THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
the chief sources for a knowledge of the Reformation in Basel. (R. STAHELINf.)
Bibliography: Athena Rauricce, pp. 48-50, Basel, 1778; K. R. Hagenbach, Geschichte . . der ersten Basler Confession, pp. 167 sqq., Basel, 1827; idem, Die theologische Schule Basel* und ihre Lehrer, iv. 31-32, ib. 1860; ADB, ix. 37.
GEROK, ge-rok', KARL: German preacher and poet; b. at Vaihingen-on-the-Enz (15 m. n.w. of Stuttgart), Wiirttemberg, Jan. 30, 1815; d. at Stuttgart Jan. 14, 1890. His father removed to Stuttgart a few weeks after the birth of his son, and there Karl Gerok spent most of his life. As his father and both grandfathers were clergymen, the ministry was his natural vocation. He was educated at the gymnasium of Stuttgart and in 1832 entered the University of Tubingen, where he studied diligently Hegel's philosophy and Schleiermacher's theology. In 1837 he became his father's vicar in Stuttgart. From 1840 till 1843 he was tutor in Tubingen. In 1844 he became deacon in Boblingen (about 9 miles from Stuttgart), where he had leisure to write numerous treatises and essays for periodicals. In 1849 he became deacon in the Spitalkirche of Stuttgart, in 1851 in the Stiftskirche. In 1852 he was appointed archdeacon in the same church and dean of the country diocese. In 1862 he became preacher of the Spitalkirche and dean of the town diocese. From 1868 until his death he was court preacher and member of the consistory with the title and rank of prelate. Apart from his activity as pastor and preacher, he held offices as president or member in numerous committees and societies.
Gerok was a man in whom the culture of his time and Christian truth stood in living connection. To the harmony of his nature corresponded the mildness of his judgment in regard to others; even in the fall he was able to discover the weak germs of goodness. His sermons were built upon the moral basis of diligence and faithfulness. Although he carefully elaborated and memorized them, they were plain and simple, yet full of life and color. They had always a practical relation to life, and their form and contents were aided by a solemn and edifying delivery that inspired esteem for Christianity even in worldly people. As a poet, Gerok educated his taste by studying the great classics. He kept his productions secret until his mature age, and it was only in his fortieth year that his first poem was published. His poetry had its root in the word of the Bible, and all subjects which he treated — history, the fatherland, and nature — are transfigured by the light of a Christian view of the world. He was essentially a lyric poet. His collections of poems appeared under the titles Palmbldtter (Stuttgart, 1857; Eng. transl., Palm Leaves, London, 1885); Pfingstrosen (Gtitersloh, 1864); Blumen und Sterne (Stuttgart, 1868); Deutsche Ostern (1871); Auf einsamen Gdngen (187S); Der letzte Strauss (1884); Unter dem Abendstern (1886); Christkind (1887). He published also several volumes of sermons, and Von Jerusalem nach Rom (Stuttgart, 1868), Bible studies on the Acts of the Apostles. His " Homiletical Suggestions " to G. V. Lechler's Acts of the Apostles in Lange's Commentary (Bielefeld, 1861) may also be mentioned. (H. Mosapp. )
Bibliography: In the first place as a source stands Gerok's Jugenderinnerungen, Leipsic, 1898. Consult: H. Mosapp, Karl Gerok, cin Bild seines Lebens und Wirkens, Stuttgart' 1890; idem, Karl Gerok in seiner Wirksamkeit fiir den Gustav- Adolf -Verein, Barmen, 1890; F. Braun, Erinnerungen an Karl Gerok, Leipsic, 1891; G. Gerok, Karl Gerok, ein Lebensbild aus seinen Briefen und Aufzeichnungen, Stuttgart, 1892.
GERRHENIANS, ger-ri'ni-anz: The name of a people or of the inhabitants of a district in the extreme south of Palestine, mentioned II Mace, xiii.24 as marking the southern boundary (on the coast) of the Syrian province. The description there given tallies with the passage I Mace. xi. 59. Identification is not to be made with the military and impost station named Gerrhon or Gerrha, fifty stadia east of Pelusium, since this place was in Egyptian territory, and the passage in Maccabees does not imply a military station. Stark and Ewald connect it with the Gerar of Gen. xx. 1, xxvi. 1; II Chron. xiv. 13. The regio Geraritica is well known from the Onomasticon of Eusebius and of Jerome (240, and 124) as located beyond (i.e., to the south of) Daroma as the borderland of Canaan and Egypt. The modern name of the Wadi Jerar or Jerur in the neighborhood of Kadesh recalls the old name and agrees with the geographical conditions.
(H. Guthe.)
Bibliography: K. B. Stark, Gaza und die philistaische Kilste, p. 463, Jena, 1852; H. Ewald, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, iv. 416, Gbttingen, 1864; C. L. W. Grimm, Das zweite . Buch der Makkabder, Leipsic, 1857; H. Wace, Apocrypha, ii. 633, London, 1888.
GERSON, zhar"sen', JEAN CHARLIER DE.
His Philosophy. Mysticism (§ 1).
His Pride as a Theologian. Influence of Patriotie
Feeling (§ 2). Gerson's Doctrine of the Papacy and Councils (§ 3). The Council of Constance (§ 4). Last Years (§5).
Johannes Arnaudi de Gersonio, as the earliest entry of his name reads in the records of the University of Paris, was chancellor of the University of Paris, one of the most prominent figures in the ecclesiastical disputes of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, and one of the founders of Gallicanism (q.v.). He was born in the long since obliterated hamlet of Gerson (Jarson), not far from Rethel (100 m. n.e. of Paris), in the diocese of Reims, Dec. 14, 1363, and died at Lyons July 12, 1429. He was the eldest son of peasants, Arnolphe le Charlier and Elisabeth Chardeniere (concerning an extant letter from his mother to her two eldest sons, cf. Schwab, p. 54; Jadart, pp. 119- 120), and his education was made possible by the Duke of Burgundy's patronage. After preparation at Reims, he went to Paris in 1377 and entered the College of Navarre. Having completed his course in the arts in 1381, he took up theology the same year. In 1383 and 13S4 he was procurator of the Gallic nation; in 1387 he was a member of the university's embassy to Clement VII. against the Dominican Jean de Montson, who denied the Immaculate Conception. He became doctor of theology in 1392, and in 1395 succeeded his teacher Pierre d'Ailly in the chancellorship. This office, which he occupied to the end of his life, gave him opportunity to exert a lasting influence not only