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
Value Ethics
(585 words)
[German Version] is an ethics grounded on predefined values (Value/Values). The term gained acceptance in Neo-Kantian and phenomenological practical philosophy during the early 20th century (M. Scheler, N. Hartmann), but as a substantial category it can clearly be extended to earlier approaches. According to Aristotle, an action is good if it avoids extremes in favor of guidance by an objective “mean” (
Eth. Nic. II). Antiquity was dominated by several variants of this idea, which arose through the inclusion of normative categories like “nature” or “what is proper” (
decorum: Cicero…
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Religion Past and Present
Value Judgment
(1,418 words)
[German Version]
I. Philosophy A value judgment is a judgment by which something is assessed as valuable or valueless. In contrast to the judgment of fact, which constitutes a descriptive statement of facts with a claim to scientifically verifiable objectivity, the value judgment in the sense of a normative (prescriptive) assessment constitutes the act of recognizing or revocating a validity, mostly in practical respects (also indirectly). Where it is not directly meant to guide actions, it contains…
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Religion Past and Present
Value/Values
(5,528 words)
[German Version]
I. Philosophy The philosophical value concept is the result of a hypostatization of value predicates that are assigned to objects or circumstances as signs of human esteem. By way of inference, the evaluative assessment gives rise to a value, which is in turn meant to serve as a source of norms. R.H. Lotze developed the value concept in the mid-19th century, at a time when the upcoming natural sciences were increasingly challenging its claim to world interpretation. While Lotze relinquished the topics of “being,” of the indifferen…
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Religion Past and Present
Vamvas, Neophytos
(196 words)
[German Version] (1770, Chios – Jan 9, 1855, Athens), Greek Orthodox cleric and educator. After studying in many places in Greece and abroad, especially in Paris, Vamvas taught in Greece, Constantinople, and Wallachia, supported by A. Korais. As secretary to Dimitrios Ypsilantis, he played an active role in the ¶ 1821 Greek war of liberation. He was professor and dean of the faculty of philosophy at the University of Athens, where he served as rector in 1844/1845. He was a pioneer of academic research and education in the new state of Greece. A…
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Religion Past and Present
Vandals
(438 words)
[German Version] In the 5th and 6th centuries, the
gens and
regnum of the Vandals played an important role in transforming the Roman world. Tacitus and Pliny the Younger mention
Vandilii along the Oder and Vistula. The ethnic processes behind the continuity of the name remain largely obscure. In 406 Vandals, Alani, and Suevi reached the limes on the Rhine and invaded the Gallic provinces, as reported by Jerome. In 409 groups of Vandals entered Spain, but Visigoth and Roman attacks prevented them from establishing a permanent…
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Religion Past and Present
Vandsburg
(267 words)
[German Version] The town of Vandsburg in West Prussia, first mentioned in 1384, was Prussian until 1919, when it went to Poland as Więcbork. It was a center of the revival movement (Revival/Revival movements) that began in the 1890s under the influence of the Anglo-American Holiness movement. The movement’s spiritual leaders were the pastors Carl Ferdinand Blazejewski (1862–1900) from Borken (East Prussia; today Borki Male) and Theophil Krawielitzki (1866–1942) from Vandsburg. As a result of a co…
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Religion Past and Present
Van Dusen, Henry Pitney
(167 words)
[German Version] (Dec 11, 1897, Philadelphia, PA – Feb 13, 1975, Belle Meade, NJ) studied at Princeton University, Union Theological Seminary, and Edinburgh. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1924 and became a professor of systematic theology at Union Theological Seminary in 1926. In scores of books and articles, Van Dusen advocated an evangelical, Christocentric liberalism. He was a key figure in the 1948 formation of the World Council of Churches. He served Union Theological Seminary as…
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Religion Past and Present
Vane, Sir Henry, the Younger
(122 words)
[German Version] (baptized May 26, 1613, Debden, Essex, England – Jun 14, 1661, London), studied at Oxford and abroad at Leiden, from 1635 to 1637 governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in Boston, English MP from 1640. He was among those responsible for the Solemn League and negotiated the 1649 covenant with Scotland. Vane took no part in the trial of Charles I. He initially supported O. Cromwell, but later turned against him. With the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy, Vane was arrested and executed. Vane was a radical Puritan but also believed in religious toleration. N. Scott Amos Bibli…
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Religion Past and Present
Vapostori
(392 words)
[German Version] is an umbrella term for diverse African Independent/Initiated/Instituted Churches (African Independent Churches) that emerged in Zimbabwe in the 1930s and spread throughout southern Africa. The term is derived from the English word “apostle.” It seeks to establish a connection between these churches and the 12 apostles. Vapostori (Apostolic) groups took up the name in an effort to underscore the evangelistic task they set for themselves. A charismatic individual, Johane Marange (b…
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Religion Past and Present
Vardapet
(79 words)
[German Version] title in the Armenian Apostolic Church (Armenia: II) for highly educated hieromonks, formerly of high renown. A special ordination is required. A vardapet’s staff marking him as a teacher is a sign of his dignity and office. Besides teaching, his primary duty is preaching. In recent years, a special qualifying program is being required once more for ordination as a vardapet. Martin Tamcke Bibliography R. Thomson, “Vardapet in the Early Armenian Church,”
Muséon 75, 1962, 367–384.
