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.
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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
Rebaptism Controversy
(483 words)
[German Version] Cyprian of Carthage and Stephen II of Rome, over whether baptism (III) performed in a heretical or schismatic body should be recognized and whether a convert from such a body should be treated as already baptized. Following longstanding North African tradition (Tert.
Bapt. 15; Council of Carthage under Agrippinus c. 200: Cyp.
Ep. 71.4; 73.3; Eus.
Hist. eccl. VII 7) and the practice of other regions such as Asia Minor (Cyp.
Ep. 75; Eus.
Hist. eccl. VII 5.7), Cyprian answered negatively and was supported by African councils in 255 and 256 (Cyp.
Ep. 70 and 72;
Sententiae episco…
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Religion Past and Present
Rebmann, Johannes
(187 words)
[German Version] (Jan 16, 1820, Gerlingen – Oct 4, 1876, Korntal), trained at the Basel Mission seminary, subsequently took Anglican orders and was sent by the Church Missionary Society to East Africa in 1846. With J.L. Krapf, he lived in Rabai among the Mijikenda, in the hinterland of Mombasa (Kenya), hoping that these people would prove more receptive to the gospel than the Swahili-speaking Muslim population on the coast. Like Krapf, Rebmann came from a ¶ pietist tradition. He conducted a number of exploraty journeys to the Chaga people and was the first to report the…
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Religion Past and Present
Reception
(2,613 words)
[German Version]
I. Fundamental Theology During recent decades, the concept of
reception, originally at home in aesthetics and literary studies, has developed into a highly successful fundamental concept of communication; it emphasizes the decisive role of the recipient in the process of communication (Iser, Jauß). In this sense it also concerns theology, to which the concept is not new but has had its meaning and role more clearly defined. A fundamental distinction must be made. First, there is reception…
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Religion Past and Present
Reception History
(8 words)
[German Version] Effective History/Reception History
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Religion Past and Present
Rechabites
(284 words)
[German Version] The Rechabites (Heb. רֵכָבִים/
rekābîm) are mentioned only in Jer 35. They traced their descent to Jehonadab, son of Rechab (2 Kgs 10:15, 23), who played a supporting role in Jehu’s revolt (9th cent. bce). The etymology of the name is unexplained. The Rechabites’ lifestyle was unusual: they drank no wine and built no houses, living only in tents; they never sowed seeds or planted vineyards. They ascribed these restrictions to the command of Jehonadab ( Jer 35:6f.), which they followed faithfully. God contrasted them in th…
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Religion Past and Present
Rechenberg, Adam
(162 words)
[German Version] (Sep 7, 1642, Leipsdorf, Saxony – Oct 22, 1721, Leipzig). After studying philosophy, history, and theology, Rechenberg began teaching in 1665 at the University of Leipzig; in 1677 he was appointed professor of philology and history. Through his fourth marriage (1686), to P.J. Spener’s eldest daughter Susann Catharina, he had close ties with Pietism. His appointment to succeed J.B. Carpzov (2) as professor of theology in 1699 effected a reversal in the attitude of the Leipzig theological faculty, which had been hostile to Pietism. His 1700 disputation
De gratiae revo…
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Religion Past and Present
Rechristianization
(493 words)
[German Version] Since the French Revolution of 1789, political, cultural, and intellectual changes have all played a part in undermining the dominant role of the church in Europe and America. Christian societies have become increasingly pluralistic (Pluralism) and sometimes secular (Secularism). Some governments have tried to “dechristianize” the people by force (Dechristianization). The pioneer was revolutionary France in 1793/1794 (France). The slogan of rechristianization has had most resonanc…
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Religion Past and Present
Recitative
(165 words)
[German Version] Recitative is a style of vocal music intermediate between speaking and singing. The idea and employment of
Sprechgesang is found in many cultures. In Europe recitative became an important element of serious music with the emergence of opera. Its origin in spoken language is central: it determines the melodic line and above all leads to rhythmic freedom in performance, allowing for a better representation of the text’s drama and emotion. This ability to go beyond the text allowed recitative to beco…
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Religion Past and Present
Recke-Volmerstein, Adelbert von der
(93 words)
[German Version] (May 28, 1791, Overdyck, near Bochum – Nov 10, 1878, Kraschnitz, Silesia [today Krośnice, Poland]), the “father” of the Inland Mission in the Ruhr. An enthusiastic believer in the revival movement (Revival/Revival movements), he established a private “refuge” for poor, orphaned, and neglected children at Overdyck, his family estate, in 1891 and another in Düsselthal, near Düsseldorf, in 1822, thus creating the first diaconal educational institutions in Westphalia and the Rhineland. Gerhard E. Sollbach Bibliography G. Viertel,
Anfänge der Rettungshausbewegu…
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Religion Past and Present
Recluses/Hermits
(442 words)
[German Version] Recluses or hermits are men and women who do penance by shutting themselves (or having themselves shut) into a cell, either for a specific period (usually at the beginning of their lives as ascetics) or for the rest of their lives. This extreme form of asceticism surfaced in the Early Church in all regions of the East where there were monastic settlements (e.g. in Egypt, John of Lycopolis; esp. common in Syria) and came to the West in the 6th century, but it reached its climax in …
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Religion Past and Present
Reclusive Orders
(82 words)
[German Version] (eremitic orders, anchoritic orders). Most of these orders, of both men and women, were established in the 11th century; their traditions go back to the early Christian anchorites. Unlike monastics living a common life (Cenobites), their members largely lived in isolation, requiring a special monastery complex (
eremitorium), highly developed among the Camaldolese and Carthusians. Reclusive strains are also found among the Celestines, Carmelites, and Servites. Manfred Eder Bibliography K.S. Frank, “Einsiedler, Eremit,”
LThK 3 III, 1995, 557–559 (bibl.).
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Religion Past and Present
Reconciliation/Atonement
(6,443 words)
[German Version]
I. Religious Studies In comparison with expiation (I), reconciliation is defined more specifically; as a rule, its goal is to restore a personal relationship undermined by guilt or sin. In reconciliation we are dealing with a category rooted in ¶ the Judeo-Christian tradition that cannot be translated readily into other contexts. In comparison with Western Christianity, the understanding of reconciliation in Judaism displays several distinctive features. As in Christianity, the concept of reconciliation is complementar…
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Religion Past and Present
Reconciliation (in Canon Law)
(164 words)
[German Version] From ancient canon law to
CIC/1917,
reconciliation (Lat.
reconciliatio) denoted the (liturgical) absolution required for a church, cemetery, or altar to be used again after desecration or profanation (
CIC/1917 cc. 1172–1177; 1207). It also denotes reconciliation with God and the church through the sacrament of penance (Repentance: IV, 3.a); cf.
