RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
JJidache Didymus
logueSt ib. 1891; L. Ducros, Diderot, Vhomme et Vecrivain, ib 1894; J- Reinach, Diderot, ib. 1894; M. Tourneux, Diderot et Catherine 11., ib. 1899; KL, iii. 1704-13.
DIDON, di"deh', HENRI: Dominican; b. at Touvet (16 m. n.e. of Grenoble) Mar. 17, 1840; d. at Toulouse Mar. 13, 1900. In 1856 he entered the Dominican Order, and in 1861 went to Rome to complete his education. He was professor of theology in various Dominican monasteries, and in 1866 was Lenten preacher in London. In 1868-69 he was stationed at Nancy. He took part in the conferences at Marseilles in 1871-76, but his views favoring divorce resulted in his confinement for a year and a half in the convent of Corbara, Corsica. From 1890 until his death he was the director of the College Albert-le-Grand in Arcueil. He was famous for his pulpit eloquence. His writings include L' Enseignement superieur et les univer sites catholiques (Paris, 1876); La Science sans Dieu (1878; Eng. transl. by R. Corder, London, 1882); Indissolubilite et divorce (1880); Les Allemands (1884; Eng. transl. by R. L. de Beaufort, London, 1884); Vie de Jesus-Christ (2 vols., 1891; Eng. transl., London, 1891); La Foi en la divinite de Jesus-Christ (1894; Eng. transl., London, 1894); Deux probltmes religieux : Conferences de Nancy, 1868-69 (1896); L'J^ducation presente (1898); and the posthumous Lettres a, Mile. Th. V (1900) and Lettres a un ami (1902). Bibliography: Roibfere, Un Maine moderne, Paris, 1900;
A. de Coulanges, Le Pire Didon, ib. 1900; P. Gaffre, Le
Phe Didon, ib. 1902; J. de Komano, Henri Didon, ib. 1903;
and St. Raynaud, Le Ph-e Didon, sa vie et son ceuvre,
ib. 1904.
DIDYMUS, THE BLIND, OF ALEXANDRIA:
One of the last teachers and masters of the Alexandrian catechetical school (see Alexandria, School of) and one of the most learned men of his time; b. probably 313; d. probably 398 (Palladius, Hist. Laus., iv.; Jerome, Z)e vir. ill., cix.). He lost his sight when a child, but his excellent memory and great gifts enabled him to obtain much secular and religious learning (Rufinus, Hist, eccl., ii. 7). For more than fifty years he labored in the catechetical school, and among his pupils were Jerome and Rufinus. Thoroughly orthodox on the trinitarian question, he had the misfortune of being suspected of Origenism. That he was condemned by the Fifth General Council (Second Constantinople, 553) for heresy is indeed not proved (cf. Hefele, ii. 859 sqq.; Eng. transl., iv. 294 sqq.), but the sixth and seventh councils (Third Constantinople and Second Nicaa, 680 and 787) rejected his supposed heresies. Of his dogmatic and exegetical writings the following are extant either wholly or in part, in the original or in translation: (1) " On the Trinity," 3 books composed in 379 or later; (2) a " Book on the Holy Spirit," extant in Jerome's translation (printed among Jerome's works, MPL, xxiii. 101-154), considered one of the best works of the ancient Church on the subject; (3) " Against the Manicheans," incomplete in the original, a refutation of Manicheism on logical and metaphysical grounds; (4) exegetical works, fragments of expositions of Genesis, Exodus, Samuel, Kings, Psalms, John, Acts, II Corinthians, and an exposition of the Catholic epistles
extant in the translation of Epiphanius Scholasticus (q.v.). The genuineness of this translation has been questioned by E. Klostermann {TV, new series, xiii. 2, Leipsic, 1905) on the basis of the Greek fragments printed by J. A. Cramer in CatencB in epistolas catholicas (Oxford, 1840). Of the lost writings the most noteworthy is the "Notes on Origen's 'Principles.'" Didymus was probably also the author of the last two books of the work against Eunomius ascribed to Basil the Great (cf. F. X. Funk, Kirchengeschiclitliche Ahhandlungen, ii., Paderborn, 1899, 291-329). Recently K. Holl {ZKG, XXV., 1904, 380-398) has claimed for Didymus the treatise Adversus Arium et Sabellium, ascribed to Gregory of Nyssa (in MPG, xlv. 1281 sqq.). G. Kruger.
