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
Noachic Laws
(378 words)
[German Version] In Jewish theology, the seven Noachid (Noahide) laws (Heb.
sheva mizwot bene Noach) are the commandments (Mitzvot) binding on all humanking, including Gentiles – in contrast to the commandments and prohibitions of the Torah, revealed exclusively to the Jews. This idea goes back to the rabbinic interpretation of the revelations to Adam and Noah, the forefathers of all humankind (Gen 2:16; 9:1–7). In principle observing the Noahide laws enables Gentiles to live lives pleasing to God and incorp…
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Religion Past and Present
Noah
(530 words)
[German Version] is the central figure in the Old Testament story of the Flood (Gen 6–9), a classic example of Israel’s knowledge and borrowing of material from its ancient Near Eastern neighbors. The Mesopotamian flood narratives (the Sumerian flood story, the epics of Atrahasis and Gilgamesh) resemble the biblical account most closely. Gen 5:29 interprets the name
Noah as deriving from the verb נָחַם/
nāḥam and meaning “he will comfort us”; it is more likely, as the Septuagint reading of this passage suggests, that the name derives from נוּחַ/
nûaḥ and means “he will give us rest.…
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Religion Past and Present
Noailles, Louis-Antoine de
(195 words)
[German Version] (May 27, 1651, Castle Peynière near Aurillac – May 4, 1729, Paris), Dr.theol., Sorbonne (1676); archbishop of Paris (1681); cardinal (1700). Thanks to royal favor, Noailles’s ecclesiastical career rose rapidly (1679, bishop of Cahors; 1681, of Chalons-sur-Marne), yet he proved remarkably ambivalent in the theological controversies of his time (Quietism, Jansenism). He agreed to the destruction of the (former) Jansenist center of Port-Royal Abbey (1711), but opposed the condemnatio…
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Religion Past and Present
Nobili, Roberto de
(575 words)
[German Version] (1577, Rome – Jan 16, 1656, Mylapore, Madras) joined the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1596. Inspired by M. Ricci, he wanted to go to Japan, but was sent to India and landed in Goa in 1605 and reached Madurai in South India in 1606. The fisherfolk along the East and West coast whom the Portuguese had converted were made to become “Portuguese” by changing their names, their manner of dressing and eating, and their cultic observances. In turn, they were considered “foreign” and poll…
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Religion Past and Present
Nobility
(509 words)
[German Version] A class of nobility emerged in a wide range of premodern cultures. Its primary characteristic is that its members were privileged to exercise power and were available to rule because they were supported materially by subjects or inferiors. As a rule, societies appeared on the stage of history already stratified. Earlier conditions are therefore inaccessible to historical analysis. But social exclusivity can develop only on the condition that the rural or urban economy provides suf…
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Religion Past and Present
Nóbrega, Manuel da
(196 words)
[German Version] (Oct 18, 1517, Portugal – Oct 18, 1570, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Nóbrega studied in Salamanca and Coimbra, and in 1544 entered the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). In 1549 he went to Brazil, as leader of the first Jesuit mission sent to the Portuguese colony. In 1553 he was appointed provincial of the first province of the Society of Jesus to be founded in America. He set up colleges in Bahia and São Paulo, supported the governors of Brazil, and helped to expel the French from Rio de J…
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Religion Past and Present
Nock, Arthur Darby
(200 words)
[German Version] (Feb 21, 1902, Portsmouth, England – Jan 11, 1963, Cambridge, MA, USA), classical philologist and historian of religion. After studies at Trinity College, Cambridge, he taught at Harvard University from 1930 until his death. His early work on Sallust,
On the Gods and the Universe (1926), aroused ¶ his interest in the history of religions, as became evident later in his contributions to the history of Roman religion in the
Cambridge Ancient History and his
Conversion (1933) and
St. Paul (1936). As a historian, he devoted his attention to inscriptions, papyri,…
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Religion Past and Present
Nodermann, Preben
(112 words)
[German Version] (Jan 11, 1867, Hjørring, Denmark – Nov 14, 1930, Lund, Sweden), organist, choirmaster, musicologist, and composer of sacred and secular choral and instrumental music. Nodermann received his Ph.D. at Lund University in 1911 and was awarded the royal medal
Litteris et Artibus in 1923. Between 1903 and 1930 he was the organist and director of music for the cathedral of Lund. In 1911 he published
Ny Svensk Koralbok with F. Wulff. Nodermann authored essays on church music and composed several operas:
König Magnus (1898),
Rokoko (1923),
Gunnløgs Saga (1927), and a light opera
P…
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Religion Past and Present
Noetus of Smyrna
(152 words)
[German Version] Hippolytus, residing in Rome, knew the teaching of Noetus, who came from Smyrna (end of the 2nd cent.), but only through Noetus’s Roman students (
Haer. IX 7–10; X 26f.; derived from this: Epiph.
