Religion Past and Present

[German Version] ( Columba; c. 543, Ireland – Nov 23, 615, or Nov 21, 616, Bobbio), abbot of Luxeuil and Bobbio. As a senior monk in the monastery of Bangor, Columbanus and 12 companions (St. Gall) undertook the peregrinatio to Gaul, probably in 590/591, where he founded the monasteries of Luxeuil, Annegray, and Fontaine with the permission of King Childebert II. They experienced a great afflux of young Frankish noblemen and soon numbered more than 200 members. Columbanus came into conflict with the bishops of Burgundy…

[German Version] (c. 522 – Jul 9, 597 Iona), or Columcille, was an Irish (Ireland) saint, priest, monk, abbot, and founder of Iona. He was fostered by the priest Cruithnechán and studied as deacon in Leinster, later with the British bishop Uinniau. Columba may have openly prayed for his kindred's victory in a battle in 561, which could be related to his temporary excommunication by the Synod of Tailtiu. He left for northern Britain in 563, fulfilling the Irish ideal that glorified peregrinatio to a foreign land as the pinnacle of ascetic ¶ renunciation. Columbanus benefited from …

[German Version] (1451, in or near Genoa – May 20, 1506, Valladolid) gained his first experiences in seafaring on trading voyages to England, Portugal, and West Africa. Sponsored, among others, by the “Catholic Monarchs” Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, he set sail from Palos, near Seville, on Aug 8, 1492. Trusting in recent insights concerning the spherical shape of the earth, he was attempting to find a westerly route to India and East Asia. On Oct …

[German Version] (Jan 19, 1901, Hallstead, PA – Sep 24, 1974, Deland, FL), New Testament scholar and university administrator; professor at the University of Chicago 1930–1951 (president 1945–1951), dean of faculties at Emory University, Atlanta, GA 1951–1957, president at the School of Theology at Claremont, CA, 1957–1968. Colwell collaborated with Harold R. Willoughby (1890–1962) on the critical edition of NT manuscripts ( The Four Gospels of Karahissar, 1936; The Elizabeth Day McCormick Apocalypse, 1940). Colwell became known for his contributions to textu…

[German Version] (Mar 15, 1831, Limone, Italy – Oct 10, 1881, Khartoum, Sudan) stimulated missionary activity and founded an institute for the evangelization of Black Africa: the Comboni Missionaries. Ordained at Mazza's Institute in Verona in 1854, he spent his first years in Africa among the Dinka (Nuer and Dinka) in the Sudan (1857–1859). From 1862 to 1864 he campaigned in France, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria for the mission in Central Africa, and publish…

[German Version] officially the “Sons of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” (FSCJ). Commonly referred to as the “Verona Fathers” in English-speaking countries, they are known as “Comboni missionaries” elsewhere. Founded by D. Comboni in 1867 as an institute of diocesan priests, it became a religious congregation in 1894, though not without conflicts and under pressure from Rome. Amid the tensions of World War I, the Austrian branch became autonomous, but was reincorporat…

[German Version] I. Life – II. Work – III. Influence (Jan Ámo Komenský; Mar 28, 1592, Nivnice, Moravia – Nov 15, 1670, Amsterdam). I. Life After losing his parents at an early age, Comenius attended the grammar school of the Bohemian Brethren in Přerov (1608–1611). In 1618, after studying at the Reformed college in Herborn (1611–1613) and at Heidelberg (1613–1614; Reformed Colleges in Germany), he became warden of the Brethren congregation in Fulnek and headmaster of the local Brethren sch…

[German Version] I. Antiquity – II. Middle Ages to the Present I. Antiquity In the so-called Old Attic Comedy of the 5th century bce, as represented by the 11 extant comedies of Aristophanes (c. 450–385; the comedies produced in Sicily and Megara [so-called Megarian farces] are lost), the role of religion is a twofold one. First, dramas (Drama: I, 2) performed in the context of the festivals dedicated to Dionysus were considered to be spiritual offerings to the god and could therefore only be staged once (until 386 bce). Secondly, religion and cult were recurrent themes of…

