RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Visitation of the Sick Vivekananda
wrote Hypotyposis historie et chronologie sacre (Leeuwarden, 1698; enlarged ed., Franeker, 1708); and Geographia sacra, the latter unskilfully edited by D. G. Werner (Jena, 1723).
Vitringa wrote also on Biblical theology, dogmatics, and polemics. Here belongs his Doctrina Christiane religionis per aphorismos summatim descripta (Franeker, 1690), to which, after the fourth edition (1702), was appended his Hypotyposis theologie elenctice graviores exhibens controversias que super Christiane religionis doctrina ecclesie reformate cum diversis ejusdem sectis intercedunt. Against Roell, who defended a sort of tritheism, Vitringa wrote his Geloove der kercke angaande de geboorte des Sons ende de tydelicke Dood der geloovige (Franeker, 1695); and he was also the author of T’ypus doctrine prophetice in quo de prophetis et prophetiis agitur hujusque scientie precepta traduntur (appended to the Hypotyposis historie et chronologie sacre after 1708); Typus theologie practice sive de vita spirituali ejusque affectionibus (Franeker, 1716; setting forth the right imitation of Christ); and the Dutch ‘“ Meditations on the Miracles of Jesus Christ”? (Franeker, 1725), in which the fulfilment of the types and prophecies contained in the miracles of Christ is sought in the history of the Church. In the domain of practical theology his principal work was Animadversiones ad methodum homiliarum ecclesiasticarum rite instituendarum (Leeuwarden, 1721).
Two of Vitringa’s sons also lived to write on theology. Horatius, though dying at the age of nineteen (Oct. 8, 1704), was the author of Animadverstones ad Johannem Vorstium de Hebraismis Novi Testamenti (ed. L. Bos, in his Observationes miscellanee, Franeker, 1707); and Campegius (b. at Franeker Mar. 23, 1693; d. there Jan. 11, 1723; professor of theology at Franeker after 1715) wrote an Epitome theologie naturalis and Dissertationes sacre, both of which were edited after their author’s death by H. Venema (Franeker, 1731).
(KE. Kaurzscxf.)
BrsiioGRapHy: The funeral oration by A. Schultens, printed in the Basel edition of the commentary on Isaiah, and the brief Vita by T. de Hase, printed in the Jena ed. of the Observationes sacre, formed the material included in Niceron, Mémoires, xxxv. 30 sqq. Other editions of the commentary on Isaiah contain the results of the working over of this material, with corrections. Consult also L. Diestel, Geschichte des A. T. in der christlichen Kirche, pp. 436 sqq., Jena, 1869.
VITUS, SAINT: See Heupmrs 1n NEED.
VIVEKANANDA, vi’’ve-ka-nan’da, SWAMI: Vedantist; b. at Calcutta Jan. 21, 1863; d. at Belur (near Calcutta) July 4, 1902. He was educated at the university of his native city, where he also studied law, and, after teaching for a short time in a private college in Calcutta, renounced the world to become a teacher of the Vedanta. In 1893 he left India for the United States as a delegate to the Parliament of Religions at the World’s Fair at Chicago, and in the following year he founded the Vedanta Society in New York City. He lectured before this organization and its branches until 1900, when he returned to India to supervise the education of the monks in the monastery of Belur, training them as teachers of the Vedanta. He issued Karma
Vivés Y Tuto Vogtherr
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Yoga (New York, 1896); Vedanta Philosophy (addresses at Harvard; 1896); Raja Yoga (London, 1896); From Colombo to Almora (Madras, 1897); My Master (biography of Ramakrishna; New York, 1901); Jnana Yoga (1902); besides the posthumous volume of selections from his speeches and writings
(Madras, 1905); Inspired Talks, Recorded by a Dis-
ciple (New York, 1909); The Science and Philoso-
phy of Religion; a comparative Study of Sankhya
Vedanta and other Systems (1909); and The Hast
and the West (Madras, 1909). A memorial edition
of his Complete Works is in course of publication
(London, 1907 sqq.).
BrpuioGRAPHY: A Short Account of the Life and Teachings of the Swami Vivekananda (Dacea, 1904); Mary E. Noble ( Sister Vivedita’’), The Master as I saw him; being Passages from the Life of the Swami Vivekananda, New York, 1910.
