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
Zabarella, Jacopo
(260 words)
[German Version] (Sep 9, 1533, Padua – Oct 15, 1589, Padua), Aristotelian philosopher. Zabarella studied the humanistic disciplines along with logic, mathematics, and natural philosophy in Padua, which then belonged to the Venetian Republic. In 1564 he was appointed professor of logic at the university. In 1568 he moved to the chair of natural philosophy, which he occupied until his death. Zabarella was already famous in his own lifetime for his innovative definition of logic as an instrumental me…
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Religion Past and Present
Zaberella, Francesco
(164 words)
[German Version] (de Zabarellis; Aug 10, 1360, Padua – Sep 26, 1417, Constance), important canonist, cardinal. After studying at Bologna, he taught at Bologna, Florence (Dr.utr.iuris), and Padua. In 1410 he became bishop of Florence and in 1411 was made a cardinal. To resolve the Great Western Schism, he urged a council; he was one of the most important figures in the preparation and successful completion of the Council of Constance (Constance, Council of). He played an important role in formulating the decree
Haec sancta (Conciliar theory) and deposing the antipope John ¶ XXIII. He als…
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Religion Past and Present
Zacharias, Pope (Saint)
(183 words)
[German Version] (Dec 3, 741 – Mar 15, 752) made an alliance with the Franks, but also sought an accommodation with the Lombards and Byzantium (Constantinople). A Roman council in 743 dealt with disciplinary questions and matrimonial law; a synod in 745 condemned the heretics Aldebert and Clement. In 747 Zacharias wrote to Pippin, the mayor of the palace, regarding the Christian life of clergy and laity (M. Tangl, ed., MGH.Ep 1, 1916, 479–487); he gave Boniface advice on church discipline. Scholar…
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Religion Past and Present
Zacharias Scholasticus
(241 words)
[German Version] (also called Rhetor; c. 465, near Gaza – before 553), Monophysites, lawyer, and historian. After studying in Alexandria and Berytos (modern Beirut), he practiced as a rhetor in Constantinople. From 527 on he was bishop of Mytilene on Lesbos; in that office he was an adherent of Chalcedon (Chalcedon, Council of). His extensive oeuvre, most of which survives in Syriac translation, includes biographies such as his life of Severus of Antioch and ¶ apologetic works, the most important of which, the
Ammonius, is named after its main speaker; it is directed against p…
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Religion Past and Present
Zaddiq
(311 words)
[German Version] The term zaddiq (קידְּצַ/
ṣaddîq; “Righteous”) is in most cases a vague, general title associating with religious devotion and leadership. It indicates social involvement and ethical perfection beyond the strict demands of the Halakhah and prominent position in the religious community. The verse in Pro 10:25 gave this term a cosmic meaning: the zaddiq is the foundation of the universe (
axis mundi). The legends of the 36 zaddiqim who are the justification of the world’s existence developed from this concept. In the Kabbalah, the term was used to indicate the ni…
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Religion Past and Present
Zadok/Zadokites
(459 words)
[German Version] Zadok (Heb. קוֹדצָ[ינֵבְּ]/[
b enê]
ṣādôq, “Zadok”/“Sons of Zadok = Zadokites”) was considered the ancestor of the Zadokite priests (1 Kgs 4:2) in the temple (II, 4) of Jerusalem (I), who were believed to have officiated under Solomon, the founder of the temple. The fact that, in the narrative of David’s (I) succession to the throne (2 Sam 7–1 Kgs 2), he appears as a
homo novus with no previous history certainly does not point to Zadok’s pre-Israelite origins, but rather to the fact that it was only at a late date that he was given a role in the D…
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Religion Past and Present
Zagreb
(186 words)
[German Version] Zagreb, capital of the Republic of Croatia, situated between the Sava and the slopes of Mount Medvenica. It is the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop and an Orthodox metropolitan. Settlement of what is now Zagreb goes back to the pre-Roman period. In 1094 (or shortly before 1091), King Ladislaus I of Hungary and Croatia erected the see of Zagreb and made the town also a county seat. The diocese was initially suffragan to Esztergom and after the 12th century to Kálocsa; in additio…
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Religion Past and Present
Zahn
(601 words)
[German Version]
1. Franz Michael (Jun 4, 1833, Moers – Mar 3, 1900, Bremen), from 1862 to his death, head of the Norddeutsche Mission; co-founder of the Continental Mission Conference (1866); worked closely with G. Warneck and the
Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift (
AMZ, 1874ff.), which Warneck founded, and critical of the pro-colonial tendency in the mission and its idea of a people’s church. In 1890 he resigned as head of the Deutscher Evangelischer Missionsrat. In theology he was influenced by the Erlangen school, and pedagogically h…
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Religion Past and Present
Zahn-Harnack, Agnes von
(201 words)
[German Version] (Jun 19, 1884, Gießen – May 22, 1950, Berlin), daughter of A. v. Harnack; journalist and campaigner for women’s rights. After teacher training and earning her Dr.phil. (1912), from 1914 to 1918 she tested a career in social planning concretely in the civil service. After joining the German Democratic Party in 1919, she earned a reputation as a high-profile, culturally sensitive internationally-minded organizer of the bourgeois women’s movement; from 1931 to 1933 she chaired the Fe…
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Religion Past and Present
Zahn, Johannes Christoph Andreas
(113 words)
[German Version] (Aug 1, 1817, Eschenbach – Feb 17, 1895, Neuendettelsau). After studying theology, primarily at Erlangen, Zahn served from 1854 to 1888 as director of the teachers’ college in Altdorf. His excellent training in church music supported his work in hymnology. Zahn left his mark on the reform of Protestant congregational and choral ¶ singing, not least through his assistance in producing hymn and tune books (Hymnal: I, 4). He published his fundamental researches in
Die Melodien der deutschen evangelischen Kirchenlieder aus den Quellen geschöpft (6 vols., 1889–1983),…
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Religion Past and Present
Zalman Shazar
(203 words)
[German Version] (Shazar is an acronym of Shneur Zalman Rubashov; Oct 6, 1889, Mir [now in Belarus] – Oct 5, 1974, Jerusalem), third president of the state of Israel, journalist and scholar, major leader of the Zionist labor movement. After a traditional upbringing in a Hasidic milieu, he studied history and philosophy in St. Petersburg, Freiburg, Straßburg (Strasbourg), and Berlin. In 1905 he had already joined the Zionist workers’ party Po‘ale Zion (Zionism). In 1924 he emigrated to Palestine, where he sat on all the critical political committees, while at the same time working on
Davar…
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Religion Past and Present
Zambia
(569 words)
[German Version] Zambia, a country in southern Africa. The name comes from the Zambesi river that marks the southern frontier with Zimbabwe. Under British influence from c. 1890, in 1924 it became a British protectorate under the name of Northern Rhodesia. It became independent in 1964 under the leadership of the former mission pupil Kenneth D. Kaunda. With an area of 752,614 km2 and 10.8 million inhabitants (2003), Zambia is a medium-sized African country. Most of the country is between 1,000 and 1,500 m above sea level. It has a tropical climate with alt…
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Religion Past and Present
Zanchius, Hieronymus
(311 words)
[German Version] (Feb 2, 1516, Alzano, near Bergamo – Nov 19, 1590, Neustadt). In 1531 Zanchius joined the Augustinian Canons in Bergamo. In 1541 he was sent to Lucca, where he converted to Protestantism under the influence of Peter Martyr Vermigli. Fleeing Italy in 1551, he stayed in Geneva for ten months and took refuge in Straßburg (Strasbourg) from 1553 to 1563. He served as professor of Old Testament at the College of St. Thomas until he was forced to leave Straßburg as a result of his confli…
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Religion Past and Present
Zander, Lev Aleksandrovich
(178 words)
[German Version] (Feb 19, 1893, St. Petersburg – Dec 17, 1964, Paris), Russian philosopher and theologian. After earning his Lic.iur. in 1913, he studied philosophy at Heidelberg in 1913/1914. He lectured at the universities of Perm (1918) and Vladivostok (1919–1922). In 1925 he was cofounder of the Institut de Théologie Orthodoxe Saint-Serge in Paris and became its professor of philosophy and denominational studies. He was the most prominent student of S.N. Bulgakov and promoter of his works. He …
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Religion Past and Present
Zarathustra/Zoroastrianism
(2,516 words)
[German Version]
I. Concept Zoroastrianism is the name given to the religion founded at least 2,600 years ago by Zarathustra (in the Avesta: Zaraθuštra). The date and place of Zarathustra’s birth are still a matter of debate in the scholarly community, although Pahlavi literature cites the year 258 before Alexander the Great as the traditional date (see III below). Pahlavi literature also preserves a legendary account of Zarathustra’s life. Zoroastrianism emerged as a monotheism (I) that was characterized by a mitigated dualism (I) and in which free choice played a ¶ decisive role. Ho…
