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.
Subscriptions: see brill.com
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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
Debt Crisis
(374 words)
[German Version] If a debtor can no longer make the amortization and interest payments (“debt service”) for which he or she is obligated under a credit agreement, then one may speak of a “debt crisis.” In recent decades, the public has been especially aware of the debt crisis of the developing and emerging countries (Third World). This has …
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Religion Past and Present
Decadence Models of Religion
(606 words)
[German Version] The notion of decadence (degeneration, depravation, decay, decline) reflects the assumption that a better state has devolved into a worse state. This assumption defines the history of religions to the extent that the proper evaluation of the loss and regaining of original bliss (salvation) is a consistent motif in the self-definition of religions. …
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Religion Past and Present
Decade of Evangelism
(125 words)
[German Version] The Anglican Lambeth Conference passed its resolution 44 in 1988 with a call to shift from mere self-preservation to “proclamation and service.” Resolution 43 challenged every church province and diocese to cooperate with other Christians ¶ to make the 1990s a “Decade of Evangelism.” This call originated especially from the African bishops, the continent with the largest number of active members of the Anglican Church, and was …
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Religion Past and Present
Decalogue
(5,698 words)
[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. Judaism – III. New Testament – IV. Church History – V. Dogmatics and Ethics – VI. Practical Theology
I. Old Testament The designation Decalogue (“ten words”) for the series of ten commandments derives from the Greek translation of the Hebrew
ʾaśeret haddebārîm (δεκάλογος “ten words”). It is employed in late deuteronomic theory in Deut 10:4 for the Decalogue, in Deut 5:6–21 and by the post-dtr. redaction of the …
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Religion Past and Present
Decapolis
(467 words)
[German Version] The thesis of a Decapolis founded by Pompey in 63 bce as a Hellenistic bastion against the Arabs in the East is outmoded. A self-concept as Decapolis (Gk “ten cities”) arose only in the middle of the 1st century ce when a few cities of Coelesyria attempted to escape new Herodian sovereignty by proclaiming their autonomy in the
Provincia Syria (cf. the beginning of minting municipal coins with the city Tyche: Canatha 38/39, Skythopolis 39/40 [Beth-Shean], Gerasa and Hippos 67/68 ce; only Gadara, rebuilt by Pompey, minted coins from 63 bce on). In the …
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Religion Past and Present
Decay/Decline
(820 words)
[German Version] I. General – II. Greek Views – III. Roman Views
I. General Decay/decline (cf. decadence, degeneration;
inclinatio; Ger.
Verfall) refers to a process of gradual deterioration that ends in sudden catastrophe (Gk καταστροφή), destruction, disintegration, slow dissolution, or ruin (Gk φϑορά/
phthorá), unless it is averted by reform or renaissance. Decay/decline is the corresponding antonym of progress, an – often …
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Religion Past and Present
Dechamps, Victor-Auguste-Isidore
(202 words)
[German Version] (Dec 6, 1810, Melle near Ghent – Sep 29, 1883, Mechelen) was ordained priest in 1834 and joined the Redemptorists (CSsR) in 1835, religious instructor of the children of Leopold I of Belgium. In 1865, he became bishop of Namur, and in 1867 archbishop of Mechelen and primate of Belgium. He was elevated to cardinal in 1875. Theologically, Dechamps based faith on two elements:
le fait intérieur (the dynamic of human will and knowledge, which leaves human beings unfulfilled and opens them to God) and
le fait extérieur (the church, in whose
notae ecclesiae …
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Religion Past and Present
Dechristianization
(816 words)
[German Version] I. History of the Concept – II. Concept in Cultural Studies
I. History of the Concept Dechristianization can be identified since c. 1820 as a translation for
déchristianisation, which was coined in the struggles over religious policy in the French Revolution.
