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
Apache
(428 words)
[German Version] Athapaskan-speaking peoples came from northeastern Asia to North America, perhaps as early as 10,000 years ago. Some of their descendants, the Apache and Navajo, migrated south between 1100 and 1500 ce and occupied territory in the American southwest. There are six Apache tribes: the Jicarilla, Lipan, Kiowa Apache, the Mescalero, Chiricahua, and the Western Apache. Religion, like all aspects of their social life, is …
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Religion Past and Present
Apáczai Csere, János
(175 words)
[German Version] (1625, Apáca – 1659, Klausenburg), Hungarian reformed teacher and scholar. After university studies in the Netherlands, Apáczai became professor in 1653 at the college of Gyulafehérvár (Alba Julia), where his inaugural lecture harshly criticizing the educational situation in Transylvania caused strong displeasure, also on the part of the prince. Because of alleged insubordination, Apáczai was transferred to the reformed Latin school in Klausenburg, where he died prematurely. His culturo-political programmatic writings (e.g.
De summa scholarum necessit…
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Religion Past and Present
Aparecida
(132 words)
[German Version] is the most important site for pilgrimages to Mary in Brazil (with approx. 6 million pilgrims annually) on the Paraíba River in São Paulo. In 1717, fishermen drew a clay figurine, “Our Lady of the Conception,” from the water. Venerated by the people, the church recognized it in 1743. Emperor Don Pedro I placed independent Brazil under her prot…
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Religion Past and Present
Apartheid
(1,107 words)
[German Version] I. Definition – II. History – III. Theology of Apartheid
I. Definition “Apartheid” (Afrikaans for “apartness,” “separateness”) refers to the official political system in South Africa between 1948 and 1994. Called “separate development” since the 1960s, it sanctioned a strict racial segregation (Racism) and the political and economic discrimination against all people legally classified as “non-white.”
II. History The history of racial conflict, segregation, and discrimination reaches back to the beginning of co…
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Religion Past and Present
Apathy
(488 words)
[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Dogma
I. Philosophy ἀπάθεια/
apatheia, “freedom from affects,” is a central concept in Stoic ethics. As did the competing Epicureans (Epicureanism) and Pyrrhoneans (Skepticism), the Stoics saw happiness, regarded as the
telos (goal), in inner peace, in the calm and balance of the soul. In their view, the affect, an “overdeveloped urge,” escaped from the control of reason, threatened these qualities (SVF 3,378). I…
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Religion Past and Present
Apelles
(129 words)
[German Version] (died after 180), the most important disciple of Marcion, was a Christian teacher in Alexandria and Rome. He moderated his master's dualism: below the highest, good God there are two angelic deities, namely the creator of the world and the “fiery” God of the OT. Christ forms his body from the matter of the heavenly bodies. Apelles applied rationalist criticism to the OT. His norms were Marcion's “NT” canon (and a gospel of his own?), as well as the
Revelations (
phaneroseis) of the prophetess Philumene. The latter are no longer extant, nor are his
Syllogisms. Gerhard May Bibli…
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Religion Past and Present
Aphek
(192 words)
[German Version] (Sharon). Aphek, in the plain of Sharon (Heb. אֲפֵק, Akkad. uruAp-qu, Aram. ʾpq, Gk ᾽Αφεκ [also Aphekos, Pēgai, Antipatris], Arab. Rās al-ʿAyn, crusader Mirabel), is situated 12 km east of Tel Aviv, near the source of the river Jarkon, to which Aphek owes its name, “Source”. It is located on one of the main highways of Canaan and appears already in Egyptian execration texts (19th cent. bce) and in topographical lists. In the MBA and LBA periods it was a city-state but in the 13th century pr…
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Religion Past and Present
Aphrodisias
(158 words)
[German Version] is a Greek town in Caria (Asia Minor), approx. 90 km east of Miletus. From time immemorial it was a shrine of the mother goddess of Asia Minor. The town flourished during the Imperial era and developed into one of the most important cultural centers of Anatolia. There is no evidence of Christianity in Aphrodisias prior to the 4th century but t…