[German Version] (CEHILA: Commission for the Study of Latin American Church History). The CEHILA was founded in 1973 in the Pastoral Institute of the CELAM (Latin American Conference of Bishops). Its first chairman was Enrique Dussel (until 1992). His successors were José Oscar Beozzo and, subsequently, Ana Maria Bidegain. The CEHILA planned and prepared a 10-volume history of the Latin American Church containing the first integrated account of the history of Chr…

[German Version] (CELADEC; Evangelical Latin American Commission for Christian Education). The CELADEC was created in 1962 for the purpose of providing Protestant churches in Latin America with educational resources. One of its main publications is the Curso Nueva Vida en Cristo (“New Life in Christ Course”), the methodology of which is based on the realities of Latin American life. In the 1970s, CELADEC developed into the main center of popular education in Latin America. The institution underwent a major internal …

[German Version] (demarcation and apportionment of missionary territories) began in the early 19th century as a practicable compromise between missionary rivalry (Mission), which appeared irresponsible, and a unity that did not yet exist. The concept was approved by the (Protestant) London Centenary Missions Conference in 1888. From the original makeshift “geographical denominationalism” with predominantly negative emphasis on mutual territorial restrictio…

[German Version] The Comma Johanneum (“Johannine Comma”) is the short passage 1 John 5:7b–8a: “…in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. [8] And there are three that testify on earth.” It does not appear in Greek texts before the 14th century. Five manuscripts include it in the text (minuscules 61, 629, 918, 2318, 2473); four others add it as a variant (88, 221, 429, 636). It is absent in all the ancient versions (Bible translations), including the oldest texts of the Vetus Latina and Vulgate. It makes its first appearance in ch. 4 of the Latin Liber apologeti…

[German Version] I. Dogmatics – II. Ethics I. Dogmatics The renewed interest of the 19th-century – and especially of the theology of Erlangen (Erlangen School: I) – in Luther once more raised the issue of the tertius usus legis, i.e. of the relevance and consequences of God's “law” for those who are justified in faith. The problem ¶ is twofold: First, how does God's commandment, i.e. the will of God as documented in the formulated commandments, relate to the freedom afforded by the faith in God's sin-redeeming grace and expressed in the…

[German Version] Mitzvot

[German Version] The commandments of the church are disciplinary precepts and ethical rules that are comparable to those of Judaism and Islam. The are promulgated by the church and originally also arose out of custom. They are subject to change. As statements of the teaching office of the church ( magisterium) intended for pastoral and catechetical use, they appear in catechisms (II) and canon law (II; CIC/¶ 1983, Particular law). Since the Middle Ages, the number of church commandments and their content have varied because of uneven regional …

[German Version] (accusative of commenda, “trust”, from Lat. commendare, “to give in trust”), a legal institution of classical canon law that permitted a church official to enjoy the income from an ecclesiastical office without having to fulfill the obligations and duties of a regular benefice. In principle, a benefice could be given in commendam only as long as it took to fill the vacancy or while the regular incumbent was prevented from carrying out his duties, for example as a result of suspension; cf. also Decretum Gratiani, cc. 3, 21, q. 1 ( Corpus Iuris Canonici …

[German Version] ( Commendatio animae). The earliest Roman evidence of this liturgy is the Ordo Romanus 49 (7th/8th cent.) with the elements of travel provisions (Viaticum) and passion. Up to the Council of Trent, the commendation of the dying grew massively in scope. Travel provisions and care of the dying are found today in the Catholic Ordo unctionis infirmorum (1972) ( Instruction on Prayers for Healing). Commendation of the dying (sometimes including the valet blessing) is provided in Lutheran, Anglican, and other Protestant forms. Songs fo…

[German Version] was created in 1929 by the International Missionary Council (IMC) to carry out the recommendations of two 1927 conferences, chaired by J.R. Mott in Budapest and Warsaw with the theme “The Christian Approach to the Jews.” The IMCCAJ thus became the international umbrella organization for those independent and church-related agencies devoted to evangelizing Jews (Jewish missions). Under the direction of Conrad Hoffmann Jr., followed by Göte Heden¶ quist and Anker Gjerding, the Committee functioned through the war years, not only overtly atte…

