Religion Past and Present
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Subject: Religious Studies
Edited by: Hans Dieter Betz, Don S. Browning†, Bernd Janowski and Eberhard Jüngel
Religion Past and Present (RPP) Online is the online version of the updated English translation of the 4th edition of the definitive encyclopedia of religion worldwide: the peerless Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart (RGG). This great resource, now at last available in English and Online, Religion Past and Present Online continues the tradition of deep knowledge and authority relied upon by generations of scholars in religious, theological, and biblical studies. Including the latest developments in research, Religion Past and Present Online encompasses a vast range of subjects connected with religion.
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Religion Past and Present (RPP) Online is the online version of the updated English translation of the 4th edition of the definitive encyclopedia of religion worldwide: the peerless Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart (RGG). This great resource, now at last available in English and Online, Religion Past and Present Online continues the tradition of deep knowledge and authority relied upon by generations of scholars in religious, theological, and biblical studies. Including the latest developments in research, Religion Past and Present Online encompasses a vast range of subjects connected with religion.
Subscriptions: see brill.com
Adoptionism
(449 words)
[German Version] is the conventional term for a Christological conception that denies Christ's preexistence and generation before all time, maintaining instead that God adopted the human Jesus as Son.
I. Two theologians from Asia Minor are mentioned as exponents of Adoptionism in early Christianity: Theodotus the Money-Changer (or Banker) and Theodotus (or Theodotus of Byzantium). As heads of schools in Rome in th…
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Religion Past and Present
Adorno, Theodor Wiesengrund
(425 words)
[German Version] (Sep 11, 1893, Frankfurt am Main – Aug 6, 1969, Visp, Canton Wallis) is along with M. Horkheimer the most significant representative of the first generation of critical theory. The focus of his thought is a radical critique of the rationalism that was then manifesting itself academically, technically and socially. Adorno studied in Frankfurt am Main and, after receiving his PhD in philosophy in 1924, he studied composition under Alban Berg in Vienna. In 1930 he gained his
Habilitation with a thesis on S. Kierkegaard in Frankfurt …
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Religion Past and Present
Adriani, Nicolaus
(103 words)
[German Version] (Sep 15, 1865, Oud-Loosdrecht, The Netherlands – May 1, 1926, Poso, Indonesia), defended his dissertation in 1893 and worked for the Netherlands Bible Society in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, from 1895 to 1926. He wrote a book on church growth in Central Sulawesi as well as a grammar and dictionary of the Bare'e language. He also translated a l…
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Religion Past and Present
Adso
(79 words)
[German Version] (c. 910–992), reforming abbot of Montier-en-Der (from 967/68) and St. Bénigne (c. 982–985). Adso composed lives of various saints and (between 949 and 954) an influential summary of the Antichrist tradition in biographical form. In it, Adso categorized the West Frankish Carolingians (to whom his patron Gerberga was related by marriage) as the heirs of Rome in God's plan of salvation. Volker Leppin Bibliography CCCM 45, 1976 R. Konrad,
De ortu et tempore Antichristi, 1964.
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Religion Past and Present
Adveniat
(180 words)
[German Version] In 1961, at the request of the German Bishops' Conference, the first Christmas collection for the church in Latin America was taken up. In 1962, under the title Adveniat, it was continued for a second year and then established permanently. It was first put in place by Bishop Franz Hengsbach, with the support of the Joseph Teusch, the vicar-general of …
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Religion Past and Present
Advent
(675 words)
[German Version] I. Origin of the Liturgical Season – II. Liturgical Meaning of Advent
Adventus (Lat.), παρουσία (
parousia) and ἐπιφάνια (
epiphania, Gk) form a complex of related terms in pagan and Christian usage. The terms were generally employed cultically and referred to the coming of the deities amongst their worshipers.
Adventus became the standard term for the coming of Christ both historically and eschatologically.
