CHRIST, DISCIPLES OF, CHRISTIANS. See
Disciples of Christ.
CHRIST, ORDER OF: The Knights of Jesus Christ, an order founded by King Dionysius of
Christ, Order of Christian Brothers
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Portugal in 1317, like the Spanish orders of Alcantara and Calatrava (qq.v.) under Cistercian rule and to fight against the Moors. It was endowed with property of the Templars, who had been suppressed in 1312. Papal confirmation was received from John XXII. in 1319, the grand master being made subordinate to the abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Alcoba5a. The knights gained important victories and became rich and powerful. At their cliief seat, Thomar (75 m. n.e. of Lisbon) in Estremadura, and at Batalha, twenty miles farther west, they erected magnificent buildings in pointed style, imitating the churches of the Templars in Cyprus and the Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem (cf. the Viscount de Condeixa, O mosteiro da Batalha, with French transl., Lisbon and Paris, 1892; J. Dernjac, Thomar und Batalha, in the Zeitschrift fiir bildende Kunst, new series, vi [1895], 9S-106). About 1500 Pope Alexander VI. released the order from the vow of poverty. It had then 450 commanderies and an enormous income. A reform was effected in 1550 by the Hieronymite abbot Anton of Lisbon, and confirmed by Pope Julius III. At the same time the grandmastership was formally attached to the crown, as it had been actually from the time of King Emmanuel (149.5-1521). Pius V. in 1567 removed the jurisdiction of the abbot of Alcobaga, and Gregory XIII. in 1576 granted the king supreme power over both knights and monks. The order was secularized in 1797 and its property confiscated in 1834. It is now merely an order of merit. A less important Italian Ordine di Christo was founded by Pope John XXII. about 1320. It also became an order of merit. (O. ZocKLERt.)
Bibliography: Helyot, Ordres monastiques, vi. 72-76, Paris, 1718; G. Giucci, Iconografia storica degli ordini religiosi e cavallereschi, i. 34—36, Rome, 1836; G. Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica, xviii. 210-219, Venice, 1843; Heimbucher, Orden und Kongregationen, i. 227; Currier, Religious Orders, p. 217.
CHRIST, crist, PAUL: Swiss Protestant; b. at Zurich Oct. 25, 1836; d. there Jan. 14, 1908. He was educated at the universities of Tiibingen and Basel, and after being a pastor successively in the canton of Orisons (1858-62) and at Chur, the capital of the same canton (1862-65), he was a professor in the cantonal school of Chur from 1865 to 1870. He was then pastor at Lichtensteig (1871-75) and Rheineck (1875-80), both in the canton of St. Gall, and after four years of retirement on accoimt of impaired health (1880-84) was municipal archivist at Chur (1884-87) and again professor in the cantona^ school of the same city (1887-89). Since 1889 he has been professor of systematic and practical theology at the University of Zurich. In theology he represents the speculative and liberal school. He has written Christliche Religionslehre (Zurich, 1875); Bilder aus der Geschichte der christlichen Kirche und Sitte (St. Gall, 1876); Religiose Betrachtungen (1S81); Der Pessimismus und die Sittenlehre (Haarlem, 1882); Die Lehre vom Gebet nach dem Neuen Te filament (Leyden, 1886); Die sittliche Weltordnung (1894); and Grundriss der Ethik (Berlin, 1905).
CHRISTADELPHIANS: A small sect which originated in the United States about 1850. They
call themselves Christadclphians because of the beUef that all that are in Christ are his brethren, and designate their congregations as " ecclesias " to " distinguish them from the so-called churches of the apostasy." John Thomas, the founder, a physician, born in England, came to America in 1844 and joined the Disciples of Christ. In a short time, however, he established a separate denomination, because he believed that, though the Disciples were the most " apostolic and spiritually enlightened religious organization in America," the religious teaching of the day was contrary to the teaching of the Bible.
Christadelphians reject the Trinity. They believe in one supreme God, who dwells in unapproachable light; in Jesus Christ, in whom was manifest the eternal spirit of God, and who died for the offenses of sinners, and rose for the justification of believing men and women; in one ba})tism only — immersion, the " burial with Christ in water into death to sin," which is essential to salvation; in immortality only in Christ; in eternal punishment of the wicked, but not in eternal torment; in hell, not as a place of torment, but as the grave; in the resurrection of the just and unjust; in the utter annihilation of the wicked, and in the non-resurrection of those who have never heard the Gospel, lack in intelligence (as infants), or are sunk in ignorance or brutality; in a second coming of Christ to establish his kingdom on earth, which is to be fitted for the everlasting abode of the saints; in the proximity of this second coming; in Satan as a Scriptural personification of sin; in the millennial reign of Christ on earth over the nations, during which sin and death will continue in a milder degree, and after which Christ will surrender his position of supremacy, and God will reveal himself, and become Father and Governor of a complete family; in salvation only for those who can understand the faith as taught by the Christadelphians, and become obedient to it. They have no ordained ministers. There are about sixty " ecclesias " in the United States, and a few in England, where most of their Uterature is published. H. K. Carroll.
Bibliography: Sources of doctrine are the works of the founder, generally published in pamphlet form in Birmingham and London. The principal are: Eureka, 1869; The Revealed Mystery, 1869; Who are the Christadelphians? 1869; The Book Unsealed, 1870; Phanerosis, 1870; -Uastasis, 1871; Clerical Theology Unscriptural, 1877, and Elpis Israel, West Hoboken, 1871. Also the following works by Robert Roberts: A Defence of the Faith Proclaimed in Ancient Times, . . Revived in the Christadelphians, Birmingham, 1868; Everlasting Punishment not " Eternal Torments," ib. 1871; Meaning of the Chriatadelphian Movement, London, 1872; Thirteen Lectures on the Things Revealed in . " Revelation," Birmingham, 1880; The Good Confession, ib. 1881; Dr. Thomas, his Life and Work, ib. 1884. Their organ is The Chrisladetphian, published at Birmingham, Eng. Consult H. K. Carroll, Religious Forces of the U. S., pp. 89-90, 454, New York, 1896.
CHRISTENTUMSGESELLSCHAFT, DIE DEUTSCHE ("The German Society for Christendom "): A society which had a wide influence at the end of tlic eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries. In that period of deep depression and discouragement for the Evangelical