Stier, RUDOLF EWALD, German theologian, was born at Fraustadt, March 17, 1800, studied at Jena, Halle, and Berlin, and had already laboured as pastor at Frankleben near Merseburg and Wichlinghausen in the Wupperthal when he was appointed in 1850 superintendent at Schkeuditz, and in 1859 at Eisleben, where he died, December 16, 1862. Stier was a man of fervent and somewhat mystical piety, and as an exegete he shows absolute faith in the inspiration and infallibility of his text; but he has no other dogmatisms, and his books are full of observations always ingenious and edifying, if sometimes prolix and far-fetched.
Among his works the most popular have been The Words of the Lord Jesus (Eng. trans. 8 vols. 1855–58), Words of a Risen Saviour (trans. 1859), Words of the Angels (1862), and Words of the Apostles (trans. 1869). See the Life by his sons (Wittenberg, 1868).