen Kirche, Munich. 1888.
ACACIUS, a-k6'ahi-us, OF BER(EA: A monk of the monastery of Gindanus near Antioch, after ward abbot of a monastery near Bercea (Aleppo), and from 378 bishop of that city; d. about 435. He took an active part in the ecclesiastical con troversies of the East, and was one of the principal complainants against Chrysostom at the synod hell in 403 in a suburb of Chalcedon known as Ad' Quercum. For this reason he fell out with Rome, but was acknowledged again by Innocent I. in 415. In the Nestorian controversy he occupied a mediating position. The Syrian Balseus wrote five songs in his praise. His extant writings are a letter to Cyril of Alexandria and two to Alexander of Hierapolis, as well as a confession of faith (MPG, lxxvii. 1445-48). G. KRIJGER.BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Le Quien, Oriem Christianus, ii. 782783, Paris, 1763; G. Biekell, Auspewdhlte Gedichte der syrischen Kirchenvater Cyrillonas, Balanss. . . in Bibliothek der Kirchenvdter, pp. 83-89, Kempten, 1878-73; Hefele, Concilienpeschichte, ii. passim; DCB, i. 12-14.
ACACIUS OF C&SAREA: One of the most influential bishops in the large middle party,which opposed the Nicene Creed -during the Arian controversy. He was the disciple of Eusebius, and his successor in the bishopric of Caesarea. He took part in the Eusebian synod at Antioch in the spring of 341, and in another at Philippopolis in 343. By the orthodox council of Sardica in the same year he was regarded as one of the heads of the opposing party, and threatened with deposition. Common opposition to the Nicene doctrine held the pasty together until about 356. Thus, on the death of Maximus of Jerusalem (350 or 351), Acacius helped to get the vacant see for Cyril, who belonged rather to the opposite wing of the party, the later Homoiousians or Semi-Arians. That he fell out with Cyril and procured his deposition (357 or 358) was due partly to jealousy between the two sees, partly to the changed attitude of parties under Conatantius (351361). The two wings fell apart, and Acacius became the leader of the court party, the later Homoians, in the East. In 355 he seems to have been one of the few Easterns who represented the emperor at the Council of Milan; and, according to Jerome, his influence with Constantius was so great that he had much to do with setting up Felix as pope in the place of the banished Liberius. After the socalled Second Council of Sirmium (357) had avoided the controverted terms altogether and said nothing about the ousia (`i substance "), it was undoubtedly Acacius who at the Council of Antioch (358) influenced Eudoxius to accept this compromise for the East. At the Synod of Seleucia (359) he took a prominent part. In obvious concert with the imperial delegates, he seemed to favor what Ursacius and Valens tried to carry in the Synod of Rimini, the acceptance of the so-called third $irmian formula (`° similar [ho»wios] according to the Scriptures . . similar in all things "). He and his party, it is true, expressly condemned the anomoim (" dissimilar ") theory, but they omitted the "in all things," which agreed as little with the real views of Acacius as with those of the Western Homoians. The council ended in a schism; the Homoiousian majority, in a separate session, deposed Acacius
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and other leading Homoians. But he was in touch with the court; and at the discussions in Constantinople which continued those of Seleucia, the imperial wishes, represented by Acacius, Ursacius, and Valens, prevailed. He was able to celebrate his victory the next year at the Council of Constantinople, and commanded the situation in the East. With the death of Constantius the Jay of this imperial orthodoxy was done; and uner Jovian (363-364) Acacius succeeded in accepting the Nicene orthodoxy which was now that of the court. His name appears among the signatures of those who, at the Synod of Antioch presided over by Meletius (363), accepted the Nicene formula in the sense of homoios kit' ouaian (" similar as to substance "). With the accession of the Arian Valens (364), the situation changed once more; and apparently Acacius changed with it. He and his adherents were deposed by the Homoiousian Synod of Lampsacus (365), after which he is heard of no more; probably he soon died. He was a voluminous writer, but nothing remains except the formula a,rSeleucia, a fragment in Epiphanius (Adveram hareses, Lyxii. 6-10; MPG, xlii. 589-596) of his polemic against Marcellus, and scattered quotations in some of the Catena3. (F. Loops.)