Bibliography: The works of Didymus are in AI PG, xxxix. Consult: J. A. Mingarelli, De Didymi commentariis, Bologna, 1709, reprinted MPG, xxxix. 139-216; H. E. F. Guericke, De schola quw Alexandrice floruit, i. 92-97, ii. 83-95, 332-378, Halle, 1824-25; G. C. F. Luecke, Quaestiones ac vindicice Didymianoe, Gottingen, 1829-32; O. Bardenhewer, Patrologie, pp. 290-293, Freiburg, 1894; T. Leipoldt, Didymus der Blinde von Alexandria, Leipsic, 1905; DCB, i. 827-829.
DIDYMUS, GABRIEL: German Reformer; b. at Annaberg (in Saxony, 18 m. s. of Chemnitz) c. 1487; d. at Torgau (in Prussian Saxony, 70 m. s.s.w. of Berlin) May 1, 1558. His family name' was Zwilling, translated Didymus. According to a doubtful tradition he studied first at Prague, but from the year 1502 pursued his studies at Wittenberg, where he joined the Augustinians. When in 1512 he matriculated in the University he had already joined the order and was an associate of Luther in the monastery. On gaining his bachelor's degree, Oct. 14, 1616, he was sent by Luther to Erfurt to continue his studies there (T. Kolde, Joh. V. Staupitz und die deutsche Augustinerkongregation, Gotha, 1879, p. 267; Luther's letter to Joh. Long, Mar. 1, 1517, De Wette, Luthers Briefe, Berlin, 1826-28, i. 62), but the following winter he returned to Wittenberg and took his master's degree Feb. 14, 1618. Nothing more is heard of him until he took the leadership among the innovators in the Augustinian monastery in the stormy days of 1521. He entered the pulpit, manifesting a spirit like Carlstadt's; a great sensation was made by his sermon of Oct. 6, in which for hours he inveighed against the worship and sacrifice of the host and the private mass, demanded that the Eucharist be served in both kinds, and declared that he would never read another mass {CR, i. 460; ZKG, iv. 325 sqq.). The "little insignificant one-eyed man " could hold his hearers, who saw in him another Luther; even Melanchthon was fascinated by him (TSK, 1885, 134). His appeal was successful, for the next Sunday the mass ceased to exist in the monastery — and the exodus of the monks followed. About Christmas Didymus began to preach the Reformation at Wittenberg. He went to Eilenburg, where in layman's garb he preached against the old worship, celebrated the Lord's Supper in German, putting cup and bread into the hands of the communicants {ZKG, v., 1882, 327). On Friday, Jan. 10, 1522, he preached in Wittenberg against images (ZKG,
SJItaryLaws of the Hebrews THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
V. 331 sqq.), and dared even to denounce from the pulpit Justus Jonas and Amsdorf. He wa.s the associate of Carlstadt, but was also the first to submit to Luther's leadership on tlie latter's return (Luther's letter to W. Link, Mar. 19, 1522, De ^^'ette, Luthers Briefe, ii. 156). Called to Altenburg on Luther's recommendation Apr. 17,
1522 (De Wette, Luthers Briefe, ii. 183 sqq.), he was compelled to leave, after a few months' useful service, on account of the Eilenburg events, when he returned to Diiben. In the spring of
1523 he went to Torgau, where he thenceforth labored, respected and defended by Luther (De Wette, Luthers Briefe, iv. 581; v. 76, 492, 756). In the mean time he had come into conflict with the secular authorities, was deposed in 1549, but continued to live privately in Torgau and remained chaplain to the mother and wife of the Elector Moritz until his death. (T. Kolde.)
Bibliography: J. G. Terne, Versuch zur sufficienten Nachrichl von des Gabriel Didymus , . Leben, Leipsic, 1737; C. Knabe, Die Torgauer Visitationsordnung von 1629, Torgau, 1881; H. HsiTge, Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt, 2 vols., Leipsic, 1905, ii. 545-549 (reprints the complaint of the Augustinian monks in Wittenberg against his sermon of Oct. 6, 1521; of. i. 313, and for other references passim. Barge calls him Zwilling).