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Religion Past and Present
Zarʾā Yāʿeqob
(413 words)
[German Version] (1399–1468), emperor of Ethiopia (1434–1468). Zarʾā Yāʿeqob’s reign was marked by wars of conquest and domestic political reforms. By restructuring the administration and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, he centralized the kingdom, establishing his residence in Dabra Berhān. The coastal regions (Massawa) were absorbed and a fleet was built. In the north (Eritrea), he created the office of the
Bāḥr nagāš, who ruled there in his stead. In 1445 he defeated Sultan ¶ Badlāy ibn Saʿd ad-Din and conquered the East. He supported the church, restructured the lit…
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Religion Past and Present
Zār Cult
(104 words)
[German Version] In Sudan, Egypt, and (through migration) some countries of the Persian Gulf region, cults centered on possession and healing (Sickness and healing: II), which probably originated in sub-Saharan Africa, are called Zār cults, a term deriving from the Arabic verb
zāra, “visit.” Today Zār is found primarily in the rural areas of these countries or in the traditional quarters of the large cities. It is practiced primarily by women of Muslim but also Christian background who are exposed to strong social pressures. Peter Heine Bibliography I.M. Lewis
et al., eds.,
Women’s Med…
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Religion Past and Present
Zasius, Ulrich
(314 words)
[German Version] (1461, Constance – 1535, Freiburg im Breisgau). In 1494 Zasius was appointed town clerk in Freiburg, where he became director of the Latin school in 1496. In 1501 he earned his Dr.legum; in 1506, after many years of teaching, he was appointed professor of
leges at the University of Freiburg. In 1508 Maximilian I gave him the title of imperial counselor. Zasius is considered the most important German jurist of the 16th century. His contemporaries already ranked him alongside Andreas Alciatus (1492–1550) and G. Budé, the two …
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Religion Past and Present
Zauleck, Paul
(89 words)
[German Version] (Mar 12, 1849, Berlin – Jun 3, 1917, Bremen), pastor in Bremen from 1875. Motivated by the Inland Mission, he played a role in transforming the Free church Sunday School to the regional churches’ children’s church. The central place of children’s church in German Protestantism is largely due to him. He was the author of basic textbooks and children’s sermons, as well as cofounder of the periodical
Der Kindergottesdienst and co-author of the
Deutsches Kindergesangbuch. Carsten Berg Bibliography K.H. Voigt,
BBKL XIV, 1998, 359–364 (bibl.).
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Religion Past and Present
Zeal (Divine)
(306 words)
[German Version] The theological concept of YHWH’s zeal (האָנְקִ/
qinʾāh) stands at the center of the struggle to assure that only the biblical God be worshiped (Monotheism and polytheism); it is intimately associated with his holiness (Josh 24:19; Sacred and profane: V). It gives expression – first and foremost in the cult – to God’s intolerant demand for exclusivity, championed against the religion of Baal by the prophetic and Levitical “YHWH alone movement” of the 9th century (2 Kgs 9f.) and reflected…
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Religion Past and Present
Zealots
(1,088 words)
[German Version] The designation “Zealots” (ζηλωταί/
zēlōtaí, from Gk ζηλόω/
zēlóō, “to be zealous, to strive after”) for those Jews who rebelled against Roman rule in Palestine during the 1st century ce and especially during the First Jewish Revolt is encountered in the works of Flavius Josephus (
Bell. II 651; IV 160f.; VII 268–270), whose
Bellum Judaicum (II–VII) and
Antiquitates constitute the most important sources for the Zealot movement and its ideology. The Hebrew designation
qannaʾim (“zealous ones”) is attested, among other places, in
b. Sanh. 82a. Their name goes back …
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Religion Past and Present
Zechariah/Book of Zechariah
(1,553 words)
[German Version]
I. Proto-Zechariah
1. The prophet and his time. The name Zechariah (Heb. זְכַרְיָה/
z ekaryāh, “YHWH has remembered”) is attested several times in the Old Testament: Zech 1:1, 7 names Berechiah, son of Iddo, as father of the prophet (Prophets and prophecy: II). In Ezra 5:1; 6:14, however, he is said to be the son of Iddo. According to Neh 12:16, a man named Zechariah – who can hardly be identified with the prophet – was the head of the priestly family of Iddo at the time of the high priest Joia…
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Religion Past and Present
Zedekiah
(433 words)
[German Version] (וּ)היָּקִדְצִ/
ṣidqiyyāh(
