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RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Renter Revelation conjunctio; De reformatione ecclesics; and a com mentary on Obadiah. (J. SCHNEIDER.)
Braw0GRAPHr: The original source is an oration by Simon $tenius issued in 1813. Dependent upon this are: P. Freher, Theotrum virorum clarorum, 2 vols., Nuremberg, 1888; M. Adam, Vita! clarorum virorum, pp. 390 .qq., Frankfort, 1708; C. G. JScher, Gelehrten-Lsrikon, 10 vols., Bremen, 1750-87; J. Schwab, Quatuor seeulorura rectorum in academia, Heidelberg. 1788; ADB, EaVill. 328-329.
REUTERDARZ, rei'ter-ddl, HENRIK: Swedish archbishop; b. at Malmo (20 m. s.e. of Copenhagen) Sept. 10, 1795; d. at Upsala June 29, 1870. After completing his education at the University of Lund, he became, in 1817, docent at the theological seminary at the same city, associate adjunct in the theological faculty in 1824, and prefect of the seminary in 1826. Several years later he was made first adjunct of theology, was appointed chief librarian of the university in 1838, full professor of theology in 1844. With all his duties Reuterdahl found time for literary pursuits. Together with J. H. Thomander, Bergquist, and others, he founded the " Theological Quarterly " in 1827, and in 1838 published the first volume of his Svenska kyrkans historia (3 vols., Lund, 1838-63), a work in which the ecclesiastical material is obscured by details of secular politics, though its author's careful investigation of original sources renders it important for future investigators. In 1844 Reuterdahl was elected deputy to the diet for the theological seminary, and was repeatedly reelected, even after being appointed provost of the cathedral at Lund in 1845. He was minister of religion, 1852-55, and in this capacity sought forcibly to prevent any defections from the Swedish church through sectarian movements, thus arousing considerable opposition. In 1855 Reuterdahl was chosen bishop of Lund, and in the following year was appointed archbishop by the king, as well as prochancellor of the University of Upsala. During his administration sweeping reforms were carried out by Charles XV. in 1865, whereby the clergy ceased to form an estate in the diet. Reuterdahl, reluctantly acquiescing, held the first general synod under the new order of affairs in Sept., 1868. In the winter of 1869 severe illness put an end to his public career.
REVEL, ALBERT: Waldensian; b. at Torre Pellice (21 m. s.w. of Turin), Italy, Jan. 2, 1837; d. at Florence Nov.-, 1888. He was educated at the Waldensian college of his native place, at the theological school at Florence, and in the New College (Free Church), Edinburgh; was ordained in 1861; became professor of Latin and Greek literature in the Waldensian college at Torre Pellice, 1861, and professor of Biblical literature and exegesis to the Waldensian Church, Florence, 1870. He was the author of L'Epistola di $. Jaeobo (Florence, 1868); L'Epistola di S. Clemente Romano d Corinti (1869); Antichita bibliche (1872); Teoria del culto (1875); Le origini del Papato (1875); Cento lezioni sulla vita di Gesu (1875); Storia letteraria dell' antico Testamento (Poggibonsi, 1879); Manuale par to studio della lingua ebraica (Florence, 1879) ; 1 Salmi; verzione a commento sopra i Salmi i.-xi. (1880); 11 Nuovo Testamento, tradotto sW testo originals (1881);
Le sette chiese dell' Asia Minore (1886); Enciclopedia delle scienze teologiche (1886); Letteralura ebraica (2 vols., Milan, 1888); and 1 sells suggelli (Apoc. IV. VII.; Florence, 1890).
Revelation is the act of God in disclosing or com
municating truth to the human soul. The concept
here becomes a subject of theological discussion as
a scientific technical expression. Doubtless it comes
from the Greek Bible (apokalyptein,
:. Origin phaneroun, deloun, gnorizein), where
and the variety of representation indicates
Meaning. that, as later in the language of prayer
and hymn, no fixedness of idea had
yet been reached. The idea embodied in the later
technical term was distinctly that of an act of God,
direct or indirect. Ecclesiastical Latin first pro
vided definite form by laying down the term revelare,
with manifestare for narrower usage. With the
Christian era philosophy ceased to employ itself
exclusively with the concept of God; so religious
phenomena, and consequently also the idea of reve
lation, were taken under consideration, especially
after the advent of the genus-concept of religio,
which is not found in the Bible. With increasing
measure religio and revelare become twin-thoughts;
the idea of . revelation became estranged from its
original historical ground and both were subjected to
comparative generalization and lifted to the rare at
mosphere of abstraction. The utmost content com
prehended in these conceptions may be denoted as
that which constitutes the ground of religion. The
variety of meanings is not improbably due to sub
servience to expediency in theological system-build
ing. Fundamental to all views is a making or
becoming manifest, whether the object enter within
the horizon for the first time (either existing previ
ously or coming into existence simultaneously), or
the removing of an impediment to its realization
(either without or within the recipient). By this
the conveyance of the description, originally re
ceived by sensible appreciation, to the spiritual real
ization is for the most part effected, if this also
mediates through sense. The process of revelation
presupposes consciousness for its object, and through
taking possession of intuition for the sphere of re
ligion, there fall to revelation, as its content, the
actual or possible subjects of a religious character.
Thought on these points originated in connection
with the historical monotheism of the Bible. God
is represented as opening intercourse with men by
various means. Theophany or the ap
s. Biblical pearance of angels alternates or com
History. bines with speech. Miraculous events
assume the value of signs. Decisive
experiences of the people or of divinely appointed
persons are conceived as specially designed dis
pensations of God. Prophecy comes to the front,