Religion Past and Present
Get access
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
| Help us improve our service |
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
Legal Policy
(827 words)
[German Version] I. Definition – II. Actors and Procedure – III. Criteria and Context
I. Definition Legal policy is the guiding force behind legislation in the modern state (III). It seeks to respond to social situations, interests, and needs by analyzing and assessing the situations, defining the interests, and evaluating the needs. Today the shaping of society embodied in policy (Politics) is largely accomplished through legislation. The tax policy that affects the revenue of the state is embodied in tax legislation. The policies with the ¶ greatest expenditures involve the …
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Legal Positivism
(393 words)
[German Version] Legal positivism is the jurisprudential doctrine that only effective statutory (“positive”) law (Law and jurisprudence) can be called “law in the strict sense” (see also positivism). Here there is a need to distinguish between sociological and normative legal positivism. Sociological positivism examines the facts of the real organization of a society. Normative positivism emphasizes instead the deontic aspects of positive law. Current debate is focused on normative positivism. ¶ In his posthumous (1861)
Lectures on Jurisprudence, Austin, building on Gust…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Legal Protection
(269 words)
[German Version] is the – especially judicial – assertion of subjective rights, i.e. of individual, legally guaranteed claims to the realization of an interest. Legal protection is an essential feature of the rule of law. The legal protection of the claims established by civil law has always been a central aspect of judiciary. Legal protection against governmental actions only became a practicable legal construction from the second half of the19th century with the dogmatic conception of public leg…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Legates
(197 words)
[German Version] (apostolic), from Lat.
legare (“to dispatch/send someone”), are representatives of the Apostolic See in local churches, states, as well as at international organizations and conferences. Conciliar reform impulses (
CD art. 9f.) led to a reorganization through Pope Paul VI's
motu proprio
Sollicitudo Omnium Ecclesiarum (Jun 24, 1969; AAS 61, 1969, 473–484) and the
CIC/1983 (cc. 362–367). The primary function of the legates is to enable communication between the pope and the local churches (c. 364); their secondary function is to act as…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Legend
(1,218 words)
[German Version] The word
legend (from Middle Lat.
legenda [
sc. vita or
acta]) originally denoted a text to be read during worship or within a monastic community, especially at mealtime, in walkways set aside for reading, or in the chapter house. The subject matter was the life and deeds of one or more saints (Saints/Veneration ¶ of the saints: II). For the most part, the legend was regularly read in whole or in part on the festival of the particular saint. In conjunction with the functionalization of the cult of the saints, which had already begun i…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Legio fulminata
(165 words)
[German Version] (or
fulminatrix, fulminea), literally “thunderbolt legion,” the name given to the Twelfth Legion since the time of Augustus. The name is associated with a meteorological miracle: during the Marcomannic Wars, thanks to a prayer, a thunderstorm blew up that saved the Roman army from dying of thirst and drove back the enemy. The event itself is probably historical, since it is represented on the column of Marcus Aurelius. Interpretations varied according to the religion of the interpre…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Legion of Mary
(458 words)
[German Version] The Maria Legio Church of Kenya, also known as Legio Maria) is one of the largest African Instituted Churches (AICs) to have broken away from the Roman Catholic Church. Its base is in western Kenya, but it extends to the neighboring districts of Tanzania. The majority of adherents belong to the Luo people, but the Church understands itself to be a multi-ethnic community and includes adherents from the Kisii and Luyia peoples. It has parishes in urban areas, including the Kenyan ca…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Legislation, Church
(1,397 words)
[German Version] I. Historical Development – II. Current Church Polity
I. Historical Development