û), “Yah(weh) my righteousness,” name signifying trust both in the Old Testament (1 Kgs 22:11, 24; 2 Chr 18:10, 23; Jer 29:21f.; 36:12; Neh 10:2*) and outside it. The best-know Zedekiah is the last king of Judah (Judah/Judea). Since surviving extrabiblical sources do not mention him by name, everything we can say about him is dependent on the OT texts (2 Kgs 24:8–17, 18–20; 25:1f.; but cf. Jer 52:1–30; 2 Chr 36:10, 11–21). A ¶ biography of sorts can be constructed from 2 Kgs 24f. After the first capture of Jerusalem in 597 bce, Nebuchadnezzar had …
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Religion Past and Present
Zefad
(195 words)
[German Version] (Safed, Sefat; bibl. Heb. תפַצְ/
ṣepat), is a small town in the Upper Galilee in northern Israel which served as a center for Jewish mystics from the 16th century (Land of Israel). Many kabbalists (Kabbalah) assembled in this town, attracted by nearby Meron with the tomb of Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai, the 2nd-century sage to whom the Zohar is attributed. Several main figures lived in Zefad: Rabbi Joseph Karo, the author of
Shulhan Arukh, the major book of law in modern Judaism; Rabbi Moshe Alsheikh, the great sermonist; Rabbi Israel Nagara, the great litur…
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Religion Past and Present
Zeisberger, David
(160 words)
[German Version] (Apr 11, 1721, Zuchtenthal, Moravia – Nov 17, 1808, Goshen, OH), was born to a family of the Unitas Fratrum (Unity of the Brethren). They sought religious refuge in N.L. v. Zinzendorf. After completing his education Zeisberger joined a mission to organize a settlement in Georgia and, in 1740, he joined a body of Moravian colonists in Pennsylvania. From here he left in 1745 to begin service among the Native Americans, extending this by 1772 into Ohio. He identified with the languag…
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Religion Past and Present
Zeitz
(117 words)
[German Version] Zeitz, town in southeastern Saxony-Anhalt on the White Elster with a population of about 30,000. A bishopric suffragan to Magdeburg was established in 967/968; in 1030 it was transferred to Naumburg. Around 1230 the collegiate chapter waived its cathedral rights in favor of the Naumburg cathedral chapter, on which the collegiate provost of Zeitz held a seat. After 1285 Zeitz once more became the permanent residence of the bishops of Naumburg. In 1565 the elector of Saxony became a…
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Religion Past and Present
Zeller
(304 words)
[German Version]
1. Christian Heinrich (Mar 29, 1779, Hohenentringen, near Tübingen – May 28, 1860, Beuggen, near Basel) studied law in Tübingen from 1796 to 1800. From 1801 to 1819, he worked as a private tutor in Augsburg and Sankt Gallen; during this period, he came into contact with the revival movement (Revival/Revival movements). Influenced by the ideas of J.H. Pestalozzi, in 1820 he founded a training institute for charity school teachers in Beuggen Castle near Basel, along with a refuge for p…
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Religion Past and Present
Zeller, Eduard Gottlob
(303 words)
[German Version] (Jan 22, 1814, Kleinbottward [now part of Steinheim an der Murr] – Mar 19, 1908, Stuttgart) began studying philosophy in 1831 at Tübingen, then changed to theology and found in F.C. Baur a teacher who left a deep impression on him. He received his doctorate in 1836, was appointed lecturer in 1840, and in 1847 became an associate professor of theology at Bern. In 1849 he received a call to a full professorship at Marburg. The administration, however, forced him to move to the philosophical faculty. He taught in Heidelberg from 1862 to 1872 and in Berlin from 1872 to 1894. His
Philo…
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Religion Past and Present
Zell, Katharina and Matthäus
(290 words)
[German Version] (Katharina,
née Schütz: 1497/1498, Straßburg [Strasbourg] – Sep 5, 1562, Straßburg; Matthäus: 1477, Kaysersberg – Jan 9, 1548, Straßburg). Matthäus, from 1518 a priest in Straßburg, became the city’s first clergyman to preach the Reformation in 1521; in 1523 he published his
Christliche Verantwortung to justify his actions against ¶ accusations of heresy made by the bishop. He was an eloquent preacher, but as a theologian he stood in the shadow of M. Bucer, W. Capito, and K. Hedio. Late in 1523, he married Katharina Schütz, the d…
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Religion Past and Present
Zen
(1,783 words)
[German Version]
I. China According to the established tradition Chan was brought to China (China, People’s Republic of) as a distinct school of Buddhism by the Indian monk Bodhidharma around the turn of the 6th century ce. However, Chan is a purely Chinese invention that has its roots in the Buddhist
dhyana (Chinese:
