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
Acclamation
(149 words)
[German Version] A liturgical term used to refer to (sometimes spontaneous) responses of people in the congregation to an announcement, a reading or a prayer. These include such occasions as acclaiming candidates for ordination as “worthy,” ratifying the election of a bishop, and permitting the consecration of an abbot, or the coronation of a pope. In recent y…
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Religion Past and Present
Accommodation
(742 words)
[German Version] I. Dogmatics, Fundamental Theology - II. Missiology
I. Dogmatics, Fundamental Theology The term “accommodation” (from Latin
accommodatio, “accommodation, adaptation”) originated in classical rhetoric (I); it denotes the adaptation of an object to its environment – in rhetoric (II), the adaptation of linguistic expression to its subject matter, purpose, and …
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Religion Past and Present
Acedia
(168 words)
[German Version] (Gk. ἀκηδία/
akēdia) originally meant “indifference, apathy.” From the fourth century on, monastic spirituality used the term to denote the fundamental temptation of a monk: spiritual surfeit that finds expression in melancholy and inward desolation. Athanasius was the first to associate acedia with the “noonday demon” (Ps 91:6). The classic description of acedia is that of Evagrius Ponticus, who lists it among the eight evil “thoughts” (
logismoi). Cassian transmitted to western spirituality Evagrius's schema of eight…
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Religion Past and Present
Achelis
(287 words)
[German Version]
1. Ernst Christian (Jan 13, 1838, Bremen – Apr 10, 1912, Marburg). Studied theology in Heidelberg (1857–1859) and Halle (1860); served as a Reformed curate in Arsten and pastor in Hastedt (1862) and Wuppertal-Unterbarmen (1875); 1882–1911 as professor of practical theology at Marburg. Achelis first made his mark as a biblical homiletician and as an …
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Religion Past and Present
Achievement
(1,279 words)
[German Version] I. Ethics – II. Education – III. Practical Theology
I. Ethics With regard to processes in general, “achievement” refers to their efficacy. Ethics, however, speaks of achievement only with regard to actions (Action) – and not actions in general, but only actions that are ethically justified. This is possible only when two conditions are met. First: It must be possible …
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Religion Past and Present
Achzib,
(188 words)
[German Version] called Casal Imbert by the Crusaders, is situated on the Mediterranean coast 14 km north of Akko. As a strategically located city on the Way of the Sea, it controlled access to the so-called Ladder of Tyre. Achzib was settled from the Middle Bronze period (c. 2000 bce) to the time of the Crusades. The characteristic “Sea People” pottery and weapons from around 1150 bce are probably associated with the destruction of the fortifications at the end of the Late Bronze period. Achzib, which th…
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Religion Past and Present
Acknowledgement and Recognition
(882 words)
[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Dogmatics and Ethics
I. Philosophy The concept of “acknowledgment” (German:
Anerkennung) has always played an essential role in practical philosophy. Thus, in ancient ethics the conviction prevailed that a good life could be led only by those persons whose behavior could find social esteem in the
polis. The Scottish moral philosophers took their lead from the idea that public acknowledgment or disapproval represents the social mechanism by which the indiv…
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Religion Past and Present
Acoemetae
(180 words)
[German Version] (Gk. ἀκοίμητοι, “the sleepless”) was the designation of a Byzantine monastic community in Late Antiquity consisting of Greeks, Romans, and Syrians (originally also Copts), which came after 404 with its founder, Alexander (355–430), from Syria to Constantinople and lived, until its condemnation as Messalian …
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Religion Past and Present
Acolyte
(167 words)
[German Version] Section 65 of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (41975) describes the primary function of an acolyte (Gk. ἀκολουθέω/
akoloutheō, “accompany”; original function to accompany the bishop): “The acolyte is instituted to serve at the altar and to assist the priest and deacon.” “In particular it is for him… as a special minister of the eucharist, to give communion to the faithful.” Paragraph 70 emphasizes that “laymen, even if they have not received institution as ministers, may perform all the functions below those reserved to deacons.” The
motu proprio …
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Religion Past and Present