1. A distinctly legislative function within the church became common only after a long process of development. From the start, the church established rules, commonly called canons, governing the behavior of its members and the performance of their duties. These rules were not understood as the result of legislative decisions but as an expression of what was considered mandatory by virtue of the authority of Chr…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Legislative
(535 words)
[German Version] In addition to its general adjectival use in relation to legislation, this term is used of law-giving authority as a function of the state, also designating the institutions that enact laws (Law and legislation: V) through specific procedures (for the ecclesiastical legislative, cf. Legislation, Church). Rooted in common usage, the generally accepted precedence of the “good old law” in the Middle Ages was replaced by the priority of state legislation, which – following the ideas o…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Legitimacy
(427 words)
[German Version] Legitimacy relates to the justification of norms, institutions, legal entitlements, and claims to authority, together with their basis in moral and legal philosophy. With specific reference to the acceptance of authority (Dominion/Rule), M. Weber distinguished sociologically between traditional, charismatic, and rational or legal legitimacy. The discussion of the Sophists as to whether right is based solely on convention (
thései) or is established by nature (
phýsei) already distinguished between the positivistic reduction of legitimacy to lega…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Lehmann, Gottfried Wilhelm
(91 words)
[German Version] (Oct 23, 1799, Hamburg – Feb 21, 1882, Berlin) was a copperplate engraver and a Baptist preacher. In 1837, he established the first Prussian Baptist congregration (Baptists) in Berlin. He cofounded the German branch of the Evangelical Alliance in 1852. Together with J. Oncken and Julius Köbner, he was one of the founding fathers of the continental European Baptists. Carsten Claußen Bibliography Works include:
Offenes Sendschreiben an den Deutschen Evangelischen Kirchentag, 1854 On Lehmann: H. Luckey,
Gottfried Wilhelm Lehmann und die Entstehung einer deut…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Lehmann, Johannes Edvard
(228 words)
[German Version] (Aug 19, 1862, Copenhagen – Mar 23, 1930), earned a Dr.phil. in 1896 with a dissertation on the Avesta, the sacred scripture of Zoroastrianism (Zarathustra/Zoroastrianism), and was lecturer in the history of religion at the University of Copenhagen from 1900 onward. In 1910, he was appointed to the first German professorship for the “general history of religion and philosophy of religion” at the Protestant theological faculty of the University of Berlin, from which he resigned in …
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Lehmus, Adam Theodor Albert Franz
(249 words)
[German Version] (Dec 2, 1777, Soest – Aug 18, 1837, Nuremberg), theologian. As a student in Halle an der Saale and Jena, Lehmus was enthused by Rationalism, I. Kant's criticism, and J.G. Fichte's idealism. A deacon from 1807 in Dinkelsbühl and Ansbach, he initially espoused, with F. Schelling and G. Hegel, a speculative theology in order to prove the internal rationality of the symbols of faith. After his appointment in 1814 as associate professor of theology and preacher at the university church…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Lehnin Prophecy
(161 words)
[German Version] These 100 rhymed Latin hexameters were first attested in 1693 and became better known in the early 18th century. They were attributed to the Cistercian monk Hermann von Lehnin in Brandenburg (c. 1300). The verses describe suggestively the Brandenburg rulers beginning with the house of Askanier; the last figures with identifiable traits are Prince Elector Friedrich Wilhelm I and his successor. The Reformation, with the abolition of the monastery, marks the turn for the worse. Until…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leibholz, Gerhard
(265 words)
[German Version] (Nov 15, 1901, Berlin – Feb 19, 1982, Göttingen) was an expert in constitutional law and a representative of German Cultural Protestantism in exile. Leibholz studied philosophy and law. In 1925, he supported the position – new at the time – that legislators were also bound by the equality clause of the constitution. In
Das Wesen der Repräsentation (1929), he declared that “genuine” representation is incompatible with political parties and mass democracy. He also wrote studies on fascist constitutional law (1928), studies on the right to vote (1931), and on the
Auflösung…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm
(1,166 words)
