THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
(1835-54), and selections at Heilbronn (7 vols., 1840-44) and Vienna (2 vols., 1846). Single works are accessible in many editions (Judas der Erz- Schelm, Stuttgart, 1882; Auf, auf, ihr Christen, Vienna, 1883). (E. Steinmeyeb.)
Bibliography: T. G. von Karajan, Abraham a Sancta Clara, Vienna, 1867; W. Scherer, Vortrage und Aufsatze zur Geschichte des geistlichen Lebens in Deutschland und Oesterreich, Berlin, 1874; H. Mareta, Ueber Judas den Erzschelm, Vienna, 1875; A. Silberstein, Denksaulen im Gebiete der Cultur und Literatur. Abraham a Sancta Clara, ib. 1879; E. Schnell, Pater Abraham a Sancta Clara, Munich, 1895; C. Blanckenburg, Studien uber die Sprache Abrahams a Sancta Clara, Halle, 1897.
ABRAHAM ECCHELLENSIS, ek"el-en'sis: A learned Maronite; b. at Eckel, Syria, in the latter part of the sixteenth century; d. at Rome in 1664. He was educated in the college of the Maronites at Rome and was promoted to doctor of philosophy and theology. For a time he was professor of Arabic and Syriac at Pisa, and afterward at Rome, where he was called by Urban III. He was one of the first to promote Syriac studies in Europe, and his Syriac grammar (Rome, 1628) was long used. In 1640 he was called to Paris by Le Jay to assist in the Paris Polyglot. The Arabic and Syriac texts for this work had been entrusted to Gabriel Sionita, a Maronite professor at Paris, who performed his work in an unsatisfactory manner. Abraham agreed to undertake the books of Ruth, Esther, Tobit, Judith, Baruch, and Maccabees, on the ground that he possessed better codices than Gabriel. The latter, however, took offense; whereupon Abraham resigned the work and returned to Rome (1642), having edited only the books of Ruth and III Maccabees. He was attacked in four letters (Paris, 1646) by Valerien de Flavigny, who wrote on the side of his friend Gabriel, and a sharp controversy ensued (cf. A. G. Masch, Bibliotheca sacra, Halle, 1778, p. 358). During a second residence in Paris (1645-53) Abraham taught at the Sorbonne, and published the concluding volume of an edition of the works of St. Anthony (1646; vol. i., containing the letters, had appeared in 1641), as well as Catalogus librorum Chaldmorum auctore Hebed Jesu (1653) and Chronicon orientate (1653), a history of the patriarchate of Alexandria, translated from the Arabic of Ibn al-Rahib, with an appendix treating of Arabia and the Arabs before Mohammed. In 1653 he returned to Rome. He published two works in answer to the views of John Selden (q.v.) concerning the early position of the episcopate, viz., De origine nominis papa; (Rome, 1660) and Euty chins patriarcha Alexandrinus vindicatus (1661). (A. Jeeemias.)
Bibliography: For his life consult J. S. Ersch and J. G. Gruber, Allgemeine Encyclopadie der Wissenschaften, i. 30, 360, Leipsic, 1818; Biographic universelle ancienne etmoderne, xii. 457-458, Paris, 1814.
ABRAHAMITES : A deistic sect which appeared in the district of Pardubitz, eastern Bohemia, after 1782. They claimed to hold to the faith of Abraham before his circumcision; rejected most of the Christian doctrines, but professed belief in one God, and accepted, of the Scriptures, only the Decalogue and the Lord's Prayer. The government took measures against them, and they were
soon suppressed. The name was also applied to the followers of one Abraham (Ibrahim) of Antioch at the beginning of the ninth century; they were charged with idolatrous and licentious practises, probably on insufficient grounds, and may have been related to the Paulicians. Bibliography: [P. A. Winkopp], Geschichte der bbhmischen Deisten, Leipsic, 1785; J. G. Meusel, Vermischte Nachrichten und Bemerkungen, Erlangen, 1818; H. Gregoire, Histoire des sectes religieuses, v. 419 sqq., 6 vols., Paris, 1828-45.
ABRAHAMS, ISRAEL: English rabbinical scholar and author; b. at London Nov. 26, 1858. He was educated at Jews' College and University College, London (M.A., 1881). After teaching at Jews' College for several years, he was appointed senior tutor there in 1900, but in 1902 accepted a call to Cambridge as reader in Talmudic and Rabbinic Literature. He has been a member of the Committee for Training Jewish Teachers, the Committee of the Anglo-Jewish Association, was the first president of the Union of Jewish Literary Societies, and has been successively honorary secretary and president of the Jewish Historical Society.
Abrahams has been one of the editors of the Jewish Quarterly Review since 1889, and contributes each week to the Jewish Chronicle. His works include Aspects of Judaism (London, 1895; in collaboration with Claude G. Montefiore); Jewish Life in the Middle Ages (1896); Chapters on Jewish Literature (1899); Maimonides (Philadelphia, 1903; in collaboration with D. Yellin); and Festival Thoughts (London, 1905-06).
ABRAHAMSON, LAURENTIUS GUSTAV: Lutheran; b. at Medaker, Sweden, Mar. 2, 1856. He was educated at the public schools of his native country, and at Augustana College and Theological Seminary (Rock Island, 111.), graduating in 1880. He entered the Lutheran ministry in the same year, and in 1886 was called to the pastorate of the Salem Lutheran Church, Chicago, where he has since remained. He was associate editor of Augustana, the official organ of the Augustana Synod, from 1885 to 1896, and for six years was president of the Illinois Conference of the same synod. He is also a member of the board of directors of Augustana College and Theological Seminary, president of the board of directors of Augustana Hospital, Chicago, a member of the board of missions of the Augustana Synod and the Illinois Conference, and was a delegate to the International Lutheran World's Congress at Lund, Sweden, in 1901 . In 1894 he received the Swedish decoration of Knight Royal of the Order of the Polar Star from King Oscar II. In theology he belongs to the historic Evangelical Lutheran Church, and adheres to its original unaltered creeds. He has written Jubel Album (Chicago, 1893).
ABRASAX, ab'ra-sax (ABRAXAS, ab-rax'as).
Various Explanations (§ 1). The Abrasax Gems (§ 2).
Abrasax (which is far commoner in the sources than the variant form Abraxas) is a word of mystic meaning in the system of the Gnostic Basilides, being there applied to the " Great