CIC/1983 cc. 959f. and
CCEO cc. 718 and 720 §1) and specifically restoration to full communion with the church through lifting an excommunication incurred through apostasy (Apostate), heresy, …
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Religion Past and Present
Reconquista
(1,117 words)
[German Version] The term
Reconquista was adopted by modern French historians to denote the Christian recapture of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain [see also map], Portugal) between the 8th century and the end of the 15th century, after Arab and Moorish armies had brought down the Visigothic kingdom in 711, bringing the peninsula almost completely under their control and establishing Muslim kingdoms in Al-Andalus south of the Pyrenees and the Cantabrian Mountains. The Reconquista took place in three pha…
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Religion Past and Present
Reconstructionism
(654 words)
[German Version]
I. Judaism Reconstructionist Judaism is the most recent major school of modern Judaism (III) and the only one born ¶ in America. It was founded by the rabbi M.M. Kaplan, who defined Judaism as a “civilization” embracing not just religion but also areas of life like art and music. The movement began as an intellectual tendency in the progressive wing of Conservative Judaism. Only gradually was it able to establish an autonomous organizational structure and independent institutions. The opening of the…
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Religion Past and Present
Recursus ab abusu
(415 words)
[German Version] (
appel comme d’abus) is an appeal of civil authorities against an abuse of power by an ecclesiastical authority transgressing the boundaries drawn by civil law; it was thus (along with the placet) a particularly effective instrument of secular supremacy. It achieved its distinctive form in France in 1539, when it served primarily as a defense against encroachments on Gallican liberties (Gallicanism). The French model also inspired its use in Spain and the Netherlands. Initially legal title was vested in royal church advocacy (Church advocate). The
recursus came in…
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Religion Past and Present
Recursus hierarchicus
(271 words)
[German Version] denotes a complaint lodged with the hierarchical superior of the person who has issued (or should have issued) a decree, charging a legally significant injury. Such an appeal must be brought within a time-limit of 15 days. The regulations governing administrative recourse appear in
CIC/1983 cc. 1772–1739 and
CCEO cc. 996–1006. Special rules governing
recursus also appear in
CIC cc. 166 §§2, 700, and 1740–1752. The complaint must be preceded by an attempt at an equitable solution; as a rule, it must be preceded by a petition to the author…
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Religion Past and Present
Redaction Criticism of the Bible
(1,133 words)
[German Version]
I. Definition In the context of historical biblical scholarship, redaction criticism examines the growth of a text from its first appearance in writing through possible editorial stages to the form reconstructed by text criticism. This process of textual transformation described by redaction criticism is called redaction history. Here
redaction means the written revision of a text (either formerly retold orally or already in writing) and its recasting as a new whole. When it is understood in this sense, a distinction between “c…
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Religion Past and Present
Red Cross
(866 words)
[German Version]
I. The International Red Cross Movement. Sympathy and concern for the victims of war first reached a substantial public in the Crimean War (1854–1856), when a report of the British nurse F. Nightingale (who had spent some time at Kaiserswerth, during her training) drew attention throughout Europe to conditions in the Crimea. Her report also made an impression on Henry Dunant (1828–1910), a businessman from an upper-class family in Geneva. At the end of June in the same year, he vis…
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Religion Past and Present
Redeemer
(4,527 words)
[German Version]
I. Religious Studies Religious studies has adopted the term
redeemer from the biblical language of Christianity to represent Latin
redemptor (Vulgate) and Greek ῥυόμενος/
rhyómenos or λυτρωτής/
lytrōtḗs (Job 19:25; Isa 63:16; Acts 7:35; Rom 11:26). Luther used
Erlöser (“redeemer”) in these cases, but
Heiland (“savior”) to represent Latin
salvator and Greek σωτήρ/
sōtḗr. The terms are synonymous in both German and English. The worldwide use of the term in non-Christian contexts has increasingly made it part of the metalinguistic te…
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Religion Past and Present
Redemption/Soteriology
(10,262 words)
[German Version]
I. Terminology All the major concepts in soteriology have biblical roots. Of central importance today is the notion of reconciliation (II), which bridges the theological and secular realms. The original Greek word καταλλαγή/
katallagḗ involves the notion of
exchange, which was early taken to imply that Christ takes the place of the sinner before God, so realizing
atonement (at-one-ment) and making expiation. Associated ideas include substitution and
representation, which conceive Christ as standing in for the sinner before God. Particular theolo…
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Religion Past and Present
Redemptive Religion
(9 words)
[German Version] Typology of Religion, Redemption/Soteriology
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Religion Past and Present
Redemptorists (Liguorians)
(434 words)
[German Version] (Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, Congregatio Sanctissimi Redemptoris; CSR). The order was founded in 1732 in Scala, near Naples, by A.M. Liguori together with the Carmelite nun and mystic M. Celeste Crostarosa (1696–1755) and Tommaso Falcoia (1663–1743), bishop of Castellammare di Stabia. It is a congregation of priests who take simple life vows; its aim is sanctification through faithful discipleship and apostolic work. The members are to engage in extraordinary pastoral …
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Religion Past and Present
Redenbacher, Wilhelm
(145 words)
[German Version] (Jul 12, 1800, Pappenheim – Jul 14, 1876, Dornhausen) studied Protestant theology at Erlangen from 1819 to 1823 and became a pastor in Bavaria, where he wrote numerous short works and popular tales. From 1830 to 1834 he edited the
Nördlinger Sonntagsblatt. In 1843 he was suspended from office on account of his appeal to Protestant soldiers during the so-called kneeling controversy (over an order requiring them to kneel before the Catholic consecrated host). Redenbacher moved to Saxony as a pastor but was able to return to a pastorate in Bavaria in 1852. Ulrich Schwab Biblio…
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Religion Past and Present
Reductions
(772 words)
[German Version] (Indians in Latin America). The term
reduction (Span.
reduccion) was used in three senses in America: (1) the process of gathering Indians into settlements or villages, (2) the settlement itself, and (3) the whole territory of the settlements, based on geographical or missionary criteria. The reduction project was designed to concentrate the indigenous population in settlements to be integrated into a “political and human life,” which presupposed giving up certain practices incompatible w…
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Religion Past and Present
Reed, Luther Dotterer
(232 words)
[German Version] (Mar 21, 1873, North Wales, PA – Apr 3, 1972, Philadelphia, PA), began a pastoral ministry in Pennsylvania in 1895, then became a professor at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, director of its library, and also its president. He also held the first chair in liturgics and church art in a Lutheran seminary in the United States. He founded the Lutheran Liturgical Association and was a member of the American Guild of Organists, the Hymn Society of America, and the joint committee that prepared the text and music of the
Common Service Book of 1917. He chaired …
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Religion Past and Present
Reflection
(469 words)
[German Version] In everyday language,
reflection is synonymous with
contemplation or
critical consideration. In this usage, it loses the specific element of reflexivity (self-reference) that it has by etymology (Lat.
reflectere, “bend back”) and has been central to its philosophical use.