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Religion Past and Present
Aphrodite
(546 words)
[German Version] (᾽Αφρδίτη; Lat. Venus). Most of the Greek cities dedicated shrines to the Greek goddess Aphrodite; she is rarely found as the city deity, as in Aphrodisias in Asia Minor; Corinth is considered her city. Within the internal social structure of the polis Aphrodite was chosen as goddess in the following contexts: 1. By young women on the day befo…
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Religion Past and Present
Aphthartodocetism,
(231 words)
[German Version] from Gk ἀ (negation), φθείρω/
ptheirō, "perish, decay" and δοκέω/
dokeō, "appear." From c. 518 onwards, the Aphthartodocetae (Lat. incorrupticolae) differed from the Monophysites in asserting that Christ's body was eternally incorruptible. Until the end of the 6th century, their sphere of influence embraced Syria and Egypt, as well as Armenia until the …
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Religion Past and Present
Apocalypse
(2,076 words)
[German Version] I. Form and Genre – II. Literature (in Antiquity)
I. Form and Genre
1. Genre. Apocalypse as a literary genre represents a genre of revelatory literature found predominantly in early Jewish and early Christian literature, although it is also attested in Middle Persian, Greco-Roman, and Gnostic literature. Apocalypses can appear as independent texts or compilations as par…
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Religion Past and Present
Apocalypse of Adam (NHC V, 5; Apoc. Adam)
(21 words)
[German Version] Adam, Books of, Sethianism
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Religion Past and Present
Apocalypse of Elijah
(349 words)
[German Version] There have been several texts bearing the name “Apocalypse of Elijah”.
1. Completely preserved and existing in both Coptic dialects is the “Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah,” dated 1st–4th century ce, with a Jewish original. The only definitely Christian part of this text is the sign of the cross in 32:1, accompanying the coming of the messiah. Central to the representation of the end times is the battle …
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Religion Past and Present
Apocalypse of James (First)
(192 words)
[German Version] (NHC V,3; 1
Apoc. Jas.) is a Gnostic Christian – more specifically Valentinian (Valentinianism) – revelation dialogue between Jesus and James, the brother of the Lord, supposedly recorded by the apostle Addai/Thaddaeus. It is extant only in a Coptic (Sahidic) translation. A second Coptic version in a 4th-century papyrus codex is …
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Religion Past and Present
Apocalypse of James (Second)
(199 words)
[German Version] (NHC V,4;
2 Apoc. Jas.) presents itself as an account by a priest to James's father, describing a temple sermon delivered by James in which, using Jesus' sayings, he speaks of Jesus from the Gnostic (Gnosis/Gnosticism) perspective and in particular describes his own Easter vision along with the revelation that has been imparted to him. There follo…
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Religion Past and Present
Apocalypse of Paul
(185 words)
[German Version] (
Apoc. Paul [Greek]). Although originally in Greek, the
Apoc. Paul is best transmitted in its Latin version. A few manuscripts contain a preface dated to 388 ce, apparently the year the text originated. Augustine's
Tractate on the Gospel of John (
Tract. Ev. Jo. XCVIII 8) and the church histories of Sozomen (VII 19) and of Bar Hebraeus (1226–1286:
Nomokanon VII 8) cite
Apoc. Paul (Greek). The Decretum Gelasianum and the catalogue of the 60 canonical works (c. 650 ce [
NTApo, I], Canonical lists) reject it. The text renders the content of Egyptian apocrypha, especially
T.Ab.,…
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Religion Past and Present
Apocalypse of Paul (NHC V,2; Apoc. Paul)
(13 words)
[German Version] Apocrypha/Pseudepigrapha: IV
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Religion Past and Present
Apocalypse of Peter
(279 words)
[German Version] (Greek;
Apoc. Pet. [Greek]). The
Apoc. Pet. (Greek) is an early Christian apocalypse in which Jesus, after his resurrection, reveals the eschatological future to his disciples. Themes include the Antichrist, the resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment, the punishment of the ungodly in hell and the rewarding of the righteous in paradise. The work ends with an account of …
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Religion Past and Present
Apocalypse of Peter (NHC VII,3; Apoc. Pet.)
