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
Sagittarius, Kaspar
(161 words)
[German Version] (Sep 23, Lüneburg – Mar 9, 1694, Jena). After studying in Jena (1660) and Helmstedt (1662) and elsewhere, he was appointed principal in Saalfeld in 1668. He received his M.A. in 1671, his Lic.theol. in 1673, and his Dr.theol. in 1678 at Jena. In 1674 he was appointed professor of history in Jena and 1688 to the additional post of historiographer of the Ernestine court. Sagittarius published many works, primarily on history and church history (e.g.
Introductio in historian ecclesiasticam, 2 vols., 1718) with special emphasis on Saxony and Thuringia. He was in contact with ¶ P…
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Religion Past and Present
Sägmüller, Johann Baptist
(201 words)
[German Version] (Feb 24, 1860, Winterreute, near Biberach – Oct 22, 1942, Tübingen), Catholic canonist. After studying philosophy and theology in Tübingen, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1884; after three years as a parish priest, he served as a lecturer at the Wilhelmsstift in Tübingen from 1887 to 1893. In 1888 he received his doctorate and in 1893 was appointed adjunct professor of medieval history in Tübingen; from 1896 to 1926, he taught as professor of canon law and pedagogics in the Catholic faculty of theology in Tübingen. Sägmüller’s
magnum opus was his historically org…
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Religion Past and Present
Saguna, Andrei
(185 words)
[German Version] (baptized Anastasiu; Jan 1, 1809, Miskolc – Jun 28, 1873, Sibiu/Herrmanstadt). Saguna, born to an Aromanian merchant family, studied law and philosophy in Pest and attended the Serbian Orthodox seminary in Vršac. A monk since 1833, he was ordained priest in 1837 and consecrated bishop of the Orthodox Romanians in Transylvania in 1848 in Sremski Karlovci. In 1864 he became the first archbishop of the autonomous Romanian Orthodox metropolitanate in Hungary. He created an independent…
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Religion Past and Present
Sahagún, Bernardino de Ribeira
(583 words)
[German Version] (born Ribeira, B. de; Dec 1499?, Sahagún, León – Oct 1590?, Mexico City), Spanish Franciscan, pioneer of ethnography in America and cultural anthropology. Almost nothing is known of his childhood and youth. He probably studied at Salamanca, where he joined the Franciscans; in 1529 he was in Mexico, conquered only shortly before by H. Cortés. He stayed in Mexico until the end of his life, serving as a missionary, teacher, and researcher, and sometimes holding high office in his ord…
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Religion Past and Present
Šahrastānī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdalkarīm
(175 words)
[German Version] (1086, Šahristān, a village on the edge of the Qara Qum desert [modern Turkmenistan] – 1153, Šahristān), trained in Šāfiʿite law and Ašʿarite theology, he was noted primarily for a doxographic work in which he described the Islamic “sects,” as well as the orientations of the other Eastern religions and the views of ancient and modern philosophers. The book remains impressive for its transparency, but its value as a source is slight. More important were Šahrastānī’s dispute with Av…
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Religion Past and Present
Saʿīdīyeh
(241 words)
[German Version] (Tell es-Saʿīdīyeh). Pritchard’s excavations between 1964 and 1967 and Tubb’s since 1985 show that occupation of this site in the central Jordan valley began in the Early Bronze period at the latest; at the end of the Late Bronze period and in the early Iron Age it experienced an urban florescence, probably as the residence of an Egyptian governor. The unique water supply system consisted of a roofed staircase leading to a spring outside the walls. After an occupation gap, the cit…
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Religion Past and Present
Šaiḫ al-Azhar
(125 words)
[German Version] The office of rector (
šaiḫ) of al-Azhar university in Cairo (Madrasah) was established toward the end of the 17th century. As the structures of traditional religious scholarship dropped away in the 19th century (Clergy: III), the associated centralization at the Azhar (Teaching authority: III) made the office increasingly important as the primary authority of Egyptian Islam. Since a reform implemented in 1961, the office has played an increasing role (not without tension) in legitimat…
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Religion Past and Present
Šaiḫ al-Islām
(171 words)
[German Version] This title first came into use toward the end of the 10th century in northeastern Iran. In the Islamic world, it is given to outstanding scholars of Šarīʿa (ʿ
ulamāʾ: Clergy and laity: III) like the Syrian mufti Ibn Taimīya (died 1328) or Sufi authorities (Islam: II, 5). In the course of time (and with regional variations), it was given to certain important government offices or functionaries of religious law. The most famous holder of the title was the grand mufti of the Ottoman Empire (Ottomans), with his r…
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Religion Past and Present
Sailer, Johann Michael
(563 words)
[German Version] (Nov 17, 1751, Aresing, near Schrobenhausen – May 20, 1832, Regensburg), ¶ Catholic theologian and bishop. He began his studies at Ingolstadt in 1770 (as a Jesuit novice until the Jesuits were suppressed in 1773) and was ordained to the priesthood in 1775. He began his academic career in Ingolstadt, where he was appointed second professor of dogmatics in 1780 (alongside his teacher M. Sattler), but he was dismissed the next year along with the other ex-Jesuits as an “obscurantist.” In 1794 he…
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Religion Past and Present
Saint Denis, Ruth
(146 words)
[German Version] (Jan 20, 1879, Newark, NJ – Jul 21, 1968, Hollywood, CA), dancer and choreographer. After initial success in vaudeville and on Broadway, she focused her style on ethno-religious themes and became a pioneer of modern American dance. Particularly interested in the traditions of Egypt and India, she created the dances “Radha” (1906), “The Incense” (1909), and “The Cobra” (1909). On her tours in Europe and India, she danced in oriental costume. In 1915 she and her husband T. Shawn fou…
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Religion Past and Present
Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de
(186 words)
[German Version] (in full Antoine-Marie Roger, Comte de Saint-Exupéry; Jun 29, 1900, Lyon – Jul 31, 1944 missing over the Mediterranean, probably shot down), French aviator and author. Saint-Exupéry’s life as a worldwide pioneer of civil and military aviation, including working for the Allies, provided the raw material for his literary work: novels (
Courrier Sud, 1929; ET:
Southern Mail, 1933;
Vol de nuit, 1931; ET:
Night Flight, 1932;
Pilote de guerre, 1942: ET:
Flight to Arras, 1942) as well as reports and stories increasingly interspersed with philosophical reflections (
Terre de…
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Religion Past and Present
Saint Gall Abbey
(432 words)
[German Version] arose in the early 7th century on the site of the eremitic cell of St. Gall, a disciple of the Irish missionary Columbanus. The Benedictine Rule (Benedict, Rule of Saint) was introduced under the Alemannic abbot Otmar (719–759); numerous gifts enabled Abbot Gozbert (816–837) to build an enormous Carolingian basilica, for which Reichenau provided the inspiration (“the plan of St. Gall”; Monasteries: II, 2, with fig.). The abbey experienced a golden age under the abbots Grimalt (841…
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Religion Past and Present
Saint-Martin, Louis Claude de
(385 words)