VIVES Y TUTO, vi’ves-i-ti’ts, JOSE CALASAN- TIO: Cardinal; b. at San André da Llevaneras (a village in the diocese of Barcelona), Spain, Feb. 15, 1854. At the age of fifteen he entered the Capuchin order in Guatemala, and for many years labored in North and South America, as well as in France and Spain. In 1896 he became definitorgeneral of the Capuchins, and in 1899 was created cardinal-deacon of San Adriano al Foro. He is prefect of the Congregation for the Affairs of Religious.
VOCATION. See Cauuine.
VOELTER, — fel’ter, DANIEL ERHARD JO- HANNES: German theologian; b. at Usslingen (7 m. e.s.e. of Stuttgart), Wirttemberg, Sept. 14, 1855. He was educated at the universities of Tiibingen, Gottingen, and Berlin (Ph.D., Tiibingen, 1882), and was connected with the University of Tiibingen as lecturer in the theological seminary (1880-84) and as privat-docent (1884-85); since 1886 he has been professor of the New Testament at the Evangelical Lutheran Seminary and the University of Amsterdam. He has written Die Entstehung der Apokalypse (Freiburg, 1882); Der Ursprung des Donatismus (1883); Die Ignatianischen Briefe (Tiibingen, 1892); Das Problem der Apokalypse (Freiburg, 1893); Petrusevangeluum oder Aegypterevangelium ? (Tiibingen, 1893); Die Vuistonen des Hermas (1900); Der Ursprung des Ménchtums (1900); Aegypten und die Bibel (Leyden, 1903); Die Offenbarung Johannis neu untersucht und erldéutert (Strasburg, 1904); Die apostolischen Vdter, i— ii. (Leyden, 1904-10); Paulus und seine Briefe (Strasburg, 1905); Der erste Petrusbrief, seine Entstehung und Stellung in der Geschichte des Urchristentums (1906); Mater Dolorosa und der Lieblingsjtinger des Johannesevangelium (1907); Das messianische Bewusstsein Jesu (1907); Die Entstehung des Glaubens an die Auferstehung Jesu (Strasburg, 1910); and Die evangelische Erzéhlung von der Geburt und Kindheit Jesu (1911).
VOETIUS, vé6-i’shi-us, GISBERTUS (GIJSBERT VOET): Dutch Reformed; b. at Heusden (25 m. s. of Utrecht) Mar. 3, 1589; d. at Utrecht Nov. 1, 1676. He was educated at the University of Leyden (1604-11), and in 1611 was made pastor of the village of Vlijmen; in 1617 he accepted the position of minister in his native town, where he preached
eight times a week, devoted himself to the study of Arabic, and was privat-docent in various branches of theology, logic, physics, metaphysics, and oriental languages. In 1618 he was a delegate to the Synod of Dort, where he exercised a strong influence against the Remonstrants. For a time he preached also:at Gouda against the Arminianism which had there taken root, and when, in 1630, the Roman Catholic stronghold of Bois-le-Duec was wrested from the Spanish, he eagerly devoted himself to promoting the Reformed cause there. In 1634 he accepted the professorship of theology and oriental languages at the newly founded academy of Utrecht, where he passed the remainder of his life. In 1637 he served also as pastor of the Utrecht congregation. He had already written, while still at Heusden, his Proeve van de cracht der godisalicheyt (Amsterdam, 1628) against Daniel Tilenus, formerly professor of theology at Sedan. In all his teaching he laid no less stress on orthodoxy of belief than on uprightness of life. His vast learning excited admiration, and his zeal for knowledge was insatiable. He lectured on theology, Hebrew, Arabic, and Syriac, and urged his students to hold meetings for personal devotion. Throughout his life he was a bitter and uncompromising foe of Arminianism; as professor at Utrecht he continued his attacks in his lectures and disputations, as well asin his Thersites heautontimorumenos (Utrecht, 1635) and Catechisatie over den catechismus der Remonstranten (1641). His exegesis was designed simply to give a philological demonstration of the truth of the accepted doctrine of his church rather than the religious and Christian truths taught in the Bible. He was inferior as an exegete, and his dogmatics bore an essentially scholastic character. These traits appear strongly in his Selecte disputationes theologice (5 vols, Utrecht, 1648-69; selected disputations ed. A. Kuyper, Amsterdam, 1887). The least deviation from rigid Calvinism was inadmissible in his opinion, and his tendency was, accordingly, prevailingly polemic. He was as Calvinistic in his theory of the relations of Church and State as in his