[German Version] (3rd [probably not 5th] cent. North Africa?) was the earliest Christian Latin poet. Works: 1. Instructiones: conversion of Jews and pagans, instructions for the Christian way of life; 2. Carmen apologeticum: a portrayal of Christianity as the true faith in 1060 hexameters containing chiliastic-eschatological motifs. The works are characterized by the programmatic rejection of classical (because untrue) diction and meter. Karla Pollmann Bibliography CPL, 1470f. CChr.SL 128, 1960 A. Salvatore, ed., Instructiones, 1965–1968 idem, Carme apologetico, 1977 E. He…

[German Version] The frequently employed notion of the “common affairs” of church and state (or of religious or ideological communities) is a heuristic concept, not a legal one. It has become generally accepted as a way of circumscribing a particular form of interaction between state and church, but makes no reference whatsoever to any assessment of the corresponding legal issues. In the relevant literature, the term is used in a variety of senses. In the interest of pr…

[German Version] expresses the purpose of social interaction, either in a general sense or in the specific sense given to it by politics and law. Precision in the use of the concept of common good is of fundamental importance for any type of social ethics (Protestant social ethics), as the normative definition of society and of its subsystems is dependent upon it. The often unnuanced invoking of the common good (“an empty phrase”) brings discredit to this major concern. “Common good” (Lat. bonum commune) is the translation of the Greek τὸ κοινῇ συμφέρον/ to koinḗ symphéron. Aristotle emp…

[German Version] The development of the concept of common law began in the legal doctrine of the High Middle Ages as a complementary notion to that of statutory law, whereby the medieval jurists could also draw on Roman legal texts. The most significant contributions to the definition of common law in the scholarly jurisprudence of the Middle Ages were made by the canonists. As early as the 12th century, the doctrine establishing the plenitudo potestatis of the pope had already led the formulation of the principle that the validity of common law rested on the t…

[German Version] Natural Law

[German Version] has two histories. The first concerns the effort by Thomas Reid (1710–1796) to refute the skeptical conclusions that D. Hume had drawn from the sensationalist epistemology of J. Locke. Reid's main argument was that sense perceptions, operating under normal conditions disclose the material world as it is.They are not, as Locke had suggested, merely “ideas.” Reid suggested rather that the human mind is structured in such a way that it is impossible to act…

[German Version] (CIS), a union founded in 1991 of the successor states of the former USSR: Azerbaijan (not 1992–93), Armenia, Georgia (from 1993), Kazakhstan, Kirgistan, Moldavia (beginning 1994), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Belarus (White Russia). A 1995 human rights convention adopted by only some of the states formulated freedom of religion (art. 10) in line with the OSCE, though with a limitation wi…

[German Version] (CEVAA; Evangelical Community for Apostolic Action) was founded in Paris on Oct 31, 1971 as the successor organization of the Société des Missions Évangeliques de Paris (Mission de Paris). Originally conceived as an association of 23 churches (the Protestant churches of France, Switzerland and Italy, as well as the churches that arose from their missionary activities in Africa and ¶ Oceania), the CEVAA currently numbers 47 member churches (now also including churches in Latin America). As a religious organization of the post-…

[German Version] denotes the “mutual interchange of attributes” of the second person of the Deity with the human person Jesus of Nazareth or attributes of humanity with the second person of the Deity in the person of Jesus Christ (Christology). It manifests first in the language of worship (prayer addressed to Jesus; predication of Mary as Theotokos) as well as in the biblical documents and ecclesiastical tradition (1 Cor 2:8b; Mark 2:10). The Chalcedonian Defin…

[German Version] In accordance with the Leuenberg Concord (1974), most Lutheran, Reformed, and Union churches in Europe (and beyond) practice ecclesial and liturgical fellowship ( communicatio in sacris), as realized in pulpit and eucharistic fellowship. This has been extended to include the Old Catholic Church (Old Catholics) and the Church of England. By way of “Eucharistic hospitality,” members of other churches are also allowed to partake of the Eucharist, while the members of the former churches …

