THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
professor of the same subject at Strasburg. He has written Studien zur Texikritik der Vulgata (Leipsic, 1894); Die urchristlichcn Gemeinden (1902; Eng. transl. by G. Bremner, London, 1904); Ostern und Pfingsten, eine kritische Studie zu I Kor. XV. (Leipsic, 1903); Probleme des apostolischen Zeitcdters (1904); and Das apostolische Zeitalter (Halle, 1905).
DOCETISM, do-si'tizm: A heresy which appears in the most varied forms and aspects, but may be generally defined as the theory which would merge the truth and reality of Christ's human nature in a mere fantom. The Docetse, as a distinct sect, are mentioned by Clement of Alexandria (Strom., iii. 13; vii. 17), who names as the founder Julius Cassianus (see Encratites); by Serapion of Antioch (Eusebius, Hist, eccl., vi. 12); and by Hippolytus {Philosophoumena, viii. 8-11; cf. x. 16). The latter has preserved a detailed record of these sectaries, which on the whole may be trustworthy, but can not be considered entirely reliable. Their fundamental idea is that current in the Gnostic systems. The aim is to describe the divine process of development, the history of the spirit of God, who, himself forever the same, suffered himself to be limited by a material existence in order to withdraw himself from it as fruit. From the first arche, which appears here under the image of the seed of the fig, out of which develops the world-tree, emanate at first three, finally thirty eons. They form the intelligible nature {he noete physis), pure light, comprising in itself the primitive forms {tas apeiroiLS ideas) of all living. Its light shines into the chaos, and becomes the cause of everything created because it impresses the everlasting ideas upon that which has been formed. To separate darkness from light, the third of the primeval eons created the firmament, the stereOvia (Gen. i. 5). It separated itself as living fire, and became the great archon, the god of fire, who spoke out of the bush, the lord over the ideas who had confined them in the bodies and made them wander as souls when they grew cold therein. To redeem these and to end their wandering, the " only begotten son," produced by the thirty eons, came upon this earth. He took upon himself the extremest darkness, the flesh, and was born of Mary. In the water of the Jordan this Jesus received the seal of the body born of the virgin, so that, after putting off the body created by the archon and being nailed to the cross, his soul maynot befound naked, but be enabled to put on the soma anti tes sarkos ekeines (cf . John iii. 5, 6), imprinted in the water of baptism. The human souls, all somehow related to Jesus, exert themselves for him in different ways. So the different sects can know their own Jesus only in part; the Docetse alone know the whole Jesus.
G. KrOger.
Biblioohapht: G. Salmon, in Hermathena, xi (1885), 389- 402; idem, in DCB, i. 865-870 (valuable); E. W Holier, GesckichU der Koamologie, pp. 323-335, Halle, 1860; A. Hilgenfeld, Ketzergeschichte de» Urchriatenluma, pp. 546- 550, Leipsic, 1884; H. Staehelin, in TU. vi. 3, 1891; L. Pullan, The Church of (he Fathers, pp. 46, 51, New York, 1905; Harnack, Dogma, i. 256-259, ii. 276 sqq., 370, iii. 16, IV, 138 sqq. et passim. Consult also the literature under HiPPOLTTCa.
DOCTOR: The Latin word for "teacher," employed in various ways in academic and ecclesiastical usage. The Doctors of the Church {Doctores ecdesice) are certain of the Church Fathers (q.v.) who bear the title by " express declaration of the Church " (i.e., conferred by the pope or by a general council) because of their " orthodox teaching, holiness of life, and eminent erudition." As early as 1298 the following had thus been pronounced Doctors of the Church: of the Greek Fathers, Athanasius, Basil the Great, Gregory Nazianzen, Chrysostom, and Cyril of Alexandria; of the Latins, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory the Great. Since 1298 the names have been added of Hilary of Poitiers, Petrus Chrysologus, Leo the Great, Isidore of Seville, Peter Damian, Anselm of Canterbury, Bernard of Clairvaux, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventura, Francis of Sales, and Alfonso de' Liguori.
The title " doctor " with a descriptive adjective or equivalent expression was also popularly given to many scholars or churchmen of the Middle Ages, including some who filled no professorial positions. Some of the commoner of these titles with the name of the bearer are as follows: Doctor admirabilis, Roger Bacon; doctor angelicus, communis, or cherubicus, Thomas Aquinas; doctor beatus et fundatissimus, .^gidius de Columna; doctor christianissimus, Jean Gerson; doctor ckristianus, Nicholas of Cusa; doctor doctorum, Anselm of Laon; doctor evangelicus, John Wyclif; doctor illuminatus, Raymond LuUy; doctor illuminatus et sublimis, Johannes Tauler; doctor invincibilis et singularis, William of Occam; doctor irrefragabilis, Alexander of Hales; doctor marianus, Anselm of Canterbury and Duns Scotus; doctor mellifluus, Bernard of Clairvaux; doctor planus et utilis, Nicholas of Lyra; doctor resolutissimus, William Durand; doctor scholasticus, Abelard, Peter Lombard, and others; doctor seraphicus, Bonaventura; doctor subtilia. Duns Scotus; doctor universalis, Albertus Magnus. For more complete list cf. the KL, iii. 1867-69.
DOCTRINAIRES, dec"tri"narz. See Christian Doctrine, Society of.