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Religion Past and Present
Varela, Felix
(235 words)
[German Version] (Nov 20, 1788, Havana – Feb 25, 1853, Saint Augustine, FL), son of a Spanish colonel. After his mother’s early death, he grew up with his grandparents and completed his secondary studies in Havana. He entered the San Carlos seminary at the age of 14, then studied at the University of Havana; he was ordained to the priesthood in 1811. From 1812 he was professor of philosophy, physics, and ethics at the semi-¶ nary; he also founded the first faculty of law in Latin America and the Havana Philharmonic. Elected to the Spanish tribunal as a representative o…
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Religion Past and Present
Varro, Marcus Terentius
(677 words)
[German Version] (116–27 bce).
Life and work: Varro was a Roman official (praetor in 68), probably a
quindecimvir (Cichorius), and a widely traveled polyhistor and poet. He was a conservative republican, an adherent of the (old) Academy, and the author of more than 70 works on all facets of Roman culture, in more than 500 volumes. His enormous oeuvre comprises works on philology and literary history (the theater, history of the alphabet, etc.), history, and antiquarian topics (calendar), further the artes libera…
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Religion Past and Present
Vasari, Giorgio
(186 words)
[German Version] (Jul 30, 1511, Arezzo – Jun 27, 1574, Florence), painter, architect, and writer. He worked in Rome but primarily in Florence (remodeling of the town hall to serve as the ducal palace beginning in ¶ 1555, construction of the Uffizi beginning in 1560, radical “modernization” of the major med. churches). His major achievement, however, is his biographical study of Italian artists (1550, 21568; see bibl.; ET:
The Lives of the Artists, 1998), in which he sees the rebirth (
rinascità; “Renaissance”) of classical and natural beauty brought to perfection in the work…
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Religion Past and Present
Vatican
(2,508 words)
[German Version]
I. History In ancient times, the
ager vaticanus extended on the right side of the Tiber, below the Vatican Hill from which it acquired it name. Crossed by the Via Cornelia, it was connected with Rome by a bridge that was probably built under Nero. From the emperors Caligula and Nero onward, a circus was built for races, with an Egyptian obelisk as its
meta (since the 16th cent. the center of St. Peter’s Square). Soon afterwards, a
naumachia was erected further upstream on the Tiber.The Via Cornelia was lined by tombs, especially from the 2nd century onward.…
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Religion Past and Present
Vatican Diplomatic Corps
(474 words)
[German Version] Under international law, the Holy See (Vatican) has both active and passive diplomatic privileges. It receives ambassadors dispatched by states as extraordinary, temporary, regular, or permanent representatives. It enjoys this right as a sovereign state. After some beginnings in the 13th century, there have been diplomatic representatives to the Holy See since the late 15th century (Italian city states). Permanent embassies developed in the 16th century, initially representing Catholic states. In the 19th cen-¶ tury, Protestant states also began to send…
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Religion Past and Present
Vatican I
(4,068 words)
[German Version]
I. History, Process, Results
1. Annoucement and preparation. The idea of holding a general council for the church to assert its authority and its defensive stance against a modernity shaped by Enlightenment and revolution was first suggested to Pius IX during exile in Gaëta. The plan took shape after the pope – two days before the publication of the encyclical
Quanta cura and the Syllabus on Dec 8, 1864, and in close connection with their condemnation of modern fallacies – carried out a first confidential consultation with the cardinals reg…
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Religion Past and Present
Vatican II
(4,383 words)
[German Version]
I. History, Process, Results
1. History. The Ecumenical Council Vatican II (Oct 1, 1962 – Dec 8 1965; St. Peter’s in Rome) was announced by John XXIII on Jan 25, 1959, at the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity; from the second session on, it was headed by his successor ¶ Paul VI. It adopted 16 documents (list at the end of section V of the abbreviations): four constitutions (LG, on the church; GS, on the church in the modern world; SC, on the liturgy; DV, on revelation), nine decrees (IM, on…
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Religion Past and Present
Vatican II Documents Abbreviations
(195 words)
[German Version] AA Apostolicam actuositatem. Decree of 18.11.1965 on the apostolate of the laity AG Ad gentes. Decree of 7.12.1965 on the mission activity of the Church CD Christus Dominus. Decree of 28.10.1965 on the pastoral office of bishops in the Church DH Dignitatis humanae. Declaration of 7.12.1965 on religious freedom DV Dei verbum. Dogmatic constitution on divine revelation, 18.11.1965 GE Gravissimum educationis. Declaration of 28.10.1965 on Christian education GS Gaudium et spes. Pastoral constitution on the Church in the modern world, 7.12.1965 IM Inter mirifica. De…
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Religion Past and Present
Vatke, Johann Karl Wilhelm
(299 words)
[German Version] (Mar 14, 1806, Behndorf, near Magdeburg – Apr 19, 1882, Berlin). After his parents’ death, Vatke attended school at the Franckesche Stiftungen (A.H. Francke) in Halle beginning in 1820; from 1824 he studied theology in Halle, Göttingen, and Berlin. His teachers included W. Gesenius, ¶ H. Ewald, J.W.A. Neander, and G.W.F. Hegel. In 1830 he was appointed to a lectureship at Berlin, where he served from 1837 to 1875 on the theological faculty as associate professor of biblical studies and philosophy of religion. His appointment…
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Religion Past and Present
Vaughan, Henry
(184 words)
[German Version] (Apr 17, 1622, Llansaintffraed, Wales – Apr 23, 1695, Newton-by-Usk, Wales). In 1638 Henry Vaughan and his twin brother Thomas, a philosopher in the hermetic tradition, entered Jesus College in Oxford. He studied law in London, but practiced as a country doctor in Brecon and Newton after 1655. The chaos of the Civil War and a world turned upside down, which he experienced as an Anglican royalist, have been thought responsible for the spiritual and intellectual transformation that …
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Religion Past and Present