THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
the posthumous Avis sur la maniere de prechcr (Rotterdam, 1733; contains a biography).
Bibliography: Beside the life in Avis . , ut sup., consult: Niceron, Memoires, vol. ii. ; P. A. Sayous, Hist, de la litterature francaise a I'etranger, ii. 211—220, Paris, 1853; Lichtenberger, ESR, vii. 741-744.
PLACETUM REGIUM. See Placet.
PLACEUS, pla-si'us, JOSUA (JOSUE DE LA PLACE): French theologian; b. at Saumur (30 m. s.e. of Angers) probably in 1596; d. there Aug. 17, 1665 or 1655. He became pastor at Nantes in 1625 and was professor of theology at his native city from 1633 till his death. Placeus together with M. Amyraut (q.v.) and L. Capellus belong, as followers of John Cameron (q.v.), to that theological movement at Saumur which in contrast with the orthodox school of Sedan sought to moderate the Calvinistic doctrine by emphasizing the ethical and common human elements, without, however, departing from the fundamental principles. From the supreme value of the accountability of every human soul, Placeus especially drew the conclusion against the imputation of Adam's actual sin. In defense of the doctrine that the sin of Adam could be reckoned to his descendants only as mediated by the inherited sinful subjective state he pointed out that Calvin knew nothing of an immediate imputation and that the same was denied by Peter Martyr and Daniel Chamier (q.v.), but did not go so far as to justify himself by the view of Zwingli that hereditary guilt was no more than the guilt of every individual. The national synod of Charenton (1644) under the leadership of Antoine Garissoles (q.v.), representing the over-zealous constituency of Montauban, opposed this assertion by adopting a decree to be subscribed by all pastors and candidates. Placeus issued later his vindication, . Disputatio de imputatione primi peccati Adami (Saumur, 1655). The national synod of Loudun, in 1659, withdrew all threatening measures of discipline, but the Zurich orthodoxy did not rest content until in the Formula consensus Helvetia of 1675 it repudiated with Saumurism as a whole the mere " imputation mediate and consequent." (E. F. Kabl Muller.) Bibliography: The Opera omnia were published in 2 vols., Franeker, 1699, Aubencit, 1702. Consult: E. and E. Haag, La France protestante, ed. H. L. Bordier, vi. 309 sqq., Paris, 1889; J. G. Walch, Einleitung in die Religions-Streitigkeiten . ausser der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, iii. 890 sqq., Jena, 1734; Bartholmess, in Bulletin de la societe de thist. du protestantisme francais, 1853; Saigey, in Revue de theologie, Oct., 1855; Lichtenberger, ESR, xi. 469 sqq.
PLAGUE. See Diseases and the Healing Art, Hebrew, IV., §§ 4-5.
PLAGUES OF EGYPT. See Moses, § 3.
PLAIN-SONG. See Sacred Music.
PLANCK, GOTTLIEB JAKOB: German Lutheran and church historian; b. at Niirtingen (13 m. s.s.e. of Stuttgart), Wiirttemberg, Nov. 15, 1751; d. at Gottingen Aug. 31, 1833. He was educated at the University of Tubingen (1769-74), where he was a lecturer in 1775-80, after which he went to Stuttgart as vicar, being preacher and associate professor at the Karlsschule in the same city, 1781- 1784. Here he completed the first two volumes of
his Geschichte der Entstehung, der Verdnderungen and der Bildung unseres protestantischen Lehrbegriffs von Anfang der Reformation bis zur Einfiihrung der Konkordienformel (6 vols., Leipsic, 1781-1800). So favorable was the reception accorded these volumes that, on the death of Christian Wilhelm Franz Walch in 1784, Planck was chosen to succeed him as professor of church history at Gottingen. He became a member of the consistory in 1791; ephor of the Hanover theologians in 1800; general superintendent of the principality of Gottingen in 1805; abbot of Bursfelde in 1828; and supreme consiatorial councilor in 1830.
Planck himself described his theological standpoint as " rational supernaturalism." He held to the divinity as well as to the reasonableness of Christianity, to the necessity as well as to the comprehensibility of a direct divine revelation. He was essentially a historian, and the historical point of view and method colored his whole personality. The first of his two most important works, the Geschichte unseres protestantischen Lehrbegriffs, has already been mentioned. His second great work was his Geschichte der christlich-kirchlichen Gesellschaftsverfassung (5 vols., Hanover, 1803-09). The first of these two works was undoubtedly Planck's masterpiece, and marked an epoch in the writing of Protestant church history, since it was the earliest attempt at an unpartizan account of the Reformation and of the rise of Lutheranism. Planck has been criticized for emphasizing too strongly the subjective, personal part in the development of ideas. He paid too little attention to general influences and currents of thought that prevailed throughout entire historic periods, though he went deeply and carefully into his sources, and used the knowledge of details thus obtained in presenting extremely graphic delineations of character and motives.
Among the numerous writings of Planck, in addition to those already mentioned, special mention may be made of the following: continuations of the Neueste Religions-Geschichte of Christian Wilhelm Franz Walch (q.v.; 3 vols., Lemgo, 1787-93) and the Bibliothek der Kirchenversammlungen des vierten und funften Jahrhunderts of Georg Daniel Fuchs (Leipsic, 1784), a3 well as a new edition of the Grundriss der Kirchengeschichte of Ludwig Timotheus Spittler (q.v.; Gottingen, 1812); Grundriss einer Geschichte der kirchlichen Verfassung, kirchlichen Regierung und des kanonischen Rechts (1790); Einleitung in die theologischen Wissenschaften (2 parts, Leipsic, 1794-95; Eng. transl., Introduction to Sacred Philology and Interpretation, Edinburgh, 1834); Ueber Trennung und Vereinigung der getrennten christlichen Hauptpartheyen (Tubingen, 1803) ; Betrachtungen ilber die neuesten V eranderungen in dem Zustand der deutschen katholischen Kirche (Hanover, 1808); Worte des Friedens mit der katholischen Kirche (Gottingen, 1809); Grundriss der theologischen Encyklopadie (1813); Geschichte des Christenthums in der Periode seiner ersten Einfiihrung in die Well durch Jesum und die Apostel (2 vols., 1818); Ueber die Behandlung, die Haltbarkeit und den Werth des historischen Beweises fur die Gottlichkeit des Christenthums (1821); and Geschichte der protestantischen Theologie von der Konkordienformel an bis in die Mitte des achtzehnten Jahrhunderts (1831).
He was, throughout, judicial and conciliatory, refraining as much as possible from taking sides, and preferring painstaking investigation of facts to passing judgment.
Besides his historical works, Planck also wrote three quasi-romances, the first two anonymously: Tagebuch eines neuen Ehemannes (Leipsic, 1779);