[German Version] (Jan 18, 1743, Amboise, Département Indre-et-Loire – Oct 13, 1803, Paris), French theosophist (Theosophy). After study-¶ ing law and pursuing a military career, in 1771 he got to know Martinez de Pasqualis (1715–1799) in Bordeaux, who introduced him to mystical Freemasonry (Freemasons). This group of “Martinists,” with its center in Lyon, practiced a mysticism drawn from kabbalistic sources (Kabbalah: II), in which magical and theurgic rites played a role. In his travels he encountered other myst…
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Religion Past and Present
Saint-Saëns, Charles-Camille
(237 words)
[German Version] (Oct 9, 1835, Paris – Dec 16, 1921, Algiers), French composer. Quickly recognized as a child prodigy, Saint-Saëns spent some 80 years in the public eye, and was organist of the Madeleine in Paris from 1858 to 1877. From 1878 on, he led an unsettled itinerant life, continuing to travel even in old age. He remained true to his classicizing style with hints of Impressionism, so that as musical fashions ¶ changed, phases of admiration and condemnation alternated (the latter esp. incisive in the journalistic controversy surrounding R. Wagner). Saint-Saën…
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Religion Past and Present
Saints’ Days
(512 words)
[German Version] The dedication of certain dates to the commemoration of one or more saints is a special form of Christian veneration of saints (Saints/Veneration of the saints). On saints’ days, the liturgy (Mass, Liturgy of the hours) usually focuses on the day itself. Today there is a distinction between saints’ days (1) in the strict sense and (2) in a graduated broader sense.
1. Strict sense. Saints’ days originated in the commemoration of the dead in antiquity on the anniversary of their death (
dies obitus) or burial (
dies depositionis) or, in the case of relics, the day of th…
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Religion Past and Present
Saints, Icons, and Attributes
(1,593 words)
[German Version]
I. Terminology Pictorial representation of saints using all available artistic techniques has played a role in the evolution of the cult of the saints (Saints/Veneration of the saints) as well as of images in Christianity (Veneration of images). The image of Mary (Mary, Representations of) has always had a special place among images of the saints. Images of the saints combine commemoration, instruction, and cult: they keep alive the memory of the saints and tell how they lived and d…
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Religion Past and Present
Saint-Simon, Claude Henri de Rouvroy
(332 words)
[German Version] (Count of; Oct 17, 1760, Paris – May 19, 1825, Paris), French social theorist. Born to an impoverished noble family, during the French Revolution (which he supported) Saint-Simon took part in the American Revolutionary War. Afterwards land speculation quickly brought him wealth, which he lost totally in the following years. With the support of his two secretaries, the historian Jacques-Nicolas-Augustin Thierry (1795–1856) and A. Comte, who later pioneered scientific Positivism, be…
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Religion Past and Present
Saints/Veneration of the Saints
(4,185 words)
[German Version]
I. Religious Studies In comparative religious studies,
veneration of saints generally refers to the posthumous cultic veneration of a holy person more or less identifiable as a historical individual; it is centered at the place that preserves the saint’s mortal remains, thought to have miraculous powers. Occasionally veneration of living individuals is subsumed under the same category, but this extension results in a dubious diminution of terminological precision, since to this day no one …
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Religion Past and Present
Śaivism
(722 words)
[German Version] is a collective term for numerous theistic Hindu sects and traditions that worship Śiva or one of his forms. Its multitude of religious practices and philosophico-esoteric teachings fall into two main groups. In the popular epic forms of Śaivism based on the Purāṇas, Śiva is invoked as the “Great Lord/God” (
Maheśvara,
Mahādeva; God, Representations and symbols of: IV, 1) and is usually worshiped as a phalliform liṅga, a practice based on a corpus of orthodox texts (
smārta). The tantric traditions (Tantrism) of sectarian esoteric Śaivism possess a canon o…
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Religion Past and Present
Śakti
(201 words)
[German Version] In Hinduism
śakti (Sanskrit: “force, power”) stands for various embodiments of the feminine creative force. The great goddess Devī is worshiped in numerous manifestations, for example as Durgā or Kālī. Also important are Sarasvatī, Pārvatī, and Lakṣmī, the consorts of the Hindu high gods Brahmā, Śiva, and Viṣṇu. In the tantric tradition (Tantrism), the meaning of
śakti ranges from the impersonal creative power of a male god through the equal status of a female deity associated with a male god to a position of supremacy and dominance…
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Religion Past and Present
Śāktism
(388 words)
[German Version] is a tantric form of Hinduism (Tantrism, Tantra) that focuses on the worship of Śakti as a female creative force. Śāktism developed into an independent theological system (God, Representations and symbols of: IV, 2) during the late Middle Ages, alongside the monotheistic forms of Śaivism and Vaiṣṇavism; it is closely related to the non-dualistic ¶ schools of tantric Śaivism. The interplay between the passive male principle and the dynamic female principle in these traditions finds manifold expression in psycho-physiological exercise…
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Religion Past and Present
Saladin, Peter
(184 words)
[German Version] (Feb 4, 1935, Basel – May 25, 1997, Bern), professor of constitutional, administrative, and canon law. He studied law in Basel, receiving his Dr.iur. in 1959. In 1962/1963 he studied at the Free University of Berlin and the University of Michigan Law School. After some legal work, he earned his
Habilitation in 1969 with a dissertation on changes in fundamental rights, in which he examined the treatment of fundamental rights in case law and grounded these rights christologically. In 1972 he accepted a chair at the University of Ba…
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Religion Past and Present
Salamanca
(405 words)
[German Version] The city, already a major presence in antiquity, gradually became depopulated after 711, following the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Muslims. There is evidence that it had been an episcopal see since 589 (third Council of Toledo). It is uncertain whether episcopal functions continued under Muslim rule. Despite an initial reconquest under Ramiro II of León (931–950), it was not permanently back in Christian hands until the capture of Toledo in 1085. In 1102 Alfonso VI of Castille-León granted privileges to the church of Salamanca. As the
fuero (municipal cha…
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Religion Past and Present
Saldenus, Guilielmus
(171 words)
[German Version] (Willem; May, 1627, Utrecht – Aug 2, 1694, The Hague). After studying in Utrecht, Saldenus filled pulpits in Renswoude (1649), Kokkengen (1652), Enkhuizen (1655), Delft (1664) and The Hague (1677). As a pupil of G. Voetius, influenced by W. Ames and English edifying literature, he supported the Puritan wing of the Nadere Reformatie, advocating Sunday observance and catechetical instruction and forbidding card-playing and theater. He wrote many edifying works, which also influenced…
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Religion Past and Present
Salesians
(404 words)
[German Version]
I.
