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
Barnabas
(268 words)
[German Version] (Joseph Barnabas) was an early Christian missionary of Jewish descent, mentioned four times by Paul: once in Col, but frequently in the first part of Acts. Since Paul always mentions him without any further introduction, he was obviously known to the congregations. According to Gal 2:1, 9, Barnabas was involved, together with Paul, in the process that led to the mission agreement of the “Apostolic Council” (cf.
Acts 15:2, 12). The fact that neither of them has to work (1 Cor 9:6) demonstrates the closeness of their mis…
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Religion Past and Present
Barnabas, Epistle of
(426 words)
[German Version] Traditionally attributed to the Apostolic Fathers, this anonymous writing does in fact contain some epistolary elements (1:1–5; 6:5; 21:9). On the whole, however, it is intended as a fundamental instruction in the Christian way of life and in the correct understanding of the Old Testament. First attributed to the “Apostle Barnabas” by Clement of Alexandria, who quotes Barnabas several times, the
Epistle of Barnabas is usually thought to have been composed around 130–132, should the state…
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Religion Past and Present
Barnabites
(151 words)
[German Version] The Barnabites were regular clerics (originally sons) of St. Paul (CRSP), later named after the mother-house of St. Barnabas in Milan, where the order was established in 1530. Its founders were Antonius Maria Zaccaria, an advocate of Catholic reform in Lombardy and Venetia, Bartholomew Ferrari and Jacob Morigia. The purpose of the order was to …
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Religion Past and Present
Barnett, Samuel Augustus
(178 words)
[German Version] (Feb 8, 1844, Bristol – Jun 17, 1913, Hove), a theologian and social reformer. He was educated at home and at Wadham College, Oxford (B.A. 1865). His curacy in the inner city of London confronted him with the problems of a large city. In 1869, he founded the Charity Organization Society. In 1873, he was sent to St. Jude's in Whitechapel, a par…
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Religion Past and Present
Baronius, Caesar
(168 words)
[German Version] (Oct 30/31, 1538, Sora, Kingdom of Naples – June 30, 1607, Rome). After studying law, Baronius entered the Oratory of Philip Neri at Rome; he became superior general of the order in 1593 and was made a cardinal in 1596. He was the librarian of the Vatican Library as well as the confessor and advisor of Clement VIII. He was himself a candidate in the papal election of 1605. He participated in the revision of the
Roman martyrologies and the reform of the
breviary . His major work,
Annales ecclesiastici (Rome 1588–1607), seeks to demonstrate t…
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Religion Past and Present
Baroque
(6,748 words)
[German Version] I. Use and History of the Term – II. Architecture and Landscaping – III. Painting and Sculpture – IV. Literature – V. Music
I. Use and History of the Term Initially a pejorative designation for irregular and un-natural elements of architecture following the Renaissance, the term “Baroque” has, since J. Burckhardt (1855) and Heinrich Wölfflin (1888), been revaluated into a term describing an artistic,…
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Religion Past and Present
Barrington, Shute
(241 words)
[German Version] (May 27, 1734, Becket – Mar 25, 1826, Durham), bishop of Durham. Barrington was educated at Eton and Merton College, Oxford. He was ordained priest in 1756. In 1761, he became a canon of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1768 canon at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, and in 1776 canon of Windsor. In 1779, he was consecrated bishop of the Welsh see of L…
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Religion Past and Present
Barrow, Henry
(85 words)
[German Version] (Barrowe; c. 1550 – April 6, 1593, Tyburn), a devout English Puritan and supporter of separatism. In 1586, he was arrested on account of a visit to the separatist J. Greenwood and imprisoned until his death. In 1590, he was charged with the publication of the rebellious book
A True Description of the Visible Congregation of the Saints, &c. (1589). He and Greenwood were hanged for sedition. Donald K. McKim Bibliography L.H. Carlson, ed.,
The Writings of Henry Barrow, 1970.
