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
Ehrhard, Albert Joseph Maria
(279 words)
[German Version] (Mar 14, 1862, Herbitzheim, Alsace – Sep 23, 1940, Bonn), significant Catholic church historian, Byzantine scholar, and hagiographer. After studying in Strasbour…
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Religion Past and Present
Ehrlich, Johannes Nepomuk
(143 words)
[German Version] (Feb 21, 1810, Vienna – Oct 23, 1864, Prague), Catholic theologian and philosopher and a Piarist father. He taught philosophy in Krems (1836), was professor of moral theology at the Universities of Graz (1850) and Prague (1852), held the first chair with the designation fundamental theology (Prague 1856), and authored the first German-language work with that term in the title (
…
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Religion Past and Present
Eichendorff, Joseph Baron von
(623 words)
[German Version] (Mar 10, 1788, Lubowitz – Nov 26, 1857, Neisse) grew up in Lubowitz (Upper Silesia) and belonged to the minor nobility. He owes his popularity as a lyric poet of Romanticism to his folksong-like texts (“In einem kühlen Grunde…”; “Wem Gott will rechte Gunst erweisen”), which were welcomed particularly in men's choirs and in the Jugendbewegung up until World War II. The basis for this artistic, folksong-type lyricism was the romanticized compilation of Achim v. Arnim and Clemens Brentano (
Des Knaben Wunderhorn, 1806–1808). A first collected edition of …
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Religion Past and Present
Eichhorn, Johann Gottfried
(267 words)
[German Version] (Dec 16, 1752, Dörrenzimmern, Württemberg – Jun 25, 1827, Göttingen), Protestant theologian. After a brief period as rector in Ohrdruf in 1774, he earned his doctorate in Jena in 1775 and soon after became professor of oriental languages there. In 1788, he became professor of philosophy in Göttingen. He attempted to combine a historical approach following J.D. …
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Religion Past and Present
Eichhorn, Karl Albert August Ludwig
(212 words)
[German Version] (Oct 1, 1856, Garlstorf near Lüneburg – Aug 3, 1926, Braunschweig), Protestant theologian. He studied in Leipzig, Erlangen and Gottingen, from 1875 to 1878, served as pastor from 1881 to 1884, gained his Habilitation in Halle in 1886, becoming professor of church history there in 1888. He moved to Kiel for health reasons in 1901, received an honorary doctorate fr…
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Religion Past and Present
Eichmann, Eduard
(105 words)
[German Version] (Feb 14, 1870, Hagenbach, Palatinate – Apr 26, 1946, Munich), Roman Catholic canonist and legal historian; in 1905 he became professor in Prague, in 1913 in Vienna, from 1918 to 1937 in Munich; he was rector of the university there in 1929/30. Eichmann founded the leading textbook in the German-speaking realm,
Kanonisches Recht, continued initially by his student K. Mörsdorf, and now in the 13th edition by Winfried Aymans. Among his writings in legal history,
Die Kaiserkrönung im Abendland (2 vols., 1942) merits special mention. Heinrich de Wall Bibliography K. Mörsdo…
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Religion Past and Present
Eichrodt, Walther
(222 words)
[German Version] (Aug 1, 1890, Gernsbach, Baden [Switzerland] – May 20, 1978, Basel), Protestant theologian. He studied in Bethel, Greifswald, Heidelberg (Lic.theol. 1914); assistant lecturer in Erlangen (Habilitation 1918), from 1922 (assistant professor; 1934 professor; 1953 rector) until 1961 lecturer in OT and the history of religions at the University of Basel (honorary ¶ doctorate in 1927, Erlangen, 1951 Glasgow; collaborator in the Basel Mission). His chief work, a three- volume, widely res…
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Religion Past and Present
Eichstätt
(570 words)
[German Version] I. City and Diocese – II. Catholic University
I. City and Diocese In 740 Suidger, a Bavarian nobleman, founded a monastery at Eichstätt, an early medieval village, for Boniface, who appointed Willibald as its abbot. Through Willibald's initiative, in the course of the 9th century a diocese suffr…
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Religion Past and Present
Eighteen Benedictions, The
(8 words)
[German Version] Shemoneh Esreh
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Religion Past and Present
Eighth and Ninth, The (NHC VI.6; OgdEnn)
(11 words)
[German Version] Hermeticism/Hermetism
