A Brighter Day Begins with His Word.

New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge • VOLUME 5

RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA

['Herzog, J. J. (Johann Jakob), 1805-1882', 'Schaff, Philip, 1819-1893', 'Hauck, Albert, 1845-1918', 'Jackson, Samuel Macauley, 1851-1912', 'Sherman, Charles Colebrook, 1860-1927', 'Gilmore, George W. (George William), 1858-1933'] • Public-domain historical edition in the United States (published 1908); OCR from Internet Archive scan

RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA

Hebrews, Gospel According to Hedio

creed than by sympathy with its distinctive doctrine." He was editor of The Christian Examiner from 1857 to 1861, and wrote Prose Writers of Germany (Philadelphia, 1848); Christian Liturgy for the Use of the Church (Boston, 1853); Reason in Religion (1865); The Primeval World of Hebrew Tradition (1870); The Ways of the Spirit, and other Essays (1877); Atheism in Philosophy, and other Essays (1884); Hours with German Classics (1886); Martin Luther, and other Essays (1888); and Metrical Translations and Poems (in collaboration with Mrs. A. L. Wister; 1888).

HEDINGER, he'din-ger, JOHANN REINHARD : Court preacher of Wurttemberg; b. at Stuttgart Sept. 7, 1664; d. there Dec. 28, 1704. As a child he was distinguished for earnestness and piety, and as student he went through the ordinary course of study of Wurttemberg theologians. After the completion of his studies he, as preacher and secretary, accompanied two princes of Wurttemberg to France and England, and later traveled through North Germany, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden. In 1692 he became field-chaplain in the French war, and in 1694 professor of law at the University of Giessen. In 1698 Duke Eberhard Ludwig called him back to his native country as court preacher and confessor. Here he attacked fearlessly the gaiety and frivolity of the court. He wrote certain devotional books and a commentary on Luther's catechism, but his principal work is a translation of the New Testament, " with detailed summaries, accurate concordances, necessary expositions of the most difficult passages from the glossaries of Luther, and notes of other approved teachers, liberally provided with practical applications " (Stuttgart, 1701). It was frequently republished, and is noteworthy especially for occasional discrepancies from Luther's version. Hedinger also published an edition of the whole Bible " with practical summaries," etc., which shows the same noble independence of mind. Both works were esteemed for the vigorous and pointed applications with which the author rebukes the sins of the world, especially the faults of the clergy, and are still worth reading. Hedinger is also noteworthy as a writer of hymns.

(H. Mosapp.)

Bibliography: The funeral sermon, by J. F. Hochstetter, appeared Stuttgart, 1705, and a sketch of his life by the same is in Hedinger's Anddchtiger H erzensklang , ib. 1713. Consult: A. Knapp, in Christoterpe, 1836, pp. 269-330; idem, AllwiirUembergische Charaktere, pp. 4-51, Stuttgart, 1870; ADB, xi. 222-223.

HEDIO, he'di-o, KASPAR: Protestant Reformer; b. at Ettlingen (4£ m. s. of Carlsruhe) 1494; d. at Strasburg Oct. 17, 1552. He was educated at the Latin school of Pforzheim and the universities of Freiburg and Basel, and held successive chaplaincies at the churches of St. Theodore and St. Martin in the latter city. A sermon preached by Zwingli at Maria-Einsiedeln made a deep impression upon him, and he eagerly sought the friendship of the Swiss Reformer, while Luther roused in him an equal enthusiasm. Toward the end of 1520 Hedio succeeded Capito as court preacher and spiritual councilor of Elector Albert of Mainz, but since he did not conceal his reformatory sentiments, he incurred the enmity of the clergy. In 1523 he be-

came a preacher at the Strasburg cathedral, where he ranked among the foremost of those who advanced the Gospel cause by word and pen. In the following year he married, without protest from the cathedral chapter, thus signalizing his complete break with the Roman Catholic Church. He took part in all conflicts with monasticism as well as in all efforts for the advancement of the cause of the Reformation. He joined with Butzer and Capito in a successful petition to the magistracy for the erection of schools. He was, moreover, active as an academic teacher, and after the gymnasium, which had been founded in 1538, had developed into a higher school, he became professor of theology, his lectures comprising the New Testament, the Church Fathers, and history. Hedio devoted especial care to the financial support of teachers and pupils, and in 1544 he founded the Collegium Pauperum, a boarding-school, which is still in existence. He also organized charitable work, and introduced a stricter management of church discipline, but he kept aloof from the doctrinal disputes of the theologians. His activity extended over the margravate of Baden, Ortenau, the valley of Kinzig, the electorate of the Palatinate, the county of Hanau-Lichtenberg, and the district of Wurttemberg in Upper Alsace. Throughout this territory he assisted in the regulation of churches and schools, and in the appointment of preachers and teachers. Elector Hermann of Wied called him and Butzer to Bonn to introduce the Reformation in his archbishopric. Hedio took part in the religious conference at Marburg (1529), and in the negotiations for union at Worms (1540) and at Regensburg (1541), as well as in the meeting of the theologians of Wurttemberg and Strasburg held at Dornstetten (1551) for a revision of the Augsburg Confession to be presented at the Council of Trent. He was so zealous an opponent of the Interim, however, that he was obliged to resign his position as preacher of the cathedral church, delivering his sermons henceforth in the monastery of the Dominicans. His writings include translations of several treatises of Augustine, Ambrose, and Chrysostom, the historical works of Eusebius, Hegesippus, and Sabellicus, Cuspinian's history of the Roman emperors, Platina's history of the popes, and a number of universal chronicles with his own notes, continuing them to his own time to justify the Reformation from a historical point of view. With some justice Hedio has been called the first Protestant church historian. His principal works are: Ablehnung auf Cunrats Tregers Biichlin (Strasburg, 1524); Vondem Zehnden (1524); Radtpredig (1534); Epitome in evangelia et epistolas (1537); Chronika der alten christlichen Kirche aus Eusebio, Rufino, Sozomeno, etc. (1530); and Eine auserlesene Chronika von Anfang der Welt bis auf das Jahr 1543 (1543).

(A. EmcHsoNf.)

Bibliography: C. Spindler, Hedion, essai biographique et lilteraire, Strasburg, 1864; E. Himmelheber, Caspar Hedio, 1881. Consult also: J. Voigt, Briefwechsel der berilhmtesten Gelehrten der Reformation, pp. 297-335,

Konigsberg, 1841; J. W. Baum, Capito und Butzer. Elberfeld, 1860; J. Kostlin, Martin Luther, ii. 125, 132-134, Berlin, 1903; S. M. Jackson, Huldreich Zwingli, passim, New York, 1903; Schaff, Christian Church, vol. vi., passim.

Hedwig Hefele

Historical source record →