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Religion Past and Present
Barrow, Isaac
(310 words)
[German Version] (1630, London – May 4, 1677, London), Anglican clergyman and mathematician. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, despite his royalist inclinations. Out of favor during the Interregnum because of his royalist sympathies, he eventually left England and traveled throughout Europe from 1655 to 1659. He was ordained upon returning to Engl…
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Religion Past and Present
Barsanuphius
(148 words)
[German Version] (Barsanorius; feast: Feb 6), an ascetic author of Egyptian origin. He died c. 545 as a hermit in the monastery of Abba Seridos near Gaza. Together with the hermit John “the prophet,” he gave spiritual advice by answering letters sent to him by monks, bishops, and laypersons. Approx. 850 such questions and responses were collected (
biblos psychophelestate). They afford deep insights into the life of the Palestinian church in the 5th/6th centuries, attest to the reception of the asc…
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Religion Past and Present
Barsumas of Nisibis
(175 words)
[German Version] (born 1st quarter of 5th cent. – died before 496). Metropolitan of Nisibis (435–?), Barsumas was a prominent figure in the Apostolic Church of the East. He attended the dyophysite school (Christology, Antioch) in Edessa, was a supporter of Ibas (who became bishop of Edessa in 435), an…
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Religion Past and Present
Barth, Carola
(138 words)
[German Version] (Sep 24, 1879, Bad Salzschlierf – May 17, 1959, Frankfurt a.M.). A teacher of religion and school principal, Carola Barth graduated from Jena in 1907 as the first woman to receive a degree in theology from a German university. She was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1927. She served repeatedly on the city council of Frankfurt, before 1933 as a …
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Religion Past and Present
Barth, Christian Gottlob
(277 words)
[German Version] (Jul 21, 1799, Stuttgart – Nov 12, 1862, Calw) served as Lutheran pastor in Möttlingen (Black Forest) from 1824 to 1838. A journalist and author, he founded (1833) and directed the Calwer Verlag (1838–1862). He was an internationally renowned, pioneering ecumenical figure of the Württemberg revival movement. A man of many talents and great energy, he led a highly productive life: He wrote for the general public and for young people (
Christliche Kirchengeschichte, 1835, 241905, 37 translations;
Jugendblätter, 1836–1951; his
Biblische Geschichten, 1832, 4831945, 8…
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Religion Past and Present
Barth, Karl
(1,846 words)
[German Version] (May 10, 1886, Basel – Dec 10, 1968, Basel) I. Life – II. Work – III. Influence
I. Life Karl Barth, Reformed theologian (dogmatics), son of Fritz Barth, professor of church history and New Testament in Basel. – Barth studied theology in Bern, Berlin, Tübingen, and finally Marburg, where he was strongly influenced by W. Herrmann. In 1908/1909 he was editorial assistant of M. Rade in Marburg, helping with the publication of
Christliche Welt. In 1909–1911, he served as an assistant pastor in Geneva, and in …
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Religion Past and Present
Bartholomew, Gospel of
(162 words)
[German Version] The designation “Gospel of Bartholomew” is attested in ancient sources (Jerome;
Decretum Gelasianum) and has been applied by scholars to two different apocryphal writings. Both refer to a tradition that identifies Bartholomew with Nathan and present him as the sole witness to the fulfilment of the vision predicted in John 1:51. In the first text, the “Que…
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Religion Past and Present
Bartholomew's Day, Massacre of
(276 words)
[German Version] (Aug 24, 1572) refers to the massacre of the Huguenots in the night before Bartholomew's Day during the wedding festivities of the Protestant Henri de Navarre with the Catholic Marguerite de Valois (Parisian Blood Wedding). It was triggered by the attempted assassination of the leader of the Huguenots and admiral, G. de Coligny. The bloody terror in Paris …
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Religion Past and Present
Bartning, Otto
(563 words)
[German Version] (Apr 12, 1883, Karlsruhe – Feb 20, 1959, Darmstadt) was an architect and an important renewer of Protestant church architecture in the first half of the 20th century. Besides approximately 150 churches and congregational centers, he also erected outstanding domestic buildings and hospitals. Stemming from a liberal-Protestant family, he undertook his first church …
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Religion Past and Present
Baruch, Books of
(1,376 words)
[German Version] I. (First Book of) Baruch II. Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch III. Greek Apocalypse of Baruch Various writings are associated with the name of Baruch, the scribe and companion of Jeremiah (Jer 33; 36; 45).
I. (First Book of) Baruch Not included among the books of the Hebrew Bible, Bar belongs to the apocryphal/deuterocanonical writings of the OT and is first attested in the Greek LXX. Bar 1–5 consists of four parts: 1. 1:1–15aα serves as an introduction to the self-contained composition 1:15aα–5:9 and relates the circumstances surroundi…
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Religion Past and Present
Base Communities in Latin America
(886 words)
[German Version] Ecclesiastical base communities are organisms of the Catholic Church. A comprehensive definition of this experiment is difficult to formulate, although a number of essential features can be singled out: local orientation, regular worship, responsibility for the poor, a dynamic relationship between faith and life. Base communities enable a new type …
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Religion Past and Present