Encyclopedia of Christianity Online
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Subject: Religious Studies
Editors: Erwin Fahlbusch, Jan Milič Lochman, John Mbiti, Jaroslav Pelikan and Lukas Vischer
The Encyclopedia of Christianity Online describes modern-day Christian beliefs and communities in the context of 2000 years of apostolic tradition and Christian history. Based on the third, revised edition of the critically acclaimed German work Evangelisches Kirchenlexikon. The Encyclopedia of Christianity Online includes all 5 volumes of the print edition of 1999-2008 which has become a standard reference work for the study of Christianity past and present. Comprehensive, reflecting the highest standards in scholarship yet intended for a wide range of readers, the The Encyclopedia of Christianity Online also looks outward beyond Christianity, considering other world religions and philosophies as it paints the overall religious and socio-cultural picture in which the Christianity finds itself.
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The Encyclopedia of Christianity Online describes modern-day Christian beliefs and communities in the context of 2000 years of apostolic tradition and Christian history. Based on the third, revised edition of the critically acclaimed German work Evangelisches Kirchenlexikon. The Encyclopedia of Christianity Online includes all 5 volumes of the print edition of 1999-2008 which has become a standard reference work for the study of Christianity past and present. Comprehensive, reflecting the highest standards in scholarship yet intended for a wide range of readers, the The Encyclopedia of Christianity Online also looks outward beyond Christianity, considering other world religions and philosophies as it paints the overall religious and socio-cultural picture in which the Christianity finds itself.
Subscriptions: see brill.com
Apocalypticism
(5,663 words)
1. Scope 1.1.
Definition Apocalypticism, which was forged within the Judeo-Christian tradition, comprises a literary genre, a set of eschatological concepts, and a world-renouncing lifestyle. Apocalypticism differs from eschatology, millenarianism, and messianism. Eschatology reflects on the end of the old aeon, apocalypticism on the way to the new aeon. Millenarianism appeals to the vision of a millennium without work or government, apocalypticism to an otherworldly lifestyle. Messianism counts on …
Apocatastasis
(609 words)
The term “apocatastasis” (Greek for “restitution, recovery”; = Lat.
restitutio, the restoration of all things, universal reconciliation) was coined in ancient philosophy. It occurs in the NT only in Acts 3:21, and there not in a technical sense. Church tradition quickly adopted it to sum up the thrust of such NT passages as Col. 1:20; 1 Cor. 15:21–28; Rom. 5:18; 11:32, namely, that the saving will of God, eschatologically realized in Jesus Christ, will finally reach even the last of sinners. All will be reconciled; all will be saved. When developed …
Apocrypha
(3,670 words)
1. OT Apocrypha 1.1.
Concept In common parlance, the term “Apocrypha” is used for the books or parts of books that appear in the Alexandrian canon of the LXX translation but are not found in the Masoretic canon. On the basis of the former tradition the Roman Catholic Church recognized these books as canonical from the Third Council of Carthage (397) and today ranks them as deuterocanonical. The designation of these books as Apocrypha in the churches of the Reformation goes back to 1520 to Carlstadt (ca. 1480–1541). When M. Luther included the books (apart from 1 Esdras, 3 Macca…
Apologetics
(1,892 words)
1. Definition Apologetics, the teaching of defense (apology) or defensive scholarship, is the thoughtful interaction of Christian faith with contemporary teachings and ideologies that are opposed to the gospel. Since misuse has led to the discrediting of the term in Roman Catholic neoscholasticism and neo-Protestantism (Protestantism 1.3), other terms have replaced it, such as “missionary theology,” “eristics,” and “fundamental theology”. The last term is current especially in Roman Catholic theol…
Apologists
(812 words)
The early Christian writers who defended the Christian faith became known as apologists. The first apologies were legal defenses directed to the Roman emperors in the second century. Many of the names of the authors are known, and we have full copies of the apology addressed by Aristides to Hadrian (117–38) and of that of Justin Martyr to Antoninus Pius (138–61). The plea of Athenagoras to Marcus Aurelius (161–80) is similar. The literary form, which was influenced by the current persecutions, reached its height in the North African Tertullian (ca. 160-ca. 225). It then faded out, …
Apophatic Theology
(1,133 words)
1. Basis A theology is “apophatic” if it recognizes that a knowledge of the truth rightfully goes beyond a given linguistic formulation or a detailed conceptual account. Even atheists may know that the God of the church is a triune God (Trinity), and they may have studied the appropriate chapter in Christian dogmatics. But such knowledge itself does not mean that they know the triune God of the church in person.
