THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
the X. T., New York, 1900; D. F. Estes, An Outline of N. T. Theology, ib. 1901; J. Bovon, Thcoloaie du N. T., 2 vols., Lausanne, 1S93-94, vol. i, 2d ed., 1902.
BIBLICISTS, BIBLICAL DOCTORS: A name sometimes given to those who, during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, demonstrated religious truths by the Scriptures and by the authority of the Fathers, in contrast to others, who abandoned Scripture and tradition in order to givo full rein to their fancy and philosophy. The most of the latter were Dominican and Franciscan monks who, since their orders held no property, had no libraries, and, owing to their unsettled and vagrant lives, had little opportunity for the study of books. Some of the Biblical doctors were scholars, and produced valuable works; but the majority of them were servile imitators of their predecessors.
BIBRA, NICHOLAS OF. See Nicholas of
BlBRA.
BICKELL, GUSTAV: German Roman Catholic theologian and Orientalist; b. at Cassel July 7, 1838; d. at Vienna Jan. 15, 1906. In 1862 he became privat-docent of Semitic and Indo-Germanic philology at Marburg, and in the following year went in the same capacity to Giessen. Two years later he became a convert to Roman Catholicism, was ordained priest in 1866, and from 1867 to 1874 taught Oriental languages in the academy of Miinster, where he was appointed associate professor in 1S71. From 1874 to 1891 he was professor of Christian archeology and Semitic languages in the University of Innsbruck, and from the latter year until his death was professor of Semitic philology at the University of Vienna. He wrote : De indole ac ratione versionis Alexandrine in interpretando libro Jobi (Marburg, 1862); Sancti Ephraemi Syri carmina Xisibena (Leipsic, 1866); Grundriss der hebraischen Grammatik (2 vols., 1869-70; Eng. transl. by S. I. Curtiss, 1877); Grunde fur die Unfehlbarkeit des Kirchenoberhauptes (Miinster, 1870); Conspectus rei Syrorum liter arice (1871); Messe und Pascha (1872, Eng. transl. by W. F. Skene, Edinburgh, 1891); Sancti Isaaci Antiocheni opera omnia (2 vols., Giessen, 1873); Kalilag und Damnag, alte syrische Uebersetzung des indischen Fiirstenspiegels (text and translation, Leipsic, 1876); Metrices biblica regular exemplis illustrates (Innsbruck, 1879); Synodi Brix 'menses saculi quindecimi (1880); Carmina Veteris Testamcnti metrica (1882); Dichtungen der Hebruer (1882); Koheleths Untersuchung iiber den Wert des Daseins (1884); and Das Buck Job nach Anlass der Strophik und der Septuaginta auf seine urspriingliche Form zuruckgefuhrt und im Versmasse des Urtextes ixbersetzt (Vienna, 1894).
BICKELL, JOHANN WILHELM: Writer on canon law; b. at Marburg Nov. 2, 1799; d. at Cassel Jan. 23, 1S48. He studied law at Marburg and Gottingen; was professor of jurisprudence at Marburg, 1824-34; president of the supreme court of Hesse-Cassel, 1841, and minister of state, 1846. He wrote Ueber die Entstehung des Corpus
Juris Canonici (Marburg, 1825); Ueber die Reform der protestantischen Kirchcnverfassung ( 1 S3 1 ) ; Ueber die Verjiflirhtung der evangel isrhen Geistlichcn auf die symbol ischen Schriften (Cassel, ]S39; 2d ed.,
1S40); of his Geschichte des Kirchenrechts , only one volume was completed (part i, Giessen, 1843; part ii, Frankfort, 1849).
BICKERSTETH, EDWARD: The name of three clergymen of the Church of England.
1. A leader of the Evangelicals; b. at Kirkby Lonsdale (60 m. n. of Liverpool), Westmoreland, Mar. 19, 1786; d. at Watton (21 m. w.s.w. of Norwich), Hertfordshire, Feb. 28, 1850. He was at first a lawyer and practised at Norwich, but he was always of deeply religious temperament and in 1815 received priest's orders and was sent to Africa by the Church Missionary Society to inspect the work there. Returning in Aug., 1816, he became one of the society's secretaries and for the rest of his life spent much time traveling in the service of the society; in 1830 he became rector of Watton. He was an active opponent of the Tractarian Movement, and was one of the founders of the Evangelical Alliance and of the Irish Church Missions Society. His published works were numerous and many were very popular; the more important (A Help to the Study of the Scriptures, 21st edition; A Treatise on Prayer, 14th edition; A Treatise on the Lord's Supper, 13th edition; A Guide to the Prophecies, 8th edition; and others) were collected in sixteen volumes (London, 1853). He also compiled Christian Psalmody (Hereford, 1833), a muchused hymn-book, and edited the Christian's Family. Library (50 vols.).
Bibliography: T. R. Birks, Memoir of E. Bickersteth, 2 vols., London, 1856 (by his son-in-law); DNB, v, 3-4.
2. Dean of Lichfield, nephew of the preceding; b. at Acton (12 m. s. by e. of Bury St. Edmund's), Suffolk, Oct. 23, 1814; d. at Leamington (80 m. n.w. of London) Oct. 7, 1892. He studied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (B.A., 1S36; M.A., 1839; D.D., 1864), and at Durham University; became curate of Chetton, Shropshire, 1S3S; at the Abbey, Shrewsbury, 1839; Penn Street, Buckinghamshire, 1849; vicar of Aylesbury and archdeacon of Buckinghamshire, 1853; honorary canon of Christ Church, Oxford, 1866; dean of Lichfield, 1875; resigned in 1892. In 1864, I860, 1869, and 1874 he was prolocutor of the lower house of convocation of Canterbury, and as such was a member of the committee of New Testament revisers. He was a High-churchman. He published Diocesan Synods in Relation to Convocation and Parliament (London, 1867); My Hereafter (1883); edited the fifth edition of R. W Evans's Bishopric of Souls (1877), with a memoir of the author; and contributed the commentary on Mark to the Pulpit Commentary (1882).
3. Bishop of South Tokyo, Japan, eldest son of Edward Henry Bickersteth (q.v.); b. at Banningham (10 m. n. of Norwich), Norfolk, June 26, 1850; d. at Chisledon (30 m. n. of Salisbury), Wiltshire, Aug. 5, 1897- He was educated at Cambridge (B.A., 1873), and was ordained priest in 1874. He was curate at Hampstead, London, 1873-75: fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, from 1875 till 1877, when he headed the Cambridge Mission for Delhi, India. In this mission he so impaired his health that he was obliged to return