(14 words)
[German Version] Docetism, Apocrypha/Pseudepigrapha: IV
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Religion Past and Present
Apocalypse of Ps.-Methodius,
(187 words)
[German Version] composed c. 691 in northern Mesopotamia (Syria), recounts the history of the world from Adam to the Islamic conquests in the author's own day, which signal the beginning of the eschaton. The text focuses on the last Roman emperor, the Antichrist, and victory over the Antichrist with the ascendancy of cross and crown. The
Apocalypse is ascribed to Bishop Methodius of Olympus. It draws on Syriac sources such as the
Treasure Cave, the
Julian Romance, and the
History of Alexander. At a very early date, it was translated into Greek and…
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Religion Past and Present
Apocalypticism
(4,831 words)
[German Version] I. Definition of the Term as a Problem for the History of Religions – II. Old Testament – III. Jewish Apocalypticism – IV. New Testament – V. Church History – VI. Dogmatics – VII. Islam – VIII. Art History
I. Definition of the Term as a Problem for the History of Religions As a phenomenon in the history of religions, apocalypticism represents
a form of revealed communication distinct from other types such as prophecy (Prophets and prophecy: I), oracle, mantic…
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Religion Past and Present
Apocatastasis
(487 words)
[German Version] (Gk ἀποκατάστασις πάντων) or the redemption/restoration of all is the eschatological notion that all human beings (things, creatures) without exception will be received into eschatological salvation (the kingdom of God). One the one hand, apocatastasis conflicts with the more common eschatological notion of a “double outcome,” which envisions an…
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Religion Past and Present
Apocryphal Acts
(893 words)
[German Version] I. Form and Genre – II. Literature
I. Form and Genre In terms of form the Apocryphal Acts (AA) resemble the canonical Gospels, especially John, rather than the Acts of the Apostles. Like Jesus in the Gospels, the respective apostle introduces himself as a mediator of divine revelation. At the end of his ministry, like Jesus, he endures martyrdom (crucifixion for Andrew, Peter and P…
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Religion Past and Present
Apocrypha/Pseudepigrapha
(2,145 words)
[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament– IV. New Testament Apocrypha from Nag Hammadi
I. Terminology Etymologically, “apocryphal” means “hidden, secret,” while “pseudepigraphal” indicates that a document has been falsely attributed to an author. In the modern period, the usage of both terms has been burdened by confessional preconceptions, since the extent of the canon (Bib…
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Religion Past and Present
Apocryphon of James
(176 words)
[German Version] (NHC I,2;
Ap.Jas.),
Epistula Jacobi Apocrypha, attested only in Coptic translation, is an untitled Gnostic writing, attributable with certainty to no known movement, but belonging to the dialogue gospels or conversations of the Risen Jesus, ostensibly a letter (sender recontructable as James [p. 1.1], addressee as [Kerin]thos? [p. 1.2.]).