Acontius, Jacobus
(282 words)
[German Version] (Giacomo; before 1515, Ossana, Val di Sole, or Trient – 1566/1567, presumably London). After studying law and a period as notary (attested 1540 in Ossana and 1548 in Trient), Acontius entered the service of Count Giovanni Francesco Landriano and Cardinal C. Madruzzo from 1549 to 1557. Because of his Protestant convictions, he fled in 1557 to Basel and Zürich, where he ma…
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Religion Past and Present
Acosta, José de
(142 words)
[German Version] (Oct 9, 1540, Medina del Campo– Feb 5, 1600, Salamanca) entered the order of the Jesuits in 1552, and went as a missionary to Peru, in 1572 was provincial there (1576–1581), and participated as theologian in the 3rd Council of Lima in 1582 (Lima, Provincial Councils); he was the co-author of a trilingual catechism. In 1587, he returned to Spain via Mexico, was active there and in Rome in diplomacy and writing, and died as rector of the college of Salamanca. His accomplishments include the organization of the mission in Peru, an influential theory of mission (
De procuranda In…
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Religion Past and Present
Acquoy, Johannes Gerhardus Rijk
(132 words)
[German Version] (Jan 3, 1829, Amsterdam – Dec 15, 1896, Leiden). Theological studies in Amsterdam 1850; doctorate Leiden, 1857. Teacher of Hebrew at Amsterdam grammar school, 1854–1857. Pastor in Eerbeek, Koog aan de Zaan, and Zaltbommel. Church professor of church history and practical theology at Leiden from 1878. University professor of church history and …
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Religion Past and Present
Acrostic
(105 words)
[German Version] Word, name, clause, or alphabet consisting of the initial letters (syllables, words) of sequential verses or strophes of a poem. Acrostics have Eastern roots (for instance
Hymnos Akathistos, including the alphabetic acrostics in the OT and in Latin hymns). They originally had magical, mnemonic and protective significance. They were a literary art form in the Middle Ages and in the Baroque period, also in hymns; for example,
EG 523 (names of authors), 525 (commemorative names), 70, 147, 367 (dedicatory initials), 242, 361, 402 (proverb, motto). Ada Kadelbach Bibliogr…
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Religion Past and Present
Act and Potency
(1,153 words)
[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Philosophy of Religion
I. Philosophy Act and potency (
actus, realization, reality –
potentia, predisposition, possibility), one of the pairs of concepts introduced by Aristotle. It is intended to do justice to the circumstance that not only that which actually exists belongs to the category of being as a whole, but also the sphere of tendencies, dispositions, and cap…
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Religion Past and Present
Action
(1,873 words)
[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Theology – III. Ethics – IV. Practical Theology
I. Philosophy The concept of action is of central importance for philosophical ethics and anthropology. It is closely related to the concept of person, since persons are the subjects of action and cognition (the latter always itself an action, since it necessarily involves judgment). We may distinguish …
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Religion Past and Present
Action, Philosophy of
(393 words)
[German Version] Several empirical disciplines (esp. psychology and sociology) deal in different ways with the theory of action. Their approaches often do not distinguish sharply between mere behavior and action in the strict sense. The philosophy of action, on the other hand, is concerned to explicate the concept of action particularly in contrast to mere beh…
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Religion Past and Present
Action, Science of (Handlungswissenschaft)
(884 words)
[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Social Sciences – III. Practical Theology
I. Terminology From the 18th century on, the German term
Handlungswissenschaft denoted the study of trade (
Handel). It thus came to represent one of the precursors of modern economics. Nowadays it has this meaning only in historical contexts. Its present-day usage refers to the disciplines that deal with action in the broadest sense, from trade through pedagogy …
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Religion Past and Present
Action, Types of
(496 words)
[German Version] In his
Philosophical Ethics, F.D.E. Schleiermacher distinguished between “symbolizing action” and “organizing action”; in his
Christliche Sitte, he further distinguished “representative” and “effective” action, as well as “purgative” and “broadening action.” Habermas, in his recent
Theory of Communicative Action, uses analogous language to indicate the difference between teleological, strategic, norm-based, dramaturgical, and communicative action. Both authors po…
