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
Le Quien, Michel
(209 words)
[German Version] (Oct 8, 1661, Boulogne-sur-Mer – Mar 12, 1733, Paris), church historian, philologist, and controversial theologian. In 1681, he entered the Dominican order. In 1690 he published a monograph defending the Hebrew text of the Bible and the Vulgate translation, and between 1725 and 1731 he wrote several works on the invalidity of Anglican ordinations. In 1712, he had already published the works of John of Damascus in two volumes (PG 94–96; a third volume of “traces” never appeared). A…
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Religion Past and Present
Lérins Islands
(272 words)
[German Version] Lérins Islands, a group of islands 4 km south of Cannes, known since Strabo and Pliny the Elder as Lero (Ste. Marguerite) and Lerinum (St. Honorat). The islands acquired a certain distinction c. 400/410 when Honoratus of Arles founded an ascetic community of leading members of the Gallo-Roman aristocracy there, based on Egyptian cenobitic and eremitic models (Evagrius Ponticus, John Cassian). Ascetics and their families lived on the two largest islands – e.g. Eucherius of Lyon, hi…
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Religion Past and Present
Le Roy, Edouard
(191 words)
[German Version] (Jun 18, 1870, Paris – Nov 9, 1954, Paris), mathematician and philosopher. After studying at the École Normale Supérieure, he began to teach at various grammar schools in Paris in 1919, and in the same year he became a member of the Académie des Sciences morales et politiques. In 1921, he followed H. Bergson at the Collège de France, and in 1945 he became a member of the Académie Française. On the foundation of a philosophy of religion based on a pragmatic philosophy of life, and …
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Religion Past and Present
Léry, Jean de
(235 words)
[German Version] (1534, Lamargelle, Burgundy – 1613, Isle-près-Montrichet, Switzerland), a shoemaker who studied theology in Geneva and became a Huguenot pastor (Huguenots). From 1556 to 1558, he moved to the Protestant colony France Antarctique (outside of Rio de Janeiro), which had been founded in 1555 by N. de Villegaignon in the bay of Rio de Janeiro under the patronage of G. de Coligny and which existed until 1558. His
Brazilian Journal, begun on Nov 19, 1556 in the harbor of Hanfleur and finished in 1558 in La Blavet and Hanebon (Brittany), documents the fir…
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Religion Past and Present
Le Seur, Paul
(190 words)
[German Version] (Jul 18, 1877, Berlin – Mar 13, 1963, Potsdam). Following theological studies in Berlin, during which he developed a lifelong attachment to the CVJM (YMCA equivalent), and after short temporary employments as a private tutor and curate, Le Seur was appointed mission inspector of the Berlin City Mission by A. Stoecker in 1905 and later became his successor. It was in the course of these activities – which were only interrupted by a military chaplaincy in Brussels during World War I…
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Religion Past and Present
Leskov, Nikolaj Semyonovich
(163 words)
[German Version] (Dec 4/16, 1831, Gorochovo near Orël – Feb 21/Mar 5, 1895, St. Petersburg), Russian author. The grandson of a clergyman, Leskov became familiar with the Orthodox Church at an early age. As an orphan, he was brought up in the household of a professor of medicine in Kiev, and spent years traveling throughout Russia in the employ of a trading company. Working as a professional journalist and employed by the ministry of culture from 1862 onward, he reflected the numerous experiences g…
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Religion Past and Present
Lesotho
(562 words)
[German Version] is a small mountain kingdom (2000: 30,355 km2; 2.1 million inhabitants; capital: Maseru) surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. Lesotho came into being in the 1820s as a political union (Basutoland) under King Moshoeshoe I, who consolidated the groups of Sotho/Tswana and Nguni speakers fleeing from the Zulu regime. It was constantly in danger of extinction, especially from the Boers from 1850, and became a British protectorate in 1868. From 1966, Lesotho has been independent as a co…
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Religion Past and Present
Leß, Gottfried
(153 words)
[German Version] (Jan 31, 1736, Konitz, West Prussia – Aug 28, 1797, Hannover), studied theology in Jena and Halle. In 1763, he became associate professor and in 1765 professor in Göttingen. In 1791, he was appointed court chaplain and general superintendent in Hannover Leß sought to demonstrate apologetically the independence of the Christian religion from deism and materialism (
Beweiß der Wahrheit der Christlichen Religion, 1768, 51785) and to direct the Enlightenment revision of biblically based ecclesiastical doctrine into moderate channels conducive to r…
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Religion Past and Present
Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim
(1,635 words)
[German Version] (Jan 22, 1729, Kamenz, Upper Lusatia – Feb 15, 1781, Braunschweig [Brunswick]). Lessing was the third of twelve children born to Johann Gottfried Lessing and Justina Salome Lessing. His father had been archdeacon in Kamenz since 1724; he became chief pastor in 1733, succeeding his father-in-law Gottfried Feller. Of Lessing's siblings, five died in infancy or childhood. He attended the public school in Kamenz and in 1741 entered the Princes' School of St. Afra in Meissen, where he …
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Religion Past and Present
Lessons and Carols
(156 words)