Missionaries of St. Francis of Sales (Missionnaires de St. François de Sales d’Annecy), a congregation founded in 1838 in Annecy (France) by Pierre-Marie Mermier (1790–1862) for pastoral and missionary ministry in the spirit of Francis of Sales. In 1845 the congregation was already working in India, where today more than 75% of its members live; as “Fransalians” they exercise a pastoral and educational ministry and engage in scientific research. Today there are over 1,200 members. Their generalate is in Annecy.
II.
Oblates of St. Francis of Sales (see Oblates: II…
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Religion Past and Present
Salesian Sisters
(249 words)
[German Version] (Visitationists, Sisters of the Visitation, Ordo de Visitatione Beatae Mariae Virginis, OVM, VSM). The order was found in 1610 in Annecy (France) by Francis of Sales and J.F. of Chantal as a contemplative order with simple vows and modified enclosure, enabling them to minister to the poor and the sick. In 1618, at the insistence of the archbishop of Lyon, they adopted the Augustinian rule (Augustine, Rule of Saint), solemn vows, and papal enclosure; as a result, they concentrated …
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Religion Past and Present
Salfeld, Johann Christoph
(183 words)
[German Version] (Apr 28, 1750, Nettelkamp, near Uelzen – Dec 2, 1829, Hanover), Lutheran theologian. As an exponent of moderate Enlightenment thought, Salfeld had a formative influence on the church and school system in Hanover. In 1774 he was appointed superintendent and in 1791 trustee of the teachers’ college in Hanover; he also founded several schools. He considered education and catechetics central functions of the church. In 1788 he was appointed court chaplain and consistorial councilor, i…
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Religion Past and Present
Salians
(513 words)
[German Version] Salians, a German noble and royal dynasty, with lands primarily in the area around Worms and Speyer. The name, derived from (
Lex)
Salica, means “Frankish” with an emphasis on nobility; it was associated with the family since the 12th century. There is fragmentary evidence of a genealogical relationship with the Widonid-Lambertiner lineage, linked to the Frankish imperial aristocracy of the 8th and 9th centuries. Their social rise took place in the 10th century, in close connection with the monarchy (Co…
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Religion Past and Present
Salig, Christian August
(89 words)
[German Version] (Apr 6, 1691, Domersleben, near Magdeburg – Oct 3, 1738, Wolfenbüttel), studied theology and philosophy in Halle/Saale and Jena; in 1714 he was appointed to a lectureship at Halle/Saale; in 1717 he was appointed deputy rector in Wolfenbüttel. The balance of his works on church history –
De Eutychianismo (1723) and
Vollständige Historie der Augspurgischen Confeßion (1730–1735) – exposed him to the charge of indifferentism. His
Vollständige Historie des Tridentinischen Conciliums (1741–1745) was published posthumously. Christopher Spehr Bibliography C. Bernet…
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Religion Past and Present
Saliva
(321 words)
[German Version] Even today saliva evokes intense but ambivalent feelings – revulsion when it is spat, delight in the context of kissing (Kiss). In early times people thought that saliva, like other bodily fluids, contained the vital force of individuals; when outside the body, it could be used for positive or negative, good or evil purposes, depending on the individual, the intention, and the situation. The saliva of the gods can be productive: in Norse mythology (Germanic religion), the saliva that ¶ the Æsir and Vanir spit into a vessel to make peace gives birth to the wis…
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Religion Past and Present
Sallust
(182 words)
[German Version] (Gaius Sallustius Crispus; 86 – probably 35 bce), Roman politician and historian, tribune of the people in 52 bce. In the Civil War he backed Julius Caesar; in 46 he served as praetor and was appointed governor of Africa. After Caesar’s death he was active only as a historian. He wrote political monographs on his own period (
Coniuratio Catilinae, 64–62) and the recent Roman past (
Bellum Iugurthinum, 111–105) as well as a chronicle (
Historiae, 78–67), which remained unfinished and has survived only in fragments (primarily excerpted letters and speeches)…
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Religion Past and Present
Sallustius
(174 words)
[German Version] (Salustios). There is no direct evidence for either the identity or the dates of Sallustius. His work – ¶ given the title περὶ ϑεῶν καὶ κόσμου/
perí theṓn kaí kósmou (“About Gods and Cosmos”) in the 17th century – shows that he was Neoplatonist and a contemporary of the emperor Julian the Apostate (cf. Julian
Oratio IV and VIII). Sallustius did not write for other philosophers (ch. 13): his purpose was a philosophical “general education.” Its simple principles – the gods are eternal, incorporeal, not spatially confined, and not separ…
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Religion Past and Present
Salmasius, Claudius
(276 words)
[German Version] (Claude de Saumaise; Apr 15, 1588, Semur-en-Auxois, Burgundy – Sep 3, 1653, Spa), philologist and jurisprudent. Salmasius studied with I. Casaubonus in Paris and Dionysius Gothofredus (1549–1622) in Heidelberg. He quickly began publishing annotated editions and works on the history of the Early Church, rejected the papal claim of primacy, and disputed critically with the Jesuits. Since his Calvinist beliefs appeared to rule out his planned career as a civil servant in Dijon, he de…
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Religion Past and Present
Salmerón, Alfonso
(179 words)
[German Version] (Sep 8, 1515, Toledo – Feb 13, 1585, Naples), theologian and cofounder of the Jesuits. ¶ He studied in Alcalá and Paris and was one of the early companions of Ignatius of Loyola. After ordination to the priesthood in 1537, he engaged in pastoral work in Ireland, where he also served as a papal nuncio (1541/1542); as a theologian, he participated in the Council of Trent. After receiving his doctorate in theology in Bologna under P. Canisius, he lectured on exegesis in Ingolstadt, organized the est…
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Religion Past and Present
Salome
(231 words)
[German Version] Salome, daughter of Herodias, the wife of Herod Antipas (Herod). The daughter from Herodias’s first marriage to Herod Boëthus, the half-brother of Antipas, she is not named in the New Testament; she is identified with the Salome mentioned by Josephus (
Ant. XVIII 5.4). As a reward for her dancing at a feast given by her stepfather, she is said to have asked him (at her mother’s instigation) for the head of John the Baptist on a platter, which he gave her (Matt 14:3–12; Mark 6:17–29). Not until the Middle Ages do we find the presentation of the head included in cycles depicting the
v…
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Religion Past and Present
Salome Alexandra
(498 words)
[German Version] (134–67 bce), Hasmonean queen, wife, and successor of Alexander Jannaeus from 76 bce. She is known from the writings of Flavius Josephus, from rabbinic literature, and from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Josephus only knew her Greek name, Alexandra. Her Hebrew name, Shelamzion, “Peace of Zion” is spelled oddly in rabbinic literature (e.g. She-¶ lamtzi). Only the Dead Sea Scrolls (Qumran) preserved the Hebrew name correctly. Many scholars assume that Shelamzion was the widow of King Judas Aristobulus I (104–103 bce, Maccabees) and was taken by his brother in levirate …
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Religion Past and Present
Salomo III
(178 words)
