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.
Subscriptions: see brill.com
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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
Linus, Pope (Saint)
(225 words)
[German Version] (2nd half of the 1st cent.). Since Irenaeus of Lyon, who refers to 2 Tim 4:21, Linus has been regarded as having been appointed by the apostles themselves as the first bishop of the Roman congregation (Iren.
Haer. III 3.3; Eus.
Hist. eccl. III 2; V 6.1). As the monarchic episcopate in Rome is not discernible before the mid-2nd century, it seems probable that Linus was a presbyter to whom Irenaeus assigned a chronological place in a line of succession reaching back into the time of the apostles, because he wished to safegu…
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Religion Past and Present
Linz, Bishopric
(166 words)
[German Version] The diocese is roughly congruent with the federal state of Upper Austria. From 739 to 1783, the ecclesiastical province was part of the bishopric of Passau as established by Boniface I. It was administered from Passau by an “official” and suffragan bishops. In addition, three archdeacons (of Mattsee, Lambach, and Lorch) and the designated prelates of monasteries fulfilled episcopal obligations. Emperor Joseph II detached Linz from Passau and elevated it to an independent bishopric…
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Religion Past and Present
Lioba, Saint
(207 words)
[German Version] (d. Sep 28, 782). The only child of an Anglo-Saxon family of high standing, Lioba was raised by Abbess Eadburg at the convent of Thanet and became a nun in the double monastery of Wimborne. In 732/735, she was called by her relative Boniface I, ¶ with whom she stood in close contact, to take part in the continental mission. Having been appointed abbess of the newly founded convent of Tauberbischofsheim (Germany), she particularly supported the Christian education of young girls. Held in high esteem by Charlemagne and his wife…
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Religion Past and Present
Lippe
(622 words)
[German Version] Lippe, the region of Germany between the Teutoburg Forest and the Weser River. Its population was Christianized after the conquest of the Saxons (e.g. the removal-from-the-cross relief, c. 1150 ce; Externsteine Rocks). By the end of the 14th century the nobles of Lippe had established a territory with boundaries that have hardly varied since then (see map in Germany). The establishment of cities (Lemgo, the ruler's residence in Detmold) signified a growth in military and economic power. Ecclesiastically, the …
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Religion Past and Present
Lipphardt, Walther
(170 words)
[German Version] (Oct 14, 1906, Wiescherhöfen, Westphalia – Jan 16, 1981, Frankfurt am Main), was one of the most important hymnologists in the 20th century. He studied German language and literature, history, musicology, philosophy, and philology in Heidelberg and Freiburg im Breisgau and received his doctorate in 1931 with a dissertation on “Die altdeutschen Marienklagen” [The Old German Marian ¶ laments] from the philosophical faculty at Heidelberg. He taught until 1969 and received an honorary doctorate in theology from the University of Graz (Austri…
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Religion Past and Present
Lipsius, Justus
(214 words)
[German Version] (Joest Lips; Oct 18, 1547, Overijse, near Brussels – Mar 23, 1606, Louvain), late Humanist and Latin philologist. Lipsius was professor at Jena from 1572 to 1574, moved to Louvain in 1576, to Leiden in 1578, and back to Louvain in 1592. He changed his religious allegiance frequently. His rediscovery of the Stoics and the spread of neo-Stoicism, e.g. in Brandenburg-Prussia, were of immense importance. Harm Klueting Bibliography Works include:
De Constantia, 1584 (Lat.-Ger., 1998) On Lipsius: G. Oestreich,
Geist und Gestalt des frühmodernen Staates, 1969 G. Abel,
Stoiz…
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Religion Past and Present
Lipsius, Richard Adelbert
(297 words)
[German Version] (Feb 14, 1830, Gera – Aug 19, 1892, Jena), Protestant theologian. Lipsius grew up and studied in Leipzig in the spirit of an Idealistic mediation theology with emphasis on moral education, equally disapproving of rationalism and revolution on the one hand and repristination on the other. His campaign for a Protestantism free of denominational ties, both theological and ecclesiastical, isolated him as a professor in Vienna (1861–1865) and Kiel (1865–1871), so that in 1871 he went t…
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Religion Past and Present
Lisbon
(206 words)
[German Version] Lisbon, capital of Portugal, with a population of 565,000 (2001). The first known bishop of Lisbon was Potamius (357). With the Arab conquest in 719, it became a Mozarabic see. The Reconquista retook it in 1147. Under King Alfonso III (1248–1279), it rose to become the royal residence and capital. In 1288/ 1290 a university was founded; in 1308 it was shifted to Coimbra, where (after several interim moves) it finally remained after 1537. In 1393 Lisbon was elevated to an archdioce…
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Religion Past and Present
Lisco, Emil Gustav
(190 words)
[German Version] (Jan 13, 1819, Berlin – Feb 8, 1887, Berlin). After theological studies in Berlin and Bonn, Lisco served from 1845 to 1859 as a minister of the Marienkirche in Berlin and from 1859 to 1886 as pastor of the Neue Kirche there. In 1868 he received an honorary doctorate from Heidelberg. In 1872 he was censured for applying historical criticism to the Apostles' Creed (Apostolicum Controversy). He was cofounder of the Berliner Unionsverein, a committee member of ¶ the Protestantenverein, and coeditor of the
Protestantische Kirchenzeitung. Greatly influenced by F.D.E. Sc…
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Religion Past and Present
Lismanini, Franz
(145 words)
