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
Pacca, Bartolomeo
(270 words)
[German Version] (Dec 25, 1756, Benevento – Apr 19, 1844, Rome) came from a noble family and was doctor of canon and civil law. In 1785 he was consecrated titular bishop of Damietta, and in the same year, without the recognition of the archbishop of Cologne, took office in the city as papal nuncio. Against episcopalism (II; Ems, Congress of), he vigorously represented the papal position. As nuncio in Lisbon (1794/1795–1802) he fought with equal vigor (having been made a cardinal in 1801) against P…
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Religion Past and Present
Pachelbel, Johann
(204 words)
[German Version] (baptized Sep 1, 1653, Nuremberg – buried 3 Sep, 1706, Nuremberg), German organist (Organ) and composer, educated in his home town under Heinrich Schwemmer and Georg Kaspar Wecker. In 1673 Pachelbel became assistant organist at St. Stephen’s Church in Vienna, and may have studied under Johann Kaspar Kerl. In 1677 he became court organist in Eisenach, where he was the teacher of J.S. Bach’s brother, Johann Christoph. In 1678 he became organist of the Predigerkirche in Erfurt, in 16…
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Religion Past and Present
Pachomius Rhusanus
(209 words)
[German Version] (1508, Zakynthos – 1553, Zakynthos), theologian and popular educator under Turkish rule. Study in Venice was followed by periods as a monk in the Iviron monastery (Athos). Through his thorough knowledge of classical, biblical, and patristic literature he became a warning voice against dangerous teachings of his time. In his book
De divinarum Scripturarum utilitate (PG 98, 1333A–1360A), he recommends it as a medicine against religious and moral uncertainty, and against the collapse of language into what have become barbarian dialects.…
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Religion Past and Present
Pachomius, Saint
(369 words)
[German Version] (c. 292–346, Pabau), Egyptian saint and founder of cenobitic (Cenobites) monasticism. It is reported that he came from a non-Christian family close to the Thebaid. Shortly after his conversion ¶ at the age of 20 he embraced an ascetic life as a disciple of the anchorite Palamon. His vision of a more organized form of the ascetic life led him to form his own community in 323 in the deserted village of Tabennisi. The regulated communal life that he developed there proved very attractive. By the time of his death…
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Religion Past and Present
Pacianus
(211 words)
[German Version] (early 4th cent. – before 393), bishop of Barcelona. Nothing is known of his life apart from a few notes in Jerome (esp.
Vir. ill. 106). He was married, and had a son called Dexter. He was elected bishop between 343 and 373. Considered genuine are three letters to the Novatian Sympronianus (I 4 contains the saying
Christianus mihi nomen est, catholicus vero cognomen), following on from Tertullian and Cyprian of Carthage in attacking Novatianism, the
Paraenesis sive exhortatorius libellus ad paenitentiam, and the sermon
De baptismo. These writings are important evid…
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Religion Past and Present
Pacifism
(749 words)
[German Version] The human longing for peace is as old as conflict and war. In recent decades the qualitative difference of the Second World War with its destruction of the civilian population, sometimes deliberate, and the increased capacity for mass annihilation, especially by nuclear weapons (II), have given it new life. Pacifism (from Lat.
pax, “peace”) means a radically idealistic way of life that categorically rejects all use of force or violence on ethical or religious grounds and calls for unconditional readiness for peace. The concept of p…
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Religion Past and Present
Pack Affairs (Packsche Händel)
(268 words)
[German Version] In the spring of 1528, a political confrontation over religion seriously threatened the peace of the Empire. Otto v. Pack ¶ (c. 1484–1537), vice-chancellor in Dresden, reported to Landgrave Philip of Hesse concerning an alleged alliance of Catholic princes and bishops (Archduke Ferdinand, Duke George the Bearded of Saxony, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Mainz, Bamberg, Salzburg, Würzburg) formed in Breslau (today Wrocław) in May of 1527 with the goal of ousting Philip and Elector John the Constant and crushing…
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Religion Past and Present
Paderborn
(569 words)
[German Version]
Paderborn, city at the springs of the Pader River; archiepiscopal see since 1930. The population was 144,258 in December of 2006. Since 1994 (when the see of Hildesheim was transferred to Hamburg), the ecclesiastical province has comprised the dioceses of Erfurt, Fulda, and Magdeburg. The first documentary mention of Paderborn as an imperial stronghold (the
Kaiserpfalz) dates from 777, in the context of an imperial diet held by Charlemagne. Charlemagne’s meeting with Pope Leo III in Paderborn in 799 produced an agreement concerning im…
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Religion Past and Present
Padmasambhava
(267 words)
[German Version] The Indian master and sage Padmasambhava (Sanskrit: “Lotus Born”; in Tibet also: ¶ Guru Rinpoche, “Precious Guru”) is the most significant figure connected with the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet in the 8th century; he is even considered its originator there. Although his character as a historical figure is not clear, Tibetan historical works and hagiographies paint a picture of a Tantric master (Tantra) responsible for subjugating the omnipresent demons and spirits of Tibet. According to…
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Religion Past and Present
Padre Cícero
(248 words)
[German Version] (Romão Baptista; Mar 24, 1844, Crato – Jul 20, 1934, Juazeiro), Brazilian priest. After his parents’ early death, he was brought up in the dry
