Van Maren was not a popular preacher, yet he
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
was always listened to with respect and even admiration by thoughtful hearers. His sermons were clear, but too closely reasoned and too full of matter to make it easy for the common man to follow them. That fondness for controversy which never left him showed itself even in his student days when (i.e., in 1864) he joined issue with one of his teachers —Van Ooztersee—on the question of the genuineness of II Thessalonians. In later years he had controversies witlt Jacobus Cramer, A. Kuyper, and many others. Though at first he vigorously assailed the advanced views of Loman and other members of the Groningen school on the books of the New Testament, he afterward adopted these views, carrying them to a farther point than his predecessors Loman, Steck, and others. He wrote largely for religious magazines—V aterldndsche letteroefeningen, Gottesdienstig album, Theologische Tijdschrift; of this last he was editor from 1890 to the time of his death.
In 1903, at the very zenith of his power and influence, probably owing to his excessive industry and zeal, he was suddenly laid low by a paralytic seizure, from which he never sufficiently recovered to attempt any further work, literary or academic, though his name remained among the editors of the Theologische Tijdschrift to the end of 1905. After a lingering illness in which the once strong mind gave way more and more, he died, greatly regretted by colleagues and by a large number of scholars in all lands. Even those who rejected his opinions admired his industry, courtesy, kindness, and transparent honesty. He had a tall, imposing figure, and was broad of shoulder, his large head being covered with a goodly quantity of curly hair.
His principal works were the following: (1) Handleiding voor de Oud-christelijke Letterkunde (1890; the substance of this work is given by the author himself in the article ‘“‘ Old Christian Literature ” in EB, vol. iv.; there is a brief analysis also in the Hibbert Journal, i. 193). Van Manen denies in this work that the so-called ‘‘ Epistles”? of the New Testament are letters proper: they are rather dogmatic and practical treatises by unknown authors, one of them coming from the pen of the Apostle Paul. (2) Paulus. This, his greatest work, is divided into three parts: (a) De Handelingen der Apostelen (1890; on the Acts); (b) De Brief aan de Romanen (1891; on Romans); (c) De Brieven aan de Korinthiers (1896; on I and II Corinthians). Of this work, which discusses more fully most of the problems dealt with in the former work, an analysis is given by Thomas Whittaker in his Origins of Christianity (pp. 67 sqq., 2d ed., London, 1909). Especially worthy of notice are his articles ‘‘ Paul,”’ ‘“ Philippians,” and ‘‘ Romans,’’ in HB, and those in The Expository Times, vol. ix., defending himself against Samuel Davidson. Though few theologians accept the rationalistic conclusions to which Van Manen came, Prof. T. K. Cheyne, of Oxford, speaks of him as ‘‘ the man whom future readers of the Bible will bless for having set Gospels and Epistles in intelligible time relations.”’ It is significant that in May, 1904, the Rationalistic Press Association in London elected him an “ Honorary Associate.” T. Wirton Daviss.
RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Van Kirk Vandals
BrsitiocrapHy: TAT, 1905, p. 385 (obituary); BE. U. Meyboom, in ThT, 1906, pp. 193-252 (on Van Manen’s life and literary works); R. Steck, in Protestantische Monatsschrift, ix (1905), October; Pijper, ‘‘ Die hollandsche Bibel-Kritik ” in Protestantische Monatsschrift, vols. x.x 2s L906.
VAN PELT, JOHN ROBERT: Methodist Episcopal; b. near Todd’s Point, Shelby County, Ky., Noy. 10, 1862. He received his education at Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Ill. (B.A., 1882; M.A., 1885), Boston University (S.T.B., 1887; Ph.D., 1893), Garrett Biblical Institute, Evanston, IIL, and the University of Halle; he entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1887, serving in Illinois till 1891, when he became professor of systematic theology in the Iliff School of Theology, Denver, Col.; in 1901 he returned to the pastorate, and served in Illinois and Pennsylvania till in 1909 he went to his present position of professor of philosophy and Biblical literature in Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Ia. He is a member of the committee for preparing a Sunday-school hymnal for the use of his denomination. His theological position is that of a moderate conservative; he holds to the supreme authority of the Christian revelation in the Bible, but concedes full liberty to the processes of criticism. He has been largely influenced by Kahler in his theological thinking.