Déchristianiser initially referred to the spontaneous acts of violence by lower-class groups against the church, that is, the theft of church property, the destruction of churches, and the execution …
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Religion Past and Present
Decian and Valerian Persecution
(11 words)
[German Version] Persecutions of Christians
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Religion Past and Present
Decision
(992 words)
[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Dogmatics – III. Ethics
I. Philosophy The process of clarifying an uncertain, unclear situation that demands a reaction is essentially linked to decision as a choice between several possibilities of action. The scope of the term ranges from the more distanced judicial decision to the personal life decision. What is variable here is the amount of rational …
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Religion Past and Present
Decisionism
(381 words)
[German Version] From Latin
decisio, “decision,” “judgment,” is a term coined by C. Schmitt to designate ¶ his thesis that the application of a norm can never be entirely defined by the norm itself, so that there is always a margin and need for “decision.” The term is directed critically against normative and legal positivist positions, especially against the position of Hans Kelsens. For Schmitt …
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Religion Past and Present
Decision Theory
(334 words)
[German Version] is the systematic investigation of the conditions of rational action. Here, decision means the choice between several alternative actions. The meaning of the rationality of a decision is defined in the so-called theory of rational choice. The condition is an actor whose objective is to fulfill his own preferences. Rationality consists, on the one hand, in the systematic …
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Religion Past and Present
Decius
(108 words)
[German Version] Roman emperor (c. 180–251 ce). After a senatorial career, Decius was chosen as (anti-)emperor in 249 at the Danube. In his efforts toward the political order and cultic unity of the empire, he issued a universal sacrificial order (
supplicatio). All citizens of the empire had to have their performance of the sacrifice officially confirmed (
libelli); the refusal of many Christians sparked a major persecution (I) (Eus.
Hist. eccl. VI 41.9 f.). After fighting the Goths in the Balkans, Decius fell in 251. Johannes Hahn Bibliography R. Selinger,
Die Religionspolitik des K…
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Religion Past and Present
Deck, John Northcote, and Norman Cathcart
(197 words)
[German Version] John Northcote (Mar 12, 1875, London – May 10, 1957, Toronto) and Norman Cathcart (1882 – Aug 31, 1980) were brothers from a large missionary family belonging to the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren, which contributed significantly to the South Seas Evangelical Mission (also known as the Deck Mission) and the evangelization of the Pacific. N…
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Religion Past and Present
Decolonization and Mission
(1,063 words)
[German Version] I. History – II. Missiology
I. History The term decolonization was first used in 1932 by the German researcher Moritz Bonn and was defined as “countercolonization.” In as far as the term is connected to a “transfer of power” on an international level, for example in the British Empire, decolonization marks a final stage in world and colonial history (Colonialism/Neocolonialis…
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Religion Past and Present
Deconstruction/Deconstructivism
(1,117 words)
[German Version] I. Philosophical Considerations – II. Deconstruction/Deconstructionism and Religion – III. Deconstruction/Deconstructionism and Theology
I. Philosophical Considerations The expression “deconstruction” refers to the position of the French philosopher J. Derrida (1930–2004) and to the line of thought deriving from his work especially as manifested in literary criticism, though its roots are …
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Religion Past and Present
Decretalists
(169 words)
[German Version] are those canonists who made the interpretation of the decretal collections (Decretals) the focal point of their scholarly work. Anonymous canonists around 1180, who divided the decretal material into systematically organized collections, can be considered the first decretalists. In Bologna, Bernhard of Pavia stands at the beginning around 1190 as the author of the
Breviarium extravagantium decretalium (Compilatio I). He also wrote the first textbook of decretal law. The large glossary to the fifth
Compilationes antiquae, in which decretal …
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Religion Past and Present
Decretals
(260 words)
[German Version] derives from
epistolae decretales. Since Late Antiquity, this term has referred to papal letters that authoritatively rule on legal questions with binding effect. Pope Siricius issued the first transmitted decretal in 385 to Bishop Himerius of Tarragona. The major canon collections of c. 500 ce transmitted the decretals as legal sources of equal value alongside the conciliar canons. The papal decretal is the church's counterpart to the imperial …
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Religion Past and Present
Decretists
(155 words)
[German Version] are the medieval canonists who devoted themselves to the interpretation of the
Decretum Gratiani (
Corpus Iuris Canonici ) published around 1140. The decretists began with Paucapalea, a student of Gratian. The school of the decretists in Bologna authored a number of important canonistic works in the years before 1190. After 1160, a French school of canonists arose centered in Paris. Arou…
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Religion Past and Present
Decretum Gelasianum
(329 words)
[German Version] The so-called
Decretum Gelasianum, a synodal decree or decretal, is attributed in the manuscript tradition to the popes Damasus I ¶ (366–384) or Gelasius I (492–496). Its five chapters contain, among other things, important texts for the history of the canon and the development of the papacy: 1. on the names of the Holy Spirit and Christ; 2. a list of the books of the Old and New …
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Religion Past and Present