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
Community Service
(470 words)
1. Development Community service has developed in recent decades under the leadership of America, England (settlement movement), and Holland (Opbouwwerk). But behind it is a longer history of community organization with different principles, aims, local developments, and methods (A. Dunham). Traditions of community development, social planning, social action, and citizen participation have also played a part. Socially motivated church groups have undertaken work among marginal groups who lack influence and are the victims of discrimination. Conscious…
Comoros
(614 words)
1. General Situation Situated in the Mozambique Channel between northern Madagascar and the southeast coast of Africa, the archipelago of the Comoros comprises four volcanic islands: from northwest to southeast, Njazídja, Mwali, Nzwani (formerly called Grande Comore, Mohéli, and Anjouan respectively), and Mayotte. With its marine type of tropical climate, such subsistence crops as cassava, sweet potatoes, bananas, and upland rice are grown, although with the high density of population it remains ne…
Compromise
(541 words)
1. Concept The word “compromise” derives from
compromitto, which in Roman law meant “agree on an arbiter.” Today the term indicates that parties in a conflict freely reach a solution by some yielding on all sides. Compromise may be highly rated in virtue of the principle of consent, as in early African societies, or it may be disparaged, as in European feudalism. Its high status today, especially in England, is a result of the religious struggles of the 16th and 17th centuries and the free play of interest groups in liberal 19th-century orders.
2. Meaning Compromise between norms can take…
Conciliarism
(738 words)
“Conciliarism” is the theory that general councils represent the supreme church court, specifically, that they are superior to the pope. Its roots lie in the discussions of medieval canonists (Canon Law), ¶ especially concerning papal immunity and responsibility. The heresy clause in the Decretum Gratiani (ca. 1140) states the principle that the pope can be judged by no one as long as he does not deviate from the faith (40.6). An extension of the concept of heresy included simony and persistence in schism. In the 12th century this line of thought led to a broad discussion of …
Conciliarity
(691 words)
1. The term “conciliarity” relates to the constant inner need of the church to come together representatively in order to pray, confer, and make decisions. This process is part of the Christian tradition and serves to give expression to the unity of the church on every level—local, regional, and global—and to maintain the quality of its life and witness relative to its origin and commission. Conciliarity is an essential mark of the church that gives it a concrete and visible structure in the for…
Concordat
(905 words)
1. Term A concordat is a treaty between the Holy See and a state that comprehensively defines the legal position of the Roman Catholic Church within that state (Church and State). The 1983 Codex Iuris Canonici uses the terms
conventio (can. 3) and
concordatum (can. 365.1 n. 2). A concordat involves state as well as church law. Although there may be debate as to the relative status of concordats, in practice civil law always take precedence over a concordat.
2. History 2.1. Medieval treaties between secular and spiritual powers dealt only with specific issues, but in view of …
Conference of European Churches
(1,090 words)
1. Rise The Conference of European Churches (CEC), the most widely recognized regional ecumenical organization for Europe, derives from the period after World War II. In the international divisions and dangerous cold-war tensions of the mid-1950s, a small group of church leaders in Eastern and Western Europe began to consider together the possibility of bringing into conversation churches in European countries separated by different political, economic, and social systems. Their aim was to enable the church to become an instrument of peace and understanding. Developing out of a…
Confessing Church
(1,152 words)
1. The Confessing Church arose in the 1930s in the Deutsche Evangelische Kirche, or German Evangelical Church (GEC), as various church groups opposed the penetration of the church by the spirit of National Socialism (Fascism). The Confessing Church made the claim that it alone was the true GEC. On May 9, 1933, the Young Reformation Movement (under H. Lilje et al.) demanded the freedom of the church from all political influence but politically accepted the new German state. In the elections of July 23, 1933, the German Christians (GC) won a major victory…
Confession of Faith
(1,484 words)
1. The Nature and Task of Confession In confession, the Christian community (Congregation) gives its expression to God’s saving action and fellowship with Christ. It accepts God’s saving action, his Word and sacrament, and it confesses Jesus Christ as the only basis of faith. In him the community also confesses God’s comprehensive work as the Trinity. Through confession, faith in Jesus Christ takes a binding communal form, even as it includes personal confession. It embraces faith, life, and action. As…
Confession of Sins
(1,779 words)
“Confession” refers to an acknowledgment of sin by an individual or a group, made either privately or publicly. Its various forms include (1) individual private prayer (spoken or unspoken); (2) spoken confession by individuals to a priest, followed by individual or group absolution; (3) spoken confession by an individual or by a group in the presence of the whole congregation; and (4) general confession by a priest (minister) or by the whole congregation as a part of public worship, followed typ…
Confessions and Creeds
(5,234 words)
In one of its meanings, “confession” refers to a declaration of religious belief. It can be as simple as “Jesus is Lord” (1 Cor. 12:3) or as detailed as the Augsburg Confession (1530) or similar Protestant expressions of faith in the 16th and 17th centuries. “Creed” refers to a concise statement of Christian doctrine, typically produced by a council of the early church. The Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed are perhaps the most famous of such statements.
1. Confessions as Statements of Faith Christian confessions serve the purposes of acknowledgment, praise, and delimitation. A…
Confirmation
(2,481 words)
1. Baptism and Confirmation Confirmation owes its existence to baptism, regardless of whether it precedes or follows baptism, or whether it is viewed as the personal acceptance of what was done at baptism. In the early church the sacrament of confirmation (Initiation Rites 2.3–4) administered by the Roman Catholic Church developed out of baptism and originally was part of it. The baptizing presbyter or bishop, after dipping in the water, conferred the gift of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands and anointing. In the third century this conferral became a sacramental act on its own. In c…
Conflict
(904 words)
Today the term “conflict” denotes a wide variety of collisions of impulses, interests, powers, and groups on the psychological, social, political, and international levels, with or without the use of force, and with or without a symmetry of the conflicting interests or parties. The exclusively negative evaluation of conflict today in popular parlance is only partly shared by psychology (Psychotherapy) and not at all by sociology. Since the term is used so broadly on so many different levels, whi…