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
Robert of Arbrissel
(180 words)
[German Version] (c. 1045, Arbrissel near Rennes – Feb 25, 1116, Priory of Orsan-en-Berry), son of a hereditary priest of Arbrissel. After studies in Paris, Robert entered the service of Bishop Silvester of Rennes as a clerk. After further studies in Angers (from 1078) he experienced a conversion to ascetic life, and withdrew as a hermit to the Forest of Craon (Anjou), where he founded a collegiate establishment in 1095, leaving it in order to travel through the countryside preaching repentance (f…
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Religion Past and Present
Robert of Melun
(180 words)
[German Version] (c. 1100 – Feb 2, 1167, Hereford), pupil of Abelard and Hugh of St. Victor in Paris; 1137, M.A. in Paris. Robert’s pupils included Thomas Becket and John of Salisbury. Robert was a theologian in Melun; he was an opponent of Gilbert of Poitiers and Peter Lombard. In 1160 he became arch-¶ deacon of Oxford and in 1163 bishop of Hereford. His
magnum opus, the
Sententiae, deals in its first book with the salvific events of the Old Testament, with the doctrine of God and the Trinity, and anthropology. Its second book deals with the salvific events of…
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Religion Past and Present
Roberts, Evan John
(168 words)
[German Version] (Jun 8, 1878, Loughor, Glamorgan, Wales – Jan 29, 1951, Cardiff), a Welsh revivaliSt. Born into a pious Calvinistic Methodist family, he worked as a collier from the age of 12 and from 1902 as a blacksmith. Of devout habits, he felt called to preach and in 1904 he went back to school intending to enter theological college. He left after six weeks upon having an experience of the filling of the Spirit. In the winter of 1904/1905 he held missions throughout South Wales which were ma…
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Religion Past and Present
Robertson, Frederick William
(256 words)
[German Version] (Feb 3, 1816, London – Aug 15, 1853, Brighton), Anglican theologian and social reformer. Robertson is considered one of the great, epoch-making preachers of the 19th century. After being ordained priest in Oxford, the stark confrontation with the catastrophic consequences of rapid capitalist industrialization in the poverty-stricken areas of Winchester and Cheltenham made such an impression on his sensibility that he suffered several nervous breakdowns. He was a Germanophile trans…
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Religion Past and Present
Robertson, William
(179 words)
[German Version] (Jun 19, 1721, Borthwick, Scotland – Jun 4, 1793, Edinburgh, Scotland), a leading clergyman, educator, and historian, who took a leading role in the Scottish Enlightenment. After an education at Edinburgh University he was ordained to the ministry of the Church of Scotland in 1744. While minister he took a prominent role in the ecclesiastical courts and by the mid-1760s was the leader of the Moderate party. Embracing the ethos of the Enlightenment, Robertson endeavored to promote …
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Religion Past and Present
Robespierre, Maximilien
(380 words)
[German Version] (May 6, 1758, Arras – Jul 28, 1794, Paris), lawyer. In 1789 Robespierre became a member of the
États-Généraux and of the National Assembly (France : III, 1.i), as deputy of the Third Estate. He occupied a central function for the course of the French Revolution, as spokesman for the Jacobin Club. In 1792 he became one of the leaders of the radical Montagnards in the National Convention; his attacks on the king and the monarchy became increasingly outspoken. In July 1793 he became a member of the Co…
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Religion Past and Present
Robinson, Edward
(180 words)
[German Version] (Apr 10, 1794, Southington, CT – Jan 27, 1863, New York City), was one of the most influential American biblical scholars of his era. After graduating from Hamilton College in 1816 Robinson became instructor of Hebrew at Andover Seminary from 1823 to 1826, where he was profoundly influenced by Moses Stuart’s appropriation of German philology and criticism. Robinson studied in Germany from 1826 to 1830 and then became professor of biblical literature at Andover where, in 1831, he f…
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Religion Past and Present
Robinson, John
(173 words)
[German Version] (c. 1576, Sturton-le-Steeple, Nottinghamshire – Jan 3, 1625, Leiden), leading theologian of the Separatists (Separatism). Robinson was ¶ educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (B.A. 1596, M.A. 1599; fellow 1598–1604), and from c. 1602 was curate at St. Andrew’s, Norwich. He was suspended in 1605/1606 for Nonconformity. After belonging for a time to the Separatist congregation in Gainsborough under J. Smyth, he moved to the congregation of Scrooby, Yorkshire, which met in the house of William…
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Religion Past and Present
Robinson, John Arthur Thomas
(153 words)
[German Version] (Jun 15, 1919, Canterbury – Dec 5, 1983, Arncliffe, Yorkshire), became dean of Clare College, Cambridge, in 1951, publishing works on the New Testament and liturgical reform. Appointed suffragan bishop in 1959 he gained notoriety for his defense of the publication of D.H. Lawrence’s
Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928). In 1963 he published the million-selling
Honest to God which popularized demythologization, drawing on D. Bonhoeffer, R. Bultmann, and P. Tillich. After much controversy, Robinson was censured by Michael Ramsey, archbishop of…