Along with Eunomius and Aetius, Acacius may be said to have given dialectic completeness to Arianism. In their polemics against the Nicene Symbol they laid chief stress on the fact that the Father was " unbegotten," depending for his being neither upon himself nor another, which could not be said of the Son. They insisted also upon the complete comprehensibility of God. A. H. N.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Tillemont, Mimoires, vi. 1699; M. Le Quien, Origins Chrietfanua, iii. 559, Paris, 1740; Fabricius-Harlee, vii. (1801) 336, ix. (1804) 254, 256; James Rains, Priory o/ Hexhan, vol. i., Newcastle, 1864; Hefele, Coneiliengeschichte, i. 677, 712, 714 sqq., 721 eqq., 734-735; DCH, i. 11-12.
ACACIUS OF CONSTANTMOPLE. See MoNoPHYSITF$.
ACACIUS OF MELITENEE, mel-i-ti'ne: A bitter opponent of Nestorius in the Council of Ephesus in 431; d. after 437. A homily delivered by him at Ephesus and two letters to Cyril- are in MPG, lxxvii. 1467-72. Melitene was a town of Armenia Secunda, the modern Malatie. G. KRt)GER.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Le Quien, Oriena Christionus, i. 441, Paris, 1762; Hefele, ConcilienpeaAichte, ii. 271, 275, 314; DCB, i. 14-15.
ACCA, ak'ka: Fifth bishop of Hexham (18 m. w. of Newcastle, Northumberland); d. there 740. He was the devoted friend of Wilfrid of York (q.v.), shared his missionary labors in Friesland and Sussex, accompanied him to Rome in 704, and succeeded him as bishop in 709. He was also the intimate friend of Bede, who received help and encouragement from Acea in his scholarly labors, and dedicated to him his Hezameron and several of his commentaries. Aces seems to have been worthy of his friends. He completed and adorned the buildings begun at Hexham by Wilfrid and collected there a large and excellent library. He was a good musician, and induced a famous singer, Maban by name, to come to Hexham and instruct
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG 22the rude Northumbrians. In 732 he was expelled from his bishopric for some unknown reason, but returned before his death.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bede, Hiat. ecd., v. 19-20; J. Rains, Priory of Hesham, i. pp. xxx-xxxv., 31-36, Newcastle, 1864; W.
Bright, Early English Church History, pp. 447-448, Ox- ford, 1897. ACCAD (ABKAD). See BABYLONIA, IV., § 11.ACCEPTANTS: The name of that party which in the Jansenist controversy accepted the bull Unigenitus. See JANSEN, CoRNELIus; JANSENISM.
ACCOLTI, ak-kel'tf: The name of two cardinals who have sometimes been confused.
1. Pietro Accolti : " The Cardinal of Ancona "; b. at Florence 1455; d. at Rome Dec. 12, 1532. He studied law, but later entered the Church, and was made bishop of Ancona and cardinal by Julius 11. He was the author of the famous bull of 1520 against Luther.
2. Benedetto Accolti : " The Cardinal of Ravenna," nephew of the preceding; b. at Florence, Oct. 29, 1497; d. there Sept. 21, 1549. He belonged to the college of abbreviators under Leo X., and was made a cardinal by Clement VII. in 1527. In 1535 Paul III. for some obscure reason imprisoned him in the castle of St. Angelo; and he obtained his release after some months only by payment of a large sum of money. He left some Latin writings including a few poems (published in Quinque allustrium poetarum carmina, Florence, 1562).