Reflectio was used in this sense in the High Middle Ages (e.g. by Thomas Aquinas) as an alternative to
reditio in seipsum to translate Greek
epistrophḗ, which Neoplatonists like Proclus used for the return of the mind to itself. Later thinkers like Nicholas of Cusa could make
reflectio an organiz…
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Religion Past and Present
Reformation
(7,266 words)
[German Version]
I. Terminology Today we limit the term
Reformation (from Lat.
reformatio) exclusively to the events set in motion by M. Luther, ¶ U. Zwingli, and other Reformers, which led in the course of the 16th century to a cleavage within Western Christendom that has lasted to this day. Until well into the 19th century, however, the term still had its original, broader sense of reform (Reform, Idea of), under which the event we call the Reformation was subsumed. It was the appearance of the French word
réforme in the 17th century, borrowed into German in the course of the 19t…
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Religion Past and Present
Reformation Day
(308 words)
[German Version] To commemorate Luther’s posting of his theses on the eve of All Saints’ Day in 1517, the continental churches of the Reformation and the Lutheran churches in the United States observe Oct 31 (or the following Sunday) as Reformation Day (officially
Gedenktag der Reformation, “Commemoration Day of the Reformation”). The choice of this date goes back to the sesquicentennial celebration of the theses in 1667 as decreed by John George II of Saxony. Previously the Reformation had often been commemorated on the anniversary of its…
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Religion Past and Present
Reformation of Sigismund
(267 words)
[German Version] The
Reformation of Sigismund (
Reformatio Sigismundi) is an anonymous program of reform, written in German, which was published in 1439 under the name of the emperor Sigismund during the Council of Basel. It comprises a preface, a program of ecclesiastical and imperial reform, Sigismund’s dream vision, and two appendices. The document bemoans abuses throughout the Empire, which have arisen from the entanglement of spiritual and secular power; it therefore demands that the whole church c…
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Religion Past and Present
Reform Catholicism
(1,223 words)
[German Version]
I. Terminology Reform Catholicism was described by the Catholic theologian and man of letters Joseph Müller in his
Der Reformkatholizismus, die Religion der Zukunft (1899), which combined conspicuous orthodoxy with criticism of Neoscholasticism and demands for disciplinary reform (including synods, vitalization of the laity, social work, an end to confessional polemic, modern training of the clergy, reform of the
Index, and keeping political Catholicism at arm’s length). The book was placed on the
Index in 1891, and the pope commended the polemic of Pa…
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Religion Past and Present
Reformed Christianity
(7 words)
[German Version] Reformed Churches
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Religion Past and Present
Reformed Churches
(9,343 words)
[German Version]
I. History and Theology
1. Terminology. For programmatic theological reasons, the Reformed churches rejected the exonym
Calvinist churches. They referred to themselves as Reformed churches because they did not think of themselves as new churchdoms alongside the one holy church but as a part of that church, albeit as part of it renewed according to God’s Word in Holy Scripture. In speaking of themselves, therefore, they eschewed references to a theological founder or a particular place of origin. The 17th-century formula
ecclesia reformata semper reformanda means …
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Religion Past and Present
Reformed Colleges in Germany
(481 words)
[German Version] One of the central demands of the Wittenberg and Swiss Reformation was thorough theological education of all future clergy. In Lutheran territories, Reformed theological faculties in ¶ the existing universities served this function, but initially in Reformed territories such institutions were largely lacking. Only three existing comprehensive universities intermittently offered Reformed instruction: Heidelberg from 1559 to 1578 and from 1583 to 1662, Marburg between 1605 and 1624 and again after 1653, Frank…
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Religion Past and Present
Reform, Idea of
(2,727 words)
[German Version] In classical Latin, the verb
reformare and the associated noun
reformatio already denoted a transformation for the better: restoration of an earlier human condition, since lost (morality e.g. Pliny the Younger
Panegyricus 53.1: “corruptos depravatosque mores . . . reformare et corrigere”; bodily health e.g. Theodorus Priscianus
Euproiston 1.38: “oculorum aciem reformare”), or physical objects (e.g. Solinus,
Collectanea rerum memorabilium 40.5: “templum reformare”) or improvement without regard to the past (e.g. Sen.
