Encyclopedia of Christianity Online
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Subject: Religious Studies
Editors: Erwin Fahlbusch, Jan Milič Lochman, John Mbiti, Jaroslav Pelikan and Lukas Vischer
The Encyclopedia of Christianity Online describes modern-day Christian beliefs and communities in the context of 2000 years of apostolic tradition and Christian history. Based on the third, revised edition of the critically acclaimed German work Evangelisches Kirchenlexikon. The Encyclopedia of Christianity Online includes all 5 volumes of the print edition of 1999-2008 which has become a standard reference work for the study of Christianity past and present. Comprehensive, reflecting the highest standards in scholarship yet intended for a wide range of readers, the The Encyclopedia of Christianity Online also looks outward beyond Christianity, considering other world religions and philosophies as it paints the overall religious and socio-cultural picture in which the Christianity finds itself.
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The Encyclopedia of Christianity Online describes modern-day Christian beliefs and communities in the context of 2000 years of apostolic tradition and Christian history. Based on the third, revised edition of the critically acclaimed German work Evangelisches Kirchenlexikon. The Encyclopedia of Christianity Online includes all 5 volumes of the print edition of 1999-2008 which has become a standard reference work for the study of Christianity past and present. Comprehensive, reflecting the highest standards in scholarship yet intended for a wide range of readers, the The Encyclopedia of Christianity Online also looks outward beyond Christianity, considering other world religions and philosophies as it paints the overall religious and socio-cultural picture in which the Christianity finds itself.
Subscriptions: see brill.com
Vatican
(627 words)
1. Place-Name The “Vatican” was the name of a hill (the Mons Vaticanus) on the right bank of the River Tiber in Rome. From the 2nd century onward it was revered as the burial place of the apostle Peter. Constantine (306–37) built St. Peter’s Church there, and in the 15th century it became the residence of the pope. It was expanded in the 15th to 17th centuries to become the largest palatial complex in the world. It includes today, in addition to the papal residence, the Vatican archives, library, and museums. 2. Incorrect Usage In everyday (but incorrect) usage the “Vatican” denotes the …
Vatican I and II
(7,623 words)
1. Vatican I (1869–70) 1.1.
Preliminaries Within the Roman Catholic tradition, the First Vatican Council is considered the 20th general council of the church, the first to be convened in the 324 years since the Council of Trent (1545–63). In the history of the church, this was the longest period between ecumenical councils. Given this length of time in which the church had not engaged in a systematic reflection on its own teaching and tradition, and given the enormous intellectual, political, economic…
Venezuela
(3,540 words)
1. Country, Society, Economy The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela comprises three different geographic regions: the Andes to the west, forested in the valleys; the wide grassy plains
(llanos) in the central part; and the Guiana mountains south of the Orinoco River.
1.1. On the foundation of approximately 12,000 Spanish immigrants, their black slaves (whose number is difficult to estimate; Slavery), and the original, native population, a “new people” of approximately 800,000 individuals was formed by 1810. In 1980 this population consis…
Vestments
(1,595 words)
1. Apparel outside of Worship Outside of the worship service, clergy from the Eastern Church usually wear a black cassock (full-length garment buttoned in the front) or the appropriate garments for an order. For the garments of Roman Catholic clergy, the only two considerations are that they must be “suitable ecclesiastical garb according to the norms issued by the conference of bishops,” and they must be “according to legitimate local customs” (1983 CIC 284). Orders require that the apparel of the order be constantly worn. The Roman Pontificate defines the followin…