ACCOMMODATION. Greek Philosophical and Theological Usages (§ 1). Required by Ethics (§ 2). Negative Accommodation (§ 3). Positive Accommodation ($ 4). Modern Theory of Accommodation (¢ 5). Untenabienese of the Theory (¢ 6). When Accommodation is Admissible ($ 7). Accommodation and the New Testament (§ 8). Controversy in the Roman Catholic Church (§ 9). The word " Accommodation " is used in the ology in two senses : (1) the wider, that of a general ethical conception; and (2) the nar rower, by certain writers of the latter half of the eighteenth century, in reference to a particular method of Biblical exegesis.I. Greek The ethical reserve denoted by this Philosoph- term was known to the Greek phiioso-
ical and pliers as synkatobasis, and the same Theological word is used by the Greek Fathers
Usages. for that method of teaching which adapts itself to the needs or to the preconceived ideas of the scholars; the expression kit' oikonomian didaskein is also employed, whence the word " economy" is often applied to this method by later writers.Such accommodation or economy is required by ethics in two cases: (1) when, in a spirit of love, it spares a condition of ignorance s. Re- existing in another's mind, or (2) when,
quired by in the same spirit, it keeps back some Ethics. truth which the imperfect state of development of the other is not ready to receive. Love bids to have patience with erring or weak consciences, so long as they are unconscious of their error or weakness, and therefore
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might be more injured than helped by a too hasty attack (I Cor. viii. 9-13). The aim must be improvement, not punishment-that one may " by all means save some." This consideration, however, is not due to conscious and obstinate sinners, in which case it would be a denial of duty for the sake of pleasing men. But this duty has its limits; it imports and enforces certain ethical requirements and certain spiritual truths; and in both cases its action must be adapted to the capacity of the receiver. The very nature of the human mind prescribes gradual progress in knowledge; and thus Christian teaching often requires reserve and silence, where strict enforcement of the command or full unfolding of the truth might give offense. Thus Christ kept back from his disciples certain things which they could not yet bear (John xvi. 12); and thus Paul does not exact the same requirements from all members of the churches under his care (I Cor. vii. 17, 26, 35 sqq.), feeding the " babes in Christ " with " milk, and not with meat " (I Cor. iii. 2). The Christian teacher can not, indeed, preach a different gospel to different hearers; but the manner of the preaching and the selection of material will vary with the stages in spiritual growth attained by the hearers. To this manner belong such things as the popular exposition of the truth, the use of comparisons and examples, and arguments ad hominem. This kind of accommodation is not only not blameworthy, but is prescribed by the example of Christ.
The use of accommodation in matter, as distinguished from manner, is more disputable. It may be either negative, dissimulatio, when the teacher passes over in silence the existence of erroneous ideas in his scholars; or positive, simulatio, when he distinctly approves such erroneous ideas or consciously sets them forth as the truth, with the purpose in both cases of thus leading by an indirect road to the truth. Negative accommodation may be justified pedagogically by the fact that no teacher is in a position to remove all obstacles at one stroke, the gradual process being equivalent to a toleration of a certain amount of
error for the time. Thus no reproach 3. Rega- can lie against Christ because in some tive Accom- particulars he allowed his disciples
moda- to remain temporarily under the in tion. fluence of false impressions, as long as he did this not by declared approval and with the distinct looking forward to the time when the Spirit of Truth should lead them into all truth; this covers the Jewish beliefs and prac tises which they were allowed to retain in his very presence. The apostles also tolerated the con tinued existence of numerous ancient errors in their converts, being sure that these would fall away with their gradual growth in Christian knowledge (I Cor. ix. 20 sqq.; Rom. xiv. 1 sqq.; Heb. v. 11 sqq.).The case is quite different, however, with regard to positive accommodation in the matter of the teaching. There is no purely objective system of commandments, the same for all alike. Ethical law is subjective, varying with the individual and