[German Version] This is a Christmastide service suggested by George Henry Somerset Walpole, succentor (Cantor substitute) of Truro Cathedral (Cornwall), first adopted for use there on Christmas Eve, 1880, by Bishop E. Benson). It was introduced to King's College Chapel, Cambridge, in 1918 by Eric Milner-White (1884–1963). Its wide popularity derives from the broadcast from King's since 1928. There are few churches, chapels, or schools in England that do not hold a form of the service. Its definit…
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Religion Past and Present
Lestonnac, Jeanne de (Saint)
(194 words)
[German Version] (1536, Bordeaux – Feb 2, 1640, Bordeaux). In the milieu of French post-Tridentine Catholicism, Lestonnac, who had been given a Calvinist upbringing by her mother, created a new model of connecting cloistered monastic life and pedagogical work with girls. The niece of the philosopher M. de Montaigne, she married Gaston de Montferrat (Montferrand) in 1573 and gave birth to seven children. Widowed in 1597, she founded in 1605/1606 in Bordeaux the “Filles (or Compagnie) de Notre Dame,…
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Religion Past and Present
Letter and Spirit
(2,860 words)
[German Version] I. Theological and Philosophical Contexts – II. The Biblical Source Text – III. Scriptural Criticism and Critique of Reason
I. Theological and Philosophical Contexts As a subject of theological effort, the distinction between letter and spirit is a matter not only for the doctrine of Holy Scripture (Bible: IV) but also for the doctrines of justification, creation, and the Trinity. It has made a significant contribution in the definition of the Christian identity, especially in relation to Judaism. In …
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Religion Past and Present
Letters
(2,412 words)
[German Version] I. Form and Genre – II. Ancient Epistolary Literature
I. Form and Genre
1. Letters in Christianity The letter is a literary form that has been of particular importance in the Christian religion since its beginnings as a means of communication, instruction, edification, and argumentation. This predilection for letters was rooted in the missionary character of earliest Christianity, which made it necessary to communicate over long distances, as well as in the surrounding cultures, which influenced…
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Religion Past and Present
Leuba, James Henry
(171 words)
[German Version] (Apr 9, 1868, Neuchâtel, Switzerland – Dec 8, 1946, Yellow Springs, OH). Born in Switzerland and brought up in a Reformed environment, Leuba lived in the United States from 1887 onward and studied at Clark University under S. Hall. His empirical study of conversion, which he submitted as a doctoral dissertation in 1895, is considered a pioneering work of the psychology of religion. From 1898 to 1933, Leuba was professor of psychology at Bryn Mawr College. Together with W. James, he became the foremost promoter of the American psychology of religion. ¶ His religion-critic…
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Religion Past and Present
Leuenberg Concord
(1,180 words)
[German Version] The Agreement between Reformation Churches in Europe (Leuenberg Concord) was finalized on Mar 16, 1973. It was immediately signed by 50 churches and has since been approved by 98 European churches and five outside of Europe. Reservations have been expressed primarily by the Swedish and Finnish churches, in part for legal reasons having to do with their status as state churches, in part on theological grounds. The Concord is the result of conversation between Lutheran and Reformed churches encouraged by the World Council of Churches and their int…
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Religion Past and Present
Leusden, Johann
(163 words)
[German Version] (Apr 26, 1624, Utrecht, the Netherlands – Sep 30, 1699, Utrecht, the Netherlands), Dutch theologian and expert in Near Eastern studies. ¶ Leusden became associate professor of oriental languages in Utrecht in 1650 and professor of Hebrew in 1653. Instructed by rabbis in Amsterdam, he made himself familiar with the Talmud and with rabbinic literature. Especially important was the text edition of the
Biblia Hebraica (1660, 21667), which he organized together with the bookseller Joseph Athias. A model of accuracy and beauty in printing, it became t…
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Religion Past and Present
Leutheuser, Julius
(90 words)
[German Version] (Dec 9, 1900, Bayreuth – Nov 24, 1942, near Stalingrad) moved in 1927 as pastor – together with S. Leffler – from Bavaria to Thuringia, where in 1928/1929 they founded the National-Socialist oriented (Thuringian)
Deutsche Christen (German Christians). From 1933 until entering military service in 1939, Leutheuser was a full-time member of the regional church council in Eisenach. Carsten Nicolaisen Bibliography Works include:
Der Heiland in der Geschichte der Deutschen, 1934
Die deutsche Christusgemeinde und ihre Gegner, 1935 On Leutheuser: K. Meier,
Die Deutsche…
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Religion Past and Present
Leuven, University
(362 words)
[German Version] The University of Leuven (Lovanium, Louvain), established by a bull of Martin V dated Dec 9, 1425, was opened on 7 Sep. 1426 by Duke John IV; the theological faculty was set up by Eugenius IV on Mar 3, 1432. The faculty of arts was organized in 1435 as four
nationes (Brabant, Gaul, Flanders, Holland). In 1428 there was conflict between the university and the town over exemption from taxes. The university was dominated by the
via antiqua (Universals controversy in the Middle Ages). In 1446 there was a dispute between Henry of Zomeren and Peter of Rivo over …
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Religion Past and Present