I. Origin of the Liturgical Season In the 4th century the liturgical season of Advent was peculiar to the western r…
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Religion Past and Present
Adventists
(1,649 words)
[German Version] I. Emergence, History, Dissemination and Doctrines – II. Missions
I. Emergence, History, Dissemination and Doctrines
1. Emergence. Modern Adventism traces its direct roots back to the movement begun by William Miller (1782–1849, Baptist minister from New York State) which predicted the return of Jesus in 1843 and 1844. Following what became known as the “Great Disappointm…
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Religion Past and Present
Advocatus Dei/diaboli
(92 words)
[German Version] Until the reorganization of the beatification and canonization procedures in 1983, the written exchange of arguments
pro and
contra between the candidate's advocate and the
Promotor fidei at the Congregation of Rites (today known as the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints) played a central role. The one who presented the favorable arguments was popularly known as “God's advocate,” while the one who put forward the arguments against the candidate was popularly known as “the devil's advocate.” Herbert Kalb Bibliography M. Sieger,
Die Heiligsprechung, 1995.
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Religion Past and Present
Advowson Church
(607 words)
[German Version] This concept refers to the legal situation whereby in the early Middle Ages churches belonged as
ecclesiae propriae to individual persons or to a monastery, who therefore possessed extensive rights over these buildings and their use. U. Stutz held that the root of this praxis lay in the pre-Christian Germanic custom of having domestic priests in private temple…
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Religion Past and Present
Adwa
(129 words)
[German Version] A hamlet in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. The settlement earned its fame as the site of the first defeat of a European colonial power by an African nation. On Mar 1, 1896, the Ethiopian army, led by Emperor Menelik II (1889–1913), won a decisive victory over the Italian army, led by General Oreste Baratieri, frustrating the Italians' attempt to make Ethiopia an Italian colony. Adwa became an important date of reference for political nationalism and the Ethiopia in Africa. Getatchew Haile Bibliography O. Baratieri,
Memorie d'Africa (1892–1896), 1898 G.F.-H. Berkeley,
The …
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Religion Past and Present
Aegean/Minoan/Mycenaean Religions
(977 words)
[German Version] I. In the Context of the East – II. Historical and Regional Differentiation – III. Religion and Cults
I. In the Context of the East All around the Aegean in the 2nd millennium bce cultures emerged with an orientation toward the East, borrowing eastern systems, such as the economic, military, high-societal, religious centrality of cities with sophisticated palaces, the archive system with clay tablets an…
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Religion Past and Present
Aelfric
(152 words)
[German Version] (c. 955–1020) was the son of a West Saxon aristocratic family; as a Benedict, he was educated in Winchester under St. Aethelwold; from 1005, he was abbot of Eynsham near Oxford. Because of his literary activity, Aelfric became one of the foremost personalities in the Benedictine reform movement in England. Especially important are his many vernacular sermons (two collections of
Sermones Catholici and a collection of legends of the saints) and translations (including Bede's
De temporibus anni and the first seven books of the OT)…
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Religion Past and Present
Aelia Capitolina
(11 words)
[German Version] Bar Kokhba Revolt, Jerusalem
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Religion Past and Present
Aelred of Rievaulx, Saint
(203 words)
[German Version] (Ailred, Ethelred etc.; 1110, Hexham – 1167, Rievaulx), Cistercian abbot (Cistercians), author, and historian. From 1124 to 1134, he received his education and served as an economist at the Scottish court of David I; he entered Rievaulx in 1134, became master of novices in 1142, the founding abbot of Revesby in 1143, and from 1147 the abbot of Rievaulx, which he led to its greatest prosperity. Aelrid is the abbot
par excellence for English monasticism to this day and one of the four “Evangelists…
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Religion Past and Present
Aeneas of Gaza
(132 words)
[German Version] (2nd half of 5th cent. ce), Christian (probably Monophysite), as a rhetorician belonged to the school of rhetoric in Gaza. Extant are a collection of 25 letters (ed. Massa Positano, 21962) and a dialogue “Theophrastus” (ed. M. Colonna, 1958), a writing dated between 485 and 490. It consists of a debate of the Christians Aegyptus and Euxitheos – the latter calls himself a student of the Neoplatonist Hierocles – with Theophrastus, a neoplatonic Athenian philosopher who had recently arrived in Alexandria. Ilsetraut Hadot Bibliography CPG 3, 7450–7451 M. Wacht,
Aeneas als…
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Religion Past and Present
Aepinus, Johannes
(213 words)
[German Version] (Hoeck; 1499, Ziesar – May 13, 1553, Hamburg). In 1517 Aepinus was premonstratensian in Belbuck (near Treptow on the Rega). He studied in Wittenberg from 1518 to 1520, after which he taught in Ziesar, was imprisoned and fled, taught in Greifswald, and in 1524 in Stralsund, where he composed a church order on the commission of the Council in 15…