[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Religious Studies – III. Fundamental Theology – IV. Ethics – V. Practical Theology I. Philosophy In the 20th century, philosophical issues were primarily treated as issues of language and communication. While Rorty spoke of a “linguistic turn,” and thereby focused on methodological innovations in theoretical philosophy, Apel and Habermas postulated an objective shift of paradigm from consciousness to communication that is meant to have revolutioni…

[German Version] I. Theory – II. Ethics – III. Practical Theology I. Theory “Communications” in the broadest sense encompasses the interdisciplinary study of communication in biological, technological, and social systems, insofar as it manifests itself as a purposeful exchange of information through a system of signs. The subject of study is ultimately the communication process as a whole, including both its mutually interacting components (communicator, medium, recipient) and …

[German Version] I. General – II. Recent Theories – III. Religion as Communication I. General Communication theories are not only developed in the natural sciences (physical information theory, cybernetics, biology) but also in the humanities and social sciences (Philosophy; Psychology; Sociology; Anthropology; Philology and linguistics; Semiotics, etc.), and are accordingly of heterogeneous nature. Where an interdisciplinary exchange does take place in the process of …

[German Version] In its current usage, the concept of “communicative action” goes back to J. Habermas's critical theory (I). It had previously only been used occasionally in empiricist sociology and behavioristic communication research (behaviorism). Habermas, however, treats the subject from the perspective of G.H. Mead's pragmatic social behaviorism. He integrates Mead's notion of communicative personality development (socialization) with M. Weber's typo…

[German Version] I. Dogmatics – II. Liturgy – III. Music – IV. Canon Law I. Dogmatics In the Vulgate, the Latin term communio, along with the more frequent translations communicatio and societas, renders the New Testament word κοινωνία ( koinōnía). It gained ecclesiological content primarily through the Apostles' Creed, which adopted Augustine's description of the church as the communio sanctorum including not only the elect, but also the angels. The communio evidenced in the NT as participation in the benefits of salvation in worship became the startin…

[German Version] Eucharist/Communion

[German Version] The original meaning of “communion” (from Lat. communio) is “community, solidarity, togetherness.” In the Catholic understanding of 1 Cor 10:16ff, communion refers to the community of the Christians with Christ and with each other, as established by the reception of the Eucharist (II): the partaking of the one bread causes us to become members of the one body of Jesus Christ. Thus, communion constitutes and manifests ecclesial community. In antiquity, t…

[German Version] Intercommunion

[German Version] like commendation of the dying, traces back to earliest Christianity. According to Just. 1 Apol. (65:5), deacons brought communion to the faithful who could not participate in the congregational celebration of the Eucharist (Communion: II) – probably primarily the elderly, sick, and dying. The Council of Nicea (canon 13) desired that no Christian should die without communion (cf. John 6:54). If possible, it was delivered in both elements (until the discontinuance of the communion cup in the 12th cent.) directly from the celebra¶ tion of the Eucharist, also by th…

[German Version] The term Kirchengemeinschaft (communion of churches = “full communion, ecclesial fellowship”) was introduced in the 19th century as a self-designation for the German United Churches (Unions, Church) and a term covering the organizational integration of Protestant regional churches in Germany, with frequent reference to CA 7. It did not acquire a precise terminological meaning, however, until the reorganization of the Old Prussian Union after World War II (Evangelische Kirche der Union ¶ [EKU]), as a consequence of theological understandings reached during the K…

[German Version] I. Catholic Understanding – II. Protestant Understanding I. Catholic Understanding The expression “communion of saints” ( Communio sanctorum ) is attested in the writings of Nicetas of Remesiana ( Explanatio symboli 10) as an addendum to the Apostles' Creed (DH 19) and signifies an interpretation of the concept of the church. In its very essence, the “Holy Catholic Church” is to be seen in three interwoven ¶ levels of meaning: the common participation of all the baptized in Christ's gifts of salvation; the personal unity of all in faith,…

[German Version] (in the Orthodox Church). In reference to 1 Cor 11:27–29, the Orthodox Church only allows laypersons to receive communion (Eucharist/Communion) after they have been given express pemission to do so, the latter usually (but not necessarily always) being granted in confession. In some places, a week of fasting and frequent attendance at worship are required. The minimum requirement for priests and laypersons, which may only be departed from in situ…