his circumstances-position, calling, age, sex, and the like. One is not to be a slave to prevailing customs, but is bound to take them into account, so as not to offend others. The same thing applies to prevailing beliefs and views; a
;. Positive man has to consider that he will be Accommo- judged by his contemporaries accord- dation. ing to the standards of the time and place; nay, that if he is to be under stood by them at all, he must accommodate himself to their standpoint, and speak to a certain extent as they speak. This leads to a point which has been in the past vehemently discussed by theo logians. The truth just stated was pressed by cer tain writers for the purpose of rendering more acceptable their doctrines in regard to revelation. It is their attitude which gave rise to the narrower meaning of the word " accommodation." A transition to the theory that many things in the Bible are to be taken as spoken only in this accommodated sense is to be found in the treatise of Zaeharia, Erkldrung der Herablassung Gottes zu den Menschen (Schwerin, 1762): it asserted that the revelations of God in the Old Testament, the establishment of the old and new covenants, the incarnation of Christ-in other words, the facts of revelation in general-were only set forth as an " accommodation " of God to men. It was seen that this struck at the very root of the Christian faith; and the question was hotly discussed how far many Biblical expressions were mere conces sions to the ideas prevalent at the g. Modern time. The controversy lasted until the Theory of rise of the modern critical school, Accommo- early in the nineteenth century, af- dation. forded an easier way of meeting the difficulties which these theologians had thus sought to avoid. With the help of their theory, such writers as Behn, Senf, Teller, Van Hemert, and Vogel sought to bring about a harmony between their views of reason and the Scriptural expressions. Thus, for example, they got rid of the Messianic prophecies which, they said, Jesus referred to himself merely to convince the Jews that he was the Messiah, without himself believing that they were written of the Messiah; the doc trine of angels and devils was simply a use of the common conceptions; that of the atonement be comes only a condescension of the same kind to popular ideas, intended to reconcile the Jews to the loss of their sacrifices. In more recent times this theory has been in creasingly recognized as scientifically and theo logically untenable. It is. of course, 6. Unten- obvious that many expressions of ableness Christ and the apostles relate to merely of the local and temporal circumstances, Theory. and do not contain permanent rules of conduct. The apparent contra dictions between revelation and the facts of physics and chemistry offer no more difficulty; Christ did not come to teach natural science; and he was obliged to adapt himself to current forms of ex pression in order to be understood, just as one speaks of the rising and -setting of the sun, when he knows it is the motion of the earth and not that|
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of the sun which is referred to. But there is no case of concession to real error, still less of assertion of error, in any of this accommqdation.
As to the general ethical use of accommodation, a case may arise in which one is
7. When bound by the law of love not to make Accommo- use of a liberty which in the abstract dation is he possesses, lest the weaker brethren Admissible. should be scandalized. From this point of view Paul lays down his rule in regard to the eating of meats offered to idols (I Cor. viii. 13). In like manner one may be bound, like Paul again, by the love of his neighbor to do something he would not otherwise do (Acts xvi. 3, xxi. 17 eqq.). Paul's acceptance of Tim othy's circumcision was no concession to error; he did not cease to teach that the rite was unnec essary for Gentile converts; and he stoutly resisted an attempt to impose it on Titus (Gal. ii. 3-5). Limitations which he willingly imposed on his own personal liberty in the accommodation of pastoral wisdom would have been unworthy weakness if he had yielded to them when imposed by others when the circumstances did not justify them. This is the standpoint of the Formula Concordim (art. x.) in reference to the Adiaphora (q.v.). In such matters, what in itself is innocent and may be used with Christian freedom becomes, when it is sought to be imposed as an obligation, an attack on evangelical liberty which must be resisted. (RUDOLF HOFMANN.) The theory of theological accommodation, so far as it is drawn from the New Testament, grows out of a particular conception of the knowledge of Christ and the scope of inspiration. (1) If one holds that Christ possessed complete knowledge of all matters