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Religion Past and Present
Activity and Passivity
(1,353 words)
[German Version] I. Philosophy of Religion and Fundamental Theology – II. Dogmatics
I. Philosophy of Religion and Fundamental Theology From the perspective of fundamental theology, the relationship between activity and passivity thematizes the constitution of the christian certainty of
Dasein. Its theoretical description in terms of consciousness or personhood must be examined for its ontological presuppositions and understood within their framework. Only …
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Religion Past and Present
Acton, Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg
(434 words)
[German Version] (Jan 10, 1834, Naples – Jun 19, 1902, Tegernsee), Roman Catholic layperson and historian. His openness to the world led him to Munich to study for six years with J.J.I. v. Döllinger. From Döllinger he adopted a liberal attitude and a critical yet development-capable view of history. He learned to see Christianity, not as a collection of dogmas and …
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Religion Past and Present
Acts of Andrew
(167 words)
[German Version] (
Acts And.). The
Acts of Andrew recounts the missionary journeys of the apostle Andrew from Pontus to Achaia. The theme of his preaching, which is accompanied by healings and exorcisms, is a world-denying and ascetic form of Christianity. His conversion of Maximilla, the wife of the Roman governor Aegeas, enrages the latter. Facing crucifixion at Patras, he sings the praises …
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Religion Past and Present
Acts of Paul
(620 words)
[German Version] (
Acts Paul). As with most apocryphal acts of the apostles, the text of the
Acts Paul is also only preserved in fragments. Its content, Paul's missionary activity, depicted in the form of only a single journey from Damascus via numerous intermediate stations in Asia Minor, Macedonia and Greece, etc. to Rome accompanied by equally numerous miracles, can be reconstructed primarily with the aid of two papyri, a Greek (PH) and a Coptic (PHeid), although significant lacunae remain (
NTApo II, 198–211). Only three texts (already indepen…
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Religion Past and Present
Acts of Peter
(554 words)
[German Version] (
Acts Pet.). Only a few fragments of
Acts Pet., first attested (and rejected as non-canonical) with certainty by Eusebius of Caesarea (
Hist. eccl. III 3.2), are preserved. Among these, a Latin translation, the so-called
Actus Vercellenses, which originated in the 3rd/4th century and adheres rather closely to the original Greek version of the Acts, represents the most important fragment offering about two-thirds of the original account of the
Acts Pet. The
Martyrdom of Peter (
Mart. Pet.) is chiefly transmitted in Greek. A text dealing with his daughter (
Papyrus …
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Religion Past and Present
Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles (NHC VI,1; Acts Pet. 12 Apos.)
(18 words)
[German Version] Apocrypha/Pseudepigrapha
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Religion Past and Present
Acts of the Apostles
(2,891 words)
[German Version] I. Introductory Issues – II. Genre – III. Structure and Purpose– IV. Content – V. Rhetorical and Narrative Criticism
I. Introductory Issues
1. Author and date. Acts is the second part of a two-volume work, the first of which is the Gospel of Luke. Neither of the two prologues names the author, although Luke 1:1–3; Acts 1:1 use the first person pronoun, which also occurs in the “we…
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Religion Past and Present
Acts of the Martyrs
(852 words)
[German Version] In his new edition of the
Martyrologium Romanum (1583–; cf. esp. the appended “De martyrologio Romano praecapitulatio dicendorum”), C. Baronius borrowed the expression
acta martyrum from Pontius's
Vita Cypriani 11 (cf. Cyprian
Epis. 77, 2), understanding the martyr literature handed down in protocol form as original trial transcripts or as protocols recorded by ecclesiastical
notarii (combining Cyprian
Epis. 12, 2, 1 with
LP 1, 148) to serve as documentation for liturgical commemoration. In 1643 the
Acta sanctorum of the Bollandists …
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Religion Past and Present
Acts of Thomas
(390 words)
[German Version] (
Acts Thom.). The
Acts Thom. report the missionary journeys of Thomas Didymus toward and in India. The complete text is preserved in two manuscripts, one Syriac from the 10th century and one Greek from the 12th century. Abbreviated forms exist in the Greek, Syriac, Latin, Armenian, Coptic and Arabic languages. The Syriacisms in the Greek indicate …
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Religion Past and Present