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Religion Past and Present
Aequitas canonica
(112 words)
[German Version] This principle of Catholic canon law is rooted in the
aequitas (“equity”) of Roman law, in biblical thinking, and in Aristotle's theory of
epikeia (Epiky). The aim of the
aequitas canonica (unlike that of
epikeia) is to achieve a harmony between already codified law and the legal judgment required in a specific situation. The effect is a moderation of existing law; on occasion, however, the law may also be tightened (
oikonomia). Wilhelm Rees Bibliography E. Wohlhaupter,
Aequitas canonica, 1931 G. Wingren, art. “Billigkeit”
TRE VI, 1980, 642–645 A. Hollerbach, art. “…
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Religion Past and Present
Aeschylus
(330 words)
[German Version] (c. 525/24 – 456/55 bce), Athenian dramatist. Of the approx. 70–90 tragedies and satirical plays attributed to Aeschylus the following are preserved:
Persians (472 bce),
Seven against Thebes (467),
Hiketides (461?), as well as
Agamemnon, Choephoroi and
Eumenides (458) and the so-called
Oresteia. Others are preserved in fragmentary form. By means of the trilogy Aeschylus was able to present connected plots spanning extended periods of time. These plots and the …
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Religion Past and Present
Aesthetics
(1,902 words)
[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Theology
I. Philosophy Aesthetics is the discipline concerned with reflective perception, feelings, and the beautiful in nature and art. The discussion of “aesthetics” has used this
term, however, only in the modern era. In the context of metaphysics and ontology, epistemology and practical philosophy, poetics and rhetoric, however, the
questions of aesthetics have accompanied thought since Antiquity. In fact, the history of aesthetics began with Plato, who designated the beautiful as the goal of human endeavor in the
Symposion and underscor…
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Religion Past and Present
Aetiology
(787 words)
[German Version] I. Greco-Roman – II. Old Testament
I. Greco-Roman The word is formed from the Greek αἴτιον/
aition (reason, ground) and λόγος/
lógos (doctrine). Aristotle (
Metaph. 982b–983a) sees the first steps toward a “scientific” explanation of the world in the curious astonishment to which one feels compelled in the face of the phenomenal world before one's eyes. The question concerning the
why, the
aetion, that gives rise to the aetiology encompasses all aspects of life, from the appearance of the plants to the search for t…
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Religion Past and Present
Aetius
(169 words)
[German Version] (died 365 ce), leader of the Anomoeans (Neo-Arianism) of Antioch. Probably a convert to Christianity, most of his teachers were disciples of Lucian of Antioch. He later studied medicine at Alexandria, and like Lucian served the poor. His vocation as dialectician and defender of doctrine was confirmed by a vision. He had both male and female disciples. He was ordained deacon in 344 but was removed from his position again after much opposition. Rejecting both ὁμοούσιος (
homoousios) and ὁμοιούσιος (
homoiousios) he said the Son was ἀνόμοιος κατ᾽ οὐσίαν (
anhomoios kat' ou…
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Religion Past and Present
Afanasev, Nikolai
(186 words)
[German Version] (Sep 4 or 16, 1893, Odessa – Dec 4, 1966, Paris) was a Russian Orthodox theologian, forced from his homeland with the White Army, who studied theology in Belgrade from 1921 to 1925 and immigrated to Paris in 1929, where, beginning in 1932, he taught at the Orthodox Theological Institute of St. Serge. He was ordained as a priest in 1940; he led a community in Tunis from 1941–1947, then returned to St. Serge where he was named professor of canonistics in 1950. His main achievement was the rediscovery of the original
ecclesiology (Church) which, in …
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Religion Past and Present
Affect
(767 words)
[German Version] I. Philosophy of Religion and Ethics – II. Practical Theology
I. Philosophy of Religion and Ethics
I. The term affect (Gk: πάθος/
páthos) originates from the Greek and Latin tradition rather than the biblical (here: “heart”). The term, however, became very popular in the history of Christian theology and piety. While, unlike ἦθος (
ēthos), the term denotes the unregulated passion and suddenness of emotion, πάθη are experienced and described as the forceful essence of divine power. In mythical texts, therefore, Φόβος (
Phobos), ᾽Ελπίς (
Elpis) are for example found …
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Religion Past and Present
Affectio papalis
(123 words)
[German Version] Since the pope possesses immediate and plenary jurisdiction in the church (c. 331
CIC), he may exercise his
ius evocandi to reserve to himself any matter of administration (cf. c. 595 § 1) or any judicial case (c. 1405 § 1 n. 4), thus bypassing the person or body to which responsibility for this issue has been delegated. Every member of the faithful is entitled to bring his cause (c. 1417) directly to the pope (
ius reclamandi). The
affectio papalis came into existence in the High Middle Ages, especially in law relating to the appo…
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Religion Past and Present
Affiliation
(90 words)
[German Version] In Catholic canon law, similar to the secular realm, “affiliation” (Lat.
