RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Olmsted Omri
vowels still deserves serious consideration. His most widely known work in the direction of textual criticism, executed in a masterly style, is the second edition of the Commentary on Job by Hirzel, revised by Olshausen (Leipsic, 1852). Still more important, however, is his individual exegetical work on the Psalms (Leipsic, 1853). His greatest effort is without doubt his excellent Lehrbuch der hebraischen Sprache (Brunswick, 1861), which contains, in the first book, the phonetics, and from page 170 the paradigms. Unfortunately the third book, to be devoted to the syntax, has not appeared. Sachau calls this grammar a book that marks an epoch in the history of oriental philology, and Noldeke terms it a very commendable work, although Olshausen in this book has carried to an extreme his view that Arabic represented very closely the primitive Semitic language.
A. KAMPHAUSENf. Bibliography: E. Schrader, Gedachtnisrede auf Justus Olshausen, in the Mitteilungen of the Royal Prussian Academy, Berlin, 1883; ADB, xxiv. 328-330; Vigouroux, Dictionnaire, fasc. xxix., col. 1795.
0LSSON, OLAF: Swedish Lutheran; b. at Karlskoga (130 m. w. of Stockholm), Vermland, Sweden, Mar. 31, 1841; d. at Rock Island, 111., May 12, 1900. He studied at the universities of Stockholm and Upsala; then at the Missionary Institute at Leipsic, 1859-60; graduated from the University of Upsala, 1861; and from the theological department of the same university, 1863; was ordained for the Lutheran ministry, 1863; was pastor first at Persberg, Sweden, then at Sunneino, till 1868, when he came to America; was pastor of Swedish Lutheran congregations in Lindsborg, Kan., 1869-76; professor of historical theology and catechetics in Augustana Theological Seminary, Rock Island, 111., 1877-88; pastor at Woodhull, 111., 1890; professor and president of Augustana College and Seminary from 1891. He was editor of various Swedish papers and periodicals, and author of many tracts in Swedish. He wrote in Swedish " At the Cross " (Rock Island, 1878?); " Reminiscences of Travel" (1880?); and "The Christian Hope " (Chicago, 1887?).
OLTRAMARE, 6l"tra-ma'r6, MARC JEAN HUGUES: Pastor and exegete; b. at Geneva Dec. 27, 1813; d. there Feb. 23, 1891. He was descended from an Italian family that had fled to Geneva in the sixteenth century for the sake of religious freedom. He studied at the college and the University of Geneva and later at Berlin, where he was a pupil of Neander. When he returned to Geneva, he became one of the most popular pastors of the city, a strong opponent of the errors of the Roman Catholic Church and of the disestablishment of the national church and against the adoption of the Confession of Faith as the doctrinal basis of the Church. In 1854, he was appointed professor of New-Testament exegesis in the Academy (after 1876 the University) of Geneva. The translation of the New Testament (Geneva and Paris, 1872), edited by the Compagnie des pasteurs de Geneve, is his most important work. His rendering of John i. 1 , La Parole itait dieu, was very sharply criticized by the orthodox on account of the small d.
In 1881-82, he issued a commentary on the epistle to the Romans (Paris, 1881-82), and in 1891- 1892 a commentary on the epistles to the Colossians, the Ephesians, and Philemon. A remarkable expounder of the Scriptures, he was a thorough scholar and introduced German methods of exposition into French theological literature. As a critic he was rather conservative; he favored the authenticity of the Fourth Gospel, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Pastoral Epistles. He devoted his life to the study of the thoughts and work of St. Paul and was one of the most prominent representatives of the Church of Geneva in the nineteenth century. Eugene Choisy.
Bibliography: F. Chaponniere, H. Oltramare, Geneva, 1891; Vigouroux, Dictionnaire, fasc. xxix., cols. 1795- 1796. There is a biographical notice by A. Bouvier in vol. ii. of his commentary to the Colossians, etc.. ut sup.
O'MEARA, o-me'ra, THOMAS ROBERT: Canadian Anglican; b. at Georgetown, Ont., Oct. 16, 1864. He was educated at the University of Toronto and Wycliffe College, Toronto (B.A., 1885); was curate of St. Philip's, Toronto (1887-88); dean of Wycliffe College (1888-89), assistant curate of Holy Trinity, Toronto (1889-1903). Since 1904 he has been rector of the same church, and since 1903 has also been professor of practical theology and principal of Wycliffe College. He is president of the Church of England Deaconess and Missionary Training House, Toronto, and a canon of St. Alban's Cathedral, Toronto. In theology he is conservative as regards the Bible and theological problems, and is in sympathy with the Protestant and Evangelical wings of the Church of England.
OMOPHORION. See Vestments and Insignia, Ecclesiastical.
OMRI: Sixth king of Israel, successor of Elah (and Zimri), and founder of a new dynasty. His dates according to the old chronology were 926- 915, according to Schrader 900-875, according to Kamphausen 890-879. The sources of information concerning him are I Kings xvi., the Moabite Stone (q.v.), lines 4-8, and the Assyrian inscriptions. The data afforded by the first-named are meager, but from I Kings xvi. 15-22 it is clear that he owed his elevation to the throne to a military revolution. It is not impossible that he was of humble, and even Arab, origin. His possession of the throne was not undisputed, his rival being Tibni the son of Ginath (assisted, according to the Septuagint, by his brother Joram), doubtless of Israelitic descent. It would also seem that the faction of Tibni was at first victorious, and that he reigned four years. If, then, Omri reigned twelve years (I Kings xvi. 23), he held undisputed possession of the throne only eight years. After reigning at Tirzah for the six years following the revolution he transferred the capital of Israel to Samaria (I Kings xvi. 24), a site hardly less beautiful than Tirzah, and far superior strategically. Though the author of I Kings refers for the complete history of Omri to " the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel " (xvi. 27), it is clear from I Kings xx. 34, that he fought unsuccessfully against the Syrians, for whom he had been obliged to open bazaars in Samaria. Against Moab Omri
On Oosterzee