[German Version] The expression communio sanctorum, an explanatory addition to “the holy church” in the Apostles' Creed, first appears in the context of pre-baptismal instruction in the catechetical sermon De symbolo of Bishop Nicetas of Remesiana. It soon came into widespread use, especially in Gaul. It may be interpreted as a reference to the sanctorum omnium congregatio (Nicetas), to those who have achieved perfection (in the context of veneration of the saints), or to participation in the sacraments. Luther recognized communio sanctorum as a gloss clarifying the signific…

[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. History and Church History I. Philosophy 1. Terminology Communism (<Lat. communis, “common”) denotes (a) notions of a future social order in which private ownership is abolished and the means of production are owned collectively and administered by agencies of society. Consumption, i.e. the distribution of goods and services, is also regulated by collective distribution of the goods produced by society on the basis of its members' ma…

[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Ethics – III. Philosophy of Religion, Fundamental Theology, and Practical Theology I. Philosophy The social philosophy of communitarianism originated in the USA in the 1980s. Its starting point was a fundamental philosophical critique of John Rawls's liberal contract theory of justice (Liberalism). According to the critique, this theory understands individuals totally apart from their social contexts and favors a republic where justice is only pro…

[German Version] History: religious associations known as “communities” invoke the communal structures that have existed throughout church history ever since the primitive church (Acts 2:42): the Desert Fathers and Mothers (Anchorites), cenobitic monasticism (Cenobites), medieval orders, semimonastic and fraternal impulses in Pietism (N. v. Zinzendorf, G. Tersteegen), mission homes, the liturgical movement at the beginning of the 20th century. The …

[German Version] The substantive presuppositions of the study Strukturen missionarischer Gemeinden (Stuctures of Missionary Communities = SMC) issued in 1961 at the commission of the World Council of Churches include the external integration of the WCC and the International Missionary Council (IMC) (1961), the efforts at a renewal of the theology of missionary proclamation begun already in the 1950's, the emphasis on the missionary responsibility of the laity, and the r…

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Church History – V. Dogmatics – VI. Ethics – VII. Practical Theology – VIII. Church Law – IX. Judaism – X. Islam I. History of Religion In the following comments the term community will refer exclusively to a religiously motivated association of people. From the standpoint of the history of religion, the formation of communities is more the exception than the rule. The fact that associations such as tribes, as well, howe…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Philosophy – V. Dogmatics – VI. Sociology, Ethics – VII. Practical Theology I. Religious Studies In the context of their understanding of God and related obligations, human beings make connections of solidarity and feel, with more or less intensity, that they are members of the same community. Religion brings people closer together and creates social ties: the umma of the Muslims, Christian brotherhood and ecumeni…

[German Version] I. Europe – II. North America I. Europe There has been a community or “fellowship” movement (Ger. Gemeinschaftsbewegung), an organized form of pietism in practice, since the 19th century in various European countries, especially in Scandinavia, as well as in eastern and southeastern European countries, although it was or is not as important there as in the German-speaking countries (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Alsace, as well as Holland). Its impact (with regional variations), in terms of numbers too, has been greatest in Germany. The historical roots of t…

[German Version] I. New Testament – II. History – III. Ethics I. New Testament The summary descriptions in Acts paint a picture of the first Christian community in Jerusalem in which the ¶ unanimity of the believers finds expression in the community of goods (2:44f.; 4:32–35). This community is depicted as free, not forced (5:4), and not egalitarian: The goods offered to the community were divided according to the needs of each individual (2:45; 4:35). The community of goods is only an element of the koinōnía of worship, prayer and Eucharist that charact…

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[German Version] Diocese in northern Italy. St. Felix is attested as the first bishop of Como (ordained in 386 by Ambrose of Milan). The diocese of Como, originally subject to the metropolitan of Milan, became a suffraga…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Christianity – III. Buddhism I. Religious Studies The term compassion bears Christian connotations: compassion (cf. Lat. compassio; Gk συμπάϑεια/ sympátheia) refers to the capacity or ability to share concretely in the s…