Chan) tradition as it developed from the middle of the Nanbeichao period (386–581). As such its practices build on prolonged meditation including a range of methods. All practices lead to
samādhi, or deep self-absorption, a necessary prerequisite for enlightenmen…
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Religion Past and Present
Zenkovsky, Vasily Vasilyevich
(181 words)
[German Version] (Jul 4/17, 1881, Proskurov [today Khmelnytskyi], Ukraine – Aug 5, 1962, Paris), Orthodox philosopher, theologian, psychologist, and journalist. Appointed professor of psychology at the University of Kiev, upon emigrating in 1920 he became professor of philosophy in Belgrade; after 1926 he taught at the Russian Orthodox Institut St. Serge in Paris. His history of Russian philosophy is still the richest and most subtle study of Russian philosophy from the 18th century to 1950, espec…
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Religion Past and Present
Zenobia
(284 words)
[German Version] Zenobia, more fully Septimia Zenobia Bat-Zabbai, regent of the Palmyrene sub-empire (Palmyra) from 267/268 to 272 ce, second wife of Odaenathus, exarch of Palmyra, appointed by Rome as
corrector totius Orientis to secure the eastern border of the Empire against Arab nomads and the Sassanids. After he was assassinated, Zenobia took over the regency for her son Vaballathus Athenodorus, then barely ten, who usurped the special personal military and civil powers of his father. Syria, Mesopotamia, and eastern Anatolia constituted the core of her empire. As
clarissima re…
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Religion Past and Present
Zeno of Verona (Saint)
(151 words)
[German Version] (4th cent. ce). The earliest mention of the patron saint of Verona (church of San Zeno Maggiore), according to local tradition its eighth bishop, is in a letter of uncertain date from Ambrose, bishop of Milan, to Zeno’s successor Syagrius (
Ep. 56[=5].1). There are no further references to his life. His polemic against Arianism (Arius) and paganism suggest a floruit in the second half of the 4th century. An African background deduced from his language and veneration of a Mauritanian saint is disputed. A collection of ser…
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Religion Past and Present
Zeon
(143 words)
[German Version] (Gk τὸ ζέον, “something hot, boiling”), hot water mixed with the consecrated wine immediately before communion in the Byzantine liturgy (VI), to warm it to the temperature of life-giving blood. The ceremony is one of the few that was never based on a practical need. First attested in Constantinople in 582, it was in use even earlier in the Syrian church. Nikolaos Kabasilas saw it as representing the descent of the Holy Spirit on the church. This interpretation (probably secondary) is based on the formula in the
textus receptus of the Divine Liturgy that is recited wh…
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Religion Past and Present
Zephaniah, Apocalypse of
(240 words)
[German Version] A prophecy or apocalypse of Zephaniah (Sophonias) is mentioned in ancient and medieval lists of the Old Testament Apocrypha. A Greek quotation is preserved in Clement of Alexandria’s
Stromata (V 11.77); a Coptic text is also preserved in two fragmentary 5th-century manuscripts, one Sahidic, the other Akhmimic. The extant manuscript evidence is insufficient to determine with certainty whether we are dealing with portions of a single work or several works composed under the same name (Diebner, 1158). The Akhmi…
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Religion Past and Present
Zephaniah/Book of Zephaniah
(793 words)
[German Version] The book of Zephaniah (היָנְפַצְ, “Yahweh has concealed” or “protected”), named after the prophet, is the ninth in the collection of the 12 prophets (Prophetic books). Its final redaction links it closely with the preceding writings of the prophets Nahum (Nahum/Book of Nahum) and Habakkuk (Habakkuk/Book of Habakkuk), with which it also shares central themes. In its final canonical form, the book of Zephaniah shows numerous later additions from the exilic and post-exilic period, the precise extent of which is however still discussed by scholars. ¶ The late title ide…
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Religion Past and Present
Zephyrin, Saint
(200 words)
[German Version] Zephyrin, Saint, bishop of Rome 198–217, 14th name in the earliest Roman episcopal list. The
Liber pontificalis states that he issued directives regarding the eucharistic liturgy and the ordination of clergy. Zephyrin is a controversial figure on account of his theology, which tended toward modalism. Hippolytus of Rome calls him a “simple man without education,” who (influenced by his colleague and successor Callistus I) stated his creed: “I know that there is one God, Jesus Christ; nor except him do I know any other that is begotten and amenable to suffering” (Hipp.
