DIALOGUS DE RECTA IN DEUM FIDE: A
dialogue directed against the errors of the Marcionites, Bardesanites, and Valentinians. From the use of the name Adamantius for the speaker who maintains the orthodox position, it has passed under his name — a proof that the real author was
RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
De Wette Dickinson
unknown. The fact that Origen bore this name led Basil and Gregory of Nyssa to attribute the dialogue to him, and this view was wide-spread in the Middle Ages; but on both internal and external evidence it is untenable. The work was composed (according to i. 21) in a time of persecution; but the text was altered later (probably between 330 and 337) to suit changed circumstances. In the first of the five parts the discussion turns on the theory proposed by the Marcionite Megethius of three principles — the good God, the demiurge, and the evil principle. Megethius attempts in a large number of antitheses to show a distinction between the Old Testament Creator and the good God of the New. These the author probably took from an anti-Marcionite treatise, probably that used by Irenseus and Tertullian and identified with good reason with a lost treatise of Theophilus of Antioch. For the second dialogue, in which the Marcionite Marcus develops his extreme theory of a good God and an evil demiurge, the author had probably looked into Marcion's New Testament. In the third part, the Bardesanite Maximus brings up the questions of the origin of evil, the incarnation of the Word, and the resurrection of the body. For the first of these, which extends through the third and fourth dialogues, considerable parts are taken literally from the dialogue of Methodius of Olympus (q.v.) on the freedom of the will, unless both Methodius and this author borrowed alike from a treatise on matter purporting to have been written by Maximus. The fifth dialogue deals with the resurrection, and here again borrows from the Aglaophon of Methodius. The work was probably written in Syria, most likely at Antioch. It displays no great literary art.
(Erwin Preuschen.)
Bibliography: The editio princeps, by J. R. Wetstein, Basel, 1674, is also in C. E. Lommatzsch, Origenis . . Opera, xvi. 254 sqq., Berlin, 1844, and MPG. x. The latest ed. is by Van de S. Bakhuyzen, Berlin, 1901. The Lat. transl. by Rufinus is edited by C. P. Caspari, Kirchenhistorische Anecdota, pp. 1 sqq., cf. pp. iii.-v., Christiania, 1883. Consult: T. Zahn, in ZKG, ix (1888), pp. 193-239; idem, Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, II. ii. 409-426, Leipsic, 1891; Kruger, History, pp. 245- 247; DCB, i. 39-41.
DIASPORA (Gk. "a scattering, dispersion "): A term used in the New Testament and other literature about the beginning of the Christian era to denote the Jews living outside of Palestine after the Captivity (see Israel); also applied to the Christians as the spiritual Israel among those of other faiths (Jas. i. 1; I Pet. i. 1; cf. Schiirer, Geschichte, Eng. transl., II. ii. 31). The Moravians used the word to signify their friends living apart from them and in spiritual union with them, but not officially and constitutionally belonging to them. In modern German usage the term signifies any people living scattered among those of another faith, and more particularly a Protestant minority in a Roman Catholic region.
Special conferences have been instituted to increase the efficiency of the Diaspora pastor; e.g., the Conference of Rhenish Prussia, founded in 1858; the Conference of Posen, 1860; that of the
Middle Rhine, 1868; of Westphalia, 1871; and of Upper Swabia, 1882. See Gotteskasten, Lutherischer; and Gustav-Adolp-Verein.
(Theodor Schafbr.) DIATESSARON, dai"[or di"]a-tes'a-ren. See Tatian; and Harmony of the Gospels.
DIAZ, JUAN. See Spain, The Reformation in.
DIBELIUS, di-be'li-us, FRANZ WILHELM: German Lutheran; b. at Prenzlau (58 m. n.e. of Berlin) Jan. 6, 1847. He studied in Berlin, was assistant pastor at the Berlin cathedral and inspector of the institute for the training of canons 1871-74, and pastor of the Annenkirche, Dresden, 1874-84. Since 1884 he has been city superintendent and first pastor of the Kreuzkirche in Dresden, and is also a councilor of the high consistory. His writings include: Gottfried Arnold (Berlin, 1873); Die Einfiihrung der Reformation in Dresden (Dresden, 1889); Die Kreuzkirche in Dresden (1900); and Vom heiligen Kreuz (1903). He has edited Beitrdge zur sdchsischen Kirchengeschichte since 1882.
DICK, THOMAS : Scotch Secession Church; b. at Dundee Nov. 24, 1774; d. at Broughty Ferry (5 m. e. of Dundee) July 29, 1857. He studied at Edinburgh, and preached as a probationer for two years (1803-05); taught school for twenty years at Methven and Perth, and after 1827 devoted himself entirely to literature. He wrote a number of scientific, philosophical, and religious works in popular style, which had a large sale. Perhaps the best known were: The Christian Philosopher, or the Connection of Science and Philosophy with Religion (London, 1823); The Philosophy of a Future State (1828); Celestial Scenery, or the Wonders of the Heavens Displayed (1838); The Sidereal Heavens (1840); The Solar System (1840); and The Practical Astronomer (1845).
DICKEY, SAMUEL: Presbyterian; b. at Oxford, Pa., Nov. 27, 1872. He studied at Princeton (B.A., 1894), Princeton Theological Seminary (1897), and the universities of Berlin, Marburg, Erlangen (1897-99), Athens (1901), and Jena (1904). He was professor of classical and Hellenistic Greek at Lincoln University, Pa., 1899- 1903 ; adjunct professor of New-Testament hterature and exegesis at McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, 1903-05; full professor since 1905.
DICKINSON, JONATHAN: Presbyterian; b. at Hatfield, Mass., Apr. 22, 1688; d. at Elizabeth, N. J., Oct. 7, 1747. He was graduated at Yale in 1706, and in 1709 settled at Elizabeth (then called Elizabethtown). He covered an extensive field as preacher, serving regularly six or seven congregations. He was a man of general culture and read and practised medicine, in addition to his pastoral work. As a scholar and wise leader he was not excelled in the American Presbyterian Church in his time, and his name stands out in the early Presbyterian history of the middle colonies much as that of Jonathan Edwards does m New England. A strong Calvinist, he opposed a rigid subscription to the Westminster standards as a test of ordination. He was prominent m the adoption of the so-called Adopting Act of 1729
Dickinson Didache