[German Version] (Jun 21/Jul 1, 1646, Leipzig – Nov 14, 1716, Hanover). As the son of a Leipzig professor of ethics, Leibniz came from orthodox Lutheranism. After studying in Leipzig and Jena, he was awarded the Dr.iur. in Altdorf in 1667. He turned down the professorship offered to him, and entered the service of the prince elector of Mainz as a legal adviser. In 1672, he went to Paris on a diplomatic mission; the four years spent there, in contact with A. Arnauld, Christian Huygens, N. Malebranc…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leibowitz, Yeshayahu
(262 words)
[German Version] (Jan 28, 1903, Riga – Aug 18, 1994, Jerusalem). Born into an orthodox Jewish family, Leibowitz studied in Berlin and Cologne. He emigrated to Palestine in 1935 and worked as a biochemist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, although he became known as a philosopher. Leibowitz's philosophy may be characterized as a synthesis of ¶ his scientific insights, of his extensive knowledge in the field of Jewish philosophy and Jewish literature, and of the European intellectual tradition in general. Influenced by M. Maimonides and I. Kant in …
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leiden, University
(559 words)
[German Version] Wishing that the formation of pastors and jurists should not be left to the Catholic University of Leuven, William of Orange founded the first university of the northern Netherlands in Leiden in 1575. In addition to the theological and juridical fields of study, departments of philosophy and literature as well as medicine were also planned. From the very beginning, the university was characterized by a strong orientation to Humanism (III) and Calvinism. The Humanist philologists J…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leile, George
(144 words)
[German Version] (Liele; 1750?–1825?) was the first black ordained minister in the United States. Born a slave in Virginia, Leile was converted in 1773 at his master's church, where he was baptized and accepted into membership. Shortly thereafter he was given a license to preach. In 1775 he was ordained, although he had already organized the first black Baptist church in the USA in 1773. (D. George was among the members.) Granted his freedom, Leile went to Jamaica in 1783, where his preaching to slaves there met with immediate success. By …
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leipoldt, Johannes
(192 words)
[German Version] (Dec 20, 1880, Dresden – Feb 22, 1965, Ahrenshoop). Dr.phil. in 1903, Lic.theol. in 1905,
Privatdozent in church history in Leipzig from 1905, then in Halle from 1906, associate professor in Halle in 1909, professor of New Testament in Kiel from 1909, in Münster from 1914, in Leipzig from 1916, made professor emeritus in 1959, visiting lecturer in Rostock from 1959. Leipoldt was one of the most distinguished historians of religion in his time, had a command of several Near Eastern languages, and…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leipzig Disputation (1519)
(8 words)
[German Version] Luther, Martin
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leipzig Disputation (1827)
(8 words)
[German Version] Hahn, August
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leipzig Mission
(269 words)
[German Version] Leipzig Mission, a mission society founded by Lutherans in Dresden on Aug 17, 1836, as a follow-up to a support association that had been organized in 1819 to assist the Basel Mission and which moved to Leipzig in 1848. From 1832 to 1848, as a “preliminary school” it began training missionaries for the Basel Mission. Following the intention of its first director K. Graul (1844–1860), the society was to become the mission-dedicated rallying point of German-speaking Lutheranism. The…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leipzig, University
(1,215 words)
[German Version] The rising commercial city of Leipzig was shaped by the development of the land by the Wettins, with recognition as a city c. 1165, as well as by the founding of St. Thomas, a seminary of Augustinian Canons, in 1212 and of the Dominican monastery in 1229. The establishment of the University of Leipzig on Dec 2, 1409 (confirmed by Pope Alexander V on Sep 9, 1409), as a consequence of the Western Schism of 1378, bundled the interests of the masters of the Prague Schools of Arts and …
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leisure Time
(1,098 words)
[German Version] I. Concept; Social History – II. Social Ethics – III. Practical Theology
I. Concept; Social History
1. The concept of free (or leisure) time derives from a period of legal immunity in the Middle Ages. The German word
Freizeit still used today for a religious retreat (E. Wunderlich, “Freizeiten,”