[German Version] Restitution

[German Version] Derived from the Latin compensatio (“balance/balancing”), the term “compensation” found its way into various historical areas of culture and religion as well as into a number of scholarly disciplines (theology, jurisprudence, education, [individual] psychology, ecology, economics, etc.). In the study of religions, “compensation theory” refers to a critical theory of religion according to which religion represents …

[German Version] In its broadest sense, the variously used notion of “competence” refers to the ability to lead a responsible and self-determined life in all practical aspects of one's conduct of life. Basic competence, however, manifests itself only belatedly and indirectly in outwardly discernible actions, so-called “performance” (Noam Chomsky). Its foundation consists more of an inner constellation which proves capable of handling all situations…

[German Version] For long periods of time, the word competence (or competency) denoted a person's means of subsistence. From the 17th century onward, it has been used systematically in its technical legal sense ¶ of responsibility or jurisdiction and has become a standard technical administrative term in the context of the modern state with its division of functions. Competence defines the responsibilities and m…

[German Version] “Competency” refers to the skills and abilities associated with the pastoral office. It denotes the professional standards acquired during theological studies and in in-service training (Ordination and…

[German Version] I. Economics – II. Ethics I. Economics The term “competition” is linked with the idea of rivalry, but the Latin competere makes it clear that the notion ultimately has to do with several players seeking a prize together. As competitors they strive together in an activity that …

[German Version] The principle of complementarity was first formulated in 1927 by Niels Bohr (1885–1962) in the context of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics. According to Bohr, our knowledge ¶ …

[German Version] Liturgy of the Hours

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Archaeology …

[German Version] The Conference Message of the International Missionary Council (IMC) in Jerusalem in 1928 said: “The one inclusive purpose of the missionary enterprise is to present Jesus Christ to …

[German Version] I. Concept – II. Historical Development – III. Importance of Education – IV. International Developments – V. Prospects I. Concept Young people have the right and the duty to receive a school education. Whether they welcome a scholastic relationship of subordination expressed in such a way is another matter altogether. That…

[German Version] In recent years the computer has dramatically impacted many facets of human life. While no one can predict how this technology will ultimately affect the practice of theology and the faith community, it is clear that as a tool, the computer presents both opportunities and challenges. In the academic setting, the computer is used for research and to facilitate learning. Connected to the Internet, computers provide a link to the worldwide community of researchers and academic institutes. Students from around the w…

[German Version] (Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier; Jan 19, 1798, Montpellier – Jul 5, 1857, Paris), French philosopher and sociologist who acted as secretary to C.H. de Saint-Simon and as an examination coach in Paris, and who became known primarily …

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[German Version] The Reichstag Fire Decree of Feb 28, 1933, suspended civil liberties and enabled the National Socialists (National Socialism) to arrest and imprison political opponents outside the judicial system. Throughout Germany some 80 detention centers were set up, which came to be called concentration camps; the term itself had …

[German Version] (Lat.: “a singing together; concord, agreement”) was an equivalent term in classical Roman usage to the Greek loan words symphonía and harmonía, meaning sounding together, or being in (musical) agreement. In the 16th century the term acquired a technical meaning at least in the treatise Musice active micrologus by Andreas Ornithoparcus (Leipzig 1517). In this treatise concentus refers to chants with a pronounced melodic content, for example hymns, sequences, antiphons, responsories, introits, tropes etc. Ornithoparcus …

[German Version] (Nuns of the Immaculate Conception; see also Immaculate Conception, Order of the) was founded as …

[German Version] Nag Hammadi

[German Version] (for justice, peace and the preservation of creation). I. The 6th plenary assembly of the World Council of Churches in 1983 challenged churches to enter into a “conciliar process of mutual obligation (covenant) for justice, peace and the preservation of creation” (JPC). The German Protestant Church Conference ( …

[German Version] I. Church History – II. Dogmatics – III. Church Law I. Church History Conciliarism (conciliar theory) is the doctrine that the general council is the highest ecclesial authority such that even the pope is subject to its supremacy. Its roots lie primarily in the discussions of medieval canon law concerning the relationship between papal immunity and responsibility. A discussion concerning the relationship of the infallibility of the church promised Peter (Matt 16:18) to the fallibility of individual popes was associated wi…