affiliare: “adopt”) denotes a special relationship of association; more specifically it is used in terms of aggregation (laws of religious orders and associations), incorporation or incardination and, in the context of the law code governing higher education, the affiliation of a university with a faculty. On the basis of papal privilege, letters of affiliation granted participation in the good works of a religious association. Wilhelm Rees Bibliography E. Magnin,
DCC I, 1935, 263f.
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Religion Past and Present
Afghanistan
(994 words)
[German Version] I. History of Religions – II. History of Christianity
I. History of Religions
1. Pre-Islam The geographical term Afghanistan occurs first in 10th-century Arabic and Persian sources. The political boundaries of Afghanistan were established in the 2nd half of the 19th century by the colonial powers of England and Russia. Although the realm …
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Religion Past and Present
Afonso I
(367 words)
[German Version] (1465 [?] – 1543), Mvemba Nzinga, son of Nzinga Nkuvu, who was king of the Congo (Kongo Kingdom) when the Portuguese first arrived there in the 1480s. At the time Congo was a considerable and prosperous state. Nzinga Nkuvu was baptized in 1491 like many other African kings on encountering the Portuguese. He received the name of João I. His son…
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Religion Past and Present
Afrahat
(290 words)
[German Version] There are 23 Syriac expositions traditionally ascribed to “Afrahat (Aphraates), the Persian sage.” Gennadius
Vir. ill. 1 (= 136) and the Armenian tradition mistakenly identify the author with the renowned Jacob of Edessa (from Nisibis), who as bishop of Edessa took part in the Council of Nicea. Little is known of Afrahat's life and person. He describes himself as a …
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Religion Past and Present
Afra of Augsburg (Saint)
(187 words)
[German Version] (martyr, died c. 304). The earliest witnesses to Afra's veneration are Venantius Fortunatus (c. 560) and the
Martyrologium Hieronymianum (Bern Codex, c. 600). The author of an early medieval Afra Passion (7th cent.?) portrayed Afra as a converted prostitute (
meretrix), who, because of her Christian confession, was condemned to be burned at the stake. The extent to which an authentic tradition underlies this Afra Passion is difficult to determine. A Roman …
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Religion Past and Present
Africa
(8,629 words)
[German Version] I. Geopolitical Survey – II. History of Religion – III. Christianity
I. Geopolitical Survey Africa presents a troubled, contradictory picture. Its population is growing faster than that of any other continent. Civil wars and repeated periods of drought force millions to flee. An aggressive Islamism is unsettling the fragile equilibrium of multireligious societies. Political borders dr…
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Religion Past and Present
African-American Music in Christian Worship
(301 words)
[German Version] is, first and foremost, a mosaic of religious and artistic forms for expressing belief in God. Despite common historical and cultural roots, music in worship is and has always been very multifaceted. The musical spectrum extends from extreme solemnity to “boundless enthusiasm.” The circumstances under which the encounter with Christianity occu…
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Religion Past and Present
African-American Religion
(3,187 words)
[German Version] I. Central and South America – II. North America
I. Central and South America
1. Movements and Denominations. The millions of African slaves brought to the Americas and the Caribbean found in their religion the deepest and most enduring mode of cultural resistance, enabling them to survive slavery and recover their identities. The African deities, uprooted and under attack, …
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Religion Past and Present
African Independent Churches
(1,280 words)
[German Version]
I. Since the 18th century there has been a massive invasion of Black, sub-Saharan Africa by European peoples and Western culture. During this period the modern missionary movement from the West has planted its churches so extensively and firmly that the sub-continent is now predominantly Christian. Following this initial response to missions, …
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Religion Past and Present
African Independent Churches Association
