RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Moses Mosque
of which was rapidly waning before the newly established institution at Gottingen. Although he could not go to Gottingen, he was very active in the organization of the theological faculty there, drew up its statutes and assisted in the appointment of its professors. It was only in 1747 that he was enabled to accept a call to the new university as its first and only chancellor. But in spite of his high position, he did not enjoy the same authority and freedom at Gottingen as at Helmstadt.
Mosheim was not only the most learned theologian in the Lutheran Church of his day, he was also one of the first German authors and scholars of his age. His style was pure, elegant, fluent, and felicitous, whether in German or Latin. This esthetic quality was fostered by his early acquaintance with the literature of England, France, and Italy, to which was chiefly due the breadth of view which enabled him so to further the theological science of his day, especially in church history. As a theologian, he occupied an intermediate position between the extremes of pietism and deism. He was opposed to the confessional orthodoxy on the ground that theology was thus excluded from scientific culture. But on the other hand, he was one of the first in Germany to attack the deists and the authority of the reason. Although Mosheim's importance lies largely in his many-sidedness by which he fructified the whole field of theology, his historical works display best the range of his learning and his large horizon, as well as the minuteness of his observation and his attention to detail, his terse delineation, and his faithful representation of lights and shadows. He collected his earlier treatises on church history such as Vindicim antiquoe Christianorum disciplines (Kiel, 1720) in his Observationes sacrw et historico-criticce (Amsterdam, 1721), and in his Dissertationes ad historiam ecclesiasticam pertinentes (1732-43). He investigated comprehensively the history of religion and of the Church in his Latin translation (with notes, Jena, 1733) of Cudworth's Intellectual System. He treated questions of the history of the early Church such as the date of the apologies of Tertullian and Athenagoras, and the influence of Platonism upon the Church, and touched other spheres of church history as may be seen from Historia Tartarorum ecclesiastica (Helmstadt, 1741) and Erzahlung der neuesten chinesischen Kirchengeschichte (Rostock, 1748). He sought to popularize church history by his translation of the eight books of Origen against Celsus (Hamburg, 1745). He wrote also histories of heresies, under the titles, Versuch einer unparteiischen Ketzergeschichte (Helmstadt, 1746); and Anderweitiger Versuch einer vollstandigen und unparteiischen Ketzergeschichte (ib. 1748). As early as 1726 he had written a comprehensive exposition of church history under the title, Institutiones historice ecclesiasticm Novi Testamenti. The edition of 1737 was in 1741 enlarged by the remaining portion of the history of the later Church. His Institutiones historice Christianoe maiores (Helmstadt, 1739) was intended to be more detailed, but Mosheim finished only the first century. The want was supplied to a certain extent by his Commentarii de rebus Christianorurn ante Constantinum Magnum (Helmstadt, 1753;
Eng. transl. by R. S. Vidal, Commentaries on the Affairs of the Christians before Constantine the
Great, 3 vols., London, 1813-15) which is his most mature accomplishment in church history. Almost immediately before bis death there appeared his Institutiones historia ecclesiasticce antiquoe et recentioris (ib. 1755; Eng. transl. by A. Maclaine, An Ecclesiastical History, 2 vols., London, 1765, 2d ed., 5 vols., 1768; and by J. Murdoch, Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, 3 vols., 1832, ed. by W. Stubbs, 3 vols., London, 1863). Mosheim's importance as a church historian rests upon the fact that he set a higher mark for the church historian and tried to reach it.
Mosheim made contributions to nearly every branch of theological science. He left commentaries on the New Testament and works on theological encyclopedia, dogmatics, polemics, church polity, and homiletics. His most important work in the department of systematic theology was his Sittenlehre der heiligen Schrift (5 vols., Helmstadt, 1735-53; vols, vi.-ix. added by J. P. Miller). As a preacher he was much admired, and his sermons, published in 7 vols. (1725 and often) were esteemed as models. (N. Bonwetsch.)
Bibliography: A list of his writings was left by himself in his Notitia scriptorum ... a Moshemio, Helmstadt, 1731, cf. the preface to the Helmstadt, 1764, ed. of his Institutiones, and to the Eng. ed. of his Institutes by Stubbs, London, 1863. Accounts of his life and writings are in J. M. Gesner, Biographia academica Gottingensis, ed. J. N. Eyring, vol. i., Halle, 1868; J. G. Meusel, Lexicon der vom 1750 bis 1800 verstorbenen teutschen Schriftsteller, ix. 348-364, 15 vols., Leipsic, 1802-16; E. Rossler, Die Grundung der Universitdt Gottingen, Gottingen, 1855; ADB, xxii. 395 sqq.; F. A. E. Ehrenfeuchter, in Gbttinger Professoren, Gotha, 1872; K. Heussi, Die Kirchengeschichtsschreibung J. L. von Mosheim, Gotha, 1904; idem, J. L. Mosheim, Tubingen, 1906.
MOSQUE (Arab, masjid, " a house of prayer "): A Mohammedan place of worship. The first one was built by Mohammed at Medina, in a graveyard opposite the spot where his camel knelt on his public entrance into that city. The most famous mosques are Masjid al Nebi (" Mosque of the Prophet ") at Medina, replacing the original one; Al-Hamram at Mecca, enclosing the Kaaba (q.v.); Santa Sophia in Constantinople, originally a Greek basilica; the Mosque of Achmed, in the same city; that of Omar, in the Haram enclosure at Jerusalem; the Great Mosque, at Damascus; the mosque at Hebron; and the alabaster mosque of Mehemet Ali, at Cairo; the most elaborate is the Great Mosque at Delhi, built by Shah Jehan (1631-37). Mosques are found in every Mohammedan settlement, and vary in cost and beauty as do churches; but in general features they are alike, and consist of a domed building, a court with a fountain, in which ablutions are performed prior to entering, a minaret or tower, from which the muezzin calls the faithful to prayer. Inside they are open spaces, devoid of pictorial ornamentation, except by quotations from the Koran, often beautifully done, upon the walls. They contain the mihrab (a niche surmounted by a vaulted arch), placed in the direction of Mecca; and the minbar, or platform pulpit, upon which the ministers stand during service. The mosque is a composite building, in that its dome is Byzantine, its
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Mourning' Customs