Actualism
(99 words)
[German Version] (Grace, Act and potency). The concept of actualism originated with Gentile. Theology treats the proper order of nature and grace under the heading actualism, with the tendency to allow nature as an independent and pre-existent entity to merge where possible into the constantly creative and active gracious behavior of God. K. Barth expounded a thoroughgoing actualism. To the extent that anthropological structures are permitted and only an objectifying scholastic metaphysics is excluded, one can speak of moderate actualism. Gregor Zasche Bibliography G. Gentile,
D…
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Religion Past and Present
Adalbert of Bremen
(193 words)
[German Version] (c. 1000 – Mar 16, 1072) was a member of the family of the count of Goseck. From 1032 on, he was cathedral provost in Halberstadt and was elevated to archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen in 1043 by Henry III (Hamburg, Bremen). He was responsible for the expansion of sovereign rule in his diocese. From 1062 to 1066, he was influential on imperial polic…
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Religion Past and Present
Adalbert of Prague
(209 words)
[German Version] (Vojtîch; c. 956 – 997) was the second bishop of Prague. Adalbert, who was educated in the cathedral school in Magdeburg, was elevated to bishop in 983. Rigorously, but unsuccessfully, he tried to gain acceptance for church norms among the still half-pagan population of Bohemia, yet he succeeded in founding the first monastery at Břevnov. His …
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Religion Past and Present
Adam and Christ
(993 words)
[German Version] I. New Testament - II. Dogmatics
I. New Testament In 1 Cor 15:21f., 45-49 and Rom 5:12-21, Paul draws a contrast between Adam as the primal, earthly-material human being and Christ as his eschatological, heavenly-spiritual counterpart. 1 Cor 15:45f. indicates that Paul reached this conclusion by performing - within the context of an apocalyptic concept of time and body - an escha…
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Religion Past and Present
Adam and Eve
(931 words)
[German Version] I. Ancient Judaism – II. Art
I. Ancient Judaism According to Gen 1–5, Adam and Eve were the first human couple. Although the two figures play a major role in ancient Judaism, their importance is often overrated. The tendency to see a widespread myth of Adam in Second Temple sources is connected with the pivotal role of Adam in the Pauline epistles (Rom 5; 1 Cor 15). The fall of Adam and Eve does not play a role in all schools of ancient Judaism. One significant strand of tradition, represented by
Jubilees, 1 Enoch, and the Dead Sea Scrolls (cf. …
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Religion Past and Present
Adamantius, Dialogue of
(124 words)
[German Version] Adamantius (“Man of Steel”) is the name of the orthodox principal speaker in a Greek dialogue (subtitled
De recta in deum fide) that attacks Marcion, Bardesanites (Bardesanes), and Valentinians (Valentinianism). It was composed some time after 325 ce in Asia Minor or Syria. As early as the 4th century, Adamantius was identified with Origen and considered the author of the dialogue (cf. the Latin translation by Rufinus). The work is dependent on Methodius. Its value as a source of information concerning the heresies attacked is disputed. Gerhard May Bibliography CPG 1,…
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Religion Past and Present
Adam, Books of
(208 words)
[German Version] . The Books of Adam are a group of apocryphal sources which portray the life of Adam and Eve after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. They have been preserved in six different languages: Greek (
Apoc. Adam), Latin (
Vita Adam), Armenian, Georgian, Slavonic, and Coptic. The date and origin of these texts are difficult to determine. There are indications of Christian authorship between 100 and 600 ce. The Latin text begins with the history of the repentance of Adam and Eve immediately after the expulsion. During …
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Religion Past and Present
Adamites
(161 words)
[German Version] (Adamians). A type of heretic encountered in Early Church authors that corresponds to no historically identifiable persons. Since Epiphanius, it refers primarily to nude worship in subterranean cult sites called “Paradise.” The primal purity presumably sought after had ascetic significance, also certain eschatological elements, but was underst…
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Religion Past and Present
Adam Kadmon
(140 words)
[German Version] (Qadmon; אדם קדמון, lit. primordial man). In 13th-century Kabbalah and later as well, Adam Kadmon articulated in anthropomorphic terminology the idea of the highest, concealed nature of the totality of divine powers, namely, of the
plḗroma (Gk.