Ep. 58.26: “reformatio morum”;
Ep. 94.5…
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Religion Past and Present
Reformierter Bund
(973 words)
[German Version]
I. History The Reformed League (Reformierter Bund) was founded in August 1884 at a conference in Marburg commemorating the 400th anniversary of Zwingli’s birth; as a registered association, its purpose was defined as “preservation and cultivation of the goods and bounties of the Reformed Church.” It was conceived as a loose association of churches, congregations, and individual members, seeking to strengthen Reformed identity in light of the Lutheran preponderance in Germany, which…
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Religion Past and Present
Reform Judaism
(575 words)
[German Version] The Reform movement in Judaism (III) emerged as a religious response to the increasing intellectual, social, and political integration of Jews in Central Europe, especially Germany, during the first decades of the 19th century. The debate with the Enlightenment had raised questions as to the viability of traditional Judaism in the modern world and evoked a clearly perceptible need to adapt Judaism to the new conditions of Jewish life outside the medieval ghetto. Reforms were introduced in worship, including greater emphasis on external norms of conduct…
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Religion Past and Present
Refugee Aid
(690 words)
[German Version] The Bible can be called a book by refugees for refugees. The patriarch Abraham was himself a refugee. A famine drove him to journey to Egypt to survive (Gen 12:10). His descendants were exploited and oppressed in Egypt. The exodus from Egypt shows that God protects refugees, accompanying them and identifying with them. In their confession of faith, the people of Israel recall their experiences as refugees (Deut 26:5ff.). It followed that they would not oppress aliens in their own land. The New Testament speaks of Jesus’ flight to Egypt with his family (Matt 2:…
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Religion Past and Present
Refugee Issue
(986 words)
[German Version] Refugees are people who leave their native region or country out of justified fear of persecution on account of their political beliefs or ethnic background. In recent years, persecution on account of one’s sex has also been recognized as grounds for flight. If flight or departure is imposed by force, we speak of displaced or deported persons. According to the Geneva Convention on Refugees, individuals who flee to another country may in principle claim asylum or have their applica…
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Religion Past and Present
Regeneration
(2,576 words)
[German Version]
I. Religious History
1. Since the dawn of time, human birth has been associated with many religious ideas, rituals, and customs, including the idea of rebirth or regeneration. As a rite of passage (Rites of passage), birth is not merely a natural process; it can repeat a previous birth, view death as a passage to new life, or distinguish within a lifetime between a corporeal and a spiritual birth, separated by a ritual death. The Greek terminology is not uniform, using ἀναγεννᾶν/
anagennán, ἀναβιοῦν/
anabioún, μεταγεννᾶν/
metagennán, πάλιν γίνεσϑαι/
pálingínesthai, an…
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Religion Past and Present
Regensburg
(644 words)
[German Version] (Ratisbon). In the 4th/5th century, the Roman legionary fortress Castra Regina, established in 179 ce, and its associated civilian settlement were already home to a Christian community (without a bishop). There is sparse evidence of continuity into the early Middle Ages. As the principal residence of the dukes of Bavaria, Regensburg became a center for the activity of several court and missionary bishops (St. Emmeram, Erhard). The canonical erection of the bishopric took place in 739; in 798 it…
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Religion Past and Present
Reger, Max
(302 words)
[German Version] (Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian; Mar 19, 1873, Brand, Bavaria – May 11, 1916, Leipzig), composer. Reger was born to a lower middle class family. Familiar with L. van Beethoven and J. Brahms at an early age, he was deeply moved by a visit to Bayreuth in 1888. In 1890 he began studying music with H. Riemann. These years were marked by existential crises; later, too, he had to battle against depression and alcoholism. He married in Munich in 1902; in 1907 he moved to Leipzig and in 1911 to Meiningen. He was influenced only peripherally by R. Wagner and program music. Hi…
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Religion Past and Present
Regino of Prüm
(209 words)
[German Version] (died 915, Trier) appears for the first time in sources in 892, when he was elected abbot of Prüm. He was driven from office in 899 and found refuge in Trier, where the archbishop appointed him abbot of St. Martin’s. He is buried in the abbey of St. Maximin in Trier. Regino is noted as the author of a handbook on canon law (906), intended for use in visitations by the bishop’s synodal court, and a world chronicle from the birth of Christ to the year 906 (completed in 908); its con…
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Religion Past and Present
Regional Church
(1,032 words)
[German Version] The term
regional church (Ger.
Landeskirche) denotes a church of or within a particular territory. Against the background of the church’s claim to be universal, of course, such a circumscription is ecclesiologically problematic. The semantic scope of the term is therefore limited to describing manifestations of the visible church in the sense of legally constituted bodies. We are therefore dealing here with a term and concept of church law, both ecclesiastical and (esp. in historical perspective) civil. Catholic church polity with its hierarchical structur…
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Religion Past and Present
Regional Deanery
(194 words)
[German Version] Regional Deanery, also called a district deanery, is a coalition of neighboring deaneries (Dean) to foster pastoral care through common action. Their legal basis is CD 30, the
motu proprio Ecclesiae Sanctae I, 19 §1; the
Directorium Apostolorum successores, 2004, no. 2; and
CIC/1983 c. 374 §2. The Gemeinsame Synode der Bistümer der Bundesrepublik Deutschland had already provided for midlevel regional deaneries above the local deanery level, without making them mandatory. The function of regional deaneries, their relationsh…
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Religion Past and Present
Regional Superintendent
(134 words)
[German Version] In Reformed churches (Lippe, Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirche), a regional superintendent (Ger.
Landessuperintendent) is a member of the clergy in the administration of the regional church; unlike the
Präses (Synod, Head of ), his office is not rooted in presiding over the synod but in belonging to the church’s administrative body. The additional functions of religious leadership assigned to him in Lippe make the office of regional superintendent there rather like that of a bishop. Beyond the ambit of the Re…
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Religion Past and Present
Register
(276 words)
[German Version] Register, from Latin
regerere (“record, list”). A register is a form of indexing by an editor that summarizes the content and the most important source-critical data of an archival manuscript or early modern document. Archival registers were already in use by medieval registrars. As a form of index, a register is intended to take the inquirer to the source by recording the substantial and legal content of documents and their provenience, not to replace the use of the sources themselves. Comprehensive diplomatic treatment is not the goal. Editions of registered archi…
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Religion Past and Present
Registration, Church