1.1. Apophatic theology does not equate knowledge with individual experience, with subjective apprehension, or with individual mystical discovery; rather, k…
Aporia
(193 words)
Gk.
aporia literally denotes the absence of a way. In a figurative sense it stands for a difficulty, principally one in philosophy. An aporia arises when in a philosophical argument a material or conceptual contradiction appears. According to Plato (427–347 b.c.), the fundamental aporia of human knowledge is that we cannot possibly engage in the search for truth (
Meno 80D-81E), for either we know the truth and do not need to seek it, or we do not know it and do not know where or how to seek it (Platonism). For many thinkers (e.g., S. Kierkegaard and M. Polanyi), this Platonic aporia h…
Apostasy
(193 words)
The early church distinguished between apostates and the weak who gave way under pressure. Until the Decian persecution (250/51), apostasy, like murder and adultery, ranked as an unforgivable sin. Then (against Novatian protests) penances were introduced (Penitence), and in later canon law distinctions were made. In contrast to heresy, apostasy was defined as a voluntary lapse from the Christian faith (1917 CIC 1325.2) or the Catholic faith (can. 646), or as a willful renunciation of orders or ordination vows (1983 CIC 751, 1364). Excommunication followed automatically. Whereas…
Apostle, Apostolate
(1,320 words)
In the NT the term “apostle” denotes someone who is sent. “Apostolate” designates the task and authority of an apostle.
1. History of the Term “Apostle” In pre-Christian Greek the word
apostolos relates to the act of sending or to an object that is sent. The idea of a person who is sent is rare in classical Greek; in the papyri it occurs later. There the emphasis on someone who is commissioned suggests a link with the ancient Near Eastern office of the emissary, in which the envoy authoritatively represents the one who commissioned him. This thought stands behind the only use in the LXX (3 Kgdms. …
Apostles’ Creed
(898 words)
1. History and Setting The Apostles’ Creed, an early confession (Confession of Faith), was first referred to as the
Symbolum apostolorum in a letter from the Council of Milan (390) to Pope Syricius (384–99). According to an ancient tradition, its text arose from an attempt by the apostles to formulate a common rule of faith, with each apostle contributing a statement. This story, told by T. Rufinus (ca. 345–411), is merely a legend, but it does illustrate the high esteem in which the text was held. The setting of the Apostles’ Creed was early Christian baptism. Statements of fai…
Apostolic Churches
(1,043 words)
The phrase “apostolic churches” designates several different churches that have reintroduced the office of apostle: the Catholic Apostolic Church, the New Apostolic Church, and various other churches and groups. The several bodies differ in significant ways.
1. Catholic Apostolic Church Around 1830 there was an outbreak of charismatic gifts (tongues, prophecy, and healing; Charisma; Charismatic Movement) in certain revivalist Bible circles in England and Scotland. The central figure in this movement was the Scottish minister Edward Ir…
Apostolic Fathers
(1,553 words)
1. The Phrase The phrase “Apostolic Fathers” goes back to a 1672 Paris edition prepared by J.-B. Cotelier entitled
Ss. Patrum qui temporibus apostolicis floruerunt … opera. This work contained
Barnabas, 1 and 2 Clement, the epistles of Ignatius and Polycarp,
Martyrdom of Polycarp, and Hermas. Although the historicity is debatable, the phrase has secured a place in historical study. It now applies also to
Didache, the
Epistle to Diognetus, the
Quadratus Fragment, and the fragments of Papias.
2. The Writings 2.1.
Didache The work called The Didache, or The Teaching of the Twelve…
Arameans
(742 words)
The Arameans (Heb. and Aram. ’
ărām, ’
ărammî, ’
rm; Akkad.
aramu,
arimu, etc.) left an important legacy in the Near East until well into the Christian era, namely, the Aramaic language, which belongs to the West Semitic group and is closely related to Hebrew. The OT contains several passages in Aramaic (Gen. 31:47; Ezra 4:8–6:18; 7:12–26; Jer. 10:11; Dan. 2:4b–7:28); the Hebrew text itself also contains various Aramaisms. Widespread from around the eighth century b.c., Aramaic became an official language in the Persian Empire and, with its many d…
Archaeology
(1,756 words)
