THERAS
342
THERESA
of the 2d century before Christ, to Aristobuliis, who in- trodneed Jewish doctrines into the Orphic hymns be- cause he believed that Greek philosophers bad derived their wisdom from an ancient version of the Penta- teuch. Whether we have any traces of a connection of Greek philosophy with Jewish theology in the Septua- pint, which, according to Josei)hus, was commenced in B.C. 285, is at least very doubtful ; but certain it is that with the beginning of the 2d pre-Christian century the conditions were already given for the origin of the sect. That the sect of the Therajieutie was projjagated beyond Egypt is not probable, and its number was, perhaps, not very large.
After all, it is very interesting to know that about the time when Christ came into the world, among the Jews in Kgypt the desire was felt to come into a nearer relation to tiie Deity, and to be freed from those rela- tions which were not satisfactory. The Tiierapeutre endeavored to reach this object by leaving all earthly possessions, and in this respect they resemble the Chris- tian monks, who borrowed from them many traits, as, in fact, Egypt was the real country of monasticism. But when Christians regarded them for a long time as flesh of their own flesh, they misunderstood the character and tendency of the Thcrapeutie entirely, because their whole history shows how far they were still from that goal which alone could satisfy the cravings of the heart, but which human reason and power alone cannot reach. Y. Literature. — Gfrorer, Philo und die jiidisch-alex- andrinische Theosuphie ( Stuttg. 1835 ) ; Diihne, Ge- schichtliche Darstellung der jiidisch - olexandrinische/i Relic/ions-Philosophie (Halle, 1834) ; Kuenen, Be Gods- dienst van Israel (Haarlem, 1870), ii, 382 sq. (Engl, transl. by May, The Religion of Israel [Lond. 1874 sq.]); Ritschl, Zf/e Entstehiinrj der altlcatholiscken Kirche (Bonn, 1857), p. 216; Herzfeld, Geschiclite des Volkes Israel (Leips. 1863), iii, 496 ; Delaunay, Eci'its Histo- riques de Pliilon (Par. 1870), p. 55; id. Moines et Sihylles (ibid. 1874), p. 385; Baur, Drei Abhandlunr/en zur Ge- schichte der alien Philosophie (Leips. 1876), p. 216; Schwegler, Das nachapostolische Zeitalter (Tiib. 1846), i. 190; Lutterbeck, Die neutestamentlichen Lehrhegriffe (^lentz, 1852), i, 131, 271; \Yegnern, Ueber das Ver- hdltniss des Chri<itenthmns zum J'Jssenismus, in Illgen's Zeitsch.f. d. hist. Theol. 1841, xi, 2, 1 sq.; Leroux, En- cyrlopedie Nourelle (Par. 1843), iv, 656 sq. ; Bauer, Christus nnd die Cdsaren ( Berl. 1879), p. 307 sq. ; Griitz, Geschichte der .Ivden, 2d ed. iii, 464 sq. ; Jost, Gesck. des Judenthums, i, 224; Nicolas, Revue de The- ologie ( Strasb. 1868 ), p. 36 sq. ; Derenbourg, Jom-nul Asiatique (Par. 1868), p. 282 sq. ; Renan, Journal des Savants (ibid. 1874), p. 798 sq. ; Clemens, Die Thera- peuten (Kfinigsb. 1869) ; Lucius, Die Therapeuten und ihre Stelliing in der Geschichte der Askese. Eine kri- tische Untersuchvng der Schrift de Vita Contemplativa (Strasb. 1880). The last writer comes to the conclu- sion that the Therapeuta; were not Jews, and that the treatise bearing the name of Philo was written towards the end of the 3d century as an apology for Christian asceticism. (B. P.)
The'ras (Bspa), a corrupt Greek form (1 Esdr. viii, 41, 61) of the name Hebraized (Ezra viii, 21, 31) Aha- NA (q. v.).
Theremin, Li-nwio FRtKOERicn Franz, a cele- iirated < kruian ])reacher and professor, was born at (Jramzow, ^[arch 19, 1780. He was of Huguenot ex- traction, his family having emigrated from France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and his father was the pastor of the French congregation in the town where Franz was born. After suitable preparation, the htter w^as ordained at Geneva in 1805, and in 1810 was chosen by the French congregation at Berlin to be its pastor. This post he exchanged, Dec. 29. 1814, for that of preacher to the court. In 1824 he was made a mem- ber of the high consistory and lecturer in the department of instruction of the ministrj^ of worship; and in the same
year the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by the University of Greifswalde. In 1839 he add- ed to his former dignities that of extraordinary, and in 1840 that of ordinary, honorary, professor in the Univer- sity of Berlin. He lectured on homiletics, and estab- lished a homiletical seminary in his house, devoting himself to the guidance of the latter with an enthusiasm which increased steadily, in proportion as physical in- tirmities restricted the range of his activity as a preach- er. A cataract formed over one of his eyes, and gave rise to the apprehension that he would become totally blind ; but he was relieved from such fear by death, which came to him quietly and gently Sept. 26, 1846. His wife had preceded him into the eternal world by more than twenty years. A son and an unmarried daughter survived him.
Theremin was the representative of a specific homi- letical tendency which held that classical antiquity is the true school of eloquence and claimed Demosthenes as its master. Its characteristic was that it devoted exclusive attention to Hnished perfection of form, and consequently had nothing in common with that rugged German school of eloquence of which Luther is the rep- resentative, and whose peculiarity it is that " out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh" and shapes its own forms of expression. Not Luther or Harms, but Massillon, was Theremin's ideal; for Theremin's mind was in its structure not German, but French. This pe- culiarity may partially explain the fact that Theremin did not found a school of pulpit orators in any actual sense; while Reinhard, to whom he was unquestionably superior, had numerous imitators. Theremin's funda- mental principle in homiletics was that eloquence is not an art, but a virtue (see his work Beredsamkeit eine Tti- gemV). The idea is evidently faulty, since eloquence is not, like other virtues, a duty ; nor is the use of elo- quence confined altogether to the promotion of ethical results. As a preacher he was accustomed to use brief texts, and consequently to employ considerable latitude in the handling of his themes, often dragging in ex- traneous matter, instead of educing it from the text. His bearing in the pulpit was that of quiet dignity; his gestures were few and simple, his voice good, his modidation perfect. The finish of his productions, how- ever, produced the impression of an aristocratic refine- ment, which, though evidently altogether natural in his case, prevented the achieving of such popular results as were secured by Luther, Heinrich jNIiiller, Conrad Rieger, L. Hofacker, and others. Ten volumes of his Sermons have been published, most of them in repeated editions (Dimcker and Humblot, Berlin). Other works of theo- logical and ascetical character emanated from his pen, and have received deserved recognition, e. g. Lehre vom gvttl. Reiche (Berlin, 1823) : — .1 dalbert's Bekenntnisse (2d ed. 1835): — Abendstunden (5th ed. 1858). See Herzog, Real-Eiici/klop. s. v.