(260 words)
[German Version] (AICA). The tendency of the African indigenous churches (cf. African Independent Churches) in South Africa towards divisions is countered by efforts to cooperate. AICA is connected to these initiatives, which go back to 1915. AICA was founded in 1965 as a voluntary association of over 400 churches which, while retaining their individual autono…
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Religion Past and Present
African Methodist Episcopal Church
(182 words)
[German Version] This Church was founded in 1816 in the Bethel Church of Philadelphia, PA, under the leadership of its first bishop, R. Allen, after a Methodist Episcopal congregation refused entry to some free blacks as early as 1787. The AMEC developed a
Book of Discipline and a statement on the “Mission and Purpose of the Church,” which emphasized the “preaching of the gospel” and social service. A General Conference, meeting every four years, legislates…
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Religion Past and Present
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
(185 words)
[German Version] In the 1790s tensions arose between whites and free blacks in the Methodist Episcopal Church in New York City. As a result, blacks founded a Zion Church and a denomination of black Methodists in 1820. James Varick became the first superintendent or bishop. Disagreements with the African Methodist Episcopal Church resulted in the addition of the word Zion. The congregations follow the rules of the
Doctrines and Disciplines. A General Conference is the supreme lawmaking body and meets every four years. A Connectional …
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Religion Past and Present
African Theologies
(929 words)
[German Version] I. Development – II. Leading Representatives This article will not deal with the North African Latin fathers or the Orthodox churches. Modern movements in Ethiopia and Sudan which have emerged from recent conflicts, are mainly represented at present by oral vernacular theology. For the purposes of this article African theology may be defined as Chri…
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Religion Past and Present
Afro-America
(179 words)
[German Version] The time from the arrival of the first African slaves in the Antilles in 1502 to the abolition of slavery in Brazil in 1888, witnessed the development – in addition to the Indo-America of Indian peoples and the Euro-America of the great immigrations of the 19th century – of an Afro-America of approx. 11 m. slaves abducted from Africa. Today's …
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Religion Past and Present
Afro-Brazilian Movements
(1,869 words)
[German Version] I. Beliefs: The Orixás – II. Sacrifice and Trance – III. Inner-worldly Religion – IV. Organization – V. The “Churchification” of Candomblé
I. Beliefs: The Orixás The Afro-Brazilian religions, such as represented by the best-known and normative variety, the Candomblé, consist essentially in the worship of certain supernatural beings, the Orixás, of West African (mainly Yoruba) origin. The …
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Religion Past and Present
Aga Khan,
(180 words)
[German Version] Turko-Persian title (“lord prince”). In 1848 the shah of Persia bestowed the title on his son-in-law, the 46th imām of the Shiʿite sect of the Ismaʿilites. The title has been borne ever since by the imām of the sect, who are considered direct descendants and legitimate successors of the prophet Muḥammad. The 48th im…
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Religion Past and Present
Agape, Chione and Irene
(12 words)
[German Version] Acts of the Martyrs
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Religion Past and Present
Agathangelos
(125 words)
[German Version] is the compiler of an Armenian biography of St. Gregory the Illuminator, written in the second half of the 5th century, as well as of a legend about the conversion of Armenia. This historical work emphasizes the independence of the Armenian Church over against the Byzantine Church; it points out both Syrian and Greek influence. Ēúmiacin is hailed as the center of Christian culture in Armenia. The Armenian text, cited as early as the late 5th century, was translated into Greek in the 6th century and then into Arabic. Christian Hannick Bibliography F. Tournebize, art. “Aga…
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Religion Past and Present
Agatha, Saint,
(198 words)