(568 words)
[German Version] Today the church registration system in Germany has its legal basis in the federal civil registration law and the supplemental registration laws of the several
Länder. Originally it served only the interests of the security police, making sure that the state could reach any citizen at any time; as the modern social state developed, it became primarily a tool for collecting and recording general personal information. As in the case of the civil registration system, the constitutional right of negative free…
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Religion Past and Present
Regula fidei
(604 words)
[German Version] The expression
regula fidei (Gk κανὼν τῆς πίστεως/
kanṓn tḗs písteōs) appeared as a technical Christian term shortly before 200 ce, in several contexts. ¶ (a) In the controversy over the date of Easter (Paschal/Easter calendrical controversies), it denoted the normative practice of the church (Eusebius of Caesarea
Hist. eccl. V 24.6). (b) Although Irenaeus of Lyon did not use it in his
Adversus haereses (which has eight occurrences of
regula veritatis), it is assumed in his
Epideixis 3. (c) In the work of Clement of Alexandria, it appears only in
Stromata IV 98.3, whe…
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Religion Past and Present
Regular Clergy
(317 words)
[German Version] (
clerici regulares) in the broad sense are clerical members of an order or congregation, in contrast to secular or diocesan clergy (
clerici saeculares); in the Middle Ages and the early modern period, the term was extended to include canons regular. In the narrow sense, the term denotes the members of the new religious orders formed in the 16th and 17th centuries in the name of Catholic reform. They are characterized by life in community based on the counsels of perfection and solemn vows. Instead of r…
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Religion Past and Present
Rehabilitation
(715 words)
[German Version]
I. Social and Ethical Issues Rehabilitation means the totality of all necessary measures to mitigate, eliminate, and permanently prevent a physical or mental impairment. It is intended to prompt positive changes and restore skills and capabilities, or in the case of permanent impairment to achieve adaptation and compensation. The goal of rehabilitation is to restore the ability to lead an independent and self-determined life, taking into account the available resources and competencies…
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Religion Past and Present
Rehoboam
(296 words)
[German Version] Rehoboam, king of Judah (926–910 bce; Kingship [in Israel]), son and successor of Solomon. When he acceded to the throne, the central and northern tribes (Tribes of Israel) exercised their right to speak and demanded that their burden of tribute and forced labor be reduced. When he refused, they announced their separation from the Davidic dynasty and made Jeroboam I king (1 Kgs 12:1–17). This “division of the kingdom” marked the beginning of Israel and Judah as separate states. The invasion of Palestine by the pharaoh Shishak during the reign of Rehoboam aff…
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Religion Past and Present
Reichelt, Karl Ludvig
(169 words)
[German Version] (Sep 1, 1877, Arendal, Norway – Mar 13, 1952, Hong Kong) arrived in 1902 in Hunan, China, as a missionary with the Norwegian Missionary Society (NMS; Norwegian missions). Visiting the Buddhist Weishan monastery in 1905, he made the decision to start a certain Bhuddist mission, at first within the NMS. In 1922 a brotherhome for Buddhist monks was established in Nanking (demolished in 1927). Accused of syncretism, he left NMS in 1926 to be supported by Scandinavian Christian ¶ Missions to Buddhists. In 1931 a brotherhome and center, Tao Fong Shan (TFS), was bu…
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Religion Past and Present
Reichenau
(404 words)
[German Version] Reichenau, the largest island in Lake Constance, is near the city of Constance, a former episcopal see; it takes its name from the former Benedictine abbey in Mittelzell. Tradition has it that Pirmin, an itinerant bishop, founded the abbey in 724. After a personal union with the see of Constance that lasted from c. 736 to 782, under Charlemagne Reichenau joined the ranks of the imperial abbeys; its abbot Waldo (786–806) was one of the most influential of Charlemagne’s paladins as …
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Religion Past and Present
Reichsbruderrat
(66 words)
[German Version] The Reichsbruderrat (“Fraternal Council”) was formed in 1934 as the executive body of the Confessing Church. After several of its members were arrested in 1937, it suspended its meetings until 1945. When the constitution of the Evangelical Church in Germany took effect in 1948, it declared its executive function ended, but it continued to address the public on current issues. Carsten Nicolaisen
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Religion Past and Present
Reichskirche
(1,120 words)
[German Version] The German term
Reichskirche (“imperial church”), scarcely found in historical sources, denotes the post-Constantinian (Constantine the Great) synthesis of civil and ecclesiastical sovereignty in the “Roman Empire,” whose claim of universal dominion made it different from other states. Only in this sense does the term differ from analogous realities in other territories, called state churches, national churches, or regional churches.
I. Imperium Romanum A constitutive element of the Roman imperial church was its attachment to the figure of th…
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Religion Past and Present
Reichskonkordat
(493 words)
[German Version] (Reich concordat), a concordat between the German Reich and the Holy See, signed on Aug 20, 1933, to take effect on Sep 10, 1933. The initiative for the concordat came from the German government, which was prepared to accommodate the wishes of the church in the school question while hoping to “depoliticize” the clergy after the model of the Lateran concordat (Lateran treaties) and thus crush political Catholicism. The theory that prospects for such a concordat played a role in the…
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Religion Past and Present
Reichslieder
(284 words)
[German Version] (“Songs of the Reich”), hymnal of the
Gemeinschaftsbewegung (Community Movement). The first edition (300 hymns) appeared in 1892, edited by Johannes Röschmann. The material was greatly influenced by the Anglo-American revival movement (Revival/Revival movements; I.D. Sankey,
Sacred Songs and Solos). The 1901 edition contained 450 hymns. The edition of 1909 had 654, with more attention to German hymns from the age of Pietism and the 19th century; it was reprinted unchanged in 1924, 1948, 1962, and 1991. A sweeping revis…
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Religion Past and Present
Reichsregiment
(402 words)
[German Version] (“imperial council of regency”). In the context of imperial reform in the German Reich, the estates labored to secure their participation in the imperial government, institutionalized in a
Reichsregiment. Emperor Maximilian I initially opposed the plan but in 1500 had to accede to it. A decree of Jul 2, 1500, established a
Reichsregiment to sit permanently in ¶ Nuremberg and, with the emperor, to exercise the rights of the diet (Reichstag), which met only once a year, and decide all political issues, domestic and foreign. The council had…
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Religion Past and Present
Reichstag
(917 words)
[German Version] (Imperial Diet). As a constitutive institution of the Holy Roman Empire in the early modern period, the
Reichstag emerged in the context of imperial reform in the late 15th century from an amalgamation of two medieval precursors: the
Hoftag or court council, at which the rulers took counsel with the great lords concerning the most important matters affecting the Empire, and the
