THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
as representing the critical school in the midst of Pietism, then centering in Halle. He was in great part the author of the plan for the Collegium Orient ale Theologicum established there by A. H. Francke. He was likewise distinguished for his partial edition of the Old Testament (Halle, 1720), based on five Erfurt manuscripts and nineteen printed editions, the variants also being given. The edition was, however, too hastily done, and proved unreliable, though it is still not without value. He also prepared for it his Uberiores annotations (3 vols., Halle, 1720), in which he diligently consulted the earlier versions. Some of the exegetical material here contained, like several of his dissertations and his Sonderbarer Lebenslauf P. Heylings aus Liibeck und dessen Reise nach Ethiopien (Halle, 1724), is still noteworthy.
2. Christian Benedikt (nephew of the preceding): b. at Elrich (8 m. n.w. of Nordhausen) Jan. 26, 1680; d. at Halle Feb. 22, 1764. He was educated at Halle, where he was successively associate (1713- 1714) and full (1714-31) professor of philosophy, professor of theology (1731-38) and of Greek and Oriental languages (1738-64). Besides contributing to his uncle's edition of the Hebrew Old Testament and Uberiores annotationes, he wrote Dissertatio de antiquitatibus ceconomice patriarchalis (Halle, 1728) and Tractatus criticus de variis lectionibus Novi Testamenti caute colligendis et diiudicandis (1749), in addition to an edition of the Hebrew Bible (with the Apocrypha and New Testament in Greek; Halle, 1741), based on H. Opitz's edition of 1709.
3. Johann David (son of the preceding): b. at Halle Feb. 27, 1717; d. at Gottingen Aug. 22, 1791. After completing his studies at Halle and traveling in England and Holland he went in 1745 to Gottingen, where he was professor of philosophy (1746-50) and of Oriental languages (1750-91). He was a prolific author, as is evidenced by his writing the entire periodical Orientalische und exegetische Bibliothek (later the Neue orientalische und exegetische Bibliothek; 35 parts, Frankfort and Gottingen, 1771-91). Moreover, he was the first to give to the cultured public the results of scientific views of the Bible as divorced from dogmatic assumptions in his annotated translation of the Old (13 vols., Gottingen, 1769-86) and New (2 vols., 1790) Testaments, these following his exegeses of some of the Messianic psalms (Frankfort, 1759), Ecclesiastes (Bremen, 1762), and I Maccabees (Frankfort, 1778). He gained equal favor, though more slowly, with his Einleitung in das Neue Testament (Gottingen, 2d ed., 1788; Eng. transl., Introduction to the New Testament, 4 vols., Cambridge, 1793-1801), which was followed by the less popular and uncompleted Einleitung in das Alte Testament (Hamburg, 1787).
The chief services of Michaelis were rendered in the domain of Biblical ancillary sciences, especially with regard to the Old Testament. Here belongs his Supplementa ad lexica Hebraica (6 vols., Gottingen, 1784-92), in which he sought primarily to free Hebrew lexicography from rabbinical tradition and to operate with the kindred languages, especially Arabic. At the same time he carefully studied
the early versions, and such was his attention to the Peshito that he may be considered one of the founders of Syriac philology. Note should be made here of his Grammatica Chaldaica (Leipsic, 1771) and Grammatica Syriaca. He also made valuable contributions to Biblical antiquities, especially in his Mosaisches Recht (6 vols., 2d ed., Frankfort, 1771-75; Eng. transl. by A. Smith, Commentaries on the Laws of Moses, 4 vols., London, 1814), in which he advanced the view, then new, that the Pentateuchal laws were a product of the statesmanship of Moses, who aimed at the separation of Israel from the heathen [involving denial of the directly divine character and universal validity of the laws], thus judging antiquity by the standards of its own time, instead of by the criterion of the Christian Church; as well as in his Abhandlung von den Ehegesetzen Mosis (Gottingen, 1755). His geographical and archeological interests, already evinced by his securing from Frederick V of Denmark the sending of an expedition to Arabia in 1761 (for which he wrote his Fragen an eine Gesellschaft reisender Gelehrten, Frankfort, 1762), found expression in his Spicilegium geographic exterorum (2 vols., Gottingen, 1769-80) and in many places in his Syntagma commentationum (2 parts, 1759-67) and Vermischte Schriften (2 parts, Frankfort, 1766-69).
Although never a member of the theological faculty, Michaelis lectured on systematic, dogmatic, and moral theology, writing in these departments his Gedanken iiber die Lehre der heiligen Schrift von Siinde und Genugthuung (Bremen, 1748); Compendium theologian dogmatical (Gottingen, 1760; German ed., 1787); and Entwurf einer typischen Gottesgelehrtheit (Gottingen, 1753). These works, inferior to the rest, were weakened by his attempt not to break with external orthodoxy, though secretly he had renounced it, thus leading him to an attitude of untenable compromises. At the same time, this position gained him great popularity with both pupils and the Government, besides winning him the title of " regent of Gottingen " and the posts of secretary, director, and editor of the Gottingen Academy of Sciences. In the last two decades of his life, however, his prestige declined. (R. Kittel.)
Bibliography: 1. L. Diestel, Geschichte des A. T. in der christlichen Kirche, pp. 415 sqq., Jena, 1868. 3. His Briefwechsel, ed. Buhle, is in 3 vols., Leipsic, 1794-96, and his autobiography, ed. E. R. Hessenkamp, appeared at Rinteln, 1793. Consult further: L. Diestel, ut sup., pp. 583 sqq., 683 sqq., 745 sqq.; R. Smend, Johann Darid Michaelis, Gottingen, 1898; and especially Roethe, Johann David Michaelis, in the Festschrift der Gbttinger Gelehrten Gesellschaft, Berlin, 1901.
MICHAELMAS: A festival celebrated Sept. 29, not only in the Roman Catholic Church, but also in the Greek and various Protestant churches in honor of the archangel Michael (q.v.), not with reference to any particular apparition of his, but generally commemorating the benefits which mankind have received from the angels. The festival seems to have been Roman in origin, and it is very old. In the eighth century the celebration was quite common in the Church. The Roman Catholic Church celebrates three special apparitions of the archangel, viz., May 8, Sept. 6, and Oct. 16. Michael-
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