sertão of the province of Ceará by pious aunts, who sent him to the seminary in the provincial capital of Fortaleza. At the age of 26 he was ordained priest and installed as chaplain in his home region, in Juazeiro, where he was given seven slaves to serve him. In a dream Jesus sent him to the poor. He thereupon freed his slaves and administered the sacraments with…
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Religion Past and Present
Padroado-Propaganda Conflict
(452 words)
[German Version] Padroado (Patronage) and Jus Patronatus are terms used to refer to the agreements between the popes and the sovereigns of Spain and Portugal (papal bulls of Pope Martin V and Romanus Pontifex [1455] of Pope Nicholas V), regarding the right to occupy the lands they discovered in exchange for the duty and privileges of supporting and administering Catholic missions in America, Africa, and Asia. Portugal was granted the right of presenting candidates for episcopal and other offices a…
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Religion Past and Present
Páez, Pedro
(441 words)
[German Version] (Pais, Pero; 1564, Olmeda, Spain – May 20, 1622, Gorgora, Ethiopia), entered the Jesuit order in 1582, studied in Coimbra, and in 1587 was chosen for mission. He traveled through Goa (1588–1589) and Hormuz (1589), was imprisoned in Sana’a, and did missionary work in India (1596–1601). From 1603 he was a missionary in Ethiopia, and until 1619 superior of the Ethiopian mission. In 1618 he was the first European to explore the source of the Nile, and in 1622 he baptized the emperor S…
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Religion Past and Present
Pafnuty of Borovsk, Saint
(182 words)
[German Version] (1394 Kudinovo – May 1, 1477, Borovsk). In 1414 Pafnuty entered the Vysotsky Monastery in Borovsk, founded in 1374 by a disciple of Sergius of Radonezh. In 1434 he was named hegumen of the monastery. In 1444 he resigned his office and founded a monastery outside of Borovsk dedicated to the nativity of the Theotokos. Because he supported Prince Dmitry Shemyaka (1420–1453) in the civil war that rocked Muscovy and quarreled with Jonas, the metropolitan of Moscow (died 1461), the Mosc…
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Religion Past and Present
Pagandom
(562 words)
[German Version] As a term in the systematic study of religion,
pagandom (like Ger.
Heidentum) is inappropriate, since it inherently conveys connotations of religious “otherness” and the truth of Christian theology. As a descriptive historical term, it is useful for religions of antiquity other than Judaism and Christianity when discussing their conflicts with Christianity; this is also the context in which the term originated. Initially the Latin equivalent
pagani served as a (pejorative) term describing the rural population (only recently converted to Christia…
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Religion Past and Present
Paganism
(2,417 words)
[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. History – III. Missiology
I. Religious Studies Paganism (from Lat.
paganus “pagan, rustic, civilian”; Pagandom) is the modern scientific term for the deliberate resumption (“reception”) or revival (“revitalization,” “reconstruction”) of ancient or recent ethnic religious traditions or elements of them (Cults; myths, symbols) outside Christianity and biblical Judaism. Although the religious occupation of an outgroup is structurally conceivable in other exclusive religious ¶ communities, such as Judaism or Islam, paganism …
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Religion Past and Present
Pagninus, Santes
(110 words)
[German Version] (Santi Pagnini; Oct 18, 1470, Lucca – Aug 24, 1541, Lyon), Dominican friar who taught oriental languages in Rome; he was in Avignon from 1521 to 1524, and then in Lyon. He translated the Bible from the original languages into Latin (Lyon, 1527), with a strictly literal rendering of the Old Testament. He also wrote a Hebrew dictionary (Lyon, 1529) as well as extensive works on the OT. He followed ¶ Augustine in his emphasis on the mystical sense of Scripture. Siegfried Raeder Bibliography T.M. Centi, “L’attività letteraria di Santi Pagnini nel campo delle scienze bibliche,”
A…
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Religion Past and Present
Pagoda
(193 words)
[German Version] The Portuguese word “pagoda” was probably borrowed from Singhalese
dāgēba by way of a syllabic metathesis (corresponding to Sanskrit
dhātugarbha, “seed of the relic,” relic chamber; cf. Sanskrit
stūpa , Pāli
thūpa) and applied to the Buddhist places of worship in East and Southeast Asia (as in the case of Sanskrit
matrin, “minister”: mandarin). The East Asian languages, on the other hand, do not employ “pagoda” but terms that correspond to
stūpa, as for instance Chinese
ta. From the perspective of art history, the pagoda developed from the basic tumulus…
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Religion Past and Present
Pain
(743 words)
[German Version] Within the semantic field of the different modes of experiencing harm or ill-being, pain refers first of all to the sensation felt by the injured, sick, or unsound body (Suffering, Sickness and healing), but then also, and especially in poetic language, to the experiencing of separation, mourning and grief, and compassion (
Welt-Schmerz [v. Hartmann]). I. The history of pain research since J. Müller (
Handbuch der Physiologie des Menschen, vol. II, 1840; cf. N. Grahek, “Schmerz III. Naturwissenschaft und Medizin,”
HWP VIII, 1323–1330) has shown that pain repre…
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Religion Past and Present
Paine, Thomas
(216 words)
[German Version] ( Jan 29, 1737, Norfolk, England – Jun 8, 1809, NY), deist (Deism) and political agitator. His parents were Quakers. In 1774 he sailed for the American colonies, leaving behind him an unhappy marriage, unpaid debts, and a dubious reputation. In the New World his luck changed dramatically: his pamphlet
Common Sense (1776), the first public cry for American independence, was an instant success. He continued his work as a political polemicist with the
Crisis papers, written during the War of Independence, and
The Rights of Man (1792), an uncompromising defense of the…
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Religion Past and Present