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Religion Past and Present
Eileton
(87 words)
[German Version] (Gk) is a cloth on the altar on which plate and chalice are placed in the Orthodox liturgy for consecration. It is understood as a symbol of Christ's burial. The antimension was also originally an eileton with relics and a portrayal of the burial sewn in for use in celebrations of the Eucharist on unconsecrated altars. Today the eileton is used as a cover for the antimension. Martin Petzolt Bibliography S. Heitz,
Mysterium der Anbetung, 1986, 359 A. Kallis,
Liturgie, 1989, 88, …
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Religion Past and Present
Einhard
(205 words)
[German Version] (c. 770, Maingau – Mar 14, 840, Seligenstadt), from a noble family, reared in the Fulda monastery (but not a monk), where he was a scribe. From early 796, he was at the court of Charlemagne, where he received the name Beseleel (Bezalel; cf. Exod 35:30ff.). The name refers to his role as court architect. Louis I, the Pious, tried to keep him at …
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Religion Past and Present
Einsiedeln
(169 words)
[German Version] (Switzerland). Near the hermitage of Meinrad (died 861), a Benedictine monastery was founded in 934 with the assistance of the Swabian ducal family. It soon became a royal monastery and center of reform. In ¶ the late Middle Ages, the aristocratic institution almost died out, while Marian pilgrimages flourished. From 1516 to 1518, Zwingli was among the circle of humanists who were …
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Religion Past and Present
Einstein, Albert
(1,198 words)
[German Version] I. Life – II. Work – III. Philosophical, Religious, and Social Approaches (Mar 14, 1879, Ulm – Apr 18, 1955, Princeton, NJ)
I. Life Einstein grew up in Munich as the son of an electrical machinery manufacturer. At age 15, when the family moved to Milan, Einstein emigrated to Switzerland and finished his schooling in Aarau. After he graduated from the Swiss Federal Polytechnic Institute, he taught at a school briefly before receiving an appointment in the Swiss patent office in Bern. Einstein was professor in Zürich, Prague, and Berlin (
inter alia, Director of the Kai…
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Religion Past and Present
Eipper, Christopher
(164 words)
[German Version] (Aug 20, 1813, Eßlingen, Württemberg – Sep 3, 1874, Charleyong, Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia), missionary to the Aboriginals and Presbyterian minister. Eipper received training as a missionary at the Basel Missionary Institute supported by the Church Missionary Society. Having refused to accept Anglican ordination he was recruited by John Dunmore Lang in…
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Religion Past and Present
Eisai
(175 words)
[German Version] (alternative reading: Yōsai; 1141–1215; also known as Myōan, Yōjōbō or Senkō Soshi; clan name Kaya), introduced the Rinzai form of Chan-Buddhism (Zen Buddhism) into Japan in 1191, after having been trained in China in 1168 and from 1187 to 1191. On his second visit, his attempt to reach India failed. Instead, he chose to dwell on Mt. Tiant…
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Religion Past and Present
Eisenach Conference
(517 words)
[German Version] After the end of the old Reich and the associated dissolution of the
Corpus evangelicorum the regional churches (
Landeskirchen) of the German Protestant church no longer had a joint representative body. Following controversies in the ¶ media about a new all-Protestant body and negotiations moderated by M.A. v. Bethmann Hollweg which took place after 1846 in Berlin between representatives of the regional churches, in 1850 a number of church …
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Religion Past and Present
Eisenach Union
(215 words)
[German Version] The origins of the Eisenach Union, which was founded in 1905, go back to the “Eisenach Conferences” that were organized in 1902 by J. Lepsius with the support of H. Cremer, M. Kähler and A. Schlatter, though the latter should not be confused with the homonymous association for the administration of the Protestant churches that was founded in 1852. While it initially sought to establish a dialogue between the church-oriented representatives of the
…
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Religion Past and Present
Eisenmenger, Johann Andreas
(277 words)
