[See page image]
Page 309
809 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Scrivener
on Deut. xxxi. 16, where Gamaliel cites "thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, and this people will rise up," and may note that in thus quoting Gamaliel was supported by other rabbis almost as noted as he. By a certain method of exegesis this was regarded as justified. The exigencies of civil, legal, and ritual life occasioned ever new questions, and these called for progress in the science of interpretation of the law, and these interpretations came to codification in the Mishnah (see TALMUD). A supplement directed toward the insuring of observance of the law resulted from this scribal activity in the matter of study of its provisions. In order to forestall transgression, additional regulations or commands were provided which were hardly within the range of possibility to observe. Thus in Pirke Aboth i. 1 it is said "make a bridle about the law." The scribes were not so much theologians as jurists; and so they were members of the Sanhedrin (q.v.) and are mentioned constantly in that relationship.
If the Jews were to remain "the people of the law," the science of law being once obtained, it must be preserved for future generations. In carrying out this purpose, especially before the essential matter was reduced to writing, there Work as was required of the scribes a teaching Teachers. activity. The instruction was oral; only manuscripts of the Bible were at hand; the lectures and discussions were held gen erally in special places designated for that purpose, in Jerusalem halls and chambers in the forecourt of the Temple. Teacher and pupils sat, the teacher upon a platform somewhat elevated. The religious discourses of the Sabbath and other occasions were in no small part delivered by the scribes. Many of them busied themselves with the Haggada, though the Halaka was their especial province (for Haggada and Halaka see MIDRASH). Most of the scribes naturally belonged to the party of the Pharisees (see PHARISEES AND SADDUCEEB), and a8 a con sequence were to be found mostly in Judea and especially in Jerusalem. Yet, inasmuch as the high priests were Sadducees, there must have been Sad ducean scribes. For their judicial or professorial activity the scribes received no compensation. Many supported themselves by manual labor, and not a few were so well-to-do as to be able to live upon their income from property; but they might also receive entertainment so long as they continued their teaching activities. It was regarded as im proper to make knowledge of the law a means of gain (Pirke Aboth, i. 13; Baba bathra, 8a). But there must have been many exceptions to this rule (cf. Mark xii. 40; Luke xx. 47, xvi. 14); and the circumstance that the scribes demanded an abnor mally high degree of honor may be taken as proof that disinterestedness was not so general as Jewish sources seem to make it. (H. L. STRACK.)BIBLIOGRAPHY. Discussions of the subject are to be found in the commentaries on the Gospels and on Acts, generally at the passages where mention of the scribes occurs, often in the works on the history of the Apostolic Age, in those on the life of Christ (e.g., Edersheim, i. 93 sqq.; Farrar, i. 255-258), and in works on the history of Israel (such as those of Jost, GrItz, and Ewald). For the English reader there is nothing better than § 25 of the Eng. tranal. of Schffrer's Geachichte (same section in the Ger-
man). Consult further: T. C. Lilienthal, De nomikoia juria utriusque apud Hebrows dodortibur priroatfa, Halle, 1740; A. T. Hartmann, Die enge Verbindunp des Aken Testaments mil den Neuen, pp. 384-413, Hamburg, 1831; A. F. Gfrbrer, Doe Jahrhundert des Heila, f. 109-214, Stuttgart, 1838; W. Baeher, Die ADada der babylon'iachen Amorder, . · . der Tannaiten, . . der palitatinensiachen Amorder, 8vols., Strasburg. 1878-99; V. Ryssel, Die AnAnpe der j4dischen Schr%Jtpelehreamkeit, in TSK, 1887, pp. 149-182; F. Weber, Jedische Theolopie, Leipsic, 1897: C. D. Ginsburg, Introduction to the Hebrew Bible, pp. 241 sqq., London, 1897; L. Blau, Studien sum althebraischen Buchmeaen, vol. i., Strasburg, 1902; J. w. Lightley, Les Scribes . . . lour origine ches lea Iarahlitea, Cabors, 1905; DB, iv. 420-423; EB, iv. 4321-29; JE, m. 123-128; DCG, ii. 582-584; and the literature under PHARIsEEB AND SADDDCEEB.
SCRIPTORIS, scrip-to'ris, PAUL: Scholastic theologian; b. at Weil (14 m. w. of Stuttgart) about 1450; d. at the monastery of Kaisersberg in Upper Alsace Oct. 21, 1505. At an early age he entered the order of the Minorites of the strict observance, and was educated at Paris, where he became a firm adherent of Scotistic realism. In this spirit he labored first, apparently, at Mainz and later at Tabingen, where he was guardian of the Franciscan monastery until 1501. Although not connected with the university, he lectured in his monastery on the " Sentences " of Duns Scotus, the throngs that came to hear him including Thomas Wyttenbach, Johann von Staupitz (qq.v.), and other leaders of nascent Protestantism. These lectures, entitled Lecbura fratris Pauli Scriptoria . . . quam edidit declarando subtiliasimas doctoris subtilis sententim et`rca Magistrum in primo liber, constituted the first book printed at Tabingen (1498), and amply prove that, while their author foresaw the coming of a new r6gime in which scholasticism should yield place to patristics, he was neither a humanist nor, as some have claimed, a "Reformer before the Reformation." Acquainted with Greek, although not employing his knowledge in Biblical studies, Scriptoris also lectured on the cosmography of Ptolemy and on Euclid. He was likewise active as a preacher in the vicinity of Reutlingen and Horb, but his merciless castigations exposed him to the censure of the Tabingen theologians, and complaints were lodged against him with his provincial, particularly as he was unpopular with his monks. In 1501 he was removed from office. Henceforth he was obliged to restrict himself to literary labors in the monastery at Basel, later being required to defend his views before his superiors at Zabern. He escaped, however, possible imprisonment and went to Rome to lay his cause before the Curia. Returning unmolested, he was directed by the Franciscan vicar general to teach theology in Toulouse, but died while on the way to take up his new office.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: N. Paulus, in TQS, 1893, pp. 289-311; J. J. Moser, Vita; profeeaorum Tubingensium, pp. 80-88, Tiibingen, 1718; ADB, =iii. 488 189.
SCRIPTURE, READING OF, IN WORSHIP. See PERICOPES.
SCRIVENER, scriv'ner, FREDERICK HENRY AMBROSE: Church of England, New-Testament scholar; b. at Bermondsey, London, Sept. 29, 1813; d. at Hendon (8 m. n.w. of London), Middlesex, Oct.