RGG 3 III, 1958, 1122–1124). The notion of leisure time made its appearance in the context of industrialization and the struggle of trade unions for extended periods of rest for workers. Sociology treats it as the opposite of labor, wi…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Le Maistre Family
(187 words)
[German Version] The three Le Maistre brothers were Jansenist theologians (Jansenism). The oldest,
Antoine (May 2, 1608, Paris – Nov 4, 1658, Port Royal), was a successful lawyer in Paris and came under the influence of J. Duvergier de Hauranne, one of the first hermits in Port-Royal Abbey. Known for his piety, Antoine wrote apologies and, among other writings, also a biography of Bernard of Clairvaux. He began a Bible translation that was continued by the youngest brother,
Isaac Louis (Mar 29, 1613, Paris – Jan 4, 1684, Pomponne; called Le Maistre de Sacy), who was the mo…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leme da Silveira Cintra, Sebastião
(188 words)
[German Version] Leme da Silveira Cintra, Sebastião, (1882, Pinhal, São Paulo – Oct 17, 1942, Rio de Janeiro) was ordained priest in 1904 and consecrated bishop in 1911 in Rome. From 1916 to 1921, he was archbishop of Olinda and Recife, then bishop in 1921, and on Apr 18, 1930, he became archbishop of Rio de Janeiro. On Jun 5, 1930, he was appointed cardinal. He had a considerable influence on the shape of Catholic life in Brazil during the First Republic (1889–1930) and the authoritarian regime o…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Lempp, Albert
(141 words)
[German Version] (Feb 13, 1884, Heutingsheim, Württemberg – Jun 9, 1943, Starnberg) became the owner of the Christian Kaiser publishing house in Munich in 1911. At first Lempp's emphasis was on Bavarian liberal Protestantism (C. Geyer, F. Rittelmeyer), but then he became – with G. Merz as his theological consultant – the publishing pioneer and promoter of the works and series of K. Barth and his friends (Dialectical theology), without neglecting the Bavarian tradition and Lutheran theology. In the so-called
Kirchenkampf (National Socialism: I), a circle of critical theologi…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Lenau, Nikolaus
(105 words)
[German Version] Lenau, Nikolaus, (actually Niembsch Edler von Strehlenau; Aug 13, 1802, Csatád, Hungary – Aug 22, 1850, sanatorium Oberdöbling, Austria) was an Austrian lyric poet and writer of epic verse, who combined melancholy with traits of rebellion and social criticism, and was thus exemplary of the inner conflict of his epoch (Biedermeier,
Vormärz ). He wrote atmospheric nature lyrics of great musicality, but also wrote poetry with a commitment to intellectual and political freedom. He employed material from the history o…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Lengeling, Emil Joseph
(178 words)
[German Version] (May 26, 1916, Dortmund – Jun 18, 1986, Münster), a Catholic theologian. In 1941, he was ordained priest; in 1959, he became professor of liturgical studies at the University of Münster; from 1962 to 1965, council adviser at Vatican II. In 1964, he was consultant to the committee for carrying out the liturgical constitution
Sacrosanctum Concilium and to the Roman Congregation for Divine Worship. He was also the facilitator of several study groups on the renewal of the liturgy, which, as the dialogue between God and human beings, was for him the basic accom-¶ plishment of t…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leninism
(967 words)
[German Version] I. Concept – II. Marxism-Leninism as a Worldview – III. The Leninist Concept of the Party – IV. The Leninist Theory of Revolution – V. Assessment
I. Concept In various writings immediately after the death of V. Lenin, J. Stalin coined the term “Leninism” to characterize Marxist theory as elaborated by Lenin. Since the 1920s, the communist parties (Communism) have placed Lenin's writings, in canonical fashion, alongside the works of K. Marx and F. Engels. In the self- concept of the Soviet Communist move…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Lenin, Vladimir Ilich
(440 words)
[German Version] (Apr 22, 1870, Simbirsk [now Ulyanovsk] – Jan 21, 1924, Gorki [now Gorki Leninskiye], near Moscow; pseudonym since 1901 of V. Ilich Ulyanov). On Nov 8, 1917, after the successful October Revolution, the theoretician, organizer, and widely influential spokesman of the radical, Bolshevik wing of Russian social democracy was elected “chairman of the Council of People's Commissars,” thus becoming the head of the Soviet Russian government. In his theoretical works and through his political activity, he laid the foundations of Soviet communism. When he began to study…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Lenten Pastoral Letters