1. Biblical Archaeology 1.1.
Task The task of biblical archaeology is to investigate the history of settlement and culture of Palestine. This task demands the reconstruction of the history of settlement and the recovery of artifacts by surface exploration and excavation, followed by the collection and interpretation of the artifacts with a view to exhibiting the material culture in the different epochs. Surface exploration involves taking an inventory of whatever remains may still be present. Ruined buildings are seldom available. A site usually consists o…
Archetype
(562 words)
C. G. Jung (1875–1961) introduced the concept of archetype into psychology and psychotherapy. In his work with patients Jung was struck by the similarity of personal ideas and fantasies (Imagination) to images and motifs that occur in fairy tales and myths and that have been for centuries the themes of meditation and practice in ritual festivals, visions, and sacred pictures and texts. Such images and motifs have been handed down as tribal lore, creation stories, stories of the end of the world,…
Archimandrite
(149 words)
“Archimandrite” (from Greek roots meaning “head of a sheepfold [
mandra]”) refers to a dignitary ranking below a bishop. It was used from the 4th century for certain heads of monasteries (Orthodox or united with Rome). After the 6th century it was reserved for leaders of groups of monasteries and at first restricted to certain abbots. Since the 18th century the title has been conferred on other monks or unmarried priests only loosely connected to the monastic state (as a rhasophore, or novice), either in an honorary way or as a promotion on the way to the episcopal office. See Orthodox Church Pe…
Argentina
(2,233 words)
Argentina is a republic with 22 provinces and the eastern half of the territory of Tierra del Fuego. It is the second largest country in Latin America (after Brazil) and has a relatively slow rate of population growth (1.7 million in 1869, 17.2 million in 1950, 22.3 million in 1965, 28.1 million in 1980, and an estimated 37.0 million in 2000). In 2000 its estimated population is the fourth highest, following that of Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia.
1. History Argentina was influenced by Spanish civilization after its discovery in about 1515, but for long it remained outside t…
Arianism
(1,169 words)
Arianism is the teaching of the Alexandrian presbyter Arius (ca. 280–336) and his supporters. It arose originally in reaction to the Christology of the apologists. To preserve both monotheism and the deity of Christ, the apologists had adopted the philosophical idea of the Logos, and Origen (ca. 185-ca. 254), making use of ontological Platonic categories, had attributed autonomy to the Logos/Christ as a hypostasis, or ousia, subordinate to God (Ontology). Rejecting the Monarchian views of the Trinity of which he accused his bishop Alexand…
Aristotelianism
(1,593 words)
1. Philosophy of Aristotle 1.1.
Works Aristotle (384–322 b.c.) edited personally only the so-called exoteric (or popular) works—the dialogues of the academic period (Eudemus etc.) and the Protrepticus, which give evidence of an unequivocal Platonic period—and also the dialogue On Philosophy, which on account of its criticism of the doctrine of ideas has been assigned to the years in Assus as a “programmatic work” (W. Jaeger). These writings may be only partially reconstructed from quotations in the Hellenistic philosophers and the Fathers. We owe the real teaching works afte…
Ark of the Covenant
(420 words)
The ark was a portable sanctuary of the Israelites, a wooden chest that could be carried on poles. According to the later, but probably accurate, information in Exod. 25:10, it measured about 125 X 75 X 75 cm. (50 X 30 X 30 in.). According to common scholarly opinion, the ark appears for the first time in the Shiloh temple as part of the priestly cultus. It was lost in the war against the Philistines but was regained and brought to a neighboring sanctuary (1 Samuel 4–6). Later David, probably in order to integrate religious traditions from the North with his national cultus, br…
Armenia
(1,170 words)
On September 23, 1991, the Parliament of the former Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia declared Armenia a sovereign state, thus marking a new and as yet undetermined future for the nation and the Armenian Apostolic Church. Present-day Armenia is a small nation, with an ethnic makeup of 96 percent Armenians and 4 percent minorities, including Russians, Kurds, Greeks, Jews, Yezidis, and Assyrians. The Armenian people trace their history back over 2,500 years. Through most of that time they have …
Armenian Apostolic Church
(702 words)
This is the most widespread Monophysite church. Of about 4 million members worldwide, some 3.5 million live in Armenia, 440,000 in Georgia, and the rest in other countries of the former Soviet Union, as well as the United States, Turkey, and Iran. The heartland of the church is Armenia, where the catholicos resides in the ancient monastery of Echmiadzin, Armenia. The broad dispersion of this much-tested church has taken place in the course of a lengthy history. Even before Constantine (emperor 306–37), ancient Armenia between the Caucasus and Mesopotamia…
Arminianism
(769 words)
Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609, from 1603 professor at Leiden) rejected the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. Salvation, he taught, certainly depends solely on God’s grace, but we receive from God the freedom to receive this grace or to reject it. Thus his view was more Erasmian and humanistic than Reformed. His opponents accused him of Socinianism (Unitarians) and semi-Pelagianism (Pelagianism). In 1604 he engaged in public debate with his colleague Franciscus Gomarus (1563–1641), who champion…
Arnoldshain Conference
(655 words)
1. Founding and Goal The Arnoldshain Conference, named for the Evangelical Academy of Arnoldshain in the Taunus Mountains, Germany, and the theses that it drew up on the Eucharist in 1957, is an independent working fellowship of leading personalities in the Evangelische Kirche der Union (EKU) and its member churches, in other union churches, in the Reformed churches in northwest Germany and Lippe, and in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg. Representatives of the Evangelical Church in Württ…
Ascension of Christ
(782 words)
1. Luke is the only NT author to tell the story of the ascension (which is mentioned in
Barn.