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Religion Past and Present
Rochat, Louis-Lucien
(99 words)
[German Version] (Jan 7, 1849, Geneva – Dec 10, 1917, Geneva), founder of the Blue Cross. While studying in England, Rochat took part in a non-alcoholic Eucharist and came in contact with people who were abstainers from alcohol. The death of young men from alcohol abuse led Rochat in 1877 to found a temperance union in Geneva on the basis of total abstinence from alcohol. That was the start of rapidly expanding international work among addicts. It had a Christian motivation, crossed confessional boundaries, and was politically neutral. Markus Holmer Bibliography W. Beck,
Sie wagten Näch…
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Religion Past and Present
Rochow, Friedrich Eberhard von
(191 words)
[German Version] (Oct 11, 1734, Berlin – May 16, 1805, Gut Reckhan). From 1747 to 1749, Rochow attended a college for sons of the nobility, the Ritterakademie in Brandenburg; from 1750 to 1758 he pursued a military career, and in 1760 took over the family estates of Reckhan, Gettin, and Krahne in Brandenburg. There, among other activities, he was responsible for schools, and his attention was particularly drawn to neglect in the upbringing of children. This prompted him to develop a program for an…
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Religion Past and Present
Roch, Saint
(238 words)
[German Version] (Rocco, Rochus). According to 15th-century legends, Roch lived from c. 1295 to c. 1327; according to more recent legend criticism, he was born c. 1345/1354 and died c. 1374/1379. He was patron saint for protection against the plague. While going on pilgrimage to Rome he healed victims of the plague, which he himself contracted on the return journey. After recovering, he reached his home-town of Montpellier where he was imprisoned as a spy. Only after his death in prison was his tr…
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Religion Past and Present
Rockefeller, John Davison Sr.
(128 words)
[German Version] (Jul 8, 1839, Richford, NY – May 23, 1937, Ormond Beach, FL), business magnate and philanthropist, established himself by the 1870s as a leader for the new oil industry. His Standard Oil Company became the source of great personal wealth. Through his mother, Eliza Davison, Rockefeller received a strong Baptist upbringing. Throughout his life he contributed regularly to many churches and voluntary societies. Although leaders of the Social Gospel like W. Gladden urged church groups …
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Religion Past and Present
Rock, Johann Friedrich
(168 words)
[German Version] (Oct 25, 1678, Oberwälen, Württemberg – Mar 2, 1749, Gelnhausen), major prophet of the Inspirationist communities. While traveling as a journeyman leather worker, Rock was converted to Pietism in Berlin. After returning home in 1702, he joined a revivalist circle in Stuttgart that was tending towards Separatism. Under pressure from the authorities, he emigrated in 1707 with E.L. Gruber to the county of Ysenburg, where he worked as a court saddler. In 1714 he came under the influen…
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Religion Past and Present
Rock Music
(264 words)
[German Version] Around 1970, Christians associated with the counterculture began to use rock instruments (electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums) for informal worship, writing new rock songs with Christian lyrics. The music resembled styles in popular music (Pop music) of the time (folk rock, psychedelic rock, blues rock [Blues and religion], and pop). The music reflected the faith of the growing number of young converts to Protestant Christianity in the United States, especially in California, …
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Religion Past and Present
Rodbertus, Karl Johann
(265 words)
[German Version] (Aug 12, 1805, Greifswald – Dec 6, 1875, Jagetzow, now part of Völschow, Demmin district), economist, politician, and owner of the Jagetzow estate. On the basis of his critical analyses of the capitalist economic system, Rodbertus is regarded, alongside K. Marx, as founder of scientific socialism. Unlike Marx, who predicted an early end to capitalism, Rodbertus recommended measures of state reform; he is thus counted as one of the main representatives of state socialism. On the ba…
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Religion Past and Present
Rode, Hinne (Johannes)
(166 words)
[German Version] (c. 1385, Trier – Dec 1, 1439, Montabaur), Benedictine reformer. After completing his studies, Rode lived first as a Carthusian. In ¶ 1421 Archbishop Otto v. Ziegenhain installed him with a papal dispensation as abbot of the Benedictine abbey of St. Matthias near Trier, in order to reform Trier’s Benedictine monasteries. The Council of Basel appointed Rode visitor general to the Benedictine provinces of Cologne-Trier and part of Mainz-Bamberg. Rode also contributed to the formation of the new Bursfelde…
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Religion Past and Present
Rodin, Auguste
(164 words)
[German Version] (Nov 12, 1849, Paris – Nov 17, 1917, Meudon/Paris), French sculptor and draftsman, pupil of Antoine-Louis Barye and others. Rodin worked for the Sèvres factory; he assisted the sculptor Rasbourg in Brussels from 1871 to 1878, then had his own studios in Paris and Meudon. On his travels Rodin was deeply influenced by the art of Michelangelo and by French Gothic cathedral sculpture. Rodin’s works show Impressionist features in the modeling of deeply indented surfaces that bring out …
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Religion Past and Present