Ap.Jas. understands itself as secret doctrine (p. 1.10). The time of composition of the Greek original is difficult to determine: early 2…
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Religion Past and Present
Apocryphon of John
(445 words)
[German Version] A Greek Gnostic apocalyptic writing, extant in two independent Coptic translations of a shorter Greek original of the
Apocryphon of John in NHC III and BG 8502, as well as two additional copies, with slight variations in their dialect, of the Coptic translation of a longer Greek original in NHC II and IV. The long version is likely a revision of the short version. Around 180 Irenaeus (
Haer. I 29) summarized a work with significant similarities to one half of the
Apocryphon of John (NHC II 4,34–14,13). He probably remembered a source of the
Apocryphon of John without the …
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Religion Past and Present
Apollinarian Controversies
(12 words)
[German Version] Apollinarius of Laodicea and Apollinarianism
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Religion Past and Present
Apollinaris of Ravenna (Saint)
(161 words)
[German Version] (feast day Jul 23). According to Peter Chrysologus (
Sermo 128), Apollinaris was the first bishop of Ravenna and a martyr; his translation inscription (CIL 11/1, 295) calls him confessor. In the Ravenna episcopal list, Severus, the first bishop for whom there is clear evidence (343 in Serdica), appears in eleventh place after Apollinaris. As an expression of the exarchate's desir…
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Religion Past and Present
Apollinarius of Hierapolis, Claudius,
(669 words)
[German Version] bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia (c. 175). Claudius Apollinarius or Apollinaris (Latin form; the preferred Greek form is “Apolinarios”; cf. Zahn) was a bishop in Phrygia during the reign of the emperor Marcus Aurelius (161–180, sole reign 169–176; cf. Eusebius
Hist. eccl. IV 21 with IV 19; IV 26.1;
idem, Chron. ad ann. Abr. 2187;
idem, Chron. paschale ad Olymp. ann. 237, 1 = ann. Christ. 167; Photius
Bibl., cod. 14). According to Theodoret, he was versed in scripture and also familiar with pagan learning (
Haer. fab. III, 2). Photius praises his literary style (
loc. cit.). No…
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Religion Past and Present
Apollinarius of Laodicea/Apollinarianism
(551 words)
[German Version] Apollinarius (or Apollinaris) was the son of a grammar teacher and presbyter of the same name in Syrian Laodicea and became a lector there before 335. He served from 360/361 as bishop in his home town, taught, and worked above all in Antioch. There he was initially regarded as a recognized teacher; shortly after the Synod of Seleucia (c. 360), an irritated Basil the Great requested from Apollinarius a written explanation of the Nicean ὁμοούσιος (
homooúsios; Nicea). Apollinarius also treated this the…
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Religion Past and Present
Apollo
(561 words)
[German Version] (᾽Απόλλων/Apollōn; Dorian Apellon). The Greek god Apollo was worshiped in all the cities of Greece, but was recognized as the city deity above all by Argos, Sparta, and Miletus (together with its colonies). Panhellenic sanctuaries of Apollo, visited by pilgrims from afar, included Delphi with its oracle and Delos. Social analysis indicates that Apollo was apt to be …
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Religion Past and Present
Apollonian and Dionysian
(131 words)
[German Version] are terms first attested in F.W.J.Schelling (
Philosophy of Revelation, posthum. 1858) for the nature of the Greek gods Apollo and Dionysus. The comparison of the two gods and the arts ascribed to them plays a role already in Plato (
Polit. 398c–400c;
Nomoi 652a–674c) and is taken up in a manner suited to modern times in F. Nietzsche. According to the explanations in his book on the
Geburt der Tragödie (1872; ET:
The Birth of Tragedy, 1927), apollonian stands for the limiting, individuating principle of graphic art, while diony…
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Religion Past and Present
Apollonia of Alexandria, Saint
(123 words)
[German Version] (feast day Feb 9). A letter of Dionysius of Alexandria concerning Alexandrian martyrs (Eusebius
Hist. eccl. VI 41.7) describes Apollonia as “an elderly woman of high standing who had remained a virgin”; during the uprising against Christians in 248, after abuse that broke off her teeth, she voluntarily leapt into the fire. Later legend speaks of a Roman princess under Julian or a siste…
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Religion Past and Present
Apollonius of Tyana
(395 words)
[German Version] According to Philostratus, Apollonius was born at Tyana in Cappadocia about the beginning of the Christian era and lived until the reign of Nerva (96–98 ce). He had a miraculous conception and birth. After finishing his studies, he became an ascetic philosopher in the tradition of Pythagoras. He foretold the future and performed other miraculous deeds. He traveled to Mesopotamia, Persia, India, …