[German Version] (1654, Mannheim – Dec 20, 1704, Mannheim) began teaching in 1686 and was made professor of oriental languages in Heidelberg in 1700. Eisenmenger studied Hebrew, primarily in Amsterdam, and, from 1680, assembled the material for his major work, the two-volume
Ent…
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Religion Past and Present
Eisenstein, Sergey
(249 words)
[German Version] Eisenstein (Jan 23, 1898, Riga – Feb 10, 1948, Moscow) was the son of a Christianized Lithuanian Jew. Deeply impressed in childhood by the Russian Orthodox rite, Eisenstein nonetheless turned to the profession of engineer, which he practiced in the revolutionary wars on behalf of …
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Religion Past and Present
Eißfeldt, Otto
(350 words)
[German Version] Eißfeldt (Sep 1, 1887, Northeim – Apr 23, 1973, Halle/Saale) studied from 1905 to 1908 in Göttingen and Berlin, was senior member of the ¶ Johanneum from 1908 to 1912, and early preacher at the Jerusalem and New Church in Berlin 1912–1922. He received the Lic.theol. in Berlin in 1911 and the Dr.phil. in Göttingen in 1916. He was assistant professor in Berlin from 1913 to 1922 and, from 1922, professor of OT and…
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Religion Past and Present
Eitzen, Paul von
(163 words)
[German Version] (Jan 25, 1521, Hamburg – Feb 25, 1598, Schleswig) began studies in Wittenberg in 1539 (1543 M.A., 1556 Dr.theol.) and became school rector in Cölln/Spree (Berlin) in 1544. In 1547, he became professor of logic in Rostock. In 1548, he became preacher and lector at the cathedral in Hamburg, in 1555 also superintendent. In 1562, he became the general superintendent …
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Religion Past and Present
Ekron
(373 words)
[German Version] lies 35 km southwest of Jerusalem. Following its capture by the Philistines, the Israelite ark passed through Ekron (1 Sam 5:10). The Philistine city is also mentioned in connection with the battle between David and Goliath (1 Sam 17:52). Ekron appears in the annals of the Neo-Assyrian kings as a vassal city-state. Excavations were led by Dothan and Gitin (1981–1996). Nine main periods of occupation, spanning the Middle Bronze through Iron II (c. 1700–600 bce) periods, were uncovered. A modest Canaanite settlement (Strata X–VIII)…
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Religion Past and Present
Ektenia
(277 words)
[German Version] “Ektenia” is derived from Gk ἐκτενής/
ektenḗs, lit. “outstretched, unceasing, fervent” (cf. ¶ Acts 12:5). In Orthodox worship, it designates the intercessions that are sung in antiphonous alternation, in the form of a litany. The deacon (Diaconate: VII) stands in the nave of the church with his (right) hand outstretched, and recites the petitions, whereupon the worshipers or the chorus respond with
Kyrie
eleison or “Grant [this], O Lord.” The Orthodox liturgy, the hourly prayers as well as other…
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Religion Past and Present
El
(866 words)
[German Version] is the common term in the Semitic languages (except Ethiopic) to designate both “god” generically and a West Semitic deity. The etymology of the word is uncertain (presumably deriving from the root
*'WL: “to be strong/powerful”). El is often attested as a theophoric element (“ilu”) in the Mesopotamian and Syrian personal names of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium bce. In some instances the theonym could refer to the “personal god” watching over the single believer. In West Semitic areas (Late B…
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Religion Past and Present
Elbogen, Ismar
(189 words)
[German Version] (Sep 1, 1874, Schildberg, Posen – Aug 1, 1943, New York), Jewish historian and influential teacher in the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums (School for the Study of Judaism) in Berlin. He studied at the University of Breslau and in the Jewish theological seminary there. 1899–1903, he taught at the Collegio Rabbinico Italiano in Florence and, from 1903, at the Hochschule in Berlin. In 1938, he emigrated to the USA and taught there in various institutions. His 1913
Der jüdische Gottesdienst in seiner geschichtlichen Entwicklung (ET:
Jewish Liturgy: A Compr…
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Religion Past and Present
El Cobre
(151 words)