[German Version] Pope, Election of

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[German Version] In the Middle Ages, the dual elements of the Eucharist became a(n intellectual) problem for the Latin West that sought the truth more in the factual than in image or metaphor. Anselm of Canterbury found it necessary to resist the view that in the bread one receives only the body, in the wine only the blood or soul of Christ. Rather, in each element received separatim, Christ is wholly present (PL 159, 255f.). Quod totus Christus sub utraque specie sit et sumatur became the standing formula. Alexander of Hales coined the term concomitantia (Lat. concomitari, “to accompany”)…

[German Version] (from med. Lat., concordare, “to agree”) designates an alphabetic listing of all the words in a literary work, especially the Bible, with references and brief textual excerpts. The biblical concordance is arranged in the order of the biblical books. It serves the purpose of locating specific Scripture passages and in biblical interpretation (Exegesis).…

[German Version] I. Term – II. Historical Overview – III. Basic Questions in Concordat Law – IV. Outlook I. Term Concordat is the term for the classical form of a contract between the state and the Roman Catholic Church (Church and state). In the limited and proper sense, concordat means the codified contract with the Holy See, concluded on the level of international law in diplomatic form, and designed, in principle, to regulate legally and permanently all matters of common interest…

[German Version] The Formula of Concord ( Formula Concordiae) of 1577 is the result of the trans-regional settlement effort conducted in protracted, tedious negotiations intended to provide a common doctrinal basis for the Lutheran state churches that had splintered through doctrinal disputes after Luther's death and had separated into various doctrinal traditions – notably that of the Philippists (adherents of Melanchthon) and the Gnesio-Lutherans. Through its inclusion in the Book of Concord, …

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[German Version] This expression denotes God's creative cooperation (or “concurrence”) in the relative acts of creatures (Free will) against the background of the noetic distinction between being and action. With the emergence of Aristotelianism in the 13th century, the term, which originated in Roman civil law (“coincidence of multiple claims”), was applied to the philosophical/theological problem of cooperation between …

[German Version] The expression conditio humana can best be understood against the background of the philosophical anthropology that developed into an independent discipline in the course of the 20th century. It appears already in a non-technical sense in Cicero ( Tusc. I, 8, 15). B. Pascal describes the condition de l'homme as inconstancy, boredom, and anxiety ( Pensées [Lafuma] 20). The expression refers to…

[German Version] (CLAR) was founded on Mar 2, 1959 at the wish of the Apostolic See and the Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano (CELAM) with approbation of the statutes. It is subject to the papal Congregation for Institutes of Cons…

[German Version] I. Origin, Membership, and Goals – II. Development and Concerns – III. Expectations, Charta Oecumenica I. Origin, Membership, and Goals The Conference of European Churches (CEC) was founded on the initiative of Protestant church leaders from Germany, France, and the Netherlands as a platform for dialogue and cooperation among the churches of Europe on both sides of the Iron Curtain. After ¶ preparatory meetings in Brussels (1955) and Liselund, Denmark (1957), an invitation to a founding assembly of the CEC in Nyborg, Denmark, went …

[German Version] The Conference of German Protestant Labor Organizations was founded in Berlin in 1916 as a union of the institutions of social Protestantism, with the significant participation of the Home Missions. Its activities were restricted to practical fields of work, primarily in the moral sector. As the lobbying body of free Protestantism, it secured the latter's representation in the newly constituted self-administration boards of the Church. Its significance declined over the years, leading to its dissolution in 1933.…

[German Version] Following the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in 1910, the CBMS was founded on Jun 12, 1912. It drew on the experience of the London Secretaries' Association, founded in 1819 by four British missionary societies (English Missions). J.H. Oldham was its first salaried Secretary. The primary o…

[German Version] Church conferences are official or privately arranged gatherings for the discussion or negotiation, at an appropriate level, of issues that need to be decided or prepared for a decision, possibly because the committees in charge have not come to a decision or are unable to do so. The term indicates occupation with issues or organizational questions which are not clearly determined in a legal sense, even if the legal status of the church conference in …