πλήρωμα ). The antithetical concept is that of
shiʾur qoma in Hekhalot mysticism (with which it belongs together in the Kabbalah). In the
Zohar and in the Lurianic myth of the late 16th century, in which it represents the first emanation …
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Religion Past and Present
Adam, Karl
(164 words)
[German Version] (Oct 22, 1876, Pursruck, Oberpfalz– Apr 1, 1966, Tübingen) became a priest in 1900, received his doctorate in 1904, and was habilitated as professor of Latin patristics in 1908 at the University of Munich; he was professor of Catholic dogmatics at Tübingen 1919–1949. Adam revived the theology of the perception of faith with a phenomenological …
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Religion Past and Present
Adamnan
(186 words)
[German Version] (Adomnán; c. 624–704), associated with Columba (Columcille). Adamnan, a learned Irish monk, was the ninth abbot of Iona (679–704). Around 686/87 he was sent on a diplomatic mission to ransom Irish prisoners of war from King Aldfrith of Northumbria. He was the author of a law, passed at the Synod of Birr in 697, forbidding the war-time killing of women, children, and clergy (
Cáin Adomnáin). He also urged acceptance of the Roman date for Easter (Paschal /Easter Calendrical Controversies). His major works are
De locis sanctis, an itinerary through the Holy Land based…
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Religion Past and Present
Adam of Bremen
(182 words)
[German Version] (died Oct 12 before 1085). Educated at the cathedral school of Bamberg, he worked in Bremen from 1066/67 (become cathedral scholar in 1069); in 1067/68, he was at the Danish royal court, where he took instruction on conditions in the nordic countries. This information was recorded in the fourth volume of his Church History,
Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, which was the first thorough report in the Middle Ages concerning Scandinavia, Iceland, and Greenland. The first two …
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Religion Past and Present
Adams, Ansel
(119 words)
[German Version] (Feb 20, 1902, San Francisco – Apr 22, 1984 Carmel, CA), photographer, best known for his impeccably printed black-and-white photographs of the American wilderness. These technically accomplished but nevertheless poetic images, mainly of landscapes in western America, display incredible beauty in tone, texture, and detail, while inspiring an a…
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Religion Past and Present
Adam Scotus
(116 words)
[German Version] (Adam of Dryburgh; 1127/40 – 1212) was abbot-coadjutor in Dryburgh (OPraem) from 1184. In 1188/89, he moved to the Carthusian monastery in Witham, where, like other representatives of the reform orders of his time, he considered life as a hermit to be the highest form of religious life. In his writings, which were primarily devoted to questions of monastic life, contemplation, and asceticism, there is evidence of deep familiarity with the Bible and tradition (esp. Augustine), as well as the influence of the Victorines. Marie-Luise Ehrenschwendtner Bibliography A. Wi…
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Religion Past and Present
Adams, Henry
(126 words)
[German Version] (Feb 16, 1838, Boston, MA – Mar 27, 1918, Washington DC), descendant of the great family of American statesmen. Towards the end of his life he was deeply preoccupied with the religious origins of his family. The medieval French imaginaire of the Virgin Mary was an aesthetic replacement for his own agnosticism and an aesthetic way of coming to terms with his wife's suicide. If Adams's highly stylized autobiography,
The Education of Henry Adams (1906), was a meditation on his intellectual and public life, the visionary
Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres (1904) …
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Religion Past and Present
Adamson, Patrick
(222 words)
[German Version] (Mar 15, 1537, Perth – Feb 19, 1592), Scottish clergyman and archbishop of St. Andrews. He studied at St. Mary's College in the University of St. Andrews (M.A. 1558) and supported the Reformation. In 1560 he was appointed by the General Assembly (the supreme court of the Scottish Reformed church) for service in the …
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Religion Past and Present
Adam von St. Victor
(111 words)
[German Version] (apparently died Jan 14, at the latest in 1146) was the author of hymn-like sequences (“later style”). His background, biographical data, and works attributed to him are disputed. While earlier scholarship (
LMA I, 1990, 110f.) equated him with Adam Brito mentioned in the necrology of St. Victor – who, according to later sources, died in 1192 –, Fassler sees him as the canon Adam attested as the “praecentor” of the cathedral chapter of Notre-Dame (Paris) from 1107 to 1133, who withdrew to St. Victor around 1133. Mathias Lawo Bibliography M.E. Fassler, “Who Was Adam of …
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Religion Past and Present
Adam Wodham
(87 words)
[German Version] (Woodham, Godham, Goddamus; c. 1298–1358), OFM, was an important student of William of Occam. He was educated in the order's school in London, c. 1325–1329 in Oxford; he lectured on the
Sentences in 1330 in Norwich, until 1333 in Oxford, also in London; until 1339, when he journeyed to Basel, he was the director of studies for the OFM in Oxford. His doctrine of grace was attacked in Oxford and Paris as semi-Pelagian (Pelagius/Pelagians/Semi-Pelagians). Christoph Burger Bibliography W.J. Courtenay,
Adam Wodham, 1978.
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Religion Past and Present
Adaptation
(318 words)
[German Version] The fact that all living creatures are almost perfectly adapted to their environment in their form, physiology, sensorium, and behavior is explained by the natural sciences as the result of an evolutionary process extending over millions of years (Evolution). According to C. Darwin, natural selection may be considered a primary agent of evolut…
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Religion Past and Present