Königsloser Tag, a diet without the ruler, held during a vacancy or in opposition. The special status of the prince-electors, a product of their special responsibility…
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Religion Past and Present
Reich, Wilhelm
(162 words)
[German Version] (Mar 24, 1897, Dobrianychi, Galicia – Nov 3, 1957, Lewisburg, PA), physician, psychoanalyst, and until 1927 colleague of S. Freud in Vienna. He radicalized Freud’s theories about sex and linked them with ideas from Marxist socialism. After periods in the Soviet Union, Berlin, and Scandinavia, he emigrated to the United States in 1939. He developed “vegetotherapy,” therapy of “muscular armor” or tension, which is both an expression of character tensions and a defense against discha…
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Religion Past and Present
Reid, Thomas
(350 words)
[German Version] (Apr 26, 1710, Strachan, Aberdeenshire – Oct 7, 1797, Glasgow), Scottish philosopher who, like his German contemporary I. Kant, developed his views in response to the idealist/skeptical tradition in early modern philosophy (III, 1). An ordained minister, Reid taught philosophy in Aberdeen and Glasgow. His Common Sense school (Common Sense Realism), which included Dugald Stewart, James Beattie, George Campbell, and others, was influential in Britain, Germany, and America. Reid’s own works fell out of favor in the 1…
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Religion Past and Present
Reihing, Jakob
(218 words)
[German Version] (Jan 6, 1579, Augsburg – May 5, 1628, Tübingen), born to a patrician family, attended the Jesuit college in Augsburg; in Ingolstadt he began studying philosophy in 1594 and theology in 1602. In 1597 he joined the Jesuit order in Landsberg am Lech and was ordained priest in 1604. In 1606 he began lecturing in controversial theology at the Jesuit college in Munich; in 1608 he became professor of philosophy in Ingolstadt. After receiving his doctorate in theology in 1613, he was appo…
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Religion Past and Present
Reik, Theodor
(235 words)
[German Version] (May 12, 1888, Vienna – Dec 31, 1969, New York) studied psychology and Germanic and Romance philology in Vienna, where he became acquainted with S. Freud in 1910. In 1912 he wrote
Die Psychogenese von Flauberts “Versuchung des heiligen Antonius,” the first dissertation written in the spirit of psychoanalysis; in the years that followed, he wrote on the psychology of artists, sexual psychology, and criminal psychology, as well as the psychology of religion. He practiced in Vienna from 1918 to 1928, then in Berlin; in 19…
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Religion Past and Present
Reimarus, Hermann Samuel
(495 words)
[German Version] (Dec 22, 1694, Hamburg – Mar 1, 1768, Hamburg), began studying theology, philosophy, and philology at Jena in 1714 and moved to Wittenberg in 1716, where he received his M.A. in 1717 and was appointed adjunct on the philosophical faculty in 1719. From 1720 to 1722 he took a study trip to Leiden, Oxford, and London. After a brief teaching stint in Wittenberg, he was appointed rector of the municipal school in Wismar and in 1728 (not 1727) professor of Hebrew and Oriental languages …
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Religion Past and Present
Reims
(113 words)
[German Version] Reims, French city of 180,000 in Champagne (Marne), settled by Celts (
Remi); under the Romans, it was the capital of the province of Belgica Secunda. At the end of the 5th century, it was already the site of an episcopal see (Remigius of Reims). In 999 Pope Silvester II granted the bishops of Reims the privilege of crowning the kings of France (until 1825). The 13th-century cathedral of Reims is a noted example of Gothic architecture (Church architecture: I, 2.c). Reims was confirmed as an archbishopric in the concordat of 1817. There has been a university in Reims since 1959. G…
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Religion Past and Present
Reina, Cassiodoro de
(105 words)
[German Version] (c. 1520, Seville [?] – Mar 15, 1594, Frankfurt am Main). On account of his Protestant views, in 1557 he fled from Spain to the Netherlands, England, and finally Frankfurt am Main. From 1559 to 1563 he served as pastor to the Spanish Protestant community in London and from 1578 to 1585 as pastor to the Lutheran community in Antwerp. Later he spent most of his time in Frankfurt. His most important work, a Spanish translation of the Bible, was published in Basel in 1569. Christoph Strohm Bibliography A.G. Kinder,
Cassiodoro de Reina: Spanish Reformer of the 16th Century, 1975
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Religion Past and Present
Reinach, Salomon
(180 words)
[German Version] (Aug 29, 1858, Saint-Germain-en-Laye – Nov 4, 1932, Paris), French art historian and archaeologist, specializing in the classical world; cofounder of the iconological method (
Cultes, mythes et réligions, vol. I, 1905; ET [selections]:
Cults, Myths and Religions, 1912). The second son of a banking family, he was interested in ancient Greek civilization and art history in general. From 1902 he served as director of the Musée des Antiquités Nationales; in the same year he was also appointed to a chair (
Professeur de numismatique) at the Collège de France. His scho…
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Religion Past and Present
Reinald of Dassel
(222 words)
[German Version] (c. 1120 – Aug 14, 1167, in the camp of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa outside Rome), son of Count Reinold of Dassel of Lower Saxony, archbishop of Cologne 1159–1167. After studying at the cathedral school in Hildesheim and probably in Paris, before 1156 he became incumbent of priories in Hildesheim, Goslar, Münster, Maastricht, and Xanten. In 1156 Emperor Frederick Barbarossa appointed him chancellor. In 1159, on the emperor’s initiative, he was elected archbishop of Cologne. In 11…
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Religion Past and Present
Reinbeck, Johann Gustav
(271 words)
[German Version] ( Jan 25, 1683, Celle – Aug 21, 1741, Schönwald bei Berlin), Lutheran theologian. After beginning his studies at Halle in 1700 with P. Anton and J.J. Breithaupt, he became a disciple ¶ of J.F. Buddeus and later of C. Wolff. In 1709 he became an adjunct to J. Porst in Berlin, where he was ordained to preach in 1710. In 1717 he was appointed provost of Berlin-Cölln and made a consistorial councilor. In making the transition from Pietism to the early Enlightenment, Reinbeck became one of the forerunners of Enlighte…
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Religion Past and Present
Reincarnation
(1,423 words)
[German Version]
I. The word
reincarnation, like the similar expression transmigration of souls (I), from which it is generally not distinguished, refers to various notions of how a person’s soul or spirit may be reembodied for a new life (or series of lives) on earth. A possible terminological distinction might be made between transmigration and reincarnation by restricting
reincarnation primarily to the modern Western variant first proposed by G.E. Lessing (
Die Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts, 1780, §§94ff.; ET:
The Education of the Human Race, 1858), but a certain overla…
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Religion Past and Present
Rein, Conrad
(115 words)
[German Version] (Rain; c. 1475 – before Dec 3, 1522, Copenhagen?), composer. Rein, who came from Arnstadt, served from 1502 to 1515 as rector of the Holy Spirit hospice school in Nuremberg, where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1507. Later he was a singer and probably the first director of the Danish court singers in Copenhagen (Denmark). With his compositions, of which more than 20 survive, he made a distinct contribution to the development of mass and motet composition in the early 16th century. Friedhelm Brusniak Bibliography F. Brusniak,
Conrad Rein, 1980 (Ger.)