[German Version] Salomo III, abbot of Saint Gall Abbey and bishop of Constance (c. 860–919). Of noble descent, Salomo was placed in the abbey of Saint Gall as a child; there he and his brother Waldo (bishop of Freising from 883 to 906) were students of Notker Balbulus. In 890 King Arnulf of Carinthia made him bishop of Constance, an office previously held by his great-uncle Salomo I from 838/839 to 871 and his uncle Salomo II from 875 to 889. He had already been active in royal affairs under Charl…
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Religion Past and Present
Salomon, Alice
(152 words)
[German Version] (Apr 19, 1872, Berlin – Aug 20, 1948, New York), studied in Berlin from 1902 to 1906, earning her doctorate in economics. Since 1900 she had been a board member of the Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine, and she became secretary of the International Council of Women in 1909. In 1908 she founded the Soziale Frauenschule in Berlin, which she headed until 1925, when she founded the Deutsche Akademie für soziale und pädagogische Frauenarbeit, which she headed until 1933. Because of her Jewi…
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Religion Past and Present
Salt, Liturgical
(203 words)
[German Version] Originally a catechumenal rite (first mentioned in Aug.
Conf. I 11.17) and limited almost exclusively to Roman liturgical practice, the giving of blessed salt was moved to the baptismal liturgy (Baptism: VI) with the shift to infant baptism; it remained there until Vatican II. The ceremony has been interpreted as an exorcism originating in Roman lustration rites for newborn infants (F.J. Dölger) and as a substitute for communion for catechumens (Alois Stenzel). No longer part of the bapti…
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Religion Past and Present
Salvation
(2,613 words)
[German Version]
I. Philosophy of Religion Even prior to the age of Greek philosophy, riches, honor, power, health, longevity, etc. were considered the epitome of well-being, “bliss” or “salvation” (Ger.
Heil). For centuries well-being was treated as synonymous with happiness (Gk
eudaimonía, Lat.
felicitas, beatitudo). Today the term
happiness usually excludes the transcendent dimension, and
salvation is generally used without an immanent sense. For Democritus individual salvation was grounded in the human soul and its attitude, the first time philo…
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Religion Past and Present
Salvation Army, The
(1,853 words)
[German Version]
I. History (General) The origin of the Salvation Army goes back to 1865, when the former Methodist minister W. Booth began a tent mission in Whitechapel, one of the poorest quarters in London’s East End. The social injustices in that area convinced Booth that this was where the need to save souls was greatest. His missionary work, independent of the churches (called the East London Christian Mission, changed in 1870 to just Christian Mission; initially carried on by Catherine Booth o…
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Religion Past and Present
Salvation History
(1,447 words)
[German Version] The term
salvation history (from Ger.
Heilsgeschichte) goes back to the mid-19th century. The roots of the concept itself go back further, to covenant theology and especially Pietist biblicism (Pietism), for example J.A. Bengel and F.C. Oetinger. To understand the concept, however, a series of distinctions must be made, for the expression
salvation history itself has little specific meaning and is used in various contexts. Therefore we will note the elements that have gone into the concept and then describe its various usages.
I. Assumptions The use of the term
salvati…
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Religion Past and Present
Salvation, Means of
(747 words)
[German Version]
I. Dogmatics
1. General. Means of salvation (
media salutis) are creaturely, tangible (“outward”) media “in, with, and under” which the salvation (III) realized through Christ is communicated to human individuals in their own present. They are signposts that point to Christ as the medi-¶ ator of salvation and in that act of pointing make Christ himself present. The dependence of participation in salvation on outward mediation reflects incarnational theology (God himself was “realized” in Christ), soteriology (justification takes place
pro nobis but
extra nobis), …
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Religion Past and Present
Salvation Movements
(391 words)
[German Version] At the heart of salvation movements is the expectation of an imminent state of salvation brought about by a transcendent agency. The cult, beliefs, and way of life of the movement’s members are focused strongly on this state of salvation. Salvation movements appear in widely varying religious contexts; the term does not denote a clearly defined type of religious movement. Crises associated with upheavals, oppression, colonialization, or cultural contacts combined with marked imbal…
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Religion Past and Present
Salvatorians
(250 words)
[German Version] (Society of the Divine Savior, Societas Divini Salvatoris), founded in Rome in 1881 by Johann Baptist Jordan (1848–1918) as the Apostolic Teaching Society, is a congregation of priests with a broad apostolic ministry, primarily in the area of the Catholic press and in mission (India, South America, China, Africa). “Healing” is the central theme of Salvatorian spirituality; their Marian focus is indicated by their veneration of Mary as the mother of the Savior (
Maria Mater Salvatoris). The congregation quickly spread throughout the world – in the 19th cen…
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Religion Past and Present
Salvian of Massilia
(290 words)
[German Version] (c. 400–480). A prominent contemporary witness to the
Völkerwanderung (Migration period), during which he survived one of four destructions of Trier. As the barbarians advanced, he fled south from his home in northern Gaul; there with the consent of his wife Palladia he took a vow of continence, became a monk at Lérins, and finally a presbyter in Marseille. Of his writings (mentioned by Gennadius of Marseille,
Vir. ill. 68), nine letters have survived, as well as a treatise
Ad ecclesiam (“Four Books of Timothy to the Church”), in which he calls on priests esp…
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Religion Past and Present
Salzburg
(575 words)
[German Version] The “oppidum quod Iuvao appellabatur” (Eugippius,
Vita Severini, chs. 13 and 14) exhibited a remarkably active church life at an early date. Destroyed in 475, it was rebuilt by St. Rupert of Salzburg (696ff.), ¶ who “renewed” the church of St. Peter and founded Nonnberg Abbey (for women) in the
castrum superius of the ducal residence. He visited the ruins to the Roman town in order to establish a bishopric (
ad restaurandam) based on the conciliar canons of 325. With the Maximilianszelle in Bischofshofen, he appears to have laid the groundwork for the…
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Religion Past and Present
Salzburg Emigrants
(376 words)
[German Version] are the Lutheran Christians expelled from the archdiocese of Salzburg as a result of the Counter-Reformation. The expulsion reached an initial peak in 1684 under Archbishop Max Gandolph v. Kuenburg (1668–1687), with the banishment of J. Schaitberger and about a thousand Protestant Christians. Under Archbishop Leopold Anton v. Firmian (1724–1744) and his chancellor Hieronymus Christiani v. Rall, the repressive measures increased once more, finally culminating in the emigration decr…
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Religion Past and Present
Salzmann, Christian Gotthilf
(187 words)