relating to the natural 8. Accom- world. the Old Testament, the events modation of his own time, and the future of the and the kingdom of God on earth, he may New ment. affirm either that all of Christ's teach ing on these subjects is authoritative and final, or else that in many instances he fitted his teaching to the immediate needs of his hearers; in the latter case, one could not be sure as to the precise nature of the objective fact. (2) If, how ever, it be alleged that Jesus's intelligence followed the laws of human growth, that he shared the common scientific, historical, and critical beliefs of his day, and that for us his knowledge is restricted to the spiritual content of revelation, then his allusions to the natural world, to persona, events, books, and authors of the Old Testament, to demons, and the like are to be interpreted according to universal laws of human intelligence; thus the principle of accommodation drops away. (3) In like manner, inspiration may be conceived of either as equipping the sacred writers with an accurate knowledge concerning all things to which they refer, and yet leading them to fit their communica tions to the temporary prejudice or ignorance of their readers, or as quickening their consciousness concerning spiritual truth, while they were left unillumined about matters which belong to literary, historical, or scientific inquiry. It is thus evident that the question of theological accommodation in the New Testament turns in part on a solution of two previous questions-the content of our Lord's knowledge, and the scope of inspiration in the au thors of the various books (cf. C. J. Ellicott, Chriatus Comprobator, London, 1892; J. Moorhouse, The Teaching of Christ, ib. 1892; H. C. Powell, The Principle of the Incarnation, ib. 1896; G. B. Stev ens, The Theology of the New Testament, New York, 1899; L. A. Muirhead, The Eschatology o f Jesus, London, 1904). C. A. B.Under the title " Accommodation Controversy " is also frequently understood the long and bitter dispute between the Jesuits and the Dominicans as to the extent of lawful concessions to the prejudices of their 9. Contro- pagan hearers by missionaries. The versy is the Jesuits were the first to preach ChrisRoman tianity in China-Xavier went there Catholic in 1552. They were attacked by the Church. Dominicans and Franciscans, when, forty years later, these orders entered the same field, on the charge of having made an improper compromise with Chinese beliefs, especially in regard to the practise of ancestor worship and to the name adopted to designate the Supreme Being in Chinese. They maintained, however, that such concessions were an inevitable condition of the toleration of Christian missions in the empire. The " Chinese rites " were provisionally forbidden by Innocent X. in 1645, but were again tolerated by Alexander VII. in 1656, on the ground that they might be regarded as purely civil ceremonies. Clement IX. took a middle course in 1669; but at the end of the century the controversy broke out with renewed violence, to be terminated only by a bull of Clement XI. in 1715, absolutely prohibiting the " Chinese rites." The legate Mezzabarba attempted to mitigate the strict enforcement of this ruling; but Benedict XIV. confirmed it in 1742, with the result of provoking a severe persecution which almost exterminated Christianity in China. A somewhat similar controversy raged in the eighteenth century over the so-called Malabar rites, terminated in the same sense by the bull Omnium sollicitudinum of Benedict XIV. (1742), the pope refusing, even at the cost of imperiling the future of missions, to permit any compromise with paganism. A heated controversy on the general subject of accommodation was provoked in England by the publication of No. 80 in the Oxford Tracts for the Times, On Reserve in Communicating Religious Knowledge, written by Isaac Williams (q.v.), which caused the author to be accused of Jesuitical and un-English insincerity, and provoked additional antagonism to the Oxford movement.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: On the general subject: K. F. Senff, Versuch ilber die Herablaasung Gottes zu den Menachen, Leipeic, 1792; W. A. Teller, Die Religion der Vollkommern, Berlin, 1792; P. van Hemert, Accommodation, Dortmund, 1797. On the Accommodation Controversy: G. Daniel, Hietoire apologetique de la conduits des Jhuitea de la Chine, in Recueil des divers ouvrages, vol. iii., 3 vols., Paris, 1724; T. M. Mamachi, Originum et antiquitatum chriatianarum libri xx, ii. 373, 424, 425-428, 441-442; 6 vols., Rome, 1749-55; G. Pray, Hiatoria controversiarum do ritibue sinicit, Budapest, 1789.
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