VAN TIL. See Tit, Satomon vANn.
VANCE, SELBY FRAME: Presbyterian; b. at Oneida, Knox Co., Ill., Nov. 17, 1864. He was educated at Lake Forest University (B.A., 1885), Princeton Theological Seminary (1888-90), McCormick Theological Seminary (1891), and Berlin University (1898-95); and, after holding a pastorate at Girard, Kan. (1891-93), was professor of Greek in Parsons College (1895-1900) and of English Bible in Wooster University (1900-05). Since 1905 he has been professor of church history in Lane Theological Seminary.
VANDALS: A people of Teutonic stock, distinguished in secular history for their great migrations from the northeast of Europe to the south and then to the extreme southwest of the Roman world, and in church history for their extreme tenacity to Arianism. In the time of Pliny the elder and Tacitus the Vandals were settled between the Elbe and the Vistula, but by the period of the great Marcomannic war (166-181) they had reached the territory represented by the modern Silesia. A century later Aurelian found it necessary to protect the middle Danube against them; but about 330, hard pressed by their northern neighbors, they received protection from Constantine the Great in Pannonia, though forced to recognize Roman sovereignty. About 407 the Vandals, together with the Caucasian Alans and a Swabian tribe, left Pannonia, and, after ravaging Gaul, sought new homes in Spain, where they settled first in the north, in Galicia (409-423), and then in the south, in Betica, the modern Andalusia (423-429). Their Arian Christianity they received from the Emperor Valens.
In 429 Genseric, Vandal king since 427, landed with some 80,000 followers, of whom 50,000 were warriors, on the coast of northern Africa. The Vandal kingdom properly dates, however, from Oct. 19,
439, when, utterly disregarding the terms of the peace made at Hippo Regius on Feb. 11, 435, Genseric stormed and sacked Carthage, which he made his capital. From 440 until 475 he harried the Mediterranean coasts almost annually, and in June, 455, pillaged Rome itself. He ruled northern Africa from Mauretania to Cyrene, and also Corsica, Sardinia, the Balearic Isles, Iviza, Formentera, and part of Sicily.
The African Vandal kingdom, unprecedentedly isolated in the extreme south of the ancient world, suffered more than any other Teutonic Arian domain on the Mediterranean from a twofold internal antithesis, national and religious. In his new home Genseric found two ruling estates, the ecclesiastical nobility, or bishops, and the secular nobles, or possessores. Both were systematically crushed as main supports of Catholic power, but when, in token of allegiance, the Vandal king demanded Arian rebaptism and disciplined loyal Catholics, the persecution was political rather than religious. When, on the other hand, he came into better relation with the two divisions of the Roman Empire, he was lenient toward his orthodox subjects, and at one time the African Bishop Victor of Cartenna could present him with an impassioned refutation of Arianism without ill consequences. On Jan. 25, 477, the aged Vandal king died at peace with all his foes. Except for his religious persecutions, Genseric was a ruler of a high degree of statesmanship, and his personal integrity and purity were irreproachable. The taint of immorality alleged against him by Sidonius Apollinaris (Panegyricus, v. 327 sqq.) is refuted by the activity of his life, for until about 474 he led almost all his expeditions in person. He was equally ready to recognize nobility in others; while among his acts of toleration to his orthodox subjects may be mentioned his permission, at the request of Valentinian III., for the Catholics of Carthage to elect Deogratias as their bishop after their community had been desolate for years (Oct. 24, 454).
