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
Machen, John Gresham
(148 words)
[German Version] (Jul 28, 1881 – Jan 1, 1937) studied at Johns Hopkins University, Princeton University, and Princeton Seminary, as well as concluding his graduate studies at Marburg and Göttingen, before he returned as lecturer (1906–1914) and assistant professor (1914–1929) of New Testament at Princeton Seminary. He soon became a leading conservative voice in the 1920s fundamentalist-modernist controversy in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He defended traditional orthodoxy in such works as
The Origin of Paul's Religion (1920),
Christianity and Liberalism (1923), and
The V…
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Religion Past and Present
Machiavelli, Niccolò
(376 words)
[German Version] (May 3, 1469, Florence – Jun 22, 1527, Florence). Born to an impoverished family, the brilliant Humanist was barred from the highest public office, but in 1498 he was appointed secretary of the second chancery of his home city. As permanent head of the chancery, it was his responsibility to prepare decisions regarding military and foreign policy for members of the regime, whose term of office was short. In the course of diplomatic missions, first to Italian princes, then to the king of France, the emperor, and the pope, he developed a keen eye for
Realpolitik. With the end …
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Religion Past and Present
Macintosh, Douglas Clyde
(162 words)
[German Version] (Feb 18, 1877, Bredalbane, Ontario – Jul 6, 1948, Chicago), Baptist theologian and philosopher of religion. For a brief period a Baptist minister, Macintosh taught theology and philosophy in various posts, principally at Yale University (1909–1942), where he held a chair from 1916. In spite of his work as a Canadian military chaplain during 1916, the American Supreme Court rejected his application for citizenship in 1931 because Macintosh reserved the right to examine the justice …
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Religion Past and Present
Mackay, Alexander Murdoch
(172 words)
[German Version] (Oct 13, 1849, Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland – Feb 8, 1890, Usambiro [today Tanzania]), pioneer of the Anglican Church Missionary Society in Uganda and son of a minister of the Free Church of Scotland. Mackay studied engineering in Edinburgh and in November 1879 came to the court of the king of Buganda. He was admired by the Baganda because of his technical skills and his lively defense of his faith, especially in arguments with Muslims and Catholic missionaries. Mackay's efforts ¶ contributed to the establishment of a strong Protestant community in Uganda,…
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Religion Past and Present
Mackay, John Alexander
(317 words)
[German Version] (May 7, 1889, Inverness, Scotland – Jun 9, 1983, Hightstown, NJ), missionary to Latin America. Mackay studied philosophy and theology at Aberdeen and Princeton (1913–1915). His interest in missionary work brought him into contact with the Student Volunteer Movement and its leaders R. Speer, J. Mott, and S. Zwemer. Seeking ongoing dialogue between theology and culture, Mackay became acquainted with such figures as Miguel de Unamuno, who became his intellectual mentor and on whom he wrote his doctoral thesis. In 1916 the Free Church of Scotland sent him to Per…
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Religion Past and Present
Mackensen, Stefanie von
(196 words)
[German Version] (
née von Renvers; Feb 4, 1894, Berlin – Feb 1, 1985, Iserlohn). After her mar-¶ riage, Mackensen converted in 1916 to the Protestant church. In 1932 she became a member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and the
Deutsche Christen (until spring 1933). However, at the outbreak of the
Kirchenkampf (National Socialism: I) she nevertheless became one of the founders of the Confessing Church in Pomerania. Until her conscription in 1940 into the Red Cross, she was manager of the provincial
Bruderrat. From 1947 to 1955 she was housekeeper at the theological college of the Wes…
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Religion Past and Present
Maclaren, Alexander
(158 words)
[German Version] (Feb 11, 1826, Glasgow – May 5, 1910, Edinburgh), Baptist preacher and son of a Scottish Baptist (Baptists) elder, attended Glasgow University and Stepney College, London. Maclaren was a minister at Portland Chapel in Southampton (1845–1858) and Union Chapel in Manchester (1858–1903). In 1875 and 1901 he was president of the English Baptist Union and in 1905 became the first president of the Baptist World Alliance. As one of the most famous preachers in Victorian Britain, in his s…
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Religion Past and Present
Macquarrie, John
(617 words)
[German Version] (Jun 27, 1919, Renfrew, Scotland – May 28, 2007, Oxford, England). John Macquarrie was educated at the University of Glasgow. He worked as an army chaplain and parish minister before doctoral work at Glasgow on the relation of M. Heidegger and R. Bultmann. He was lecturer in theology at Glasgow (1953–62), and then professor of systematic theology at Union Theological Seminary, New York, from 1962 to 1970. In 1965 he became an Anglican priest, and from 1970 to 1986 was Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford. A pro-¶ lific author, his publications …
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Religion Past and Present
Macrina, the Younger
(172 words)
[German Version] (c. 327, Neocaesarea – 379, Annisi) was the eldest daughter of a wealthy Christian family from Cappadocia. She was named after her grandmother, Macrina the Elder, who introduced her family to the teachings of Gregory Thaumaturgus. After the death of her fiancé, an advocate, Macrina remained unmarried. She founded and was the head of a monastic community of women (Monasticism: III) on her family's estate near Annisi from the 350s onward and never left it for the rest of her life. I…
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Religion Past and Present
Macrobius, Ambrosius Theodosius
(306 words)
[German Version] In his main opus,
