Stier was an intense and resolute character, and not naturally sympathetic. An unyielding and stern con- troversialist, his bearing intensified the opposition al- ready excited against him in the ecclesiastical \vt)rkl by his earnest advocacy of the union of the Lutheran and Reformed churches and by his suspected leanings towards Pietism. As a theologian, he suffered from the lack of adequate preparation in early life. He threw himself into the study of the Scrijitures while deficient in philosophical and theological, and even philological training, and accordingly developed a pru<iish Biblicism which fails to recognise the necessity for a development of Church doctrine beyond the formal limits of the Word. He was primarily a Biblical theologian, and his principal works are exegetical. His theory of the in- spiration of the Scriptures is peculiar. He believed tlie Bible to convey the thoughts of the Holy Spirit, not those of the different writers ; but the inspiration docs not apply to words, but rather to the Woi-d. " We pos- sess what He spoke. Not indeed in the letter of the verba ipsissinui, but as mediated through the testi- mony of the evangelists and elevated into the Spirit." He accordingly denied any inaccuracies whatever in the general tenor of Scripture, and yet conceded the oc- currence of inaccuracies in minor jiarticulars. jMatthew did not combine into a single discourse what the Lord uttered at different times, because the Holy Ghost could not guide and instruct him to record any untruth what- soever for the Church; on the other hand he writes: "Once only did Luke mistake by introducing a saying from another place (v, 4o\" Thoroughly convinced that the Holy (ihost is anctor prinxnirts of the Script- ures, he was not greatly concerned about the canonici- ty of its human authors. He cf)uld not, however, ig- nore history altogether. He was a mystic, but of the rational class which believes in harmonizing the inter- nal testimony of the Sjiirit with the external witness of history. Following the older interpretation, he re- ceived the authenticity of the whole of Isaiah and of 2 I'eter on internal grouiuls alone and without being disturbed by philological or other scientific reasonings. In this instance the critical faculty was compelled to give place to his dei)en<leiice on ecclesiastical tradition and the felt religious necessity of regarding the wliole of the Bible as the regularly attested word of (iod. Other defects to be noticed in his exegetical works are
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a lack of doctrinal consistency and of comprehensibili- ty, the reason being, very generally, tliai tlie argument moves in figures and images, wliile the underlying thought is not always brought into view. IJut, with all his defects, " Stier is known as an interpreter wher- ever the evangelical Church extends." His chief work in this department is the Redeii Jinn, which lias been ■widely circulated in Germany, England, and America. In practical theohxjy he likewise rendered important services, notably in the publishing of his Bildische Ke- ryktik and in his contributions to the literature of cate- chetics. Hymnology and liturgies also engaged his attention, and his interest in them is attested by the issue of several volumes in tliese departments. He committed to writing all his thoughts, beliefs, and dis- coveries. In early life he had already jilanned a large number of works to be written in the course of his life, and most of them were, in time, actually written. Af- ter his death, a card containing a list of eleven books yet to be written was found, among them an Old-Test. Christology in Germ and in Brief; Doctrine of the New Te^t. in the New Test, itself; iSurenhusius Redivivus ; Exposition of all New-Test. Quotations from the Old Test., etc. Stier's published works are : in exegetical science, Lehr^ebdude der hebrditchen Sprache (1833): — Andeuttingenjur r/lditbif/es Schrifti^erstdndniss (1824- 29 ) : — 70 A usyewdlilte I'salmen ( 1834, 2 ]3ts. ) : — com- mentaries on the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistle of James, the Epistle to the Ephesians, and the Epistle of Jude; on the prophet Isaiah, and on the Reden .lesii. All these form a mine of wealthy ideas for lireachers, and have been very widely circulated. The last named was his principal work and was repub- lished in extract in 1857, to which were added in 1859 Reden des Herrn vom Jlimmel her, and in 1860 Reden der Engel. These have been published com- plete in an English dress (N. Y. 18(j4, 3 vols. 8vo). Mention may also be made here of his co-operation in tlie preparation of the last edition of Von Meyers Bi- ble (1842), and of the subsequent edition of 1856 (Biele- feld), prepared wholly by himself, together with the well-known Polyglot Bible, edited by himself and Thiele. Further, of the essays in behalf of a revision of Luther's Bible, entitled A Ites und Neues in iJeiitscher Bibel (Basle, 1828) : — Darf Luther's Bibel unberichtigt bleiben? (Halle, 1836): — and Der Deutschen Bibel Berivhtigung, etc. (1861). In practical theology, homiletics, hymnology, etc., Biblische Keryktik (1830; 2d ed. 1844): — Ecange- lien-Predigten (2d ed. 1862) : — Epistel-Predigten (2d ed. 1855) : — Privat-Agende (5th ed. 1863) : — Luther''s Kate- chisnms als Grundlage des Conjirmdndenunterrichts (6th ed. 1855) : — Hillfsbuchlein zum Kutechismus (1837, etc.) : — A volume of hymns and poems in 1825, and a second in 1845: — Gesangbuchsnoth (1838), a critique of modern liymn-books. In support of the Union, to which he was thoroughly devoted, he wrote, Bekenntniss aus der unirten Kirche (1848): — Unlutherische Thesen (1855). See a sketch of Stier's life by his son in Neue evange- lische Kirchenzeitung, 1863, No. 11 (March 14); a char- acterization of the author by Nitzsch, attached to the od edition of the Reden Jesu. — Ilerzog, Real-Enryklop. s. V. See Lacroix, Life of Rudolf Stier (N. Y. 1874).