Genseric was succeeded by his unworthy son, Huneric (477-484), who at first spared the Catholies out of fear of Byzantium, and even permitted them to choose Eugenius bishop of Carthage in 481, only to persecute the orthodox with ever-increasing barbarity after 482. Guntamund (484— 496) spared the Catholics, and his successor, Thrasamund (496-523), contented himself with banishing the most important bishops. Hilderic (523-530), the son of Huneric and the West Roman Princess Kudocia, granted absolute religious freedom. Catholic synods were again held on African soil at Junca (523), Sufes (524), and Carthage itself (525). Hilderie’s policy, however, allying him with Byzantium, then ruled by Justinian, and estranging him from his natural allies, the Ostrogoths, led to his fall. His aged cousin, Gelimer (or Geilamir), a fervent Arian, had him dethroned and put to death. In 533-534, Gelimer himself succumbed to Belisarius at Decimum and Tricameron, and North Africa with the islands became, under the name of the Exarchate of Carthage, a Byzantine province until it fell a prey to Islam in 709. The last Vandal king, a romantic character, received rich estates in Galicia,
Vandals Vatablus
where he was prevented from accepting patrician rank, the highest honor that Byzantium could bestow, only by his refusal to abandon the Arian faith. From the neighboring Moorish tribes Genseric received his so-called testament or law of succession, whereby the son did not regularly follow the father, the heir to the throne in each case being the eldest descendant in direct line from Genseric himself. The aim, as in the corresponding rule of the Osmanli Turks, was to prevent degeneration of the ruling stock, but among both peoples it proved unsuccessful. (FRANZ GORRES.) BrisiiocRarHy: Sources are: Victor of Vita, Hist. persecutionis Africane provincie, ed. M. Petschenig, in CSCE, vol. vii., and in MGH, Auct. ant., iii (1879), 1-58, Germ. transl. by A. Mally, Vienna, 1884; Procopius, De bello Vandalico, in Opera, ed. J. Haury, i. 307 sqq., Leipsic, 1905, Germ. transl. by D. Coste, ib. 1885; Prosper Tiron, Epitoma chronica, ed. T. Mommsen, in MGH, Auct. ant., ix (1892); Victor Tonnennensis, Chronicon, ed. T. Mommsen, in MGH, Auct. ant., xi (1893). Consult further: F. Papencordt, Geschichte der vandalischen Herrschaft in Afrika, Berlin, 1837; F. Dahn, Die Kénige der Germanen, vol. i, Munich, 1881; idem, Germanisch-romanische Urgeschichte, i. 147-222, 2d ed., Berlin, 1899; Stadler von Wolffersgrin, Die Vandalen, Bozen, 1883-84; F. Wrede, Ueber die Sprache der Wandalen, Strasburg, 1886; W. P6tzsch, Victor von Vita, Débeln, 1887; L. Schmidt, Aelteste Geschichte der Wandalen, Leipsic, 1888; idem, Geschichte der Wandalen, ib. 1901; A. Ebert, Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalters, i. 455 sqq., 2d ed., Leipsic, 1889; G. Boissier, Etudes d’ hist. religieuse, in Revue des deux mondes, ix (1890), 145-172; T. Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders,
afrikanischen Kirche, pp. 153-183, Géttingen, 1892; F. Gorres, in ZWT, xxxvi. 1. (1893), 494-511; idem, in Historisches Jahrbuch, 1911, ii. 8323-332; F. Ferrére, De Victoris Vitensis libro, Paris, 1898; F. Martroye, L’Occident a Vépoque byzantine. Goths et Vandales, Paris, 1904.
VANE, SIR HENRY, JR.: Statesman and religious enthusiast; b. at Hadlow (18 m. s.e. of London) 1613; beheaded on Tower Hill, London, June 14, 1662. His father, of the same name, was a privy councilor of Charles I. About the age of fifteen the son was converted to Puritanism, and when, shortly after, he became a gentleman commoner of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, he refused to take the oath of supremacy and allegiance. After leaving the university he traveled on the continent, returning to England in 1632. As the son of a courtier and the possessor of great talents, he was naturally equipped for places of preferment, but his hostility to the doctrines and ceremonies of the Church of England was unconquerable. To enjoy greater freedom of worship he emigrated to New England in 1635, and was enthusiastically received at Boston in consideration of his high birth and the sacrifices he was making for the sake of conscience. He became governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony the following year, but failed of reelection because of the religious disputes in which he became involved. Among other things he lent the protection of his position to Mrs. Anne Hutchinson (see ANTINOMIANISM AND ANTINOMIAN ConTroversigs, II., 2) in the controversy she occasioned by her energetic preaching concerning the ‘‘ covenant of grace ” and the “ covenant of works.’ Apart from being an upholder of freedom of religious opinion, he naturally sympathized with the mystical teaching that the Holy Spirit dwells in a justified person and that the revelation of the Spirit in the soul of a believer is su-