Religion Past and Present

[German Version] (born J. Maier; Nov 13, 1486, Egg an der Günz – Feb 10, 1543, Ingolstadt) was a prolific opponent of the Reformation. After an initial education under his uncle in Rottenburg, he studied in Heidelberg, Tübingen (M.A. 1501), Cologne, and Freiburg im Breisgau (1502–1510). Then he held the chair of theology in Ingolstadt for the rest of his life. Eck's Chrysopassus (1514) taught that God predestines to salvation those whom he foresees will acquiesce to his prevenient grace. In 1518, after Eck cr…

[German Version] I. Comparative Religion – II. Philosophy I. Comparative Religion The term “eclecticism” denotes philosophical or religious systems in which elements of various provenance have been deliberately combined; it was already used in this sense by ancient writers (Diogenes Laertius; cf. II below). In modern usage, the term usually carries a negative connotation, based on the assumptio…

[German Version] I. History – II. Analysis – III. Organizations – IV. The Future I. History The ecological movement has a complex internal structure that is expressed in sharply divergent forms of organization and practice, goals, and understandings of nature and society. The theme common to all currents within the movement is that of man's relationship to nature. There are three streams within th…

[German Version] The term “ecology” was coined in 1866 by E. Haeckel to denote a new branch of biological research. It now also includes the concept of an ¶ ecosystem in the sense of a concept of a co-evolutionary (Evolution) and ultimately cooperative dynamic. The older notion defined environmental relationships as an abstract system in which an exchange of matter and energy takes place and whose functioning …

[German Version] Environment/Ecology

[German Version] refers to short-term variations in the capacity of the productive potential of the overall economy. Economic development proceeds in waves with upturns and downturns. In an upturn, demand increases rapidly. The capacity of the economy grows. At some point, normal production capacity is attained, but upward forces do not typically become static at this point. …

[German Version] I. History – II. Problems and Themes I. History As reflection on the lived ethos, ethics has since Antiquity also considered economic participation, as it touches on ethos, as an essential component of ethos. Aristotle restricted economy to securing household autarchy, from which commerce was distinct; and, insofar as it produced money from money in transactions involving interest, he rejected it ( Eth. Nic. 1256 b 1–8). The Bible, especially in the OT, gives numerous rules regarding the support …

[German Version] I. General – II. Church I. General Economic history, simply speaking, is concerned with how over the centuries people have earned their livelihood, have obtained for themselves food, clothing, and shelter, have communicated with each other sometimes across rivers, mountains, and oceans, have met, bartered (Exchange), traded (Trade), developed modes of transportation, and founded institutions that promote this exchange: markets, settlements, money, and ultimately organizations such as trades unions, companies (Business, corporation), banks, insurance, but also legal norms according to which businesses operate. And thus economic history is also connected with legal and political history, as well as with social and cultural history and geography. Basically, it concerns the …

[German Version] I. Scope – II. History and Disciplines – III. Present Foci of Interest – IV. Significance for Theology I. Scope Traditi…

[German Version] I. The Concept – II. Economic Systems and their Theories – III. Economy and Religion I. The Concept The term economy encompasses the totality of all individual actions and social interactions that serve to produce goods (commodities or services [Service sector]) for the purpose of satisfying human needs (Consumption). As a rule, the “production” of commodities means that human labor and nonhuman energy are used to process natural materials, turning them into …

[German Version] Individual ecstatics and wider currents of religious ecstasy have left their mark at various times in all the “world” religions, and are also widely reported in anthropological and missionary studies of Third World “local” religions. This is not surprising since such ecstatic encounters are generally interpreted as the most impressive (if less …

[German Version] covers an area of 275,830 km2 and has a population of 13 million; its capital is Quito. Situated in the Andes in …

[German Version] I. Dogmatics – II. Ethics – III. Practical Theology I. Dogmatics 1. The Catholic Understanding The term “ecumene,” from the present passive participle of the Greek verb οἰκεῖν/ oikeín, “to dwell,” originally denoted the inhabited earth. The use of the term in Scripture is ambiguous: the OT (apolitically) in the sense of “world,” the NT, in addition to that, of the “earth” as the …

[German Version] (EATWOT) represents the largest ecumenically oriented theological movement in non-European Christianity. Founded in 1976 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, it strives to disentangle theology from the Western tradition and to conceive an independent, indigenous theology (Indigenization). In it are ga…

[German Version] I. 1st to 19th Century – II. 20th and 21st Centuries I. 1st to 19th Century 1. Early Church …