(180 words)
[German Version] Lenten pastoral letters are a special form of episcopal communication at the beginning of Lent (Fasting). The earliest prototypes are the Epistles of the apostles and the letters to local communities in the post-apostolic period. Beginning in the 18th century, these letters took on increasing importance in Germany as Lenten pastoral letters. It is important to distinguish didactic letters from those dealing with ethical, pastoral, and social questions. These letters go back to the…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Lentulus, Letter of
(247 words)
[German Version] The
Letter of Lentulus is an apocryphal “contemporary” description of Jesus' personality and appearance: long, dark brown hair, parted in the middle and curling below his ears, a short, slightly forked beard, bluish-gray eyes; a handsome, serious radiance (cf. Ps 45:3*). First mentioned c. 1350 by Ludolf the Carthusian, it probably dates from the 13th or 14th century (Italy?). It is preserved in manuscripts dating from the 14th through the 16th century. In the 14th and 15th centuries…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Lenz
(564 words)
[German Version]
1. Christian David (Dec 26, 1720, Köslin [Koszalin], Pomerania – Aug 14, 1798, Riga), Lutheran theologian. In 1737 he began theological studies in Halle. In 1739 he was appointed tutor at the girls' school of the Halle orphanage; in 1740/1741 he served as a private tutor in Livonia and from 1742 held various pastorates there. In 1779 he was appointed general superintendent of Livonia. Beginning in 1741, he kept a journal based on the blood-and-wounds theology of N. v. Zinzendorf. In …
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leo Baeck Institute
(158 words)
[German Version] The Leo Baeck Institute was established in Jerusalem, London, and New York in 1955 by the Council of Jews from Germany in order to promote the study of German Jewish history (L. Baeck). The New York institute has a library of 60,000 volumes, ¶ a large art collection, and extensive archives. A branch has been housed since 2001 in the Jewish Museum Berlin. The institute's
Yearbook has been published in London since 1956, while its
Bulletin has been published in Jerusalem, joined recently by the
Jüdischer Almanach. In Germany the institute supports a Wissenschaftliche…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leo, Heinrich
(361 words)
[German Version] (Mar 19, 1799, Rudolstadt – Apr 24, 1878, Halle), Protestant historian. After studying classical philology, philosophy, theology, and history, Leo was appointed associate professor in Berlin in 1825; in 1830 he was appointed full professor in Halle, where he served as rector from 1854 to 1856. After 1832 he was a political conservative and a pietist with catholicizing leanings. He conceptualized his ideal of an organic and systematic state in accordance with the Romantic notion of…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leo III, Pope (Saint)
(362 words)
[German Version] (pope Dec 26, 795 – Jun 12, 816). Born a Roman, Leo was a cleric of the basilica of St. John Lateran and cardinal priest of Sta. Susanna; on the same day Hadrian I was buried, he was “unanimously” elected pope. When he sent notice of his election to Charlemagne, he sent with it the keys to the tomb of Peter and the banner of Rome, strengthening ¶ Charlemagne's ties to the papacy by recognizing him as
patricius of the Romans. Assaulted on Apr 25, 799, by assailants from the Roman opposition hoping to render him unfit for office, he fled to the kingdom of th…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leo I, Pope (Saint)
(440 words)
[German Version] (pope Sep 29, 440 – Nov 10, 461). Born to a Tuscan family, Leo early on played an influential role among the clergy in Rome, where he came forward with important initiatives and measures ¶ to protect the purity of the faith. From his pontificate there survives a substantial literary corpus: 173 letters (30 addressed to him) and 97 sermons. In combination with some other material, this corpus documents his pontificate in considerable detail. The fact that he and Gregory the Great are the only popes honored with the epithet
the Great reflects his towering historical impor…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leo IV, Pope (Saint)
(319 words)
[German Version] (pope Apr 10, 847 – Jul 17, 855). The son of the Roman Radoald, under Pope Gregory IV Leo was made subdeacon and under Pope Sergius II cardinal priest of Santi Quattro Coronati. Already elected in January of 847, he was consecrated by the Romans without imperial assent, supposedly because of the Saracen threat. In the light of earlier depredations, Leo's concern for the city of Rome and the
