GERVASIUS AND PROTASIUS, SAINTS: Two
brothers martyred at Milan during the reign of Nero. In 386 their remains were found by St. Ambrose under the pavement of the church at Milan. He describes his discovery in a letter to his sister
(Epist., xxii.; cf. also Augustine, Conf., ix. 7), and says the place of burial was revealed to him in a vision. This vision and the miracles which the relics immediately performed were used by Ambrose in his contest with the Arians as proof of his orthodoxy. The cult of the martyrs rapidly spread over Europe and was introduced into Africa by Augustine. In 1864 a porphyry shrine was discovered at Milan, which, according to the inscription it bears, contains the remains of the two martyrs and of Ambrose. Bibliography: ASB, June, iii. 817-846; L. A. Muratori,
Anecdota, i. 171-177, Milan, 1697; DCB, ii. 666; KL, iv.
486-491.
GESENIUS, (HEINRICH FRIEDRICH) WIL- HELM: German Protestant Hebraist; b. at Nordhausen (38 m. n.n.w. of Erfurt) Feb. 3, 1786; d. at Halle Oct. 23, 1842. After completing his early training at the gymnasium of his native city, he entered the University of Helmstedt in 1803, where he received a lasting influence from the rationalistic H. Henke. Having taught for a short time at Helmstedt, he migrated to Gottingen at Easter, 1806, and a few months later received the degree of Ph.D. For three years he lectured at Gottingen on the Old Testament and on the classics, Neander being one of his first pupils. In 1809 he accepted a position in the Roman Catholic gymnasium of Heiligenstadt, but in the following year went to a more congenial position at Halle as extraordinary professor of theology. In 1811 he was promoted to ordinary professor, and retained this position until his death, declining calls to Gottingen in 1827 and to Oxford in 1832. Semester after semester he had in his courses of lectures over a thousand pupils. In 1820 he visited France and England, and in 1835 went to England and Holland, both times bringing back rich treasures for his studies. Shortly after his return from this second trip, he was seized with a stubborn and painful disease of the stomach, which recurred at irregular intervals with increasing severity until it finally caused his death.
Gesenius was the pioneer of a new era of Hebrew philology. On the basis of the great Dutch Orientalists of the eighteenth century, he divorced Hebrew linguistics from dogmatic theology, and placed the subject on the level of other linguistic sciences by a systematic comparison of cognate languages and a strictly rational method. As a lecturer he was no less influential than as an author. He was a born teacher, and knew how to make the driest subjects fascinating in their interest. Exactness of method, absorption in details, sobriety of judgment, clear presentation, and practicality were his chief characteristics. He was a student of linguistics rather than of theology, and his attention was devoted to details rather than to generalizations, even in the realm of Hebrew grammar.
In 1830, three years after receiving the title of consistorial councilor, Gesenius was attacked for his rationalism by the Pietistic Evangelische Kirchenzeitung, but the preliminary investigation conducted by the Minister of Worship, Altenstein, ended in the complete vindication of the accused professor and his colleagues. He was again assailed by
Gesenius G-ess
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Heinrich Ewald for his grammatical views, but this onslaught in its turn proved futile.
The chief works of Gesenius were lexicographical. His dictionary, which bore in its first edition the title Hebrdisches Handle brterbuch iiber die Schrijten des Altai Testaments mit Einschluss der geographischen Xamen und der chalddischen TV drier beym Daniel und Ezra, was begun in 1810 and completed two years later. Like the majority of his works, it was published at Leipsic. In 1815 appeared an abridgment entitled Xeues Hebrdisch-Deutsches Handworterbuch iiber die Schrijten des Alten Testaments, which after its third edition in 1S2S was translated by the author into Latin as Lexicon mannale Hebraicum ct Chaldaicum in Veteris Testamenti libros (1833 '. The abridgment gradually superseded the original work, and has been repeatedly reprinted since the death of Gesenius, the fifth to the seventh editions (1868) being edited by F. E. C. Dietrich, the eighth to the eleventh (1890) by F. Muhlau and W Volck, and the twelfth to the fourteenth (1905) by F. Buhl, A. Socin, and H. Zimmern. The richest fruit of his lexicographical studies was his Thesaurus philologicus criticus lingua Hebraaz et Chaldaoz Veteris Testamenti (3 vols., Leipsic, 1829-58). which was continued and completed after its author's death by his pupil E. Rodiger. Among his grammatical works the chief is his Hebrdische Grammatik, which first appeared in 1813, and which passed through repeated editions, thirteen being issued in the lifetime of Gesenius, who revised the last in 1842. After his death the fourteenth to the twenty-first editions (1872) were revised by E. Rodiger, and the twenty-second to the twenty-seventh (1902) by E. Kautzsch. This is by far the most popular work of Gesenius, and has been translated into French, Danish, English, Polish, Hungarian, and other languages. His extremely rationalistic Hebrdisches Lesebuch appeared in 1814, and after passing through six editions in the author's lifetime was edited by W M. L. de Wette (1844) and A. Heiligstedt (1873). Mention may also be made of his Geschichte der hebrdischen Sprache und Schrift (Leipsic, 1815) and Ausfuhrliches grammatisch-kritisches Lehrgebdude der hebrdischen Sprache mit Vergleichung der verwandten Dialekte (1817).