[German Version] In essence, any theology is ecumenical in that the Christian truth is addressed to all. Ecumenical theology in a narrower sense deals with the division of Christianity into exclusive confessions (denominations) and reflects possibilities for overcoming the various divisions with the objective of one fellowship among the Christian churches. Ecumenical theology developed out of the controversial theology that defended the claim to be the church of Jesus Christ against competing claims, refuting them (polemi…

[German Version] I. The name Edda (“great-grandmother”) is applied in one 14th-century Icelandic ms. to the work now know as The Prose Edda ( PrE) or Snorri's Edda. Seventeenth-century Icelandic scholars extended the name to a recently discovered collection like the presumed source of …

[German Version] (Jul 16, 1821, Bow, NH – Dec 3, 1910, Chestnut Hill, MA) was preoccupied during the first half of her life with the problem of theodicy: how a good and all-powerful God could be responsible for a world of sin and pain. As the result of a healing she experienced in 1866, Eddy came to the conclusion that the problem of evil could only be answered through a radical shift in Christian thought about the nature of being. Her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (1875) maintains that matter is not an objective limiting substance that is ordained by God. Rather, it expresses the limits of the human mentality and its blindness to God's universe, which, Eddy claims, is not material but spiritual. She identified this universe with the Kingdom of God central to the ministry of Jesus.…

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[German Version] was built in 303/302 bce by Seleucus I in a strategically favorable location in northern Mesopotamia. After the collapse of the Seleucid empire (Seleucids) in 132 bce, it was capital of the Osroene kingdom under the Arab Abgar dynasty, which nominally reigned until 242 ce. Its indigenous name was Urhai, present-day Urfa, a provincial capital in southeast Turkey. In 165/166 ce, Edessa became a Roman client state, and a Colonia Romana in 213. The cession of Nisibis to the Sassanids in 363 made Edessa the most important Roman-Byzantine border fortress of northern Mesopotamia. Edessa's importance faded after the Arabic conquest of 639.…

[German Version] The term edification (“building up”) in its metaphorical religious sense was introduced by the NT (Gk οἰκοδομή/ oikodomē, Lat. aedificatio). It denotes a central aspect of ecclesiology (Church) involving the interplay between the part and the whole. Despite both the deficient and inflationary senses the word has taken on in modern usage, its original, precise sense is vital for theological reflection on the church and the local congregation. The metaphorical use of edification in the NT, borrowed loosely from OT usage, refers t…

[German Version] I. To the Reformation – II. Modern Era – III. Present I. To the Reformation The term “edifying literature” (or “devotional literature”) embraces all Christian literature that is not liturgical, juristic, merely informative, or scholarly (history, theology) but is meant to edify and encourage piety and Christian conduct. But the boundaries distinguishing edifying literature from other typ…

[German Version] (Scots Gaelic: Dun Eideann), capital of Scotland. Situated near the Firth of Forth, Castle Rock had probably long served as a stronghold when King David I founded Holyrood Abbey there and granted Edinburgh market rights in 1130. Elevated to city status by Robert the Bruce in 1329, Edinburgh rose to become the political and economic center of Scotland and …

[German Version] …

[German Version] (Eadmund; 840–869), king of East Anglia, was slain in 869 by the Vikings after refusing to share his kingdom with the pagan conqueror Inguar. Before he was beheaded, his body, like that of St. Sebastian, was riddled with arrows. He was already being revered as a martyr shortly after his death, and in the 10th century his remains were translated to Bury St. Edmunds, whose abbey then became a pilgrimage site. Feast day, Nov 20.…

[German Version] ( ‘edôm) means “reddish,” and the parallel term Seir ( sē'îr) “rough,” probably the brush in the mountains. They designate a landscape or ethnicity south of ¶ the Dead Sea: in the first instance, to the southeast, between Wādī l-Ḥasā and the Gulf of Aqaba, but also in the Wādī l-'Araba and the southern Negeb. “Seir” occurs first in the Amarna Letters (Amarna; EA 288.26; mid-14th cent.) and in a place list of Ramses II (mid-13th cent.), “Edom” in a letter from the eighth year of Merneptah…

[German Version] I. Concept – II. Philosophy – III. Greco-Roman Antiquity – IV. Bible – V. Church History – VI. Ethics – VII. Practical Theology and Pedagogy – VIII. Judaism – IX. Islam I. Concept Traditionally, “education” has denoted the intentional interaction of adults with the younger generation in order-usually-to influence them positively; whether it makes sense to speak of education when negative goals are deliberately pursued is …

[German Version] Bildungsroman (educational novel) is the label coined by Karl Morgenstern in the early 1820s for a literary genre that depicts the mental and intellectual education of the main protagonist, from childhood to maturity, thereby contributing to the reader's education ( Bildung). The prototype is C.M. Wieland's Geschichte des Agathon, although Morgenstern and likewise W. Dilthey and other later critics saw J.W. v. Goethe 's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre as the preeminent example. Eric Ziolkowski Bibliography R. Selbmann, Der deutsche Bildungsroman, 1984.