[German Version] a Christian from a prominent family in Catania, where she is still venerated as the patron of the city. She suffered martyrdom, probably in the persecution under Decius (251?). The Eparch Quintian wanted to alienate her from her faith and committed her for this purpose to a brothel-keeper named Aphrodisias; Agatha remained firm. After they cut…
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Religion Past and Present
Agathonice
(9 words)
[German Version] Carpus, Papylus and Agathonice
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Religion Past and Present
Agbebi, Mojola
(259 words)
[German Version] (Apr 10, 1860, Ilesha, Nigeria – May 17, 1917, Lagar, Nigeria) was born David Brown Vincent. His English name attests to the Western cultural influence which characterized his father's generation of “Black Englishmen.” His adoption of an African name should be considered with regard to the upheavals within the African Church in the late 19th c…
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Religion Past and Present
Agendenstreit (Liturgical Dispute)
(579 words)
[German Version] The call for unity issued by king Frederick William III of Prussia in 1817 aimed at effecting a liturgical union between Lutherans and Reformed Protestants: Under the influence of Enlightenment ("a better spirit"), "inessentials" were to be set aside, as only "external differences" continued to divide the two confessions. This was a misevaluation, for the old doctrinal controversies awakened in opposition to the union. In the Agenda Dispute, the work of unity was put to its first test of endurance. The king had already ordered liturgical reforms: in 1818 the …
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Religion Past and Present
Aggiornamento
(92 words)
[German Version] (Ital.: “updating”) was used by Pope John XXIII. Closely associated with Vatican II, the term means the recognition of the historicity of the church and the church's adaptation to the modern world with a view to presenting its expressions and practices in a new way. This entailed adopting these formulations and practices in contemporary contexts. The process of
aggiornamento had its greatest impact in the fields of liturgical practices, canon law, doctrinal formulations, as well as ecumenical dialogue. William T. Flynn Bibliography R. Marlé,
Études 315, 1962, …
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Religion Past and Present
Aggression,
(901 words)
[German Version] since the 1960s a central social theme (violence against women, children, aliens, etc.), is as old as humankind (Cain and Abel, “conflict, the father of all things” in Heraclitus, the dualistic system of love and strife in Empedocles). Aggression is understood as purposefully destructive behavior that threatens harm or actually does harm to ot…
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Religion Past and Present
Aglipay, Gregorio
(357 words)
[German Version] (May 5, 1860, Batac, Philippines – Sep 1, 1940, Manila) studied theology, was consecrated to the priesthood in 1889, took part in the Filipino struggle for liberation (from 1896 against Spain, 1898–1901 against the USA), fought for the political independence of the country and at the same time for the indigenization of the Catholic Church. Thi…
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Religion Past and Present
Agnes, Saint
(165 words)
[German Version] was a Roman martyr (Western feast day Jan 21, Eastern Jul 5). According to 4th-century tradition (
Depositio Martyrum of 354), the Roman martyr – spared from the flames – was stabbed or beheaded under Diocletian (or Valerian?). The name and legend of Agnes, who suffered dual martyrdom for the sake of decency and religion (Ambr.,
Virg. I 2.9), could have developed in Rome (as well as in Trier) from the Greek virtue ἁγνός (
hagnos). Since late Constantinian times, her cult has been localized in the via
Nomentana in the vicinity of the circul…
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Religion Past and Present
Agnes, Sisters of
(177 words)
[German Version] Communities of the order: 1. Augustinian Sisters, of Dordrecht. Founded according to tradition in 1326, they belonged from 1427 onward to the Windesheim Congregation (regulated Augustinian choristers) and, from the end of the 15th century, called themselves “Sisters of St. Agnes” after their church, dedicated to St. Agnes; they were disbanded in 1572. 2. Sisters of St. Agnes: The
Sœurs de St. Agnès, founded in 1645 in Arras by Jeanne Biscot to rear and educate orphans, are spiritually influenced by …
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Religion Past and Present
Agnetenberg
(110 words)