15:9 and
Gos. Pet.
9:35–42, as well as in the Old Latin codex Bobiensis [MS
k] at the beginning of Mark 16:4). There are two short accounts, whose surprising differences can be explained by their respective literary functions. The first account, at the end of Luke (24:50–53), focuses on Jesus blessing his disciples (note the repetitions in vv. 50 and 51) and parting from them at the end of his life. The disciples, who feel protected, fall down before the risen Lord in worship …
Asceticism
(2,706 words)
1. The Concept and Its Present Significance 1.1. Asceticism is a basic concept in the history of European civilization. In Greek antiquity from the fifth century b.c., “asceticism” denoted bodily self-control on the part of athletes and likewise the exercise of moral restraint on the part of philosophers. It rests primarily on the voluntary decision of individuals and entails the temporary or indefinite renunciation of certain pleasures or activities that are otherwise available, all in order to achiev…
Asia
(2,803 words)
1. Social, Political, and Economic Situation 1.1. Asia (which, according to current United Nations definitions, does not include Russia) covers an area of 31.9 million sq. km. (12.3 million sq. mi.) and in a.d. 2000 is estimated to have a population of 3.7 billion people. Of all continents, it is both the largest (embracing 21 percent of the world’s total area) and the most populous (61 percent of all people). The People’s Republic of China itself, with 1.26 billion people, has a bigger population than Europe (729 million)…
Asian Theology
(1,160 words)
1.1. Since Asia contains so many peoples, languages, cultures, religions, and philosophies, a blanket concept ¶ like Asian theology has unavoidably been contested. Nevertheless, it increasingly has gained acceptance in the latter part of the 20th century as a term to distinguish theological work done in Asia from that of Europe, Africa, or Latin America.
1.2. In Asia, which is the home of various world religions, the Christian churches are a very small minority. Asia is a continent in social upheaval in which the problems of poverty, oppression, viol…
Assembleias de Deus no Brasil
(1,094 words)
1. History The history of the Pentecostal movement in Brazil, which is now its worldwide center, goes back to the year 1910, when the foundations were laid for the Congregação cristã do Brasil (CCB) and the Assembleias de Deus no Brasil (ADB), the largest Latin American Pentecostal church today. The CCB arose out of a split from the Presbyterian church in São Paulo, the ADB by a split from the Baptist church in Belém, to which two Swedish immigrants to the United States, Gunnar Vingren and Daniel …
Assemblies of God
(1,836 words)
1. History The Assemblies of God was formed in April 1914 at a convention in Hot Springs, Arkansas, attended by some 300 ministers and laypersons associated with the emerging Pentecostal movement. Approximately 120 of these men and women were delegates from scattered Pentecostal congregations who felt concerned about the future of American Pentecostalism. They shared a distrust of established denominations and sought to establish a structure that would facilitate limited cooperation as well as acc…
Assurance of Salvation
(1,201 words)
1. Biblical Framework “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). This classic NT definition covers the whole field of the Christian striving for assurance of salvation. Faith as the response to salvation, as its appropriation, is not something that we see or have. It is a pilgrimage (Phil. 3:12). It is unthinkable without the element of the “not yet” (see 1 Cor. 13:12). It is not skeptical vacillation, however, or a nomadic course of life with no goal. As hopeful confidence and well-founded conviction, faith str…
Astrology
(600 words)
In contrast to astronomy, which operates mechanistically, astrology rests on the conviction that the character and destiny (Fate and [Good] Fortune) of people can be decisively affected by the position of the stars at the moment of their birth. Only heavenly bodies that may be seen with the naked eye are relevant: the sun, the moon, the planets, and the “houses” to which these belong in the zodiac. Fixed stars outside the zodiac may figure in the calculations in a supplementary capacity. The demonstrable physical influence of heavenly bodies (esp. the sun) on terrestrial processes,…
Asylum
(972 words)
1. Definition “Asylum” as a legal term means protection against persecution. Qualifiers used with the word indicate to whom, where, and how this protection is given.
