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
Nicaragua
(614 words)
[German Version] is the largest country in Central America (Latin America), with an area of 20,254 km2. With only 4,813,000 inhabitants it is sparsely settled; 60% of the population are concentrated in the Pacific region. The narrow Pacific coastal plain is bordered to the southwest by a chain of high volcanic peaks, and in the south, parallel to the coast, are two lakes. Earth movements cause frequent earthquakes. To the northeast rises the central mountainous region, while in the east the lowlands cover 40% of the country. Colonization by the Spaniards began in 1523. In the proc…
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Religion Past and Present
Nicea
(441 words)
[German Version] The modern name Iznik comes from the Greek εἰς Νίκεαν/
eis Níkean, “to Nicea.” In the 4th century bce, it was a settlement of Bottians within the Persian Empire (Iran: II). The original name,
Helikorḗ (“abounding in tendrils”), indicates that the early settlement was a center of viticulture. After Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Persian Empire, the Macedonian general Lysimachus was installed as administrator; he renamed the city after his wife, Nicea. Under Bithynian rule from 281 to 75 bce, the city became part of the Roman province of Bithynia in 64 bce. The
Lex Pom…
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Religion Past and Present
Nicea, Council of (325)
(1,778 words)
[German Version] The council was held in Nicea (in Bithynia; modern Iznik, in northwestern Turkey) in June and July of the year 325. Eusebius of Caesarea (
Vita Const. III 6.1) and Athanasius (
Apol. sec. 7.2;
Ad Afros 2.1) already called it an ecumenical council. From the 6th century at the latest (cf. DH 444 from the years 557), the Western tradition, including the
Decretum Gelasianum (DH 352), considered it one of the four ecumenical councils of the Early Church, along with the councils of Constantinople (IV, 1) in 381, Ephesus in 431, an…
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Religion Past and Present
Nicea, Council of (787)
(435 words)
[German Version] This synod ended the first phase of the controversy over the veneration of images (VI). The Synod of Hiereia in 754 (Constantinople: IV, 5) had made iconoclasm the theological teaching of the Empire. The resistance of a few monks led to the destruction of icons and several martyrdoms. The iconophile empress Irene (780–802) worked to reverse the decision. Because only a new ecumenical council could have the authority to annul the decision of the synod in 754, she laid the groundwor…
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Religion Past and Present
Nicene Creed
(564 words)
[German Version] The Nicene Creed, produced by the first Council of Nicea in 325, is the earliest surviving conciliar creed (Articles of faith: III, 1). It is Trinitarian in structure, with five added anathemas. Its focus is on Christology, emphasizing the begetting of the Son, the Incarnation, and Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection. The Holy Spirit is mentioned only in passing. The Creed’s origin is obscure. It probably does not embody a preexisting confessional formula, for example from t…
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Religion Past and Present
Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed
(778 words)
[German Version] The creed known since the 17th century as the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (Confession [of faith]: III, 1) appears in liturgies since the 6th century (Creed: I), where it is called the Nicene Creed. It is first attested in 451 (together with the earlier Nicene creed) in the acts of the Council of Chalcedon, which call it the sym-¶ bol or creed of the 150 fathers of the Council of Constantinople (IV, 1) in 381 (ACO 2, 1.2,
Actio III, 14, p. 276;
Actio V, 33, p. 324). It differs from the Nicene Creed primarily in its Christology and pneumatology, as well as i…
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Religion Past and Present
Nicephorus Blemmydes
(7 words)
[German Version] Blemmydes, Nicephorus
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Religion Past and Present
Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos
(153 words)
[German Version] (2nd half of the 13th cent. – before 1328, Constantinople), Byzantine author and cleric of Hagia Sophia. One may conclude from the evidence of several works that he taught rhetoric and belonged to intellectual circles. He corresponded with several scholars of his time; Theodoros Metochites and Manuel Philes dedicated poems to him. Probably a considerable time before his death, he became a monk and took the name Neilos. His copious writings, benifiting from his work at the library …
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Religion Past and Present
Nicephorus Gregoras
(7 words)
[German Version] Gregoras, Nicephorus
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Religion Past and Present
Nicephorus of Constantinople, Saint
(192 words)
[German Version] The
vita of Nicephorus by Ignatius the Deacon (9th cent.) gives the following biographical information: born c. 750 (date contested), he took part in the Council of Nicea (787) as imperial secretary, and became a monk. In 806 he became patriarch of Constantinople without having been consecrated. He was obliged to abdicate in 815 because of his opposition to the iconoclastic line taken by Emperor Leo V (813–820). He died in exile in 828. His writings are directed against the iconocl…
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Religion Past and Present
Nicephorus the Hesychast
(205 words)
[German Version] (died before 1300), teacher of the Hesychast prayer and an opponent of union with Rome. Nicephorus was a Catholic from southern Italy who converted to the Orthodox faith and attained great fame as a Hesychast and spiritual father on Mount Athos. He was arrested in the spring of 1276 for opposing the unionist policies of Michael VIII Palaeologus and put on trial in Constantinople; he was then taken to Akko and tried a second time under the papal legate Thomas Agni OP. Banished to C…
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Religion Past and Present
Nicetas of Remesiana
(179 words)
[German Version] (c. 345–420), according to Gennad.