[German Version] (St. Agnietenberg,
Mons S. Agnetis) is one of the most important and influential monasteries of the Windesheim Canons Regular of St. Augustine, near Zwolle (Netherlands). In 1384, Brethren of the Common Life assembled there; they resettled on Nemelerberg; their founding document dates to 1395. Their house became a monastery in 1398; it was abolished in 1561 and disbanded in 1581. Thomas à Kempis (died 1471) was chronicler and occasional subprior of Agnetenberg; Wessel Gansfort (died 1489) was closely linked to Agnetenberg. Jan Mombaer (died 1501) entered c. 1480. Chr…
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Religion Past and Present
Agnon (Czaczkes), Samuel Josef
(153 words)
[German Version] (Jul 17, 1888, Buczacz, Poland – Feb 2, 1970, Jerusalem), the greatest novelist in modern Hebrew literature. Agnon immigrated to Jerusalem in 1907 and spent the years 1913–1924 in Germany, mostly in Berlin, where he was in touch with M. Buber, Gershom Schocken and Zalman Schocken; he finally settled in Talpiot, Jerusalem in 1924. Agnon developed an original …
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Religion Past and Present
Agnosticism
(1,006 words)
[German Version] I. History of Religions – II. Philosophy of Religion – III. Practical Theology – IV. Missiology
I. History of Religions The term “agnosticism” originally referred to the impossibility of attaining certain metaphysical knowledge or, with reference to transcendent questions, to gain grounded judgments. The term stems from T.H. Huxley (1869; see also II). While for Huxley, agnosticism was epistemologically justified, the use of the term today is usually motivated in a variety of ways. The Sophist Protagoras of Abdera (
On the Gods, DK 80B4), who …
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Religion Past and Present
Agnostos Theos
(277 words)
[German Version] In Acts 17:23, Luke relates how Paul chose the altar inscription “to an unknown God” (ἀγνώστῳ θεῷ/
agnṓstō theṓ) as the starting point for his Areopagus Speech in Athens. This is the earliest testimony to a cult of “unknown gods” and the only testimony for the cult of an “unknown god” in the singular. Pagan and Christian authors from the 2nd to the 4th centuries (including Paus. I 1.4; V 14.8; Diog. Laert. I 110; Philostr.
Vita ap. VI 3; Tert.
Marc. I 9;
Nat. II 9.4; Jer.
Comm. Tit. I 12;
Ep. 70) mentioned altars for unkown gods in Olympia…
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Religion Past and Present
Agnus Dei
(330 words)
[German Version] I. Liturgy – II. Music
I. Liturgy Already at an early stage the Eastern Church describes the Eucharistic bread as Amnos (Lamb) and signifies the breaking of bread as Christ's sacrifice (John 1:29; Rev 5:6f.). The Syrian pope Sergius I (died 701) introduced the Agnus Dei – known from the Gloria and litany – as a frequently repeated chant for the breaking of bread. With the introduction of eucharistic wafers its use lapsed; the now three-fold acclamation changes to the Peace and closes with the petition “give us your peace.” Hans-Christoph Schmidt-Lauber Bibliography J.A. J…
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Religion Past and Present
Agobard of Lyon
(122 words)
[German Version] (c. 769 – Jun 6, 840). A Visigoth from Septimania who belonged to the circle of Benedict of Aniane. He became archbishop of Lyon in 816; he was deposed as archbishop in 835 after the restoration of Emperor Louis I, the Pious whom Abogard had helped to depose in 833. A single manuscript preserves a series of tractates that show Abogard to be an…
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Religion Past and Present
Agon
(312 words)
[German Version] ᾽Αγών (contest), (a) a gathering (etym. ἀγω), a gathering-place and arena (b) chiefly for contests held for a prize; (c) multi-faceted metaphorical usage. – 1. Originally local contests accompanying funerals, agons developed into pan-Hellenic feasts (Olympia, Nemea [Zeus]; Pythia [Apollo]; Isthmia [Poseidon]). Almost anything, physical exercise, beauty, crafts, art, theater, singing, poetry and speaking, can become an agon according to the aristocratic principle of αἀὲν ἀριστεύειν καὶ ὑπείροχον ἔμμεναι ἄλλων (“always be the …
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Religion Past and Present
Agrapha (Scattered Dominical Sayings)
(447 words)