Patrimonium Petri was especially intense (cf. the
Civitas Leonina). With the support of southern Italy and Roman militias, Leo confronted the Saracens in 849 near Ostia…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leo IX, Pope (Saint)
(296 words)
[German Version] (Bruno von Egisheim, born 1002; pope Feb 12, 1049 – Apr 19, 1054). Court chaplain to Conrad II, then bishop of Toul (1026–1051), Leo was appointed pope in December of 1048 by Henry III. After election by the clergy and people of Rome, he was enthroned on Feb 12, 1049. In numerous synods, Leo urged the need for reforming the church (elimination of simony and concubinage). On his journeys in Italy, France, and Germany, he presided over many dedications of churches and translations o…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leonardo da Vinci
(546 words)
[German Version] (Apr 15, 1452, near Vinci – May 2, 1519, Amboise), Florentine universal artist, scientist, engineer, and theoretician. Born the illegitimate son of a notary and a young peasant woman, he was apprenticed around 1469 to the painter and sculptor Verrocchio. His drawing of a valley dated Aug 5, 1473, is one of the very earliest landscape pictures. In 1481 Leonardo began an
Adoration of the Magi (Florence, Uffizi). Although it remained unfinished, its pyramidal triangular composition coupled with the extremely varied movements and gestures of the fi…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leonard, Saint
(195 words)
[German Version] (feast day Nov 6). There is no historic documentation of his life, but his
vita and legend, which appeared around 1030 with the aim of disseminating what has hitherto been only a local cult, place him in the 6th century. They identify him as a monk in Micy who became a solitary in Noblac, near Limoges ¶ (today Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat), where he founded a monastery. He is said to have been baptized and instructed by Bishop Remigius of Reims and to have been at the court of Clovis. His cult quickly expanded to France, England, Italy, and …
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Léonin and Pérotin
(356 words)
[German Version] (also the school of Notre Dame). According to an English music student in Paris at the end of the 13th century (Anonymous 4), Léonin was the most significant composer of organa (
optimus organista; Organum) in Paris in the period before 1200 (?). If he was an actual historical person, he might be identified with Leonius, a poet born c. 1135. Leonius appears to have earned a master's degree prior to 1179; by 1192 at the latest, he was a priest and a canon of Notre Dame. Probably he did not occupy the position of cantor or succentor. His major work is the
Hystorie sacre gestas ab ori…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leon, Moses ben Shem Tov de
(156 words)
[German Version] (1240, Leon – 1305, Arevalo), the greatest Jewish mystic in the Middle Ages and the main author of the book
Zohar, the central work of the Kabbalah. De Leon mainly studied Jewish philosophy and the writings of M. Maimonides, but later devoted himself to the teachings of the Gerona circle of kabbalists and the kabbalists of Castile. He wrote the
Zohar pseudepigraphically, attributing it to ancient sages; it was composed mainly between 1280 and 1291 and most of it is in an artificial Aramaic which De Leon formulated, though sections were pro…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leontius of Byzantium
(602 words)
[German Version] (c. 490 – shortly after 542) was one of the hermits of the new laura, mentioned in the
Vita Sabae by Cyril of Scythopolis (CPG 7536), who accompanied Sabas to Constantinople in 531 and there defended the dogma of Chalcedon against Monophysites, although he is supposed to have been an Origenist. Since Marcel Richard's critique, anticipated by P. Junglas (1908), of F. Loofs's hypothesis (1887), only five christological treatises transmitted as a corpus are attributed to this Leontius. Since no hint of…
Source:
Religion Past and Present
Leontius of Jerusalem
(358 words)
[German Version] Leontius of Jerusalem, author of two christological treatises (538–544 ce; Neo-Chalcedonism), for which there is as yet no critical edition. Both address the aporias of the author's opponents: Monophysites (CPG 6917) and Nestorians (CPG 6918; Nestorianism). F. Loofs (1887) considered both works nothing more than revised writings of Leontius of Byzantium, but since Marcel Richard's criticism of Loofs's position in 1944, they have been held in much higher esteem, even by scholars who disagre…
Source:
Religion Past and Present