RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Stoughton Stranger
by his son in the 12th ed. of the Selection of Psalms and Hymns (1864).
Bibliography: Rev. J. B. Marsden, Memoirs of the Life and Labours of Rev. Hugh Stowell, London, 1868; S. W. Duffield, English Hymns, pp. 156-157, New York, 1886; Julian, Hymnology, pp. 1096-97; DNB, lv. 7.
STRABO, WALAFRIED. See Walafried
Strabo.
STRACK, HERMANN LEBRECHT: German Protestant theologian; b. in Berlin May 6, 1848. He studied at the universities of Berlin and Leipsic (Ph.D., 1872; Th. Lie, 1877; Th.D., 1884), and, after teaching at the Kaiser Wilhelm Gymnasium in Berlin (1872-73) and working in the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg (1873-76), became extraordinary professor of theology at the University of Berlin in 1877, and honorary professor in 1910. While acknowledging the full right of critical investigation, he is " convinced that such investigation can be and ought to be combined with reverence for the Holy Scriptures and earnest Christian faith." That Christ died for us and rose again he regards as an irrefutable fact. He has made it one of the tasks of his life to promote Christianity among the Jews by combating Antisemitism and refuting misrepresentations regarding the Jews and their ritual practises. His literary activity has been extensive. His more important publications are, Prolegomena critica in V T Hebraicum (Leipsic, 1873) ; Katalog der hebraischen Bibelhandschriften der kaiserlichen offentlichen Bibliothek in St. Petersburg (in collaboration with A. Harkavy, 1875); Prophetarum posteriorum codex Babylonicus Petropolitanus (1876), which was published at the expense of Alexander II. of Russia; Abraham Firkowitsch und seine Entdeckungen (1876); five Mishnah tracts: Sprilche der Vdter (Carlsruhe, 1882; 3d ed., Leipsic, 1901), Versohnungstag (Berlin, 1888; 2ded., Leipsic, 1904), Gotzendienst (Berlin, 1888; 2d ed., Leipsic, 1909), Sabbath (Berlin, 1890), Sanhedrin-Makkoth (1910); Einleitung in das Alte Testament (1883; 6th ed., Munich, 1906) ; Einleitung in den Talmud (Leipsic, 1887; 5th ed., 1911); Das Blut im Glauben und Aberglauben der Menschheit (Munich, 1891; 8th ed., 1900); Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramdischen (Leipsic, 1895; 4th ed., 1905); Die Sprilche Jesus, des Sohnes Sirachs (1903); Das Wesen des Judentums (1906); and Jesus, die Haretiker und die Christen nach den altesten jiidischen Angaben (1910). In collaboration with O. Zockler he edited the Kurzgefasster Kommentar zu den heiligen Schriften (Munich, 1886 sqq.), to which he has contributed the commentaries on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Proverbs. He also edits the Nathanael; Zeitschrift fur die Arbeit der evangelischen Kirche an Israel (Berlin, 1885 sqq.), the Jahrbuch der evangelischen Judenmission (Leipsic, 1906 sqq.), and the publications of the Institutum Judaicum, a Jewish missionary society in Berlin.
STRANGE, ROBERT: Protestant Episcopal bishop of East Carolina; b. at Wilmington, N. C, Dec. 6, 1857. He was graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1879, and from Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Conn., in 1883. He was ordered deacon in 1884 and ordained to the
priesthood in 1885. He was a missionary to the negroes of southern Virginia during his diaconate, and was then rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Raleigh, N. C. (1885-87), St. James', Wilmington, N. C. (1887-1900), and St. Paul's, Richmond, Va. (1900-04). In 1904 he was consecrated bishop-coadjutor of East Carolina, and in 1905, on the death of Bishop Alfred A. Watson, succeeded him in the full administration of the diocese.
STRANGER: The translation in the English versions of the Hebrew ger, " a wanderer, traveler," and especially "an alien living in a foreign land." Originally all individual rights were based upon the blood-relationship which, according to the old Semitic view, bound the members of the tribe together (see Compabative Religion, VI., 1, b). A relationship corresponding to that of consanguinity could, however, be brought about artificially, and in this way aliens were often taken into the tribe. There was also the relationship corresponding to protectorship or guardianship; the fugitive or outlaw could place himself under the care of a family, and in this way acquire a degree of citizenship. Otherwise, the alien, merely passing through or residing temporarily in the territory of a tribe, enjoyed no rights except the hospitality usually accorded to strangers. This, however, is held sacred in the orient, and as a guest the stranger is safe in the tent even of his enemy. Accordingly, in Israel there was always a distinction made between the ger, the stranger who was under the protection of some family, and the nokhri, who was an alien and stood in no relation to the tribe and could claim no legal rights (Gen. xxxi. 15; Job xix. 15); and even the humane laws in Deuteronomy for the protection of the poor and needy leave the alien out of account (Deut. xv. 3, xxiii. 20). The ger, on the other hand, enjoyed legal protection in a comparatively high degree. He had the right of connubium (see Family and Marriage Relations, Hebrew) ; and the children of such a union were Israelites (I Chron. ii. 17). The ger, unless he was a Canaanite, had not the right of hereditary possession in real estate (Isa. xxii. 16; Ezek. xlvii. 22). Impartial treatment before the courts had been assured to him by the Book of the Covenant (Ex. xxii. 21, xxiii. 9).
Deuteronomy deprived the ger of the right of marriage (Deut. vii. 1 sqq., xxiii. 4) ; but it repeated the command to treat him humanely, to allow him to take part in festivities (Deut. x. 18, xiv. 29, xxiv. 14 sqq.), and to grant him justice before the courts (Deut. xxiv. 17, xxvii. 19). He is put on a level with Levites, widows, and orphans, and is recommended as an object of love, of which as a stranger he is doubly in need. But all this is made a matter of compassion, not of law; and the ger's legal status was inferior. This was true of the nokhri in a still higher degree (Deut. xiv. 21) . The ger had to adopt, in a way, the religion of his protector; but anciently very little was required in this respect, and he might retain his sacra (Deut. v. 14, xvi. 11 sqq.; cf. I Kings ii. 7-8; Deut. xiv. 21).
In the matter of religion, the Priest-code was more exacting, in order that there might be no sin
Strasburg Strauss