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109 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Rudin Rueetschi but not accepted, as a professor in Erlangen in 1832 and at Greifswald in 1836, he became the successor of F. L. O. Baumgarten-Crusius at Jena in 1844. Here, besides his academic duties, he preached fre quently, some of his sermons being collected in his Sechs Zeitpredigten in den Jahren 1848 and 1849 gehalten (Jena, 1850) and Kleine Aufsatze fur christ liche Belehrung and Erbauung (Berlin, 1861). After the stormy year of 1848 Rackert wrote his Theo logie (2 parts, Leipsic, 1851), which was essentially a scientific picture of the ideal life, practical life, and the life revealed and rendered possible to man through Christ, and not the conventional dogmatic or ethical theological treatise. Certain portions of this work were further elucidated in his Das Abend mahl, sein Wesen and seine Geschichte in der allen Kirche (Leipsie, 1856), and his Biichlein van der Kirche (Jena, 1857). His theological point of view receives its full expression in his Der Rationalismus (Leipsic, 1859). It should also be noted that in his Luthers Verhdltnis zum augsburgischen Bekennntis (Jena, 1854) he sought to prove that the Augsburg Confession could not truly be called Luther's. Riickert held in exegesis that a prime factor was the ability of the scholar so to identify himself with his subject as to have no idea of his own which should diverge from the subject in question; he denied the existence of any evidence beyond the sphere of morals; and he regarded Christ merely as a man of surpassing goodness who gave his life for the moral regeneration of his race. His ration alism, however, was regarded by him as ethical, or Christian, and as opposed to the older empirical system. He deemed it to consist solely in search for facts and their truths, and to be hindered by no authority from clinging to the truths thus ascer tained. He accordingly advocated a critical proc ess of simple investigation, neither believing nor denying, but accepting what seemed to be credible and rejecting all else. Portions of Rackert's com mentary on I Cor. were translated into English by B. B. Edwards in the Selections from German Litera ture prepared by him and E. A. Park (Andover, 1839). (G. FRANSt.) BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Doering, Jenaiacher Uhivenitdts-Al manach, p. 84, Jena, 1845; J. G6nther, Lebenskizzen der ProJesaoren der Universitlit Jena, p. 42, ib. 1858; G. Frank, Die jenaische Theologie, p. 125, Leipsic, 1858; C. Schwarz, Zur Geachichte der neuesten Theolopie, p. 482, ib. 1869. RUEDINGER (RUEDIGER), rii'ding-er, ESROM: German Protestant theologian and educator; b. at Bamberg May 19, 1523; d. at Nuremberg Jan. 2, 1590. He was educated at Leipsic, and after being tutor to the children of Joachim Camerariua (q.v.) was privat-docent at Leipsic in 154617 and second teacher at Schulpforta in 1547-48, reassuming his position at Leipsic that he might marry the eldest daughter of Camerarius. From 1549 to 1557 he was rector of the school at Zwickau, but his theological position as a firm Philippist brought him into conflict with strict Lutherans, especially as he taught the necessity of good works. It was a wel come change, therefore, when he was called in 1557 to be professor of physics at Wittenberg, where he also lectured on ethics and the interpretation of

Latin authors. In 1570 he became professor of Greek, and was dean of the philosophical faculty in 1559 and 1570 and rector in 1562. He became involved, however, in the eucharistic controversy between the Lutherans and the Philippists in 1574, and was imprisoned for a short time at Torgau for refusing to sign the " Torgau Articles." He was permitted to return to Wittenberg, and then, though forbidden to leave the city, he fled to Berlin. Declining offers from Basel and Heidelberg, he accepted the rectorate of a school newly erected at Eibenschitz (12 m. s.w. of Briinn) for young nobles of the Bohemian Brethren and Moravians. The school finally became offensive to the nascent Roman Catholic reaction, and though in 1578 an imperial command to close the institution was disregarded, a sharper order, issued on Jan. 22, 1583, directing that Riidinger be arrested and placed in the custody of the bishop of Olmutz, caused him to take refuge with Frederick of Zerotin. There he remained until 1588, when his widowed sister invited him to spend the remainder of his life with her at Nuremberg.

Riidinger's principal theological works were the following: Libri Psalmorum paraphrasis Latino (G&rlitz, 1581); Endexion, tunics funebris ex tela Paradisi ad dextram crucis Christi (Nuremberg, 1591); De origine ubiquitatis pii et eruditi cujusdam viri tractatio (Geneva, 1597); and De fratrum orthodoxorum in Bohemia et Moravia ecclesiolis narratiuncula, in the Historica narratio de fratrum orthodoxorum ecclesiis in Bohemia, Moravia et Polonia of J. Camerarius (Heidelberg, 1605). A number of theological works (especially on predestination, the " Torgau Articles," and the De Jesu Christo martyre) are contained in the Collectio Camerariana in the Royal Library at Munich. (E. FABIAN.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Strobel, Neue Beitrdge zur Litleratur des

ItT. Jahrhunderta, vol, ii., part 1, 5 vole., Nuremberg, 1790-94; M. Adamus, Vit2 Germanorum philosophorum, pp. 372-373, Heidelberg, 1815; J. F. KShler, in Dreadener Gdehrten Anzeigen, 1790, parts axv.-xxviii.; J. F. A. Gillet, Crato von JCragtheim, 2 vole., Frankfort, 1860; H. Ball, Daa Schulweaen der bohmiachen Briider, Berlin, 1898.

RUEETSCHI, riiet'shi, RUDOLF: Swiss Protestant;, b. at Bern Dec. 3, 1820; d. there 1903. He was educated at the universities of Bern, Berlin, and Tubingen; and in 1842 became vicar, first in the country and later at Bern. In 1845 he became privat-docent for Old-Testament theology at the university of his native city; and during this period edited the Biblische Dogmatik of his teacher, J. L. S. Lutz (Pforzheim, 1847). Next, Ruetschi was pastor at Trub (1848-53), Kirchborg in Oberaargau (1853-67), and at the Cathedral of Bern (186?-97). As a theologian he belonged to the intermediate party, midway between the extremes of conservatism and rationalism. In 1878 he received an honorary professorship at Bern, where he lectured on Semitics, and on the history of Israel from the exile to the time of Christ. He took an active part in a Swiss translation of the Bible, of which only the New Testament appeared, and translated Ecclesiastes for E. Kautzach's Die heilige Schrift des Alten Testaments (Freiburg-im-Breisgau, 1892-94). He retired from active life in 1897. (W. HADORN.)