idem, “Zur Ident…
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Religion Past and Present
Reinhard, Franz Volkmar
(121 words)
[German Version] (Mar 12, 1753, Vohenstrauß, Upper Palatinate – Sep 6, 1812, Dresden). In 1792 Reinhard was called from Wittenberg to serve as senior preacher to the court at Dresden; there he developed into the most celebrated pulpit orator of the Enlightenment. Theologically a supranaturalist, philosophically a Wolffian (C. Wolff), politically an opponent of the French Revolution, Napoleon, and emergent liberalism, he sought to improve those who heard him religiously and morally. His star waned with the dawn of the revival movement. Christian-Erdmann Schott Bibliography E. Bay…
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Religion Past and Present
Reinhold, Karl Leonhard
(221 words)
[German Version] (Oct 26, 1757, Vienna – Apr 10, 1823, Kiel), trained by the Jesuits to teach philosophy, Reinhold joined the Illuminati in 1783; in 1784 he and C.M. Wieland began publishing
Der Teutsche Merkur. In the same year, he converted to Protestantism. With his eight
Briefe über die Kantische Philosophie (1786;
Letters on the Kantian Philosophy, 2006), he succeeded in becoming the pioneer of post-Kantian systematic philosophy in Germany. Appointed professor of philosophy in Jena in 1787, in his system of “Elementary Philosophy” he sought to s…
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Religion Past and Present
Reinkens, Joseph Hubert
(380 words)
[German Version] (Mar 1, 1821, Burtscheid, near Aachen – Jan 4, 1896, Bonn), church historian and in 1873 the first bishop of the German Old Catholics. He studied theology, philosophy, and classical philology in Bonn, then attended seminary in Cologne. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1848 and received his doctorate at Munich in 1849. Because of his association ¶ with the circle surrounding A. Günther in Bonn, Archbishop J. v. Geissel prevented him from receiving his
Habilitation there; he finally received it in 1850 at Breslau (Wrocław), where he then taught as a lec…
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Religion Past and Present
Reinking, Dietrich
(292 words)
[German Version] (Reinkingk, since 1650: v. Reinking; Mar 10, 1590, Windau, Courland [today Ventspils, Latvia] – Dec 15, 1664, Glückstadt), outstanding Lutheran politician and scholar of constitutional law. After occupying a chair at Giessen, from 1618 he held high offices of state in Hesse-Darmstadt, Mecklenburg, archepiscopal Bremen (representing the archdiocese at the 1648 peace negotiations in Osnabrück), and Denmark. His most important academic work,
Tractatus de regimine seculari et ecclesiastico (1619, 71717), characterizes the Empire as a monarchy of the em…
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Religion Past and Present
Rein, Wilhelm
(198 words)
[German Version] (Aug 10, 1847, Eisenach – Feb 19, 1929, Jena). After studying Protestant theology and educational theory, Rein taught in Barmen and Weimar before becoming director of the teachers’ seminary in Eisenach. After his appointment as honorary professor at Jena in 1886 (made full professor in 1912), he became a central figure in university training of teachers in the Empire. He worked within the pedagogical tradition of J.F. Herbart’s disciples (“Herbartians”). The core of his educationa…
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Religion Past and Present
Reisach, Karl August, Count of
(190 words)
[German Version] ( Jul 6, 1800, Roth, near Nuremberg – Dec 22, 1869, Contamine-sur-Arve, Geneva Canton). After earning his Dr.iur., Reisach studied theology at the Collegium Germanicum in Rome. In 1828 he was ordained to the priesthood. In 1836 he was appointed bishop of Eichstätt, in 1841 bishop coadjutor and in 1846 archbishop of Munich and Freising. In 1855 he was named a curial cardinal. A member of several Roman congregations, in 1862 he was appointed prefect of the Congregation of Studies an…
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Religion Past and Present
Reiser, Friedrich
(210 words)
[German Version] (c. 1401, Deutach, near Donauwörth – Mar 6, 1458, Straßburg [Strasbourg]), Waldensian-Hussite leader. Reiser, the son of a Waldensian merchant, was sent c. 1418 to Nuremberg to study with Hans v. Plauen; there he became acquainted with the English Wycliffite Peter Payne. As an itinerant preacher in southern Germany, through Fribourg (Switzerland) he also made contact with Francophone Waldenses. ¶ In 1428 he joined a band of Taborite soldiers in Austria and stayed in Bohemia for some time, where he became familiar with Hussite beliefs ( J. …
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Religion Past and Present
Reitzenstein, Richard
(198 words)
[German Version] (Apr 2, 1861, Breslau – Mar 23, 1931, Göttingen), classical philologist and historian of religion who became a
Privatdozent in Breslau in 1888 and, from 1889 onward, professor in Rostock, Giessen, Strasbourg, Freiburg im Breisgau, and, from 1914, in Göttingen. As a representative of the history-of-religions school, Reitzenstein published pioneering but methodologically insecure studies of ancient syncretism, Gnosticism (Gnosis), and Manichaeism. Reitzenstein was largely responsible for the “oriental” ¶ derivation model of Gnosticism; this culminate…
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Religion Past and Present
Reitz, Johann Heinrich
(187 words)
[German Version] (Jun 24, 1655, Oberdiebach – Nov 25, 1720, Wesel), Reformed theologian. After studies in Heidelberg (1675), Bremen (1678), Herborn, and Leiden (1679), he became rector in Frankenthal. In 1681 he became a pastor in Freinsheim, in 1689 inspector in Ladenburg, in 1694 pastor in Asslar, and in 1695 court chaplain and inspector in Braunfels. Under the influence of B.C. Klopfer and H. Horch, he was won to the cause of separatism and chiliasm (Millenarianism) and was removed from office …
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Religion Past and Present
Rejection
(396 words)
[German Version] As the opposite of election or salvation by God, and in divergence from common linguistic usage in dogmatics, rejection must be distinguished from damnation in so far as it is not necessarily associated with eschatological consequences in terms of definitive exclusion from salvation (Kingdom of God: IV). The apostle Paul’s struggle over the fate of the chosen people of Israel, in the face of their widespread non-acceptance of the new covenant of God with all humankind in Jesus Chr…
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Religion Past and Present
Rej, Mikolaj
(149 words)
[German Version] (Feb 4, 1505, Żórawno near Halicz – Oct 4, 1569, Rejowiec near Lublin), member of the landed nobility who, as a versatile and prolific poet, became the “father of Polish literature.” A staunch supporter of the Reformation, he published his extensive
Postilla in 1557. The work was reissued many times and was also translated into Lithuanian and Ruthene. It is permeated with praise of simple trust in God. He had already published his Polish translation of the Psalms in 1546. His last prose work,
The Mirror (
Zwierciadło, 1568), was the most highly regarded by his conte…
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Religion Past and Present
Reland, Hadrian
(179 words)
[German Version] (
Relandus, Reelant; Hadrianus, Adriaan; Jul 17, 1676, Rijp – Feb 5, 1718, Utrecht) was appointed professor in Harderwijk in 1699 and professor of oriental languages in Utrecht in 1701, from 1703 also for Hebrew antiquities. The works
Analecta Rabbinica (1702) and
Antiquitates sacrae veterum Hebraeorum (1705) were followed by his main work
Palaestina ex monumentis veteribus illustrata (1716), which was compiled almost entirely from ancient sources (part 1: onomastics and geography; patr 2: distances; part 3: lexicon of all place names).
