RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Dowie Braconites
Lux in tenebris (n.p., 1657). To the very last his prophecies foretold the speedy downfall of Austria and the return of the Brethren. In 1671 he was seized, together with the leaders of the conspiracy of Wesseleny, with which he had had nothing to do, and was executed on a charge of lese-majesty.
(P. Kleinert.) Bibliographt: [A. Comenius], Historia revelationum, Amsterdam, 1659; G. Arnold, Kirchen- und Ketzerhistorie, iii. 353 sqq., 4 vols., Frankfort, 1700-15; P. F. Grunenberg, De Nicolao Drabitio neopropheta, Altorf, 1721; P. Kleinert, in TSK, 1898; and the literature cited under Comenius.
DRACHMAN, BERNARD: Jewish rabbi; b. in New York City June 27, 1861. He studied at Columbia College (B.A., 1882), the universities of Breslau and Heidelberg (Ph.D., 1884), and the Jewish theological seminary at Breslau. He received the rabbinical diploma at Breslau in 1885, and has been rabbi of the Congregation Oheb Sholom, Newark, N. J. (1885-87), the Congregation Beth Israel Bikkur Cholim, New York City (1887- 1889), and the Congregation Zichron Ephraim in the latter city since 1889. In 1886 he was one of the founders of the Jewish Theological Seminary of New York, in which he was professor of Biblical exegesis, Hebrew grammar, and Jewish philosophy 1887-1902, and dean 1889-1902. On the establishment of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1902 he was appointed professor of the Bible and rabbinical codes. He was the founder of the Jewish Endeavor Society. In theology he is an adherent of Orthodox Judaism. He has written Die Stellung und Bedeutung des Jehuda Hajjug in der Geschichte der hebrdischen Grammatik (Breslau, 1885) and From the Heart of Israel (New York, 1905); and has translated The Nineteen Letters of Ben Uziel, from the German of Samson Raphael Hirsch (New York, 1899).
DRACONITES, dra-co-ni'tSs, JOHANNES (Johann Drach, Trach; also Carlstadt, from his native town): German Reformer and Biblical scholar; b. at Carlstadt (14 m. n.w. of Wiirzburg) 1494; d. at Wittenberg Apr. 18, 1566. He entered the University of Erfurt in 1509, and after taking his master's degree in 1514 lived there as a prominent member of the circle of young poets and enthusiasts led by Eobanus Hessus. Erasmus was the object of their admiration, and in 1520 Draconites traveled to the Netherlands to make the acquaintance of the great scholar. With the advent of Luther, however, he found a new leader, his devotion dating particularly from the Reformer's visit to Erfurt in Apr., 1521. In June of the same year he was expelled from his office of canon of the cathedral church because of his open adherence to Luther's teachings, but vio- Early Life lent demonstrations by the populace to 1534. and students led to his reinstatement.
To him was ascribed the instigation of the antisacerdotal riots of June, 1521, which led to a definite cleavage between the Evangelical and Roman Catholic elements. An outbreak of the plague drove him to Wittenberg in the same month, and there he pursued the study of Hebrew, but the following year he accepted the pastorate
of Miltenberg on the Main. In dogma and practise he approached closely to the Wittenberg model, and thus gained the enmity of the local Roman Catholics, though the majority of the inhabitants were on his side. Cited to appear before the commissary of the archbishop of Mainz, he refused to obey, and was excommunicated. At the urgent entreaty of his parishioners, he fled from threatening danger in Sept., 1523, and lived at Wertheim, Nuremberg, Erfurt, and Wittenberg, whence he addressed epistles of consolation to the inhabitants of Miltenberg, where the old system had been reestablished by force. In 1525 Draconites became pastor at Waltershausen near Gotha, and in the following year was made inspector for the district of Tenneberg. Owing to the frequent conflicts in which the performance of his duties involved him, he resigned in 1528 and retired to private life at Eisenach, actuated partly by the desire to devote himself to the preparation of a polyglot Bible. His retirement was regarded with suspicion by his friends, and the charge of heresy was brought against him, but he held to the Evangehcal faith in spite of efforts to win him away, and in his defense published Bekenntnis des Glauiens und der Lehre (Erfurt, 1532).
In 1534 Draconites became pastor and professor at Marburg, and labored with zeal in both fields. His publications during this period include Biblical commentaries, sermons, and devotional works. He renewed his friendship with Eobanus Hessus, and in 1540 pronounced the funeral oration over his friend, and later edited his letters {Epistolce familiares Eobani Hessi, Marburg, 1543).
A noteworthy feature of his activity His Pro- was his successful missionary labor fessorial among the Jews He was present at Career, the Diet of Frankfort in 1536, signed the Schmalkald articles in the following year, and in 1541 attended the negotiations at the Interim of Regensburg. A letter addressed to the authorities of that town exhorting them to adopt Lutheranism attracted the dangerous attention of Granvella, whom, however, he eluded. At this time he came into conflict with Thamer, a member of the University of Marburg, on the relation of faith and penitence. Thamer enjoyed the protection of the young landgrave, and after a pastorate of fourteen years Draconites left Marburg in Oct., 1547. For a while he lectured at Ltibeck on the prophets, and in 1549-50 published there a long-contemplated work on Messianic prophecy under the title Gottes Verheissungen von Christo Jesu. His reputation as a Hebrew scholar brought him a call to a chair in the University of Rostock, where at different times he held the rectorate. In 1557 he was made superintendent of Rostock, and as such was plunged into the bitter controversy between the civic authorities and the clergy, whose champions were Hesshusen and Eggerdes. His liberal interpretation of the laws of the Sabbath again brought upon him the charge of antinomianism, and in 1560 he was g ad to abandon the conflict on receiving from Duke Albert of Prussia the offer of the presidency of the see of Pomerania, while he also welcomed the new
Dracontius Draendorf