RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Thessalonica Thiersch.
tifications of others with the Theudas of Acts fail to convince. Blass conjectures a father or grandfather of the Josephan Theudas and of the same name, relying upon ancient custom, but without any testimony to the fact. Again Blass conjectures that, while many regard Josephus as the basis of Luke in Acts, some one has inserted Theudas in the text of Josephus, basing his supposition in part upon a variant reading in Codex D. Some scholars like B. Weiss, Clemen, and Hilgenfeld suppose the reference to time in Acts is due to an editor whose chronology was wrong.
Recently the passage is newly adduced to show Luke's dependence upon Josephus. Josephus follows his report of Theudas with one of the revolt of the sons of Judas under Quirinius. Moreover, there are verbal coincidences between the narrative of Luke and that of Josephus; both also name Judas, though Josephus knows his origin; both speak of Quirinius' taxing. These lead to the conclusion of interdependence. On the other hand, Luke knows the number of the adherents of Theudas, Josephus speaks of " a great part of the people," though his narrative shows that a squadron of cavalry (about 500 men) broke up the combination; Luke has employed little of the detail of Josephus. In that ease Luke must have misunderstood Josephus, assumed the relative order in Josephus' narrative as historical, and transferred the events from Judas' sons to the father. Schmiedel supposes that Luke had made notes, meager, however, from Josephus, not noting the dates of the events, indeed reading hastily the account of Josephus, and so misplaced the events. But this is all conjecture. Acts does not show traces of such a method. While the notice of Judas goes back upon Ant., XVIII. , i. 1, other events mentioned by Luke come from other sources, and follow other traditions than those of Josephus.
It is better to consider that in the case under consideration Luke was not dependent upon Josephus, that the coincidences of the two writers depend upon the common tradition of the period, that the two cases were connected in Luke's mind as those of revolts, and that the chronological coincidence in order is accidental. (P Feine.) Bibliography: Sonntag, TSK, 1837, pp. 622-652; K. T. Keim, Aus dem Urchristenthum, i. 1-27, Zurich, 1878; C. C. Clemen, Chronologie der paulinischen Briefe, pp. 66—69, Halle, 1893; M. Krenkel, Josephus und Lucas, pp. 162— 174, Leipsic, 1894; A. Hausrath, N eutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte, iv. 239-243, Heidelberg, 1877, Eng. transl., London, 1895; W. M. Ramsay, Was Christ born at Bethlehem, pp. 252-260, London, 1898; Cross, in Expository Times, 1899-1900, pp. 538-540; P. Feine, Theologisches Literaturblatt, 1900, pp. 60-61; DB, iv. 750; EB, iv. 5049-57; JE, xii. 140; and commentaries on the Acts.
THIEME, ti'me, KARL: German Protestant; b. at Spremberg (53 m. s.s.w. of Frankfort), Saxony, July 20, 1862. He was educated at the University of Leipsic (Ph.D., 1887; lie. theol., 1889), where he became privat-docent in 1890, and associate professor of systematic theology in 1894. In theology he is a moderate liberal, and has written, Glauben und Wissen bei Lotze (Leipsic, 1888); Die sittliche Triebkraft des Glaubens (1895); Eine katholische Beleuchtung der augsburgischen Konfession (1898); Luther s Testament wider Rom
(1900); Der Offenbarungsglaube im Streit uber Bibel und Babel (1903); Die christliche Demut (vol. i., 1906) ; Jesus und seine Predigt (Giessen, 1908) ; Die Theologie der Heilstatsachen und das Evangelium Jesus (1909); and Zu Wundts Religionspsychologie (Leipsic, 1910).
THIERSCH, tirsh, HEINRICH WILHELM JOSIAS: German Irvingite; b. at Munich Nov. 5, 1817 ; d. at Basel Dec. 3, 1885. He studied philology at Munich (1833-35; chiefly under his father, but also heard Schelling and Gorres), theology at Erlangen (1835-37, where he heard Olshausen and Harless), and at Tubingen (1837-38); became repetent at Erlangen (1839), privat-docent (1840) and professor of theology at Marburg (1843); meanwhile, as early as 1836 he had become interested in Irvingism, and received that faith (1847), and resigned his professorship in 1850 in order to labor in the interests of the Catholic Apostolic Church (q.v.) which was then being organized in Germany by " evangelists " from England. Among these the Apostle Carlyle exercised the deepest influence upon him. Thiersch received ordination from the Irvingites, and subsequently resided successively in Marburg, Munich, Augsburg, and Basel, exercised a general ministry over the scattered Irvingite congregations, was privat-docent at Marburg (1853-58), but in general his university life was closed with his acceptance of Irvingite principles. During the later years of his life he corresponded frequently with Dollinger and other Old Catholic leaders.
Thiersch was a man of sincere and profound piety, of rare classical, theological, and general culture, an enthusiastic teacher, and might have become the successor of Neander in Berlin; but, in obedience to what he believed to be a divine call, he sacrificed a brilliant academic career to his religious convictions. He lived in poverty and isolation. He was lame; but had a very striking, highly intellectual and spiritual countenance, and an impressive voice and manner. He was the most distinguished German convert to Irvingism. He sincerely believed that the Lord had restored the apostolic office and the prophetic gifts of the Apostolic Church in the Irvingite community; and, notwithstanding the apparent failure of the movement, he adhered to it till his death.
His chief writings are : Versuch zur Herstellung des historischen Standpunkts filr die Kritik der neutestamentlichen Schriften (Erlangen, 1845; against the Tubingen school of Baur, who answered in Der Kritiker und der Fanatiker, in der Person des Herrn H. W J. Thiersch. Zur Charakteristik der neuesten Theologie, Stuttgart, 1846); Vorlesungen uber Katholicismus und Protestantisrnus (2 vols., Erlangen, 1846 ; able, written in an irenic spirit, and in elegant style); Die Kirche im apostolischen Zeitalter (Frankfort, 1852; Eng. transl. by Carlyle the Irvingite, London, 1852); Ueber christliches Familienleben (1854); Dollinger' s Auffassung des Urchristenthums beleuchtet (1861); Die Gleichnisse Christi (Frankfort, 1867); Die Bergpredigt Christi (Basel, 1867); Die Strafgesetze in Bayern zum Schutz der Sittlichkeit (1868); Luther, Gustav Adolf
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