[German Version] (Jun 1, 1744, Sömmerda, Thuringia – Oct 31, 1811, Schnepfenthal), studied Protestant theology in Jena from 1761 to 1764, after which he assisted his father in his pastoral work and continued his own academic work, with a theological disputation at Erfurt in 1767 (cf. Lachmann). From 1768 to 1772 he served as a pastor in Rohrborn and from 1772 to 1780 in Erfurt; he was a successful pulpit orator, pastor, and school overseer. In 1780 he turned to teaching at J.B. Basedow’s Philanthr…
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Religion Past and Present
Samaria/Samaritans
(2,776 words)
[German Version]
I. City Samaria (Heb. ןוֹרמְשֹׁ/Šomerôn) was the capital of the kingdom of Israel (II, 1) and later the center of the province established in the hill country of Samaria (see II below) from the late 8th century bce until the late Byzantine period. 1 Kings relates that Omri purchased the “hill of Samaria” from a man named Shemer and built a city, which he called after the original owner (16:24). This, of course, is a folk etymology, the name Shomron is derived from the root שׁמר/
šmr (“to watch, guard”), הַר/
har Šomerôn (“watch-mountain”). Its name fits the place well, loc…
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Religion Past and Present
Saṃgha
(282 words)
[German Version]
Saṃgha (also
saṅgha; Sanskrit/Pali; lit. “assembly”) is the monastic community originally founded by the Buddha (I; Buddhism: I, 4); according to the Buddhist rules governing such communities, it consists of ordained
bhikṣus and
bhikṣuṇīs (“monks and nuns”; monasticism: IV; monasteries: III). Since monastic Buddhism never developed an overall organizational structure, the idea of the “
saṃgha of the four points of the compass” that includes all monastics must be distinguished from the actual local
saṃgha. The
saṃgha was already defined conceptuall…
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Religion Past and Present
Sāṃkhya
(380 words)
[German Version] Sāṃkhya, collective term for a complex doctrinal tradition of liberation (Redemption: X) within Hinduism (II, 2; Darśana), no longer fully recoverable historically; it employs rational techniques of expla-¶ nation. It probably originated in the pre-Buddhist period; presystematic speculations are found in the Mahābhārata. Systematic Sāṃkhya is presented in the
Sāṃkhya-Kārikā (c. 400 ce) and commentaries on it. The speculative era came to an end around the 7th century ce. After the 15th century, Sāṃkhya experienced a syncretistic revival by inte…
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Religion Past and Present
Sam, Konrad
(174 words)
[German Version] (1483, Rottenacker, near Ehingen on the Danube – Jun 20, 1533, Ulm), studied in Tübingen and Freiburg im Breisgau, receiving his Lic.iur. from Tübingen in 1509. He became a preacher in Brackenheim, Württemberg, in 1513; in 1520 he was already in contact with Luther and J. Eberlin of Günzburg. Expelled from Brackenheim in 1524, he was called to the pulpit in Ulm by the council. An eloquent popular preacher, he succeeded in having the Reformation accepted despite the authorities’ he…
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Religion Past and Present
Saṃsāra
(318 words)
[German Version] In post-Vedic Indian religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism) and philosophical schools (except Ājīvika and Cārvāka),
saṃsāra (Sanskrit, Pāli, Prākrit “wandering,” “cycle of rebirth,” “cycle of existence”) denotes the endless alternation of death (XII; XIII) and rebirth (Regeneration: III; IV) to which the unredeemed individual soul is subject (Hinduism, ¶ Jainism). In Buddhism
saṃsāra does not refer to transmigration of a spiritual or psychic substrate but to the perpetual alternation between death and new birth, brought about b…
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Religion Past and Present
Samson
(9 words)
[German Version] Judges in Israel, The (biblical)
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Religion Past and Present
Samson, Hermann
(121 words)
[German Version] (Mar 4, 1579, Riga – Dec 16, 1643, Riga). After studying at Wittenberg (with L. Hütter) and Rostock, he was appointed preacher at St. Petri in Riga as well as superintendent of schools; later he was appointed cathedral preacher. He published attacks on the Jesuit Counter-Reformation (Baltic countries: III, 1.b). After the Swedish conquest in 1622, King Gustav II Adolf appointed him superintendent over Livonia. He strove to restore the Lutheran church and school system, turned the …
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Religion Past and Present
Samuel
(681 words)
[German Version] The biblical picture of Samuel (Heb. לאֵוּמשְׁ/
šĕmû’ēl), a figure at the transition from premonarchic Israel (II, 1) to the monarchy, is extremely complex. In the relatively earliest source, 1 Samuel, and then afterwards he fills an extraordinary spectrum of roles: priest (1 Sam 2f.; 7:9; cf. his Levitical descent in 1 Chr 6:12, 18 [Eng. 6:27, 33]), prophet (Prophets and Prophecy: II; 1 Sam 3:20; 9:1–10:16; 19:18–24; 28; Jer 15:1; Ps 99:6; Sir 46:15, 20; Acts 3:24), judge (Judges of Isr…
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Religion Past and Present
Samuel ha-Nagid
(118 words)
[German Version] (Ibn Nagrela; 2nd quarter to sometime after the mid-11th cent.), Jewish vizier and military commander for the Berber kings of Granada. He wrote drinking songs, love poetry, and war poetry in Hebrew. The war poems reflect his military experiences in the battles of the minor Muslim kings in the Arab part of Spain. He also wrote a work on Talmudic and non-Talmudic law, a grammar of Hebrew, and a criticism of the Qurʾān. In his Arab environment he nevertheless championed a politically…
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Religion Past and Present
Sanchez, Thomas
(105 words)
[German Version] (1550, Cordoba – May 19, 1610, Granada), Jesuit (from 1567) moral theologian. His three-volume treatment of marriage became a standard work, although its open and detailed description drew censure. He anticipated the modern view that not every instance of marital intercourse need be intended for procreation. Jansenists accused him of laxism. Rolf Decot Bibliography Works include:
Disputationum de sancto matrimonii sacramento... libri 10, 3 vols., 1602–1605
Opus morale in praecepta Decalogi, 2 vols., 1613–1621 On Sanchez: BCJ 7, 1896, 530–537, suppl. no.…
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Religion Past and Present
Sanchuniaton
(126 words)
[German Version] The Phoenician personal name Sanchuniaton (“Sakun has given”) appears in Greek in passages from the writers Porphyry and Philo of Byblos quoted by the church father Eusebius of Caesarea (
Praep. I 9.20f., 24–29; X 9.12–16). He is said to have been a Phoenician priest from the time before the Trojan War, cited by Philo Byblius as vouching the Phoenician tradition he records and for its great antiquity. Philo Byblius is claimed to have translated Sanchuniaton’s work on Phoenician history from Phoenician into Gre…
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Religion Past and Present
Sancroft, William
(205 words)
[German Version] (Jan 20, 1617, Fressingfield, Suffolk, England – Nov 24, 1693, Fressingfield, Suffolk, England), archbishop of Canterbury and Nonjuror. Fellow of Emmanuel College in Cambridge from 1642 to 1651, he fled to the Continent after being rejected from his Cambridge fellowship by the Puritans. After the Restoration in 1660, he gained rapid preferment in the Church, being elevated to archbishop in 1668. While in office, he labored in various ways to strengthen the spiritual and political …
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Religion Past and Present
Sanctification
(2,676 words)
[German Version]
I. Old Testament Sanctification, the “setting apart” of spaces, times, objects, and persons to make them sacred (cf. Lat.