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Religion Past and Present
Apollonius, Roman martyr
(130 words)
[German Version] (feast day Apr 18). At the end of Eusebius's brief account of the martyrdom of Apollonius, “a man who stood in high esteem among the faithful of that time on account of his culture and erudition” (
Hist. eccl. V 21.2–5), he refers to a text that he had “in his collection of the early acts of the martyrs.” These acts may be identical with the so-called
Acts of Apollonius, a largely apologetic work surviving in Greek and Armenian; its literary quality and fictional style led Jerome (
Vir. ill. 42) to identify Apollonius as a Roman senator. Wolfgang Wischmeyer Bibliography BHG, 149 BH…
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Religion Past and Present
Apollonius the Antimontanist,
(105 words)
[German Version] an early Anti-montanist from Asia Minor, composed c. 200 (?) a lost polemic against Montanism. It is said to have refuted the prophecies of the Montanists (Eusebius
Hist. eccl. V 18.1);
ibid. 2–11 preserves 6 fragments criticizing the teaching of Montanus and the lifestyle of well-known Montanists, especially their greed, extravagance, and arrogance. According to Jerome
Vir. ill. 40, Tertullian dedicated the 7th book of his lost
De ecstasi to refuting Apollonius. Georg Schöllgen Bibliography CPG 1, 1328 A. v. Harnack,
Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur I/1,…
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Religion Past and Present
Apollos
(147 words)
[German Version] (contracted from “Apollonios”), a Jew from Alexandria versed in the Scriptures and trained in rhetoric, appeared as a Christian apostle independent of Paul in Ephesus and Corinth (Acts 18:24–19:1; 1 Cor 1:12; 3:4ff.; 4:6; 16:12). The partisan dispute at Corinth (1 Cor 1:12) was probably triggered by his pneumatic wisdom preaching, which Paul attacks in 1 Cor …
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Religion Past and Present
Apologetics
(9,615 words)
[German Version] I. Concept – II. Judaism – III. New Testament – IV. Church History – V. Islam – VI. Fundamental Theology – VII. Practical Theology – VIII. Missiology
I. Concept The necessity – felt with varying intensity by different communities of faith – to lend credibility to one's own convictions, ways of behaving, etc. in the face of other, perhaps dominant worldviews, using appropriate means, is an essential element of the history of religion. When the term apologetics is used in this context there is a certain conformity in content w…
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Religion Past and Present
Apologie, literarisch
(1,079 words)
[German Version] I. Form and Genre – II. Writings
I. Form and Genre In his
Ecclesiastical History Eusebius of Caesarea singled out a group of early Christian writings by calling them “Apologies.” The common denominator of these writings by Quadratus, Aristides, Justin, Melito, Apollinarius of Hierapolis, Miltiades, and …
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Religion Past and Present
Apologists
(92 words)
[German Version] Some 2nd-century Christian writers were called “Apologists” and they were edited as a group for the first time by F. Morel (Paris 1615). This work comprised genuine, dubious, and spurious works by Justin and subsequent works by Athena, Theophilus of Antioch, Tatian, and Hermias. In J.C.T. v. Otto's still classic edition (1842ff.), fragments of Quadratus, Aristides, Aristo, Miltiades, Melito, and Apollinaris of Hierapolis were also included. This has since been the conventional definition. Oskar Skarsaune Bibliography O. Bardenhewer,
Geschichte der altkirchl…
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Religion Past and Present
Apology of Kindī
(251 words)
[German Version] Christian document with apologetic and polemic content composed in the 1st half of the 9th century in the Arabic language. The author, called al-Kindī in the text, was, in all likelihood, a Nestorian (Syria). In the original version, the text is accompanied by a letter that supposedly stemmed from a Muslim by the name of al-Hāšimī that recommended Islam, rejected Christian faith, and cited the
Apology of Kindī. An introduction described the theater of this exchange of ideas as the court of Caliph al-Maʾmūn …
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Religion Past and Present
Apophatic Theology
(770 words)
[German Version] In the “Mystical Theology” of Dionysius the Areopagite
apophasis or negation (Gk ἀπό + φάναι [
apó +
phánai]: lit. “speaking away”) is coordinated with
kataphasis or affirmation in setting out the twin methods of theology. Since God is the cause of all beings, we may ascribe to God “all the affirmations we make in regard to beings.” But “more appropriately, we should negate all these affirmation…
