(H. RAHLENBECK. )
BrsuiograpHy: Biographies have been written by F. Oldenberg, 2 vols., Hamburg, 1882-87; O. Schnizer, Calw, 1904; E. Knodt, Herborn, 1908; and H. Petrich, Hamburg, 1908. Consult also the literature under INNERE Mission; Schafer, in Monatsschrift fiir Innere Mission, 1882, pp. 443 sqq., 1894, pp. 489 sqq., 1898, pp. 313 sqq.; P. Schaff, Germany; tts Universities, Theology, and Religion, chap. xxxvili., Philadelphia, 1857; M. Hennig, J. H. Wicherns Lebenswerk in seiner Bedeutung fiir das deutsche Volk, Hamburg, 1908.
WICKED BIBLE. See Brste Versions, B, IV., § 9.
WICKEDNESS: A term which has varied connotations in dogmatics according to its general or individual application. In the former sense it im~ plies the destruction caused by sin in its active as~ pect (Gen, vi. 5; Ps. xciv. 23; Isa. xili. 11; Jer. ui.
Wickedness Wigand
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
a EE ee :
19) and merits condemnation and death (Jer. xviii. 8; xxxv. 17; Ezek. xviii. 26; xxxiii. 13). Wickedness is essentially the active aspect of sin, and connotes a false tendency of the reason and the will which is persistent and determined in its course (Jer. ix. 3; Rom. i. 29). It is the self-centered pride in which the natural man identifies himself with his sinful impulses (Jer. viii. 6; I Cor. v. 8), and despite its reprehensibility and condemnation (Ps. xciv. 23; Isa. xiii. 11), it is ineradicable (Jer. vi. 7; viii. 6, ix. 3; Nah. iii. 19). Naturally the term “ wickedness ” can be applied in this sense to individuals, since the sinfulness of each man may be regarded either as particular or general, according as preeminence is given to personal responsibility or to the universal corruption of sin (Wisd. of Sol., ii. 21; I Pet. ii. 1).
As applied to the individual, wickedness connotes unholy delight in the intentional infliction of injury on others (Esther viii. 3; Ps. liv. 5), as well as pride at success in working harm (Matt. xxi. 18; Eph. iv. 31; Col. iti. 8). Ferocity, cruelty, revenge, and calumny are forms in which wickedness is manifested, while destructiveness and malice often receive modifications from it.
The ancient classification of sins as those of ignorance, weakness, and malice, current since St. Augustine, finds its justification in the general concept of wickedness, though it is inadequate. Johann Gerhard divided sins into involuntary, or those committed from ignorance and weakness, and voluntary, or those done with malice prepense. From the point of view of ethical religion, a distinction may be drawn between sins of ignorance and those committed knowingly, the latter being divisible into sins of weakness and of malice, and it is also permissible to distinguish between conscious and unconscious sins as well as between those which are voluntary and such as are involuntary.
(L, Lemme.)
WICKHAM, EDWARD CHARLES: Church of England; b. at Hammersmith (7 m. w. of St. Paul’s, London) Dec. 7, 1834. He received his education at Winchester College, and at New College, Oxford (B.A., 1856; M.A., 1859; D.D., 1894); was made deacon in 1857, and priest in 1859; fellow and tutor of New College, 1859-73; Whitehall preacher, 1872- 1873; headmaster of Wellington College, 1873-93; dean of Lincoln since 1894; honorary fellow of New College, 1894 to the present time; and select preacher at Oxford, 1866-67, 1883-85, 1896-97, and 1901-03. He has devoted much time to the study of Horace, his labors resulting in Horace, Works with Commentary and Notes (2 vols., London, 1874 sqq.), Opera (1901), and Horace for English Readers. Translation (1903). He is the author also of Wellington College Sermons (1887); Notes and Questions on the Catechism (1892, latest ed., 1899); Notes on the Prayer Book (1895, latest ed., 1902); and Questions to Hebrews (1910).
WICKSTEED, PHILIP HENRY: English Unitarian; b. at Leeds, Yorkshire, Oct. 25, 1844. He was educated at University College and at Manchester New College, London (A.B., University of London, 1864), and in 1867 entered the ministry; he held pastorates at Taunton (1867-70), Dukin-
field, near Manchester (1870-74), and Portland Street Chapel, London (1874-87). In 1897 he retired from the ministry, but since 1887 has been a lecturer in the University Extension movement. He has written Dante (six sermons; London, 1879); Alphabet of Economic’ Science, 1. (1888); Hendrik Ibsen (lectures; 1891); The Religion of Time and the Religion of Eternity (1899); Dante and Giovanni del Virgilio (in collaboration with E. G. Gardner; 1901); Studies in Theology (in collaboration with E. Carpenter; 1903); and The Common Sense of Political Economy (1910).
WIDOWS IN THE EARLY CHURCH. Deacongsss, I.—II.
WIDUKIND, wid’i-kind: Monk of Corvey, historian of the Saxons; d. after 973. Of his life it is known only that he was of Saxon origin, that about 940 he entered the famous Saxon Benedictine monastery of Corvey, and that he wrote there his Saxon history. Before he undertook this work, he worked over existing lives of saints, partly in rime, partly in prose, among them Passio Thecle virginis and Vita Pauli primi eremite, but these compilations are lost. Widukind began his Rerum gestarum Saxonicarum libri tres after 962, and dedicated it to the abbess of Quedlinburg Machthild (Matilda), the youthful daughter of Emperor Otto I. The first book begins with the origin of the Saxons, tells of their landing in the country called after them “Saxon-land,” their battles with the Thuringians as allies of the Franks, and the conquest of the country. Although the author used some sources as, for instance, Bede’s ‘Church History,” he followed almost entirely the popular accounts which he learned from epic songs. His account is fragmentary rather than continuous and detailed. The first book closes with the death of Henry I., king of the Franks and Saxons (936). The second and third book treat the history of the reign of King Otto I. (936-973). For the earlier period, including the history of Henry I., the work has only secondary value; for the time of Otto I. it is of the greatest importance, but the author knows only the events that happened in Saxony and in the immediate neighborhood of the Saxons. Though a monk, he was little interested in the church and ecclesiastical affairs, which he hardly mentions. Perhaps the chief value of the book is that it portrays vividly the views of a sound and sturdy Low Saxon of the middle of the tenth century.
(O. HotpER-Eacert.)
Brstiocrapuy: The editions of Widukind’s work to be noted are M. Frecht, Basel, 1532 (valuable because it prints a lost manuscript); G. Waitz, in MGH, Script., ili (1839), 408-467; and K. A. Kehr, in Script. rer. Germ., 1904 (contains literature on Widukind). Consult: A. Gloel, in Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, iv. 197— 240, Gottingen, 1864; R. Képke, Widukind von Korvet, Berlin, 1867; O. Grund, in Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, xi (1871), 563-592; J. Raase, Widukind von Korvet, Rostock, 1880; C. Bruckner, Studien zur Geschichte der stchsischen Kaiser, Basel, 1889; A. Ebert, Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalters im Abendlande, iii. 428-434, Leipsic, 1889; 1889; B. Simson, in NA, xy (1890), 565-575; Wattenbach, DGQ, i (1904), 363-368; M. Herrmann, Die Latinitat Widukinds von Korvei, Greifswald, 1907.