[German Version] The Greek loanword (lit. “unwritten,” pl.) is a term with only limited usefulness in modern Jesus research. In contrast to “written” and requiring specification by a noun (“logia” in the sense of “dominical sayings”), it does indeed allude to Early Church diction, but is now used as a collective term for dominical sayings not contained in the canonical Gospels. These are to be found in ancient literature of Christian, but also of Jewish and Islamic provenience, while the term does not presume a …
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Religion Past and Present
Agrarian Mission
(9 words)
[German Version] Mission societies/Mission work
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Religion Past and Present
Agricola, Johann
(292 words)
[German Version] (Schneyder, Sneider, Schnitter) (Apr 20, 1492 or 1494 or 1495, Eisleben – Sep 22, 1566, Berlin). He attended school in Braunschweig, matriculated in Leipzig in 1509, in Wittenberg in 1550; there, he attained his Magister on Feb 11, 1518, and Baccalaureus biblicus on Sep 19, 1519. Close personal relations with Luther in the years from 1516 were…
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Religion Past and Present
Agricola, Michael,
(139 words)
[German Version] born c. 1510 in Pernå (Pernaya) on the southern coast of Finland, died 1557 returning from the Swedish-Russian peace conference in Moscow. After attending school in Wiborg, Agricola became secretary to Bishop Martin Skytte, who was open to new theological ideas, in Åbo (Turku). He studied in Wittenberg (1536–1539) and was active thereafter as Rector of the cathedral …
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Religion Past and Present
Agricola, Rudolf
(99 words)
[German Version] (Huisman) (Feb 17, 1444, Baflo – Oct 27, 1487, Heidelberg) was schooled in Groningen and undertook studies in Erfurt, Cologne, Louvain, Pavia and Ferrara (Huisman). He translated rhetorical and dialectical works from Greek. In 1480 he was a lawyer for the city of Groningen. In 1484 he taught in Heidelberg and maintained frequent contact with humanists and journeyed to Rome. His writings, published posthumously, have had enduring influence. Heinz Scheible Bibliography Works include:
Opuscula Orationes Epistolae, 1539, repr. 1975
De inventione dialectica libri…
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Religion Past and Present
Agricola, Stephan
(133 words)
[German Version] (Kastenbauer) (1491?, Abensberg – Apr 10, 1547, Eisleben) studied in Vienna from 1513, became an Augustinian hermit here in 1515, was awarded a doctorate in theology in 1519 and then became a monastic lector in Regensburg and Rattenberg. In 1522 he was imprisoned in Mühldorf (Inn) on account of his evangelical doctrine and fled in May 1524. In…
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Religion Past and Present
Agriculture and Stock-farming
(2,368 words)
[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Palestine – III. In Literature
I. History of Religion
1. The forms of economy consisting of agriculture and stock-farming do not influence the formation of systems of religious symbols in such a way as to constitute a consistent pattern for specific historical religions. Nonetheless, systems of religious symbols in all societies not structured according to …
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Religion Past and Present
Agrippa I (c. 7 BCE – 43/44 CE) and Agrippa II (27/28 CE – 100?)
(155 words)
[German Version] , father and son, the last Herodian kings. The brief reign of Agrippa I, grandson of Herod, is a hiatus in the progressive Roman annexation of all of Palestine. He is best known for his persecution of the Church (Acts 12). After his death imperial governors again ruled Palestine. Small sections in the north and north-east were granted first to Agrippa I's brother and then to Agrippa II, who eventually acquired some territories in Galilee and also Peraea, maintaining his position until the 90s. He attempted to dissuade the Jews of Jerusalem from rebellion (Josephus,
War II, …
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Religion Past and Present
Agrippa of Nettesheim, Heinrich Cornelius
(229 words)
[German Version] (Sep 14, 1486, Cologne – Feb 18, 1535, Grenoble). Following his studies at the Faculty of Arts in Cologne (1499–1502) and in Paris, Agrippa worked as a lecturer, physician, syndic and historiographer. At times he also served Emperor Maximilian I, among other places in Burgundy, Pavia, England, Metz, Geneva, Fribourg, Lyon, Antwerp and Mecheln and had numerous conflicts with the Inquisition or with representatives of scholastic theology. In his principal work,
De occulta philosophia (in printed form since 1531), under the inf…
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Religion Past and Present