A person who retires into solitude for the purpose of devotion. Who were the first hermits cannot easily be known; though Paul, surnamed the hermit, is generally reckoned the first. The persecutions of Decius and Valerian were supposed to have occasioned their first rise.
Despite a stated reliance on the plain meaning of the Bible and the dictates of common sense, Buck's Theological Dictionary, first published in London in 1802, seeks to provide a textual basis for the evangelical community. By combining brief essays on orthodox belief and practice with historical entries on various denominations, Buck provided an interpretive lens that allowed antebellum Protestants to see Christianity's almost two millennia as their own history.Wikipedia
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