Saturnalia (“Feasts in honor of the god Saturn”), which he authored shortly after 402, Macrobius depicts historical personalities (including Q. Symmachus and aristocrats of the anti-Christian front who stood close to him) talking about several topics from theology, the natural sciences, linguistics, and literature. The emphasis on Virgil's outstanding erudition and on the neoplatonic-syncretistic interpretation of the pre-Christian pantheon are the two basic features…
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Religion Past and Present
Macrocosm and Microcosm
(453 words)
[German Version] The noun composites “macrocosm” and “microcosm” are not attested in antiquity, but Democritus (frgm. 34 with parr.) describes the human being as μικρός κόσμος/
mikrós kósmos. The notion of macrocosm and microcosm establishes a correlation between the spatial structures of the astral sky, the inhabited earth (
oikumene), and the human body, and extends even to the invisible soul; the defined spaces either display a structural relationship (analogy, correlation, imitation) or they partake of each other or are interwoven and infl…
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Religion Past and Present
MacTaggart, John Ellis
(125 words)
[German Version] (McTaggart; Sep 3, 1866, London – Jan 18, 1925, London), English philosopher, representative of British idealism, in contrast to which B. Russell and G. Moore made their mark. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he spent his entire academic life: from 1891, fellow; from 1897 to 1923, lecturer. Particularly influential was his proof of the unreality of time, controversially discussed well into the second half of the 20th century. Hans-Peter Schütt Bibliography Works include: “The Unreality of Time,”
Mind 17, 1908, 457–474
The Nature of Existence, 2 vols.,…
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Religion Past and Present
Macumba
(275 words)
[German Version] is an African-American religion in Brazil that combines African, Amerindian, Catholic, and spiritualist elements. It is related to Candomblé do Caboclo (Brazil) and Haitian voodoo, and arose through transformation of the religion of the Bantu (known since 1900 as Cabula) under the pressure of urbanization in the 1920s in southeastern Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo). Macumba is the religion of the black lower class. As it spread, it was increasingly condemned by the majority of …
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Religion Past and Present
Madaba
(476 words)
[German Version] Madaba, an ancient town located approx. 30 km southwest of ʿAmman. Settled at the latest by Early Bronze Age I (with interruptions), Madaba was disputed between Israel and Moab in the mid-9th century bce (cf. Num 21:30; Josh 13:9, 16), until Mesha of Moab finally conquered the city (Mesha Stone). Madaba was part of the Babylonian Empire from the 6th century bce onward (Isa 15:2). Controlled by ¶ Arabs (Nabateans or Banu ʿAmirat) in the Hellenistic and early Roman periods (CIS 2.1, 196; 1 Macc 9:36; cf. Jos.
Ant. XIII 11, 18) and temporarily occupied by Maccabees (Jos.
Ant. XII…
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Religion Past and Present
Madagascar
(990 words)
[German Version] Madagascar, the fourth largest of the world's islands (587,041 km2), is located in the southern Indian Ocean, 400 km from the coast of East Africa. Much of its flora and fauna is unique. Most of the island consists of rugged highlands (1,000–1,500m), which descend gradually to the western coast but drop abruptly to the eastern coast. The majority of the population live in the highlands and along the eastern coast, mostly supporting themselves by agriculture. In the ¶ drier southern and western regions, cattle are of greater importance. Some 99% of the total…
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Religion Past and Present
Mādhyamika
(832 words)
[German Version] The Sanskrit word Mādhyamika refers to the members of the Madhyamaka (“middle”) school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The founder of the school is the acclaimed Nāgārjuna (c. 2nd cent. ce), the author of, among other texts, the fundamental philosophical treatise of the school, which is known to the later tradition as the
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. The title of this work as well as the terms Madhyamaka and Mādhyamika as designations for the school and its members do not seem to have been used by Nāgārjuna himself and are probably later developme…
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Religion Past and Present
Madison, James
(171 words)
[German Version] (Mar 16, 1751, Port Conway, VA – Jun 28, 1836, Montpelier, VA), fourth president of the United States. Madison was called the “Father of the Constitution” on account of his role in the drafting of the constitution and the later defense of its ratification in the
Federalist Papers. His paper
Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments (1785) was directed against government support of religious instruction and condemned the use of religion as “an engine of policy,” as this was damaging both to religion and to political freed…
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Religion Past and Present
Madrasah
(712 words)
[German Version] A madrasah (Arab.
madrasah, Turkish
medrese, “place of learning”) is a college for teaching Islamic jurisprudence (
fiqh). Originating in northeastern Iran or Transoxania, where a madrasah in Bukhara is reported to have burned in 937, a madrasah was originally the lyceum of Muslim private scholar, where he assembled his students. Whether the Buddhist monastery or
vihara was the prototype of the madrasah is disputed; it is more likely to be an original Islamic invention. An endowment (
waqf) from private funds could enable the institution to survive the deat…
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Religion Past and Present
Madrigal
(360 words)
[German Version] The madrigal (Ital. dial.
madregal, “simple,” probably ultimately from Lat.
matricalis, “in the mother tongue”) is a musico-poetic genre. In the 14th century, it was a vernacular poetic form, often of eight lines, used by F. Petrarca and others and set to two- or three-part music, with or without ritornello; the major musical sources are Codex Rossi and the Squarcialupi Codex. Quite independent of this form, the Italian madrigal of the 16th century is a poetic form with seven or eleven syll…
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Religion Past and Present