sacer) is represented in the Old Testament by the verb קדשׁ/
qdš piel and niphal, its antonyms חלל/
ḥll I piel and חל/
ḥl, and the antithesis “clean–unclean” טהר–טמא/
ṭhr–ṭmʾ (with reference to holiness: Lev 11:43ff.; 16:19; cf. Deut 14:3ff.; purity and impuraty). Since YHWH represents holiness
per se (Isa 5:16, etc.), sanctification means translating the object in question into the immediate divine realm (cf. the regulati…
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Religion Past and Present
Sanction, Church Law
(137 words)
[German Version] A sanction is the legal detriment associated with failure to observe a requirement of church law. Roman law recognized
leges plus quam perfectae (legal action voided, penalty),
leges perfectae (legal action voided),
leges minus quam perfectae (penalty but legal action valid), and
leges imperfectae (not voided and no penalty). Criminal sanctions must be distinguished from non-criminal sanctions. The former are ecclesiastical penalties. In canon law, there is a range of possibilities, depending on the legal action in questio…
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Religion Past and Present
Sanctus
(503 words)
[German Version]
I. Liturgy The
Sanctus is an acclamation sung after the preface of the Eucharistic prayer. It is virtually universally used in the East and West in liturgical traditions, with increasing use in the reformed orders of less liturgical Protestant traditions. The text expresses unity of earthly worship with heavenly worship in praise of God. The text is the Trisagion based on Isaiah (Isa 6:3; see also Rev 4:8), with the added Benedictus, both of which end with “Hosanna” acclamation (see also Matt 21:9; Ps 118; 25–26a). The Trisagion (three Holys) comes ¶ from the ancient mor…
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Religion Past and Present
Sanday, William
(149 words)
[German Version] (Aug 1, 1843, Holme Pierrepont, Nottinghamshire – Sep 16, 1920, Oxford). Educated at Repton and Oxford, Sanday became Dean Ireland’s ¶ Professor (1882–1895) and Lady Margaret Professor (1895–1919), both in Oxford. An influential New Testament scholar, Sanday was one of the first English academics to organize a seminar, where he championed young scholars including B.H. Streeter, and was crucial in publicizing German theology in England. Initially conservative, he later introduced A. Schweitzer’s thought into England with
The Life of Christ in Recent Research (19…
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Religion Past and Present
Sandhagen, Caspar Hermann
(160 words)
[German Version] (Oct 22, 1639, Borgholzhausen, near Bielefeld – Jul 14, 1697, Kiel). After studying at Rostock and Straßburg (Strasbourg), he was appointed assistant pastor in Bielefeld in 1665 and in 1667 headmaster of a school there; for a while he was closely associated with the Labadists (J. de Labadie) in nearby Herford. In 1672 he was appointed superintendent in Lüneburg, and in 1689 was made general superintendent for Schleswig-Holstein and senior court chaplain in Gottorf. As a painstakin…
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Religion Past and Present
Sandoval, Alonso
(98 words)
[German Version] (Dec 7, 1576, Seville – Dec 25, 1651, Cartagena, Columbia) was educated in Lima, Peru, where he became a Jesuit. After 1605 he dedicated his life to the service of the African slaves in Cartagena, Colombia. An observer of the African cultural background of the slaves, he developed a pastoral method for integrating slaves in the Catholic Church. He inspired other Jesuits, including the famous P. Claver, to work for the good of black people. Armando Lampe Bibliography Works include:
De instauranda Aethiopum salute. El mundo de la esclavitud negra en América, 1627, 1956.
