Religion Past and Present
Get access
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.
Subscriptions: see brill.com
| Help us improve our service |
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
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…
Source:
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…
Source:
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 …
Source:
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 …
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Agrarian Mission
(9 words)
[German Version] Mission societies/Mission work
Source:
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…
Source:
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 …
Source:
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…
Source:
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…
Source:
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 …
Source:
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, …
Source:
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…
Source:
Religion Past and Present