The sole exegetical work of Gesenius was his Der Prophet J esaia (3 parts, Leipsic, 1820-21), one of the last products of the rationalistic exegesis which had hitherto enjoyed complete supremacy, and one of the best productions of its class.
His remaining writings, in chronological order, include Versuch iiber die maltesische Sprache (Leipsic, 1810), in which he rightly interpreted the language as a corrupt Arabic dialect; De Pentateuchi Samaritani origine, indole et auctoritate (Halle, 1815); De Samaritanorum theologia ex jontibus ineditis (Leipsic, 1822); Carmina Samaritana (1824); De Bar Alio et Bar Bahlulo, lexicographis Syro-Arabicis ineditis (1834); Paldographische Studien iiber phonizische und punische Schrift (Leipsic, 1835); Scripturce linguceque Phoenicia monumenta quotquot supersunt (3 parts, 1837), the result of his second trip to England and a work which marks an epoch in Phenician studies; and numerous
briefer contributions to periodicals, particularly to the Allgemeine hitter aturzeitung, of which he was associate editor after 1828. He likewise contributed a number of articles to Ersch and Gruber's Encyklopddie. (R. KRAETzscmiARf.)
Bibliography: Both the Handw brterbuch and the Grammatik of Gesenius have appeared in several English translations. The earliest version of the former was by J. W. Gibbs (Andover, 1824); other versions, many of them with amendments and additions, followed — by C. Leo (2 parts, Cambridge, 1825-28), E. Robinson (Boston 1836), and S. P. Tregelles (London, 1846). The Grammatik was rendered into English by M. Stuart (Andover 1826), T. J. Conant (Boston, 1839), B. Davies (London' 1869), and G. W. Collins and A. E. Cowley (Oxford, 1898)! H. Gesenius, IF. Gesenius, Ein Erinnerungsblatt an den hundertjahrigen Geburtstag, Halle, 1886 (printed, not published); R. H. S. (Robert Haym?), Gesenius. Eine Erinnerung filr seine Freunde, Berlin, 1842; T. K. Cheyne, Founders of Old Testament Criticism, pp. 53 sqq., London 1893; ADB, ix. 89 sqq.
GESENIUS, ge-si'ni-us or ge-ze'ni-us, JUSTUS: Lutheran theologian of the seventeenth century, known for his catechisms; b. at Esbeck (near Elze, 20 m. s. of Hanover), in the principality of Kalenberg, July 6, 1601; d. at Hanover Sept. 18, 1673. His father was preacher at Esbeck. Having received his early education at the Adreanum in Hildesheim, he went in his eighteenth year to Helmstedt, where he studied under Georg Calixtus and Conrad Hornejus. In 1628 he took his degree of master of philosophy in Jena and was called as pastor to the church of St. Magnus in Brunswick. After seven years of beneficent activity there, he received a call to Hildesheim, the seat of George, duke of Brunswick, as court chaplain and preacher in the cathedral. After the duke's death (1641), he, as well as the whole consistory, removed to Hanover, where he became chief court chaplain and general superintendent of the principality of Kalenberg; later (1665) he was general superintendent of Grubenhagen as well. He received the degree of doctor of divinity in 1643 for a dissertation, De igne purgatorio.
Gesenius' importance lies chiefly in the services he rendered in the production of good hymnals and catechisms. With his friend David Denicke, he brought out a hymnal containing 222 hymns (Hanover, 1646), which was later enlarged and arranged for use in the churches. The compilers did not confine themselves to collecting and arranging the hymns, but also adapted many of the older ones and probably added a few of their own composition. To correct the prevailing ignorance in regard to Christian doctrine, Gesenius, in 1631, brought out his Kleine Katechismusschule, or " Brief Instruction as to how the Catechism Should be Taught to the Young and the Simple " (often reprinted). Later, by order of Duke George and of the consistory, he issued an abridgment of this work under the title Kleine Catechismusfragen iiber den kleinen Catechismum Lutheri (1639 and many times republished). This work constitutes the celebrated catechism of Gesenius, which was introduced into all the schools of the principality of Kalenberg and gained great repute in many parts of Lower Saxony. Notwithstanding the praise which was accorded the author, he was violently