Haer. 57; Philastrius of Brescia,
Diversarum haereseon liber, 53; Theodoret,
Haereticarum fabularum compendium, III 3). Noetus is considered the founder of (modalist) Monarchianism, which for soteriological reasons maintained the identity of the Father and the Son, and sought to defend this with polished dialectical language. His condemnation by a synod, reported in
Contra…
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Religion Past and Present
Noguchi, Isamu
(186 words)
[German Version] (Nov 17, 1904, Los Angeles, CA – Dec 30, 1988, New York), sculptor and designer. Noguchi, son of the American author Leonie Gilmour and the Japanese lyric poet Yone(jirô) Noguchi, was born in the United States, and spent his childhood in Japan. After schooling and first successes as a sculptor in the USA, he studied in Paris under Constantin Brancusi, who influenced him in the direction of abstraction. In addition to his work as a sculptor he designed playgrounds, fountains, and s…
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Religion Past and Present
Noh Drama
(440 words)
[German Version] is the oldest surviving form of Japanese professional theater (Japanese theater); it is lyrical drama with instrumental accompaniment and dance. It arose in the 14th century under the patronage of the temple shrines, and reached its heyday as the court art of the warrior nobility (later ceremonial art of the shogunate). Kan’ami Kiyotsugu (1333–1384) and his son Zeami Motokiyo (1363–1443?) are considered to have perfected the art. Motokiyo was a playwright, actor, and author of the…
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Religion Past and Present
Nohl, Herman
(397 words)
[German Version] (Oct 7, 1879, Berlin – Sep 27, 1960, Göttingen). After school and university studies (history, philosophy, Ger. lit.) in Berlin, Nohl gained his doctorate under W. Dilthey (1904) on “Socrates and Ethics.” His
Habilitation in Jena on “The Worldviews of Painting” (1908) marked the beginning of his activity there as
Privatdozent (until 1919/1920), which was interrupted by his participation in World War I (1915–1918). In 1920 came his appointment to a chair at Göttingen University, where he remained until reaching emeritus status. Hi…
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Religion Past and Present
Nola
(612 words)
[German Version]
Nola, town (population 32,772 in 2010) and diocese (502,000 Catholics in 2005) in the Italian province of Naples. The site was first settled around the 7th century bce; at the end of the 4th century bce, it was conquered by Rome and developed into an important town. Augustus died in Nola in 14ce. Ausonius and Paul the Deacon were still speaking of its wealth in the 4th and 5th centuries. Only a few architectural remains from the early centuries have survived; since 1997 archaeologists have been excavating the amphitheater used from the 1st century bce to the 4th or 5th century ce…
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Religion Past and Present
Nolde, Emil
(437 words)
[German Version] (Emil Hansen; Aug 7, 1867, Nolde, Schleswig – Apr 13, 1956. Seebüll), German painter and graphic artist. After apprenticing in a furniture workshop in Flensburg and employment as an art teacher in Sankt Gallen, Nolde completed his professional training in Munich and Dachau (1899, with Adolf Hölzel) and at the Académie Julian in Paris (1899/1900), the scene of his conflict with French Impressionism and Postimpressionism. After 1905, Nolde spent his winters in Berlin and his summers…
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Religion Past and Present
Noli, Fan Stylian
(299 words)
[German Version] (Jan 6, 1882, Ibrik Tepe–Mar 13, 1965, Fort Lauderdale, FL). At an early age, Noli came into contact with the Albanian national movement in Turkey and Egypt. In 1906 he emigrated to the United States. Although he had no theological training, he was ordained in 1908 by a Russian bishop in Boston as an Orthodox priest for Albanian immigrants. In 1909 he was one of the founders of
Dielli (
The Sun), a newspaper of the Albanians in the USA, and in 1912 the pan-Albanian federation Vatra. In 1919 he became bishop of the newly founded Albanian Orthodox Chur…
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Religion Past and Present
Nomads
(476 words)
[German Version] Ideally, nomads are defined as living off the yield of their flocks and herds; they therefore move about as shepherds in response to climatic conditions, which dominate their animal husbandry, their livelihood, and their worldview. Pure nomadism is (or was) found primarily in three geographical regions.
1. The (semi)nomadic peoples of northern Eurasia (Finno-Ugrian religions) adapt to clear seasonal changes, with transhumance in the spring and fall. The basis of their livelihood is raising reindeer (Saami, Samoyeds, Evenk) or …
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Religion Past and Present
Nominalism
(1,624 words)
[German Version]
I. Concept The term “nominalism” is primarily related to a discussion that belongs specifically to the medieval period in philosophy. In contrast with realism, the nominalist position is that what gives meaning to a concept does not consist in a “real” being antecedent to thought, but is a product of perception, and thus a “name.” The source and starting-point of this difference between nominalism and realism, which determined the universals controversy in the Middle Ages, was Boeth…
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Religion Past and Present
Nommensen, Ludwig Ingwer
(299 words)
[German Version] (Feb 6, 1834, island of Nordstrand – May 23, 1918, Sigumpar, North Sumatra), missionary who pioneered the development of the Batak churches, still honored in Indonesia today as its “apostle” and
ompu (Batak: “grandfather” or “ancestor”). He began his missionary work in 1863 in Tapanuli (North Sumatra); despite initially massive resistance, within ten years he had baptized some 1,200 individuals. At his death, the church had some 180,000 members. This unparalleled growth went hand in hand with increasing opennes…
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Religion Past and Present
Nomocanon
(392 words)
[German Version] is the name given since the 11th century to the systematized collection of synodal and patristic canons (Canons/Canon collections) with imperial church law of the Roman Empire (from Gk
nómoi, “laws”) that arose from the 6th century on. From Constantine onward, Christian emperors issued state laws on church matters. They manifested the synthesis of imperium and church that then became current, reaching its peak with Justinian I. In the
Codex Iustinianus the first 13 sections of Book I are ¶ devoted to church law; in his
Novels he continued to enact church legislatio…
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Religion Past and Present
Nomos (Lex)
(618 words)
[German Version] The Greek noun νόμος/
nómos, derived from the verb νέμειν/
némein, “to pasture, allot”; probably originally an oxytone meaning “pasture” [Hom.
Il. 6.511]) denotes the norms prevailing within a group of living beings. Depending on its setting and claims,
nomos can mean custom, order, convention, or law (Law and legislation). The sense of a habitat is particularly evident in the plural (“conventions, customs” [Hes.
Theog. 66]). According to Hesiod (
Theog. 902),
nomos, the way of life given by Zeus, takes concrete form among humans as justice (δίκη/
díkē;
Works and Days 2…
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Religion Past and Present