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Religion Past and Present
Sanhedrin
(271 words)
[German Version] Sanhedrin, Hebrew (and Aram.) ןירִדהַנְסַ, loanword from Greek συνέδριον/
synédrion, “assembly, tribunal, ¶ council.” Earlier scholarship saw in the Sanhedrin the highest legislative and judicial body of Palestinian Judaism (I), established in the Hellenistic period and continued by the rabbis (II, 1) into the 5th century after the destruction of the second temple (II, 4); initially it was headed by the high priest, later by the nasi. This picture is a harmonization of statements in Flavius Jo…
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Religion Past and Present
Śaṅkara
(329 words)
[German Version] Śaṅkara (Śaṃkara, Shankara; c. 7th–8th cent. ce, India), founder of so-called
kevalādvaita, historically the most influential school of Vedānta (Hinduism: I, 1). Historically accurate information about Śaṅkara’s life is not immediately available. Myths and legends glorifying his ministry were spread by biographies canonized in the 14th–18th centuries. Śaṅkara, a reincarnation of Śiva, is said to have been the son of a South Indian Brahmin, a student of Govinda, who had himself been a stu…
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Religion Past and Present
Sankey, Ira David
(165 words)
[German Version] (Aug 28, 1840, Edenburg, PA – Aug 13, 1908, Brooklyn, NY). In tandem with evangelist D.L. Moody, Sankey developed a new paradigm of religious service in which music was equal to preaching. He created a style of congregational song called “gospel hymns” (Gospel music) with simple texts and appealing music. A chorus or refrain was the most prominent feature. Gospel hymnody became the musical model for revivalism (Revival/Revival movements) that impacted all American religious life a…
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Religion Past and Present
Sankt Blasien Abbey of
(235 words)
[German Version] Sankt Blasien Abbey of, Benedictine abbey in the southern Black Forest, established in the 9th century by translation of the relics of St. Blasius from Rheinau. After 1000 it was associated with the high Alemannic nobility and the bishop of Basel and became the center of the monastic reform movement (Monasticism: III, 3.d), with extensive influence. In the 12th century it passed to the Zähringers and in the 13th century to the Habsburgs, with whom it remained associated until secularization in 1806. The abbey acquired extensive, ¶ widespread properties and rights an…
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Religion Past and Present
San Marino
(220 words)
[German Version] San Marino, the oldest republic in Europe. Located on the eastern side of the Umbrian Apennines, as of 2010 it had an estimated population of 31,830 in an area of 61.2 km2. A 9th- or 10th-century legend associates its beginnings with Marinus and Leo, two Christians sentenced to forced labor near Rimini under Diocletian; after some missionary work in that area, they retreated to Monte Titano. There a group of hermits formed, which grew into a settlement that was organized in the 10th century as a fortified town …
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Religion Past and Present
Sannyāsin
(259 words)
[German Version] The Sanskrit word
saṃnyāsin (“renouncer”) is one of several terms for an ascetic in the Indo-Brahmanic tradition (Asceticism: VIII). A
saṃnyāsin renounces “the world,” especially all forms of ritual. In the classic formulation of the four stages of life (Āśrama: Brahmin student, householder, hermit, itinerant ascetic),
saṃnyāsa (“renunciation”) represents the fourth and final stage: having completely fulfilled his duties, the ideal twice-born man – someone who has experienced his “second birth” through initiation, in other…
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Religion Past and Present
Santayana, George
(157 words)
[German Version] (Dec 16, 1863, Madrid – Sep 26, 1952, Rome). With a Hispanic-American background, he lived the first half of his life in Boston, where he studied and taught at Harvard, and the second half in Europe. Influenced by both Pragmatism and Idealism, Santayana wrote widely on aesthetics, ethics, politics, religion, and the nature of imagination. Naturalism and a love of the wide-ranging intellectual life were driving forces in his thought, as was a general intolerance for pessimism, tech…
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Religion Past and Present
Santería Cult
(740 words)
[German Version] “Santería” is the most common term for a religious tradition that originated among the Yoruba peoples of West Africa. It was brought to Cuba (African-American religion: I, 1) by enslaved Yoruba men and women (Slavery) in the first half of the 19th century and is now practiced throughout the Americas and Europe. The name Santería (way of the Saints) refers to the correspondences that devotees made between the
santos of Roman Catholic folk piety and the
orisha spirits whose veneration they carried from Africa. In Santería theology, God Almighty, Olodumare, …
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Religion Past and Present
Santiago de Compostela
(464 words)
[German Version] The rise of the city of Santiago de Compostela is closely linked to the cult of the apostle James, to whom a preaching ministry on the Iberian Peninsula was attributed in the 7th or 8th century and whose supposed remains were “discovered” in the 9th century. Consolidation of the cult of the apostle encouraged the emergence and growth of the city and bishopric. A monastic community sprang up near the churches built over the gravesite; later a village was established, which could be called a
villa burgensis as early as 915 and was supported by the Asturian kings. In …
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Religion Past and Present
Santo Domingo, Latin American Bishops’ Conference (1992)
(225 words)
[German Version] The fourth Latin American Bishops’ Conference met in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) from Oct 12 to Oct 28, 1992, observing the cinquecentennial of Columbus’s arrival. About 360 delegates took part in the conference, whose theme was “New Evangelization, Human Promotion, Christian Culture – Jesus Christ Yesterday, Today, and Forever.” To prepare for the conference, “Elements for Pastoral Reflection in Preparation for the Fourth Latin American Bishops’ Conference” was distributed in 1990. The final document,
Santo Domingo: Conclusões, called for a new ev…
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Religion Past and Present
São Tomé e Príncipe
(380 words)
[German Version] The islands of São Tomé e Príncipe, with an estimated population of 170,000, comprise one of Africa’s smallest nations. Situated off the coast of Gabon, São Tomé was uninhabited until Portuguese sailors came ashore in 1472. Early settlers, many expelled from Portuguese prisons, established an estate and plantation economy on the islands. Strong historic and cultural links are maintained with Portugal and Angola. Portuguese settlers shipped large numbers of slaves from Angola to wo…
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Religion Past and Present
Sarah
(370 words)
[German Version] Of the 51 occurrences of the name
Sarah (Heb. הרָשָׂ/
śārāh, “princess”) in the Old Testament, all but one are in Genesis. Sarai (Old Sem. form?), first appears in Gen 11:29 as the wife of Terah’s son Abram; she went with them first from Ur to Haran (11:31) and later to Canaan (12:5). The change of names to Abraham and Sarah is reported in 17:5, 11. According to 20:11 (cf. 12:11, 19), Sarah was Abraham’s half-sister, a form of marriage later prohibited (cf. 2 Sam 13:13 with Lev 18:9; 20:17; Deut 27:22) but not criticized at all here (
pace Hepner). Sarah’s barrenness, a continu…
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Religion Past and Present
Saravia, Adrian
(169 words)
[German Version] (c. 1531, Artois – Jan 15, 1613, monument in Canterbury Cathedral), preacher, sometime professor at the University of Leiden (1582–1587), considered the pioneer of Protestant missiology. In his
De diversis ministrorum Evangelii gradibus, sicut a Domino fuerunt instituti (1590; ET:
Of the Diverse Degrees of the Ministers of the Gospel, 1591), he derived from the episcopate, which he understood to embody apostolic succession, both the authority and the duty to send individuals to serve as missionaries. This view prompted oppositio…
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Religion Past and Present
Sarcerius, Erasmus
(281 words)
[German Version] (Apr 19, 1501, Annaberg – Nov 28, 1559, Magdeburg), a prolific writer and successful Reformer of an independent bent. After 1513 he spent years of study and travel in Freiberg, Erfurt, Leipzig, Wittenberg, Lübeck, Nuremberg, Augsburg, Basel, Vienna, Graz, and Rostock. His most important teacher was P. Mosellanus. In 1531 he was appointed deputy headmaster of the Katharineum, the Gymnasium in Lübeck founded by J. Bugenhagen. On Jun 15, 1536, he was appointed headmaster of the new L…
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Religion Past and Present
Sarcophagus/Urn/Ossuary
(793 words)
[German Version]
I. Bronze Age to Late Antiquity It is important to distinguish between a sarcophagus to hold a dead body, an urn for the ashes of a person who has been cremated, and an ossuary to hold the bones of the dead after the flesh has decayed (see also Burial). These receptacles were generally buried; they were not visible and were therefore simple. In some areas and in some periods, it became customary to make them out of marble or other kinds of stone and decorate them with representational or ornamental reliefs. In Greek areas sarcophagi were the exception (6th–4th cents. bce). The E…
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Religion Past and Present
Sarepta
(298 words)
[German Version] Sarepta, modern Sarafand, a site in Lebanon, 50 km south of Beirut. An important Phoenician city, it was founded at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age (mid-16th cent. bce). Occupation continued throughout the Late Bronze and Iron Ages, and a port built in the Roman period (1st cent. ce) continued into the 7th century ce. The ancient city is well known from inscriptional evidence, including Ugaritic texts (14th cent.), Egyptian papyri (13th cent.), Assyrian documents (8th cent.), Greek and Latin literature, and Arab geographers. It i…
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Religion Past and Present
Šarīʿa
(226 words)
[German Version] Šarīʿa (Arab.; pl.