theology, and constantly opposed all forms of patronage, maintaining that the Church should be entirely independent of the State, views set forth in his Politica ecclesiastica (8 vols., Amsterdam, 1663-76; selected treatises ed. F. L. Rutgers and P. J. Hoedemaker [2 parts, Amsterdam, 1885-86]). A bitter enemy of the Roman Catholic Church, as evinced in his Desperata causa papatus (Amsterdam, 1635), written against the Louvain Professor Cornehus Jansenius, bishop of Ypern after 1636, Voetius became involved in a long controversy with Maresius over a question of toleration (cf. his Specimen assertionum partim ambiguarum aut lubricarum, partum periculosarum [Utrecht, 1642]). Both antagonists, however, united against a common foe, Johannes Cocceius (q.v.). The more liberal tendencies of Cocceius, combined with an exegesis of greater independence and a relative depreciation of practical Christianity, aroused the wrath of Voetius. The resulting controversy racked the Dutch Reformed Church till long after the death of the two protagonists, when a truce was patched up between the factions, so that at Amsterdam, for example, a
system of rotation was adopted whereby an adherent of Voetius should first be made pastor, then a follower of Cocceius.
A controversy of exceptional bitterness was waged by Voetius against the Cartesian philosophy, which he deemed incompatible with Reformed theology. He had kept silent while Henricus Renerius, professor of philosophy at Utrecht from 1637 to 1639, had adopted the Cartesian method in all his lectures; but his wrath became public when a like course was pursued by Renerius’ successor, Henricus Regius (De Roy). Voetius was able to compel Regius to cease lecturing on philosophy, and secured a majority vote from the Utrecht faculty forbidding the use of the new system of philosophy in instruction. He himself polemized against Descartes, and had Martinus Schoock, professor of logic and physics at Groningen, prepare an attack entitled Admiranda methodus nove philosophic Renati des Cartes (Utrecht, 1643). Descartes replied in the Hpistola ad celeberrimum virum Gisbertum Voettwm (Amsterdam, 1643), whereupon Voetius continued his attacks, at the same time denying connection with the polemic ostensibly written by Schoock. He was even able to have Descartes condemned by the magistracy of Utrecht as a slanderer and circulator of libelous writings. When, however, the matter was taken up officially by the academic senate at Groningen, Schoock revealed Voetius’ complicity in the Admiranda methodus. Utrecht was ordered to make amends to the philosopher, and the printing, publishing, and selling of all writings for or against Descartes were forbidden on June 2, 1645, though Voetius still continued his attacks on this “‘ fanatic and fantastic philosophy.” Less explicable was the struggle with Jean de Labadie (q.v.), which occupied the closing decades of Voetius’ life. He had originally been the friend of Labadie, and had been instrumental in securing his call from Geneva to Middelburg in Zealand, besides encouraging his efforts to inject new life into the dry orthodoxy of the Dutch Reformed. When, however, the activity of Labadie assumed a separatistic tendency, Voetius became his opponent. A disputation De ecclesiarum separatarum unione et syncretismo (Amsterdam, 1669), defended under his auspices, dealt a severe blow to Labadie, and the breach widened continually.
Unlike Cocceius, Voetius founded no school in the strict sense of the term. His true importance lay in the practical nature of his theology and in his encyclopedic theological learning. In addition to the works already mentioned, his chief productions were: LHzercitia pietatis (Gorinchem, 1644); the anonymous Erpenii bibliotheca Arabica cum augmenta (Utrecht, 1667); Dvatribe de theologia (1668); and especially his Haxercitia et bibliotheca studiosi theologie (1644), the last an outline of a four-years’ course in theology of impracticable difficulty. A portion of his correspondence has also been edited by A. C. Duker under the title Henige onuitgegeven brieven van en aan Voetius (The Hague, 1893). (S. D. van VEEN.)
Bretriocrapuy: The funeral orations by C. Gentman -and A. Essenius were published at Utrecht, 1677. Consult: C. Burman, Trajectwm Hruditum, pp. 396-397, Utrecht, 1738; A. Ijpeij (Ypey), Geschiedenis van ce kristlijke