De religione Mohammedica (…
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Religion Past and Present
Relationality
(1,774 words)
[German Version]
I. Philosophy of Religion The importance of the insight that the concept of relationality represents an essential factor in understanding reality (along with its origins and purpose) has only recently been fully recognized, although intellectual history may be seen as a quest for this insight. This is illustrated by the fact that Western philosophy can be divided into a Heraclitean type (Heraclitus), which emphasizes the priority of the Many, and a Parmenidian type (Parmenides, Being)…
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Religion Past and Present
Relativity, Theory of
(578 words)
[German Version] A. Einstein arrived at his special relativity theory in the year 1905, primarily on the basis of mathematical and conceptional inconsistencies emerging between the theory of electromagnetism as illustrated by Maxwell’s equations (J.C. Maxwell) and I. Newton’s principle of relative motion (Determinism and indeterminism). The manner in which he constructed his theory was largely determined by two factors: an empirical/operational definition of theoretical concepts and an aesthetical…
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Religion Past and Present
Relics
(5,513 words)
[German Version]
I. Religious Studies Relics are the remains (Lat.
reliquiae) of individuals endowed with power, such as warriors, chiefs, sorcerers, heroes, prophets, martyrs, and saints – their bodies, their clothing, or objects they have used. Veneration of relics reflects the belief that these forces continue beyond the grave; the intent is to benefit from this power or blessing by erecting structures over the grave, lighting candles or leaving flowers, processions, touching or kissing, or burial near…
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Religion Past and Present
Relief Organizations, Catholic (Germany)
(301 words)
[German Version] These are predominantly internationally oriented organizations, which aim to offer aid through solidarity and partnership, to work for development and peace, mission and the proclamation of the gospel. In Germany, they include: Adveniat (Essen), diocesan action to support ministry among impoverished peoples in Latin America (est. 1961). Bonifatiuswerk (until 1967: Bonifatiusverein für das katholische Deutschland; Paderborn), for support of ministry amongst the Catholic diaspora in…
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Religion Past and Present
Religion
(20,501 words)
[German Version]
I. The Concept
1. History. As a sign of modern reflection on religion from an anthropo-philosophical perspective, we may take the emergence of philosophical anthropology (Human beings) c. 1600 (Odo Marquard) and the philosophy of religion c. 1770. However these two disciplines are defined – whether as (sub)disciplines of philosophy or simply as philosophy –, they are related to the problems raised by the various positions taken in modern debates over (Christian) religious belief (Faith…
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Religion Past and Present
Religion and Law
(619 words)
[German Version] Religion-related state law or state-enabled contractual regulations have the purpose of regulating the functions of entitlement and implementation of the fundamental right to freedom of religion (IV). Religious law (Ger.
Religionsrecht) also encompasses the organizational-legal guarantees pertaining to churches and religious communities. In contrast to state-church law, which is also marked by institutional concepts (Church and State: II), religious law is oriented to freedom of religion as the guiding referen…
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Religion Past and Present
Religion Conferences
(839 words)
[German Version] are more or less regularly organized international conferences attended by theologians, leaders, officials, and believers from different religions. The prototype of all religion conferences is the World’s Parliament of Religions hosted in 1893 in conjunction with the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. At this conference, university theologians and church leaders from all Christian denominations, as well as Reform Jewish (Reform Judaism) rabbis, theosophists (Theosophy), Hind…
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Religion Past and Present
Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Die
(632 words)
[German Version]
1. The encyclopedia entitled
Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart (
RGG) came into being as a result of publisher P. Siebeck’s wish to round off his theological publication program with a “scholarly reference work for everyman,” which was to be modeled on the 19th-century German
Konversations-Lexika; it seemed a promising venture, given the very broad interest of the time in ¶ religious topics. The history of religions school, whose representatives were already associated with his publishing company in other connections, viewed theology …
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Religion Past and Present
Religion of Humanity
(293 words)
[German Version] (
Religião de Humanidade) was based on the ideas of the French philosopher and sociologist A. Comte, who attempted to bring about a synthesis between the Catholic Church’s conception of order and the certainty of progress, that was to be oriented to natural sciences. His program culminated in an atheistic religion of humanity or cult of humankind. All scientific ambitions were to subordinate themselves to this religion. Although his idea of a mystical church remained without conseque…
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Religion Past and Present
Religion Teacher
(826 words)
[German Version] Religion teachers in the broadest sense are all those persons who set up – with intent – learning situations that open up for children, youths, or adults a religious approach to reality (including esp. parents, pastors, adult educators [Education of adults], etc.). Religion teachers in a narrower sense have received professional training (theology diploma, teacher training, etc. [training and coaching of religion teachers, religious education, science of]) and, at least in Germany…
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Religion Past and Present
Religiöser Menschheitsbund
(145 words)
[German Version] The Religiöser Menschheitsbund (Religious Humanity Alliance) was founded in 1921 by R. Otto in analogy to the League of Nations. As an inter-religious group it aimed to bring the ideals of social justice and peace to bear at an international level. Through the gathering of representatives of various religions, attention was to be drawn to the ethical implications of political action, and a contribution made to the “actualization of common moral goals” (Otto). In its orientation to…
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Religion Past and Present
Religiosity/Religiousness
(347 words)
[German Version] denotes the individual, subjective aspect of the religious – as contrasted with religion in the sense of something objectively given, with professional theologies, dogmas, and doctrines, or religious institutions, churches, and religious communities. Its semantic structure was developed from the late 18th century onward in the context of German Enlightenment philosophy, Idealism, and Romanticism (I.H. Fichte, G.W.F. Hegel, J.G. Herder, F.D.E. Schleiermacher). The main interest foc…
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Religion Past and Present
Religious Criticism
(2,242 words)
[German Version]
I. Greco-Roman Antiquity
1. Types, topics, argumentation patterns
a. Conceptions of gods, myths (Myth and mythology), and cult praxis (Cult/Worship) were the object of reflection, analysis, and criticism from the very beginnings of Greco-Roman culture (Homer, Hesiod). Religious criticism was applied firstly to myths and cult, certain forms of atheism (pantheism, deism), and secondly to one’s own religion as compared to another (intra-/interreligious criticism). The criticism focused (i) (u…
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Religion Past and Present