Hae…
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Religion Past and Present
Zepper, Wilhelm
(103 words)
[German Version] (Apr 2, 1550, Herborn – Aug 20, 1607, Herborn), Reformed theologian, pastor in Herborn, appointed court chaplain in Dillenburg in 1582 and professor in Herborn in 1599. Influenced theologically by C. Olevian, Zepper participated in the restructuring of the church and school system in Nassau. In his most important work,
De politia ecclesiastica (1595, 21607), he systematized Reformed ecclesiastical law by basing and elucidating the life of the church and its ministerial offices on biblical principles. Matthias Freudenberg Bibliography J.R. Weerda, “Wilhelm Ze…
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Religion Past and Present
Zerbolt, Gerhard
(196 words)
[German Version] (1367, Zutphen – 1398, Windesheim), writer associated with the devotio moderna. After preliminary studies (of which we know nothing more), between 1383 and 1385 Zerbolt attended the chapter school in Deventer, where he joined the first community of the Brothers of the Common Life. He defended a life of
devotio and the reading of (carefully selected) vernacular religious literature by the laity. ¶ His two major works – both dedicated to the spiritual life – enjoyed extraordinary prestige among the adherents of the
devotio moderna. Detlef Metz Bibliography Works includ…
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Religion Past and Present
Zerrenner, Heinrich Gottlieb
(175 words)
[German Version] (Mar 8, 1750, Wernigerode – Nov 10, 1811, Derenburg), Protestant theologian and educational writer. After attending the Latin school in Wernigerode and the Pedagogium in Klosterberge, Zerrenner studied theology in Halle from 1768 to 1771, where one of his teachers was J.S. Semler. In 1772 he took a teaching position in Klosterberge and in 1775 was appointed pastor in Beyendorf (near Magdeburg), where he began to “preach with his pen” (Jacobs). Publication of his
Volksbuch brought a call to Derenburg, where he was appointed royal superintendent and senio…
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Religion Past and Present
Zerubbabel, Apocalypse of
(172 words)
[German Version] The pseudepigraphic Hebrew
Apocalypse of Zerubbabel (Apocalypticism: III, 2), probably written in Palestine in the early 7th century ce, reflects the messianic hopes (Messiah: III, 1) of the Palestinian Jews, who – threatened by the anti-Jewish laws of the Byzantine rulers – set their hopes on a Persian conquest during the Persian-Byzantine wars between 604 and 630 ce. Embedded in a framework that recounts the revelation of messianic redemption by Metatron/Michael to Zerubbabel, the last ruler of the Davidic line and builder of the seco…
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Religion Past and Present
Zeus
(535 words)
[German Version] The fact that Zeus is addressed as “father of men and gods” (πατὴρ ἀνδρῶv τε ϑεῶv τε/
patḗr andrṓn te theṓn te: Homer
Iliad 1, 544; 4, 235 etc.) implies that he is creator and ruler, the central god of the Greek pantheon. This is however a mythological title, later filled also with theological content, that does not reflect the low place of this god in the cultus. His function is rather that of a distant god; other gods are closer to human beings. Like this formula, other mythical ideas about Zeus belon…
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Religion Past and Present
Zezschwitz, Carl Adolf Gerhard von
(309 words)
[German Version] (Jul 2, 1825, Bautzen – Jul 20,1886, Erlangen) grew up in a family with close links to Herrnhut piety. Important for Zezschwitz’s religious development was the late Saxon revival movement (Revival/Revival movements), and later Neo-Lutheranism. Zezschwitz studied theology (1846–1850) in Leipzig, where he became an enthusiastic student of A. v. Harleß. Beginning as an auxiliary pastor, he was appointed in 1856 as the second university preacher, and in 1857 as extraordinary professor…
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Religion Past and Present