[German Version] A place of pilgrimage dedicated to the Virgin Mary in eastern Cuba, near Santiago, and named after the local copper mines. The devotional image of Nuestra Señora de la Caridad, the patroness of Cuba, is venerated there. Among the many hypotheses concerning its origins, the best known recounts its discovery by two Indians and an African slave in the Bay of Nipe in 1612/1613. El Cobre is a symbol of national integration and the place where the abolition of slavery was proclaimed. The
Te Deum was sung there on the occasion of Cuba's independence from Spain. Alexandra Toepsch Bibl…
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Religion Past and Present
Elderly, Care of the
(603 words)
[German Version]
I. In continuity with Israelite-Jewish tradition, Christianity has adopted the principle that the elderly are entitled to the necessities of life, the granting of a place to live, and a death with dignity. Systematic diaconal organization initiatives have brought this conviction to enduring reality. Over the course of history, a varied system of support and servi…
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Religion Past and Present
Elders in the Old Testament
(319 words)
[German Version] In Mesopotamia, the elders constituted a body of local authorities, as already in the Gilgamesh Epic (
TUAT III, 658, 686; cf. 549ff.). The functions of city elders in the OT (
ziqnê hā'îr) included ritual (1 Kgs 21), political (Judg 8; 1 Kgs 12; 2 Kgs 10), and legal (Deut 21:18ff.; Lam 5:14) tasks. In the Pentateuch, the
elders of Israel participate in the theophany and covenant at Sinai (Exod 24), and are present at Aaron's first sacrifice (Lev 9:1). Deuteronomistic h…
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Religion Past and Present
Elders of Zion
(13 words)
[German Version] Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion
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Religion Past and Present
Eleatics/Eleaticism
(433 words)
[German Version] Eleaticism was the most important western Greek school of pre-Socratic philosophy. They are so named after Elea (in southern Italy), the town where their chief representative, Parmenides (c. 520–450 bce), was born and taught. Eleaticism is the name given to their thesis that everything in reality could only constitute a single and immobile Being. Aristotle cited immobility, in particular (
Metaph. 984b 1), as a proprium of Eleaticism. It rules out the possibility of recognizing as true either…
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Religion Past and Present
Eleazar ben Judah of Worms
(163 words)
[German Version] (c. 1165, Mainz – 1230, Worms), halakhist, poet, and writer of esoteric, mystical, and ethical works, and the central figure in the literature of the Kalonymus circle of the …
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Religion Past and Present
Election
(7,050 words)
[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. New Testament – III. Dogmatics – IV. Judaism
I. Old Testament Election, especially in compounds such as doctrine of election, election idea, election tradition, is a term from biblical theology based on the theological use of the Heb. verb בחר/
bḥr, especially in Deuteronomy, which has become established since K. Galling's monograph (1928). It has become the comprehensive term for the foundation of Israel's existence and involves “the philosop…
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Religion Past and Present
Elections
(1,151 words)
[German Version] are the most common procedure, but by no means the only one, used to appoint the members of representative bodies, as well as the holders of the highest positions in government. Examples of other techniques are the casting of lots, endorsement by acclamation, and appointment by office, ancestry, purchase of an office, or by nomination. Elections are not restricted to the …
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Religion Past and Present
Electronic Church
(394 words)
[German Version] The Electronic Church had its origins in the United States during the 1920s. In the 1950s Billy Graham brought TV cameras to his mass meetings, and radio healer Oral Roberts brought his tent meetings to the television screen. Today's Electronic Church programs are syndicated by satellite through the world (see also Radio and television pre…
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Religion Past and Present
Elephantine
(262 words)
[German Version] The small island situated near the modern Asswan in the Nile, called Elephantine by the Greeks, marks the southern boundary of ancient Egypt. Ezekiel 29:10 mentions it by the name Syene (Heb.