[German Version] (CNBB; National Conference of Brazilian Bishops) was established in Rio de Janeiro on Oct 14, 1952 to promote the unity of the Catholic episcopacy, to coordinate the pastoral activity of the 115 dioceses and prelatures, and to nurture relations between the Brazilian church (Brazi…

[German Version] CNBB (Conferencia Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil)

[German Version] I. Background – II. Establishment – III. Fundamental Difference: Two Types – IV. Schism in the Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche; BK). “Bekennende Kirche” was the self-designation of those who, from 1934, appeared alongside and in opposition to the administrative bodies dominated by the Deutsche Christen (“German Christians”) at the levels of the Reich, the state, and the community, with their own forms of organization suited to the confession. Depending on the respective legal situ…

[German Version] the supreme administrative organs of the Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche), which legitimized the creation of alternative church structures since the fall of 1934. In contrast to the national synods of the German Evangelical Church and to the administration of the church of the Reich under L. Müller, the first “Confessing Synod of the German Evangelical Church” in Barmen (May 29–31, 1934) declared itself the sole legal representative of the German Evangelical Church. (H. Asmussen probably coined the term “Confessing Synod” [ Bekenntnissynode]). Tensions in church policy defined its further work; the varying legal situations in the regional churches prevented the composition of the confessing synods from being clearly regulated at the time. While the Barmen decisions remained binding on most parts of the Confessing Church, with its proclamation of the church's emergency law the 2nd Confessing Synod in Berlin-Dahlem (Oct 19–20, 1934) promoted division. The 3rd German Evangelical Church Confessing Synod in Augsburg (Jun 4–6, 1935) was able only temporarily to resolve ¶ the foundational differences between Lutheran territorial confessing churches and the Prussian Confessing Church. In the dispute concerning cooperation with the state-legitimized church boards, the unity of the Confessing Church disintegrated definitively at the 4th Confessing Synod in Bad Oeynhausen (Feb 18–22, 1936); there were no further German Evangelical Church Confessing synods. A functioning system of confessing synods developed only in the Prussian Church (Old Prussian Union), prepared for by oppositional “Free Syn…

[German Version] Augsburg Confession

[German Version] Articles of Faith

[German Version] Articles of Faith

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[German Version] In the majority of cases, Confessio Helvetica doesn't refer to the Confessio Helvetica prior that originated in Basel in 1536, but to the more significant Confessio Helvetica posterior. Drawn up by H. Bullinger, this confession was published in 1566 – by request of Count Palatine Frederick III both in Latin and in German. It consists of 30 chapters arranged according to loci and deals with the Reformed doctrine of Zwingli as modified by Bullinger. Though pragmatically mild in tone, Bullinger remained adamant on crucial issues …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Church History – III. Dogmatics – IV. Practical Theology – V. Missiology …

[German Version] I. Architecture – II. Liturgy and Practice I. Architecture A simple or throne-like, originally open, seat in the church as seating for the father confessor and the person making confession, the place for individual confession (Confession). Beginning in the 16th century, especially after the Council of Trent and the Instructiones of ¶ C. Borromeo, the originally simple wooden armchair underwent rich development. In general, from the early 17th century on, one finds the symmetrical three-part confessional, the central…

[German Version] In its original usage by E. Troeltsch the term “confessional age” designated the 16th and 17th-century period of European history, distinct from the Middle Ages and the modern era, in which the “power of ecclesial culture,” in principle broken by Protestantism or the Reformation, continued to shape culture and society in the form of three “mutually exclusive and restrictive infallible churchdoms” ( …

[German Version] The origins and the history of the concept have scarcely been investigated. The earliest known German attestations date from the Vormärz , around 1830. In terms of its conceptual history, confessionalism is thus a specifically modern phenomenon. It reflects upon dramatic processes of religio-cultural change. In many European societies, from c. 1780 onward, the drifting apart of state and society as well as a growing socio-cultural differentiation concided wit…

[German Version] I. Research Paradigm – II. Recent Developments – III. 19th Century I. Research Paradigm Confessionalization is the forming of state, society, and cult…