DIECKHOFF, AUGUST WILHELM: German Lutheran theologian; b. at Gottingen Feb. 5, 1823; d. at Rostock Sept. 12, 1894. In 1847 he became lecturer in the theological faculty in Gottingen, in 1850 was inaugurated lecturer there; in 1854 became extraordinary professor of systematic and historical theology, in 1860 professor of historical theology in Rostock, where he remained until his death. In the years 1860-
1. Life and 1864 he edited, with Kliefoth, the T/ieo- Character. logische Zeitschrift. Beside his academical duties, in the performance of
which his lectures on the history of evangelical doctrine during the Reformation left a lasting impression, he developed a great literary activity in the interest of a historic presentation of the genesis of the Lutheran doctrinal reform.
This began with his De Carolostadio Lutherance de servo arbitrio doctrince contra Echium defensore (Gottingen, 1850). In his first extensive work, on Die Waldenser im Mittelalter (Gottingen, 1857), he showed that the Evangelicalism of the Waldensian manuscript literature is a forgery of
2. Theolog- the seventeenth century and that in
ical doctrine they stood on the ground of Writings, medieval Catholicism, and that it was the Lutheran Reformation which first broke radically with the false medieval doctrinal development. Next appeared vol. i. of his largest work. Die evangelische Abendmahlslehre im Reformationszeitalter (Gottingen, 1854), a work which unfortunately he never completed; in this he treated of the doctrine as stated by Luther during the years 1517-23, by Carlstadt, Zwingli, Gilcolampadius, and the Swabian Syngramma. The work is of lasting value, for it treats with decisive clearness the evolution of Luther's doctrines, setting forth both their merits and their defects. That Dieckhoff did not continue this study is undoubtedly due to the fact that his interest centered
in the beginnings of the Reformation. Then too he was drawn into theological controversies. Against Hofmann he postulated that (1) faith attains certainty only in union with Scripture, (2) the content of the system of theological thought is given in the Word of God. Later he again attacked Hofmann and his school. In these otherwise valuable contributions his polemics is at times misleading and his dogmatic position confused.
The ecclesiastical-political questions of his time he studied with zealous attention. After the Vatican Council he published Schrift und Tradition (1870), a clear and convincing refutation of Catholic objections to the evangelical doctrine of Scripture as they appeared in the work of Von Ketteler, the bishop of Mainz, entitled Das allgemeine Konzil und seine Bedeutung fiir unsere Zeit (Mainz, 1869). Then came questions nearer home — school supervision by the state, treated in his Staat und Kirche (Leipsic, 1872); civil marriage, which he attacked inDte Mrchliche Trauung (Rostock, 1878) and in Civilehe und kirchliche Trauung (1880). Inthelast decade of his life he was drawn into the controversy raised in Germany by the ultra-Lutheran Missouri-Synod. In 1884, on account of a decision in favor of the Wisconsin-Synod,
3. Ecclesi- he was attacked by the Missourians, astical to whom he replied in Der missouri-
Writings. sche Prddestinationismus und die Concordienformel (1885) and Zur Lehre von der Bekehrung und die Prddestination (1886). These essays are of lasting importance since they give a clear view not only of Luther's predestinationism, but also of the teaching of the almost forgotten Lutheran theologian Laterman. On the other hand, his Inspiration und Irrthumslosigkeit der heiligen Schrift (Leipsic, 1891), directed against the Missouri extreme, brought him judicial censure. While in all these works he labored in his especial field, tracing the doctrines back to Luther's teaching, he wrote also a number of essays preparatory to these subjects. Worthy of mention are Augustins und Luthers Lehre von der Gnade (in TZ, i.), Luthers Lehre von der kirchlichen Gewalt (Berlin, 1865), and especially Der Ablasstreit (1866), wherein he showed how much Luther and the Reformation profited by the discussion about the sale of indulgences. Finally mention must be made of the work Justin, Augustin, Bernhard und Luther (Leipsic, 1882), developed from lectures in which he traced in masterly fashion the evolution of the Christian conception of the truth. He received a new inspiration from the rediscovery in 1876 of Luther's " Lectures on the Psalms." Here followed Luthers Stellung zur Kirche vor 1517 (Rostock, 1883) and Luthers Lehre in ihrer ersten Gestalt (1887), the ripest fruit of all his investigation, expounding Luther's conception of " Faith."