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Religion Past and Present
Apophthegmata Patrum
(292 words)
[German Version] , lit. “sayings” or “aphorisms of the Fathers,” derived from the verb ἀπό + φθέγγω (
apó +
phthéngō) “making a sound.” The collections of these sayings belong to a literary genre that grew out of the experiences of eremitic existence in the desert. They flourished first in the Greek and Latin-speaking areas of the 4th century and then in all languages of the Christian Orient as far as Sog…
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Religion Past and Present
Apophthegm/Chreia
(245 words)
[German Version] The chreia is a well-known
Gattung in Greek literature, rarer in Jewish literature, and is similar to many of the individual stories about Jesus (“pericopes”), which occur in the NT Gospels, especially the synoptic Gospels (e.g. Mark 2:15–17; 2:18–22; 10:13–16; 12:13–17). It is then a basic category for form-critical analysis (Biblical criticism; F…
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Religion Past and Present
Aporia
(361 words)
[German Version] (Gk ἀπορία), originally hopelessness, or in philosophy the embarrassing situation into which one can fall when the solution of a problem seems to be currently or ultimately impossible. The oldest aporias of philosophy go back to Zenon of Elea. From the assumption of the reality of movement, Zenon developed contradictory consequences. A flying arrow rests at every point along its path; in competition Achilles can never catch u…
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Religion Past and Present
Apostasy
(765 words)
[German Version] I. Concept – II. New Testament – III. Practical Theology
I. Concept The term “apostasy” – like faith a specific of the Judeo-Christian tradition – is rarely used today, although it has greater significance in Catholic sacramental practice and communion (Excommunication). Apostasy indicates the departure from the teaching and life of the faith community; heresy refers to the rejection of binding doctrine without renouncing the faith entirely. Idolatry, historically the veneration of other gods, can also refer to secular forms of
de facto adherence. While these t…
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Religion Past and Present
Apostate
(108 words)
[German Version] According to Catholic canon law, an apostate is one who totally renounces the Christian faith (
CIC c. 751), thereby committing the most serious ecclesiastical offense, punishable by automatic excommunication (c. 1364 §1); if the offense is notorious, the offender may be forbidden church burial (c. 1184 §1, n. 1). Even after returning to the faith, an apostate is considered irregular and is therefore impeded from blessings (c. 1041, n. 2). Apostasy from the Christian faith invariably means apostasy from the Catholic faith as well (cc. 194 §1, n. 2; 694 §1, n. 1). Georg May B…
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Religion Past and Present
Apostles
(1,420 words)
[German Version] I. New Testament – II. Representations of the Apostles
I. New Testament
1. The term. The verbal adjective ἀπόστολος/
apóstolos (from
apostéllein), as a term for being sent was also used in Greek substantivally, but was not a
terminus technicus. Outside political contexts, it occurs rarely in philosophical texts. The roots of the NT concept lie in the OT and Judaism, where the verb שׁלח/
šalaḥ plays an important role; the participle is rare, the noun is late and may not yet be presumed as a precursor to NT usage. The substantival use corresponds to Greek linguistic tradition.
2…
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Religion Past and Present
Apostles' Creed
(608 words)
[German Version] The received text (T, first attested by Pirmin,
Scarapsus §§10/12/28) of the creed known in the modern period as the
Symbolum apostolicum or
Symbolum Apostolorum goes back to the so-called Old Roman creed (R). The great majority of scholars accept the hypothesis of J. Ussher, archbishop of Armagh (1647), that R is first attested in Greek in Marcellus of Ancyra (Epiphanius,
Haer. 72.3.1 = BSGR §17) or in the Psalter of Aethelstan (§18); the Latin text can be reconstructed from Rufinus's
Explanatio symboli (§19). From 1910–1916 onward,…
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Religion Past and Present
Apostles, Feasts of the
(214 words)
[German Version] Initially liturgical commemoration of the apostles, like that of the martyrs, was only local. The earliest commemorations at Rome were on Jun 29 (Peter and Paul) and Feb 22 (death of Peter?). Because these feasts were biblical, the Lutheran churches continued to observe most of them; when one fell on a workday, it was often observed as a “semi-holiday.” The new Roman
Calendar of 1969 lists the following feasts of the apostles, which – with the exception of the Chair of Peter on Feb 22 –…
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Religion Past and Present