THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
vol England (1906); and The Black Death of IS4.8 and 1349 (1908). He has also edited Montalembert's Monks of the West (6 vols., London, 1895); William Cobbett's History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland (1896); Vita Antiquissima Beati Gregorii Magni (1903); and Analecta Anglo- Premonstratensia (1904).
GASS, (FRIEDRICH) WILHELM (JOACHIM HEINRICH): German Protestant; b. at Breslau Nov. 28, 1813; d. at Heidelberg Feb. 21, 1889. As a mere child he learned Greek, before undertaking the study of Latin, from Franz Passow, professor at Breslau, and thus laid the foundation for his later researches in Greek Christianity. After attending the gymnasia at Breslau and Schweidnitz he entered the University of Breslau in 1832 to study theology, but was at first interested chiefly in philosophy, philology, and belles-lettres. In 1834- 1835 he studied at Halle, being influenced especially by Gesenius, Wegscheider, and Thilo, later at Berlin, where Neander exerted a deep influence upon him. In 1836 he returned to Breslau (Ph.D., 1836; Th.Lic, 1839) and established himself as privat-docent of theology there in 1839. In 1846 he became professor extraordinary at Breslau, and in 1847 at Greifswald, where he was made full professor in 1855. In 1862 he became professor of systematic theology at Giessen, whence he went to Heidelberg in 1868 as the successor of R. Rothe. Here he taught, besides systematic theology, New Testament exegesis and hymnology. As representative of the faculty of Heidelberg, he took part in the general synods of 1871, 1876, and 1881, advocating a moderate liberalism. In 1885 he was appointed church councilor.
Gass was a strong advocate of the Evangelical union, and was one of the most learned among the masters of German Evangelical theology. His works are distinguished by diligent research and rest upon a conscientious and intelligent use of the sources. He first directed his attention to the history of the Greek Church in the Middle Ages, a field almost entirely neglected until his time. His first work, Gennadius und Pletho (Breslau, 1844), treats of the struggle of Aristotelianism and Platonism during this period. In Die Mystik des Xikolaus Kabasilas, vom Leben in Christo (Greifswald, 1849) he edited for the first time the " Life in Christ " of Kabasilas, metropolitan of Thessalonica about 1350, and gave an interesting sketch of the history of Greek mysticism. He wrote also Geschichte der Athoskloster (Giessen, 1865) and collected his smaller contributions to the history of dogma in the Greek Church in Symbolik der griechischen Kirche (Berlin, 1872), the first comprehensive work on this theme since Heineccius' Abbildung der alten und neuen griechischen Kirche (Leipsic, 1711). Gass tried to present a critical description of the character of the Greek Church, by considering not only its dogmatic tradition, but also its rites, liturgy, and worship, and the spiritual, national, and moral conditions in general. He also rendered valuable service to the history of Protestant dogmatics by his Geschichte der protestantischen Dogmatik (4 vols., Berlin, 1854- 1867), which presents the dogmatic development
from Melanchthon to Schleiermacher. In his later years Gass devoted himself to the study of Christian ethics. His most important works in this field are: Die Lehre vom Gewissen (Berlin, 1869) Optimismus und Pessimismus (1876), and Geschichte der Ethik (2 vols, in 3, 1881-87). Of other works may be mentioned : Georg Calixt und der Synkretismus (Breslau, 1846) and Das Recht der Union, eine Schutzrede (Giessen, 1867). He also edited Schleiermacher's Briefwechsel mit J C. Gass (his father Berlin, 1852), and with A. Vial, E. L. T. Henke's posthumous Neuere Kirchengeschiehte (3 vols Halle, 1 874-80) . With H. Reuter and T. Brieger he edited, after 1876, the Zeitschrift fur Kirchengeschiehte (Gotha, 1876 sqq.). G. Grutzmacher. Bibliography: Badische Biographieen, ed. F. von Weech iv. 527-536, Carlsruhe, 1891. The funeral oration, by H. Basserman, is in Protestantische Kirchenzeitung, 1889, pp. 251 sqq.
GASS, gas, JOACHIM CHRISTIAN: German theologian; b. at Leopoldshagen (a suburb of Anklam, 47 m. n.w. of Stettin) May 26, 1766; d. at Breslau Feb. 19, 1831. He began his education at the monastic school at Bergen, studied theology and philosophy at Halle 1785-89, and in 1795 was appointed field chaplain in Borcke's regiment, and preacher at the garrison at Stettin. As a theologian he early departed from orthodoxy, although he endeavored to restore the beautiful " individuality " of Christianity, his Beitrdge zur Verbreitung eines religiosen Sinnes in Predigten (Stettin, 1801) giving evidence of this desire. In 1806 the Napoleonic war took Gass to Halle, where he met Schleiermacher, who had been his close friend for three years, and Steffens. Gass soon returned to Stettin, but the disbanding of his regiment in the latter half of 1807, together with domestic troubles, led him to settle in Berlin, where he was appointed preacher at the Marienkirche. In 1810 he was called to Breslau, where he remained until his death, officiating as Konsistorialrat and as a member of the church and school committees of the government of Silesia. When the University of Frankfort-on-the-Oder was transferred to Breslau in 1811, Gass was given the chair of systematic theology. As a theologian, he was a follower of Schleiermacher, although he did not absorb the latter's doctrinal idiosyncrasies. In the beginning of his career as a member of the Silesian consistory, Gass was in accord with the highest functionaries, but later he sided with the opposition. His attitude during the controversies regarding union, organization, and ritual may be gathered partly from his letters to Schleiermacher and partly from the Jahrbuch des protestantischen Kirchen- und Schulwesens von und fur Schksien (2 vols., Breslau, 1818-20), which he edited. Among his other works the most important are the following: Ueber den christlichen Cultus (Breslau, 1815); An meine evangelischen Mitbiirger (1823); Ueber den Religionsunterricht in den oberen Klassen der Gymnasien (1828); and Ueber den Reichstag zu Speyer von 1529 (1827). (W. GASsf.)
Bibliography: F. Schleiermacher, Briefwechsel mil '.J. "■ Gass, Berlin, 1852; Aus Schleiermacher' s Leben, %n Bnelen, Berlin, 1858, Eng. transl., The Life of Schleiermacher a» Unfolded in his Autobiography and Letters, London, is°u.