[German Version] (Francesco Lismanino; 1504, Corfu – April 1566, Königsberg [Kaliningrad]). Originally a Franciscan provincial, Lismanini came to Poland as confessor and court chaplain to Queen Bona Sforza from Italy in 1546; there he took over leadership of the circle of Humanists in Krakow. Won to the cause of the Reformation by the writings of Calvin and the Bohemian Brethren, he converted to Calvinism in Geneva in 1553. In 1556 he accepted the call of the Protestants in Malopolska to head thei…
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Religion Past and Present
List of Contributors
(10,095 words)
[German Version] Achenbach, Reinhard,
Munich, Germany Ackerman, Robert,
Philadelphia, PA, USA Adick, Christel,
Bochum, Germany Adogame, Afe,
Bayreuth, Germany Adriaanse, Hendrik Johan,
Leiden, Netherlands Ahlers, Reinhild,
Münster, Germany Ahme, Michael,
Kiel, Germany Ahn, Gregor,
Heidelberg, Germany Ahrens, Theodor,
Hamburg, Germany Ajayi, J.F. Ade.,
Ibadan, Nigeria Aland, Barbara,
Münster, Germany Albani, Matthias,
Leipzig, Germany Alberigo, Giuseppe,
Bologna, Italy Albertz, Rainer,
Münster, Germany Albert-Zerlik, Annette,
Mainz, Germany Albrecht, Christian,…
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Religion Past and Present
Liszt, Franz
(512 words)
[German Version] (Jan 22, 1811, Doborján [Raiding] – Jul 31, 1886, Bayreuth), Hungarian composer. In Liszt's life and work, the influences of his native German language, his identification with Hungarian culture, and his French intellectual training combined to constitute an individual creative unity. His musical talent was recognized early. Thanks to scholarships provided by Hungarian nobility, this son of a Viennese estate manager was able to study with Carl Czerny and Antonio Salieri. In 1823 L…
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Religion Past and Present
Litany
(1,010 words)
[German Version] I. Liturgy – II. Music
I. Liturgy Litanies (from λετανεία/
letaneía, “public supplication”) are common among many worship traditions. A singer performs invocations or prayer request, to which the congregation each time responds with an identical request (e.g. Kyrie). Litanic patterns appear in the Old Testament (e.g. Ps. 136). Extra-biblical Jewish litanies include the
selihot, based on Exod 34:6f., originally composed for days of fasting. While evidence for ¶ insistent prayer exists as early as Polycarp (
Pol. 12.3), clear evidence for litanies in Chris…
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Religion Past and Present
Literary Criticism and the Bible
(1,048 words)
[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Procedure – III. Limitations
I. Terminology In the context of historical studies (J.G. Droysen, Rüsen), literary criticism (Ger.
Literarkritik) is associated with source criticism; it is therefore among the regulative disciplines of history: heuristics (discovering historical material through exploration of a particular question), criticism (ascertaining what was the case, and when and where), and interpretation (placing facts ascertained by criticism in their historical context…
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Religion Past and Present
Literary Criticism, School of
(537 words)
[German Version] The concept of literary criticism appears to have been created in order to designate the direction of biblical exegesis (V, 4; Biblical scholarship), from which the History of Religions School chose to demarcate itself. Unlike the historians of religion, however, it is not possible to speak of a “school” with an agenda and actual followers. J. Wellhausen is considered to have been a central figure of the school of literary criticism; his scholarly active period is probably what is…
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Religion Past and Present
Literature and the Christian Tradition
(6,542 words)
[German Version] I. General – II. Contemporary Discussions ¶
I. General
1. Types of relation between literature and religion The term
literature as commonly used today (cf. also Literature, History of) comprises poetry and prose; in prose literature, the fictional genres form the core of what constitutes literature. Scholarly studies, essays, and autobiographical works, especially major achievements that are seldom without an artistic core, are often included in literature. Sometimes, contrary to etymology, litera…
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Religion Past and Present
Literature, History of
(11,666 words)
[German Version] I. The Concept and its Problems – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Judaism – V. Church History
I. The Concept and its Problems Since the emergence of historical consciousness in the late 18th and early 19th century, literary historiography has attempted to present literary phenomena not simply as a sequential chronological or lexical (alphabetical) list but in their internal, substantial coherence and its historical development. The notion of literary history goes back to antiquity, but to …
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Religion Past and Present
Literature, Study of Biblical
(2,343 words)
[German Version] I. Scientific Framework – II. Limits and Tasks – III. The Concept of “Text” – IV. Texture and Observability of Textual Communication – V. Conclusions
I. Scientific Framework The empirical approach developed here differs from the established methods employed in linguistics and the study of literature (Richter; Exegesis: IV, 1.c.γ) in that its categories and criteria are based on text and communication theory. As a scientific method for the observation and description of texts, this approach provides an analytic basis for res…
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Religion Past and Present
Litterae apostolicae
(305 words)
[German Version] (Lat. “apostolic writing”), in the wider sense a collective name for papal writings of doctrinal, pastoral, or legal content. Historically, the
litterae apostolicae are classified according to their outward appearance in
litterae cum serico (with seal on silk threads) and
litterae cum filo canapis (with seal on hemp threads), according to content in
litterae gratiae (granting of clemency) and
litterae iustitiae (command or legal decision), or according to the course of business (e.g.
litterae communes, litterae legendae). In the current practice of the Ap…
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Religion Past and Present