seweneh). Today, two Nubian villages and an extended, partially excavated area with …
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Religion Past and Present
Elephantine Documents
(1,630 words)
[German Version] I. History of the Discovery – II. The Jewish Military Colony – III. Literary Texts On the island of Elephantine in the Nile a large number of ancient inscriptions and documents came to light. Of special importance among them are the Aramaic papyri dating from the 5th century bce that provide insight into the culture, religion, and fate of a Jewish community consisting of mercenaries in Persian service. The following will discuss only these Aramaic documents.
I. History of the Discovery More than 50 papyri were found, and in addition several ostraca, some of…
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Religion Past and Present
Elers, Heinrich Julius
(203 words)
[German Version] (Jun 28, 1667, Bardowick near Lüneburg – Sep 13, 1728, Halle/Saale), already at school (Lüneburg 1688) and as a theology student (1689 Leipzig) was a friend and supporter of A.H. Francke, on whose side he was involved in Pietistic disputes (Pietism: I, 1). From 1690 to1694 he was an informant in Arnstadt; he was imprisoned in 1694 and expelled for founding conven…
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Religion Past and Present
Elert, Werner
(351 words)
[German Version] August Friedrich Immanuel (Aug 19, 1885, Heldrungen/Thüringen – Nov 21, 1954, Erlangen), one of the most prominent and controversial theologians of the 20th century, studied theology, history and philosophy from 1906 to 1910 in Breslau, Erlangen, and Leipzig. After service in World War I as a field chaplain, Elert became director of the Theological Seminary of th…
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Religion Past and Present
Eleusis
(442 words)
[German Version] was a site and district in Attica with the mystery sanctuary of Demeter. On its acropolis traces of an Early Bronze Age settlement, a Mycenean domed grave, and a palace have been found. Originally ¶ an independent kingdom rivaling Athens, Eleusis was under its overlordship from the 7th century. The Great Mysteries in Eleusis were, alongside the Great Panathenea, the most important festivals of the Athenian state, although the priestly offices …
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Religion Past and Present
Eleusius of Cyzicus
(172 words)
[German Version] Consecrated bishop of Cyzicus by Macedonius I, Eleusius participated in the Synod of Seleucia in 359; against Acacius of Caesarea, he supported the second Antiochene Formula there. After the promulgation of the imperial homoean dogma, he was replaced by Eunomius, but was able to return under Julian the Apostate. Compelled in 365 by…
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Religion Past and Present
Eleutherius, Saint,
(136 words)
[German Version] Greek ᾿Ελευϑέριος, stemmed from the region of Paphlagonia in Asia Minor (according to Konstantin Harmenopulos's
Häretikertraktat, PG 150, 25D). Apparently, he was active in the 10th century as a monk and founded a monastery in the region of Lycaonia. According to Harmenopulos, he is supposed to have proposed radically ascetic to libertine doctrines concerning the cohabitation of monks with women. He a…
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Religion Past and Present
Eleutherus,
(94 words)
[German Version] bishop of Rome, c.174–189. In the list of Irenaeus of Lyon, Eleutherus is mentioned as the twelfth bishop in Rome after the apostles. Irenaeus visited Eleutherus in Rome in 177 in order to hinder the condemnation of the Montanists (Montanism; Eus.
Hist.eccl. V 4.1). Hegesippus also visited Rome and mentions Eleutherus (Eus.
Hist.eccl. V 22.3); in Rome, Marcionites and Gnostics (Gnosis/Gnosticism) also wanted to be recognized. The relationship with England reported in the
Liber pontificalis (
Vita Eleutherii) is legendary. Gert Haendler Bibliography E. Caspar,
Gesc…
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Religion Past and Present