šarāʾiʿ) is the imagined totality of the message given by God to Muḥ̣ammad, his last prophet. Comprising both legal procedures and statements of faith, it is contained not only in the Qurʾān but also in the exemplary Sunna of the Prophet. In an extended sense, the messages of Judaism and Christianity are earlier examples of Šarīʿa. Literally Šarīʿa means “the path to the waterhole” (cf. Qurʾān sura 45:18) – the path the devout believer must follow to secure salva-¶ tion in this world and the next. The complementary term to Šarīʿa or
šarʿ is
fiqh, “jurispru…
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Religion Past and Present
Śarospatak
(394 words)
[German Version] Śarospatak, historic city in Hungary in the Tokay wine region (Hegyalja) and a favorite residence of the kings of the Árpád dynasty; population 13,000 in 2009. In the Middle Ages, it was a center of ecclesiastical education, but it was its Reformed Collegium that brought it fame. Under the protection of Péter Perényi, the lord of the castle, a Protestant school with instruction in the trivium was founded (rectors: Mihály Siklósi and István Kopácsi). By 1567 the school was function…
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Religion Past and Present
Sarpi, Paolo
(359 words)
[German Version] (Aug 24, 1552, Venice – Jan 15, 1623, Venice), theologian and historian. He joined the Servites in 1566 and became the superior of the Venetian province in 1579; from 1585 to 1588 he served as procurator general of his order in Rome, then returned to Venice. Between 1605 and 1607 he was drawn into the bitter conflict between the Holy See and Venice, in the course of which the republic was placed under interdict. As theological counselor to the republic and in the spirit of Gallica…
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Religion Past and Present
Sartorius, Jakob
(84 words)
[German Version] (Schröder; c. 1560, Schönfließ, Brandenburg – 1626, Großen-Englis, Hesse), Reformed theologian. Pastor in Rietberg since 1585, he was expelled by Paderborn Jesuits in 1607 and later became pastor in Ropperhausen (Hesse). His 1606
Brennende Fackel attacking the Jesuits has not survived. His
Kurzer, doch gründlicher Bericht, published in 1612, describes his shift from Lutheranism to Calvinism, although he is at pains to point out what they have in common. Christoph Strohm Bibliography F. Flaskamp, “Jakob Sartorius,”
AKuG 45, 1963, 313–333.
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Religion Past and Present
Sartre, Jean-Paul
(651 words)
[German Version] (Jun 21, 1905, Paris – Apr 15, 1980, Paris), studied philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris and taught at lycées in Le Havre, Laon, and Paris. He was a prisoner of war in Germany in 1940/1941, then joined the French resistance. After 1945 he edited the journal
Les temps modernes. After World War II, Sartre became one of the most influential intellectuals of his age. He actively opposed the wars in Algeria (1958–1962) and Vietnam (1968) and supported the student movement. From 1952 until the Hungarian uprising in 1956, …
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Religion Past and Present
Sasse, Hermann Otto Erich
(198 words)
[German Version] (Jul 17, 1895, Sonnewalde, Lower Lusatia – Aug 8, 1976, North Adelaide, South Australia), son of a pharmacist, Sasse studied in Berlin from 1913 to 1916 and served in the army from 1916 to 1918; he received his Lic.theol. in 1923. From 1921 to 1928 he served as pastor in Oranienburg and after that in Berlin. In 1926, during a study year at Hartford, Connecticut, he received his license to teach. He was at the Faith and Order Conference in Lausanne in 1927 and edited the proceeding…
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Religion Past and Present
Sassetta
(186 words)
[German Version] (Stefano di Giovanni di Consolo; c. 1392, Siena or Cortona – 1450, Siena), Italian painter. Although trained in a local stylistic ambiance, in the early altarpieces he began painting c. 1426 Sasseta already showed that his eye was on the revolutionary developments in Florence. His altarpiece painted for a chapel in Siena Cathedral in 1432 (now in the Pitti Palace, Florence) intoduced animating motifs into the conventional iconography of the
Santa Conversazione: an angel making a snowball, individual gestures or limbs extended in three-dimensional spa…
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Religion Past and Present
Satanism
(923 words)
[German Version]
I. Religious Studies
Satanism is not a scientific term but a protean concept – it has no agreed definition, nor do we know exactly when and in what context it was first used. In the context of religious studies, it falls into three categories: (1) biblical texts, apocryphal literature, and Christian theology record heterogeneous notions of a power hostile to God (e.g. Satan or the devil). Generally for polemical purposes, throughout the history of Christendom various social groups (e…
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Religion Past and Present
Satisfaction, Doctrine of
(430 words)
[German Version] The classic deployment of the concept of “satisfaction” in Christian soteriology (Redemption: III; VI) comes in Anselm of Canterbury’s
Cur Deus Homo, where Anselm attempts to demonstrate the necessity of the incarnation and passion of God the Son. He asserts that willful injury done to another demands two acts of reparation if it is not to be ¶ punished: recompense to the value of the injury and an additional payment to “satisfy” the outrage of the injury being done. Boso, Anselm’s imaginary interlocutor, offers no argument against this …
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Religion Past and Present