[German Version] I. Terminology – II. History – III. Philosophy – IV. Philosophy of Religion, Dogmatics, Ethics – V. Practical Theology and Education – VI. Social History I. Terminology This article deals with formative education, corresponding to the German term Bildung (cf. Fr. formation). (The related article education deals with the subject area of Erziehung, covering education and training. Bildung or formation may be considered more general, with cultural overtones, while Erziehung places more emphasis on schooling.) ¶ Even in its earliest form, OHG bildunga (“creat…

[German Version] I. General Remarks – II. Practical Theology and Educational Theory and Practice I. General Remarks The concrete focus of this article is on the situation in Germany. 1. Institutions The pluralism of adult education agencies in Germany, which is founded in history as well as democratic theory, manifests itself in a series of institutions offering specific, sometimes also convergent educational programs. For the advancement of the public, adult education centers ( Evening classes ) are of particular significance with th…

[German Version] I. The Term – II. History – III. Present-Day Emphases – IV. Significance for Theology I. The Term The expression “theory of education” (or: “education theory and methodology” – Ger. Pädagogik) serves as a “collective term for all theoretical and practical endeavors in respect of education. As a theory, it refers to the essence of the teaching(s) or science(s) ‘about’ and ‘for’ education, and also to educationally significan…

[German Version] (Oct 5, 1703, East Windsor, CT – Mar 22, 1758, Princeton, NJ). American philosopher-theologian who described the revival (Revival/Revival movements) in his Northampton (MA) parish in A Faithful Narrative (1737) and defended the Great Awakening in The Distinguishing Marks (1741) and Some Thoughts Concerning the Revival (1743). In 1746 he published an analysis of religious experience, Religious Affections. After losing his pulpit (1750) in a controversy over communion qualifications, Edwards led a mission to Indians in Sockbridge (MA), where he wrote Freedom of …

[German Version] of England (Oct 12, 1537, Hampton Court – Jul 6, 1553, Greenwich), Henry VIII's only legitimate son by Jane Seymour. Edward VI was educated by such Renaissance scholars as John Cheke (1514–1557), Richard Coxe (1500–1581) and Roger Ascham (1515–1568) who inclined towards Protestantism, and until 1549 was dominated by his uncle Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector. Somerset began to introduce the Reformation in England. He enhanced state control over the church, introduced Thomas Cranmer's Protestant Book of Homilies (1547), oversaw the first …

[German Version] (or Edzardus) (Jun 28, 1629, Hamburg – Jan 1, 1708, Hamburg). After studying Protestant theology and oriental languages, he received the Lic.theol. in 1656 and was a private scholar in Hamburg from 1657. From 1659 on, Edzard taught Hebrew language and literature to many students, including A.H. Francke (I), while also working for the conversion of the Jews of Ham…

[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Fundamental Theology – III. Applications I. Philosophy The concept of effective history ( Wirkungsgeschichte) takes on philosophical significance in the hermeneutics of H.G. Gadamer, where it represents the attempt to clarify the fundamental requirement for understanding texts and make this understanding transparent in its own historically conditioned context. …

[German Version] (c. 1580, Kellinghusen, Holstein – 1655, Nortorf), a Holstein pastor; after studies in Rostock, he was initially deacon, then rector in Rendsburg, and, from 1610, pastor in Nortorf. Egard was a dedicated advocate of inner-Lutheran church critique, the author of edifying books and of practice-orientated interpretations of the Bible. As a supporter and defender of J. Arndt ( Ehrenrettung Johannis Arndten, 1624), he is assigned to the orthodox wing of the Arndt School. Egard was the first Luther…

[German Version] (died 766) belonged to the Northumbrian royal family and was a reforming archbishop of York (from 735 an archdiocese once again) who ¶ endeavored to abolish abuses in church administration and pastoral care. He founded the famous cathedral school in which he taught theology himself – Alcuin was one of his students. The numerous writings attributed to him include the canon collection Excerptiones e dictis et canonibus SS. Patrum (transmitted from dates in the 11th cent.), the Dialogus ecclesiasticae institutionis, a collection of canon law decisions, the Poenitential…

