RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Berthold Bestmann
We (1901); Esoteric Christianity (1901); Thought Power : Its Control and Cultivation (1901); The Religious Problem in India (Madras, 1902); The Pedigree of Man (Benares, 1903); Study in Consciousness (London, 1904); and Theosophy and New Psychology (1904). She has also translated a number of free-thought works as well as the Bhagavadgita (London, 1895), and has edited Our Corner (London, 1883-88), and, in collaboration with G. R. S. Mead, The Theosophical Review.
BESS, BERNHARD: German librarian and historian; b. at Nentershausen (near Cassel) May 19, 1863. He was educated at the universities of Marburg and Gottingen, and, after being privat-docent at the former university for several years, was appointed to his present position of librarian of the University of Halle in 1 896. In 1 902- 1903 he was also entrusted with the organization of the library of the Prussian Historical Institute at Rome. He has written Frankreichs Kirchenpolitik und der Prozess des Jean Petit (Marburg, 1891), and Luther und das landesherrliche Kirchenregiment (1894). Since 1891 he has been the editor of the Zeitschrift fur Kirchengeschichte.
BESSARION, bes-se'ri-en, JOHANNES or BASIL-
IUS: Cardinal; b. at Trebizond 1395; d. at Ravenna Nov. 19, 1472. He studied at Constantinople and at Misithra in the Peloponnesus under Gemistos Plethon; entered the Basilian order; became archbishop of Niceea in 1437. As such he labored at Ferrara and Florence, 1438-39, for the union of the Greek and Roman Churches (see Ferrara- Florence, Council of). Having been made a cardinal, he remained in Italy, by voice and pen working for the union. His house at Rome became the center not only for his fugitive countrymen, but also for the cultivation of Greek literature in the West; and during his activity as legate in Bologna, 1451-55, he worked in the same interest at that ancient gymnasium illustre. At the papal election in 1455 he lacked only a few votes of being chosen pope, and his influence in the curia may be seen from the numerous diplomatic missions with which he was entrusted. While returning from a missionary tour to France, which he had undertaken for the sake of reconciling Louis XI and the duke of Burgundy, he died at Ravenna.
K. Benrath.
Bibliography: On the works of Bessarion consult: Fabricius-Harles, Bibliolheca Grceca, x, 491, xi, 480, Hamburg, 1807-08; MPG, clxi. On his life and activities consult: Pastor, Popes, vol. iv, passim (well worth using); Creighton, Papacy, vols, ii-v, passim (gives an excellent treatment of the subject); G. Voigt, Die Wiederbelebung de> classischen Alterthums, Berlin, 1859; J. Burckhardt, Kultur der Renaissance in Italien, Basel, 1860, Eng. transl., 2 vols., London, 1878; H. Vast, Le Cardinal Bessarion, Paris, 1878; R. Rocholl, Bessarion, Leipsic, 1904.
BESSEL, GOTTFRIED: Abbot of Gottweig, near Vienna; b. at Buchhain, near Mainz, Sept. 5, 1672; d. at Gottweig Jan. 20, 1749. He studied at Salzburg, entered the Benedictine order in 1693, was ordained priest 1696, and was employed in various diplomatic negotiations by the elector of Mainz. In 1707 he converted the princess Elizabeth Christine of Brunswick to the Roman Catholic
faith, and, in 1710, her grandfather, the duke Anton Ulrich, at which time he published Quinquaginta Romanocatholicam fidem omnibus aliis prceferendi motiva (Mainz, 1708). In 1714 he became abbot of Gottweig. He prepared a chronicle of the monastery, of which only the first part, Prodromus, has been published (2 vols., Tegernsee, 1732).
BESSER, WILHELM FRIEDRICH: German preacher and theological writer; b. at Warnstedt, in the Harz, Sept. 27, 1816; d. near Dresden Sept. 26, 1884. He studied at Halle under Gesenius and Tholuck (1837), then went to Berlin, where he was influenced by Neander and Twesten, but still more by Hengstenberg, Otto von Gerlach, and others. He returned to Halle in 1838 as secretary to Tholuck, but a year later went as private tutor to the house of Major von Schenkendorf at Wulkow near Puppin. This had a decisive influence on his life, through his intercourse there with a persecuted Lutheran pastor, a guest in the house, who had such an effect on him that, at his ordination in 1841 as pastor at Wulkow, he refused to sign the Union formula except with the reservation that the Union related to common ecclesiastical organization without prejudice to the authority of the Augsburg Confession. In 1845 he withdrew his subscription, and after long negotiations was deprived of his office in 1 847 Connecting himself with the Lutheran Church of Prussia, he became pastor of Seefeld in Pomerania, and zealously supported the movement to obtain equal rights for the Lutherans with the Union. In 1853 he was called to assist Graul in the direction of the Evangelical Lutheran mission-house; but the strain of continuous teaching was not suited to his vivacious and impulsive nature, and sharp controversies broke out over the then burning question of the Indian castes, so that he returned willingly to pastoral life in 1857, becoming minister of Waldenburg in Silesia and also (1864) a member of the Lutheran superior council of Breslau. Failing health compelled him to resign his offices at Easter, 1884. His Bibelstunden, which he began to write in 1843 and continued at intervals till he had covered most of the New Testament, have had a salutary influence far beyond Germany. The list of his minor writings is a long one, and includes a number of controversial tractates against what he thought a hollow and deceiving compromise, popular biographies, devotional works, and sermons. (H. Holscher.)
Bibliography: A sketch of Besser's life appears in his Predigten und Predigtauszuge, Breslau, 1885. His autobiography (uncompleted) was continued to the year 1850 by Greve, Aus Bessers Leben, in Gotfhold, year 20, 1894- 1895, and completion is promised; cf. ALKG, 1SS4, pp. 1036-39.
BESTMANN, besfman', HUGO JOHANNES: German Lutheran; b. at Delve, Holstein, Feb. 21, 1854. He studied in Leipsic, Tubingen, Kiel, Berlin, and Erlangen (lie. theol., 1877), and was privat-docent in theology at Erlangen 1877-83. He was then instructor in the gymnasium of the orphan asylum at Halle 1883-84 and at the Missionary Seminary in Leipsic 1884-86. Since the latter year he has been pastor in Molln
Beth Bethune-Baker