Vir. ill. 22, bishop of Remesiana (Bela Palanka, ¶ Serbia), east of Naissus. The (re-)construction of his biography and his literary work began in the 17th century; some biographical details may be deduced from Paulinus of Nola, Carmen 17. It is possible to make out that he was a Dacian bishop with links to Italy and sympathy for monastic ways of life; he drew on Latin and Greek sources (Cyril of Jerusalem) to produce for his community the necessary texts for …
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Religion Past and Present
Nicetas Seides
(192 words)
[German Version] (2nd half of the 11th cent. – 1st half of the 12th), rhetorician and theologian at the imperial court. In 1112, he took part in discussions in Constantinople between Archbishop Petrus Chrysolanus of Milan and theologians of the Byzantine court over issues dividing the East and West. His polemical writings attack papal primacy, the
Filioque , and the use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist. His 21st
Oration (λόγος κά/
logos ká), delivered in 1112, accuses the Latins of 32 errors, including papal primacy (the first mention since 1054) and defends the …
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Religion Past and Present
Nicetas Stethatos
(131 words)
[German Version] (“the stout-hearted”; c. 1005 – c. 1085), Byzantine Studite monk who became
hegoumenos (abbot) of the Studios monastery after 1075. Nicetas was a disciple of Symeon the New Theologian and authored the latter’s
vita as well as theological and ascetic/mystical writings. During the conflict that led to discord in 1054 between the churches of Rome and Constantinople, Nicetas wrote several tracts in which he criticized various aberrations in Latin church life, ¶ especially with regard to the use of unleavened bread (Unleavened bread controversy). His criti…
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Religion Past and Present
Nichiren
(190 words)
[German Version] (Daishonin; Feb 16, 1222, Kominato, Awa Province – Oct 13, 1282, Ikegami, Musashi Province [now Tokyo]), last of the protagonists of the so-called Japanese reform Buddhism of the 13th century, and founder of the
Hokke-shū. Born in humble circumstances, at the age of 11 Nichiren entered a
tendai temple, was ordained at 16, and received the monastic name Zeshōbō Renchō. After studying various schools, he became convinced that perfect doctrine was found only in the Lotus-Sūtra. In 1253 he adopted the name Nichiren (“sun lotus…
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Religion Past and Present
Nichiren-Shōshū
(295 words)
[German Version] (“orthodox Nichiren school”), the smallest of the Buddhist sects in Japan (III, 5) that are based on Nichiren (Buddhism: I, 2.d). The Nichiren school sees itself in the tradition of Nikkō (1246–1332), one of the six chief students of Nichiren, who left the main temple Kuon-ji in 1290 in the quarrel over Nichiren’s grave, and founded the Taiseki-ji. In 1872 the Taiseki-ji resisted government attempts to unite all Nichiren sects under the leadership of Kuon-ji, and from 1900 called…
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Religion Past and Present
Nicholas III, Pope
(303 words)
[German Version] (pontificate Nov 25, 1277 – Aug 22, 1280; Giovanni Gaetano Orsini), was born 1210/1220 in Rome, a member of the Roman nobility. His credentials were not the study of law but long service in the curia as cardinal deacon of S. Nicola in Carcere Tulliano from 1244, and his political missions; from 1262 he was prefect of the Inquisition. He was elected in Viterbo, and crowned in St. Peter’s, Rome on Dec 26, 1277. His aim was to mediate through legates in state conflicts, with a view t…
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Religion Past and Present
Nicholas II, Pope
(298 words)
[German Version] (pontificate 2nd half of 1058 – Jul 20, 1061; Gerhard, from Burgundy), recorded from January 1045 as bishop of Florence and supporter of church reform. In the second half of 1058 he was elected pope over against the pope of the nobility, Benedict X, by cardinal bishops who had fled from Rome; Hildebrand (Gregory VII) pressed for this, and the German court in Siena concurred. On Jan 24, 1059, after the excommunication of Benedict X by a synod in Sutri, he was enthroned as pope with the name Nicholas, under ¶ the protection of Duke Godfrey the Bearded. The high point of h…
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Religion Past and Present
Nicholas I, Pope (Saint)
(405 words)
[German Version] (pontificate Apr 24, 858 – Nov 13, 867), son of a papal official. Ordained subdeacon by Pope Sergius II (844–847), Nicholas rose to ¶ become a deacon under Leo IV, and became the closest adviser of Benedict III (855–858). His election as pope was influenced by Emperor Louis II. Anastasius Bibliothecarius (Anastasius III) soon became his most important adviser. We are exceptionally well informed about this pope’s actions and aims, since about 170 letters by him, some very extensive, have survived, and his
vita in the
Liber pontificalis also provide…
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Religion Past and Present