[German Version] (Ecgberht; died 729) was a Northumbrian monk from the monastery at Lindisfarne who voluntarily exiled himself to Ireland in order to attain spiritual perfection. From there, he prepared the missions of Wigbert to Frisia and of Willibrord to Germany. From 716 on, he lived on Iona, where he enforced the Roman calculation for the date for Easter and imposed the Roman tonsure on the monks. His feast day is April 24. Jörg O. Fichte Bibliography Beda, Historia Ecclesiastica, ed. C. Plummer, 1896, 3.4; 4.3; 5.9–10 W. Levison, England and the Continent in the Eighth Century, 1946 M.…

[German Version] (Jan 21, 1686 Harstad, Norway – Nov 5, 1758 Stubbekøbing, Denmark), “The Apostle of Greenland.” From 1707 to 1717 Egede was a Lutheran pastor in Lofoten, Norway. He was a pioneer missionary to Greenland in 1722. Egede's wife, Gertrud Rask, was a remarkable missionary in her own right. After many difficulties, their unselfish service during a smallpox epidemic…

[German Version] The Lady Egeria (also known as Aetheria) is the author of a personal pilgrimage account to the sacred sites (III) in the Near East that was discovered in 1884 by Gian F. Gamurrini in an 11th-century manuscript. The author's name can only be deduced from a letter written by Valerius of Bierzo (died 691), the various versions of which attest to several different fo…

[German Version] Named after a patron of the British Museum, Papyrus Egerton 2 (= PLondon Christ.1) was purchased in Egypt in 1934; the exact location of its discovery, however, cannot be ascertained with certainty. At the time of its publication in 1935, the papyrus was considered to be the oldest extant Christian document (dating to “c. 150”), though it lost that status in the …

[German Version] The egg, focus of the mysterious processes of incubation and hatching, from the shell of which fresh new life bursts forth, was an important symbol in many ancient creation myths. The primordial Chaos out of which the cosmos arose was frequently depicted as a cosmic egg (e.g. in Egypt, India, China, Greece, Indonesia, Polynesia, Africa) in which primeval matter lay dormant in an undiffe…

[German Version] (Aug 29, 1847, Mainz – Dec 28, 1898, Potsdam) became a military officer, as was the family tradition, and was dismissed from military ser-¶ vice prematurely in 1890 at the rank of first lieutenant. The cause for his decomissioning were the “serious reservations,” in which Egidy avowed a confession- and dogma-free Christianity. From that point onward, he apeared as a freelance author and lecturer, and increasin…

[German Version] The term originated in the 18 century. I. Kant described as moral egoists those who see only their own needs and happiness instead of seeking the basis for volitional decisions in moral obligations. The opposite of “egoism” for Kant was the mindset of a tolerant, cosmopolitan “pluralism” (Pluralism, altruism). Apart from the term, egoism, coined in the modern era, ancient religion and philosophy already discussed excessive love of self, unilateral selfishness or an internal “perver…

[German Version] (Wildenauer; born in Eger, died Jun 11, 1535 in Joachimsthal, Erzgebirge [Ore ¶ Mountains]) began studying in Leipzig in the year 1500, earning his Master of Arts in 1507. In 1517 he became preacher at St. Marien in Zwickau, where he got into a dispute with the Franciscans over the legend of Anna. In 1518, he became involved in a literary controversy with Hieronymus Dungersheim of …

[German Version] I. General – II. History and Society – III. Religion and Culture I. General 1. Name/Designations In Egyptian-Coptic, Egypt is “the black (i.e. land)” (Egyptian *Kū́mut, Coptic Kēme, etc.) after the dark soil, in Semitic languages, generally, Miṣr-, etc., in Hebrew also מָצוֹר / Māṣôr (“border,” i.e. “borderland”?), in Greek after a sanctuary of the god Ptah as a designation for the old capital city Memphis, Aígyptos, i.e. Aígupto-s (in contemporary Egyptian perhaps *Hekoptáḥ). 2. Geography The central area of the country is the river oasis of the lowe…

[German Version] Rites, Oriental

[German Version] I. Greek Gospel of the Egyptians – II. The So-called Gospel of the Egyptians from Nag Hammadi I. Greek Gospel of the Egyptians The Greek Gospel of the Egyptians was an apocryphal gospel known to Clement of AlexandriaClement of Alexandria who cites from it a brief dialogue between Jesus and Salome which was used by the encratites (Asceticism) in defense of their rejection of human procreation (Clement, Stromata III 45.3; 63.2; 64.2; 66.1; 92.1). Clement refutes the encratite implications of Jesus' answers and appears …