External (territorial) asylum is granted to a foreigner or stateless person.
Internal asylum is granted only at specific places; for the most part, it now is only of historical interest.
Diplomatic asylum by regional international law is permissible only in South America.
2. Religious Origin The origin of the word (from Gk.
asylon, what may not be seized) shows that it first denoted an object ¶ or place that provided prot…
Athanasian Creed
(318 words)
This creed, which is known as the
Quicunque vult, from its opening words, is a pregnant summary of the doctrine of the Trinity and Christology. Written in Latin, it does not come from Athanasius (ca. 297–373) but originated instead in southern Gaul or Spain at the end of the fifth century or beginning of the sixth. Works from the fifth to the seventh centuries contain echoes of it. Perhaps Caesarius of Arles (d. 542) knew it in his time. Around the time of the Council of Autun (670) it is plainly attested as the creed of St. Athanasius. The first part of the statement presents a simplifie…
Athanasius
(744 words)
1. Life Born in Alexandria about 297, Athanasius evidently knew both Greek and Coptic, and neither suffered nor saw persecution. At an early age he was attached to the house of Alexander, bishop of the metropolis. Made a deacon about 318, Athanasius accompanied the patriarch to the Council of Nicaea in 325 and acted as his secretary there. When Alexander died in 328, Athanasius succeeded him and led portions of the Egyptian church until his own death on May 2, 373. We know from his writings, supportive church historians, and antagonists like the Arian historian Philostorgius…
Atheism
(820 words)
1. Definition and Typology In antiquity, Gk.
atheos described those who questioned the ruling religion and its gods. Thus not only the materialist Epicurus (341–270 b.c.) but also the philosophical believer Socrates (d. 399 b.c.) could be accused of atheism. Similarly Jews and Christians often appeared to be atheists to religious contemporaries. In the modern sense of godlessness or a general denial of God, the term “atheism” first occurs in European thought in the 16th and 17th centuries. We must distinguish various kinds of atheism, for the t…
Athos
(196 words)
Athos is a mountain on one of the three spurs of the Chalcidice peninsula in northeast Greece. With the foundation of the first monastery, known later as the Great Lavra, in the middle of the ninth century by St. Athanasius the Athonite, Athos (from 1064 officially Hagion Oros, or “Holy Mountain”) developed under the protection and with the support of the Byzantine emperors and other orthodox rulers into a self-governing center of Orthodox monastic life. The Fourth Crusade (1204) and the Palamitic conflict brought times of crisis to Athos. Monastic life was at first cenobitic, as i…
Atonement
(3,742 words)
1. OT and Judaism 1.1. Atonement is a central concept in biblical theology. Along with the traditional misunderstanding of appeasing an angry deity, the penal definition of making good an offense and the viewing of the cultus as a human work have impeded a more relevant approach. In the OT, atonement breaks the nexus of sin and its evil consequences by “channeling …
Augsburg Confession
(1,584 words)
1.1. The Augsburg Confession arose out of the political and ecclesiastical situation of the years 1529 and 1530. After making peace with Pope Clement VII (1523–34) and King Francis I of France (1515–47), Emperor Charles V (1519–56), who had left the empire in 1521 for a long sojourn in Spain, could again turn his attention to its affairs. In the interest of his other international political goals, he was looking for a solution to the theological disputes. He was ready for a tactical arrangement …
Augsburg, Peace of
(399 words)
The Peace of Augsburg, promulgated on September 25, 1555, regulated the coexistence of confessions in the German Empire and gave Protestants who followed the Augsburg Confession (i.e., Lutherans) permanent legal security. It was arranged at the Augsburg Diet among the various states in agreement with King Ferdinand. The emperor, Charles V (1519–56), remained aloof for reasons of conscience. It was meant as a temporary political settlement until religious agreement could be reached, although no time limit was set. In eff…
Augustine
(1,115 words)
1. Early Life and Conversion Augustinus, whose two other names are uncertain (some MSS add the name Aurelius), was born November 13, 354, in the small city of Tagaste, Numidia, in North Africa (present-day Souk-Ahras, in northeastern Algeria). He had at least one brother, Navigius, and a sister, whose name we do not know. His mother, Monica, was a pious if conventional Christian. His father, Patricius, was a member of the council, thus a leading citizen, though not wealthy; although Augustine’s comments about his father’s ¶ morals and religion are generally negative, he became a …