RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Bennett Bentley
Stuart to Scotland as her confessor in 1561; after his return to France was appointed pastor of the church of St. Eustache in Paris in 1569, and played a conspicuous part in the controversies of the Ligue as one of the leaders of the opposition to the Guises and the Ultramontanes. In 1566 he published a translation of the Bible, which, however, was little more than a reprint of the Geneva translation; it has been said that he knew little of either Hebrew or Greek. The translation was condemned by the theological faculty of the University of Paris in 1567 and by Pope Gregory XIII in 1575, and Benoist was expelled from the Sorbonne in 1572. He was reinstated by Henry IV and, to reenter the faculty, subscribed his own condemnation. He exasperated the Ultramontanes still more by maintaining that the king did not forfeit his right to the throne by professing the Protestant faith. He had influence in bringing about Henry's change of faith, and the latter made him his confessor and appointed him bishop of Troyes, but the pope refused confirmation, and in 1604 he had to renounce the office. He was a voluminous writer.
Bibliography: J. C. F. Hoefer, Biographie generate, v, 395, 46 vols., Paris, 1852—66; C. du Plessis d'Argentre\ Collectio judiciorum, II, i, 392-393, 533-534, 3 vols., Paris, 1728-36.
BENRATH, KARL: German Protestant theologian; b. at Dtiren (22 m. s.w. of Cologne) Aug. 16, 1845. He was educated at the universities of Bonn, Berlin, and Heidelberg (1864-67), and taught in his native city until 1871. From 1871 to 1875 he studied in Italy, chiefly in Rome. In 1876 he became privat-docent at Bonn and associate professor in 1879. In 1890 he was called to Konigsberg as professor of church history. He has written Bernardino Ochino von Siena (Leipsic, 1875); Die Quellen der italienischen Refonnationsgeschichte (Bonn, 1876); Geschichte der Reformation in Venedig (Halle, 1887); and Julia Gonzaga (1900). He has also edited Die Summa der heiligen Schrift, ein Zeugniss aus dem Zeitalter der Reformation (Leipsic, 1880); Luther's Schrift an den christlichen Adel deutscher Nation (Halle, 1884); and K. R. Hagenbach's Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte (6th ed., Leipsic, 1889).
BENSLY, ROBERT LUBBOCK: Orientalist; b. at Eaton (2 m. s.w. of Norwich), Norfolk, England, Aug. 24, 1831; d.at Cambridge Apr. 23, 1893. He was educated at King's College, London, and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge; studied in Germany; was appointed reader in Hebrew at Gonville and Caius College 1863; elected fellow 1876; became lecturer in Hebrew and Syriac in his college; was made professor of Arabic 1887; examiner in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament in the University of London; was a member of the Old Testament Revision Company; accompanied Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gibson on the trip to Sinai on which the palimpsest of the Syriac Gospels was discovered (see Bible Versions, A, III, 1, § 2). He has edited The Missing Fragment of the Latin Translation of the Fourth Book of Ezra, discovered and edited with an Introduction and Notes (Cambridge, 1875); contributed The Harklean Version of Ileb. xi, 28-xiii, 25 to the Proceedings of the
Congress of Orientalists of 1889; assisted in the editing of the Sinaitic palimpsest; edited IV Maccabees (to which he devoted twenty-seven years of labor), published posthumously (Cambridge, 1895); wrote Our Journey to Sinai, Visit to the Convent of St. Catarina, with a chapter on the Sinai Palimpsest (London, 1896); edited St. Clement's Epistles to the Corinthians in Syriac (London, 1899).
Bibliography: H. T. Francis, In Memoriam R. L. Bensly, Cambridge, 1893; DNB; Supplement, vol. i, 171.
BENSON, EDWARD WHITE: Archbishop of Canterbury; b. at Birmingham July 14, 1820; d. at Hawarden (6 m. e. of Chester) Oct. 11, 1896. He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A., 1852); became master at Rugby 1852; was ordained priest 1857; in 1859 was appointed first head master of Wellington College (on the border of Windsor forest, near Wokingham, Berkshire); was appointed examining chaplain by the bishop of Lincoln (Christopher Wordsworth) in 1868, prebendary of Lincoln 1869, and chancellor and residentiary canon 1872, when he resigned his mastership and took up his residence at Lincoln. In 1877 he was consecrated first bishop of Truro (Cornwall); and was translated to Canterbury in 1883. He was a man of great energy, determined, and self-reliant. His industry was unremitting, and he found time for reading and study, the fruits of which appeared in the posthumous publications Cyprian, his Life, his Times, his Work (London, 1897) and The Apocalypse (1899). His administrative ability was shown in the development of Wellington College, which was practically his creation, and the thorough and efficient organization of the new diocese of Truro, where he formed a divinity school to train candidates for holy orders, began the erection of a cathedral, and founded and strengthened schools. He was the first bishop to appoint a canon missioner. As archbishop he strove for legislation effecting reforms in church patronage and discipline; opposed and prevented the disestablishment of the Church of Wales; created, in 1886, a body of laymen to act in an advisory capacity with the convocation of his province; cultivated cordial relations with the Nestorians and other Eastern Christians, but repelled what may have been intended as an advance to his own Church from Rome. He sat as judge in the trial of Bishop King of Lincoln, charged with certain ritual offenses (1889-90), and in the judgment which he delivered produced a masterly exposition of the law of the prayer-book, based upon the entire history of the English Church. Besides the works already mentioned, a volume of Prayers, Public and Private appeared posthumously (1899), and he published during his lifetime several volumes of sermons and addresses.
Bibliography: A. C. Benson, Life of E. W. Benson, 2 vols., London, 1899, abridged ed., 1901 (by his eldest son); J. H. Bernard, Archbishop Benson in Ireland, London, 1896; DNB, Supplement, vol. i, 171-179.
BENTLEY, RICHARD: English theologian and scholar; b. at Oulton, near Wakefield (25 m. s.w. of York), Yorkshire, Jan. 27, 1662; d. at Cambridge July 14, 1742. He was the son of a black-
Bentley Berengar