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
Śvetāmbara
(151 words)
[German Version] The Śvetāmbara (lit. “white-clad”) are the largest and most influential group among the Jains (Jainism). They reject as unnecessary the complete ¶ nudity demanded as the monastic ideal in the strict asceticism followed by the Digambara and prescribe white robes instead. The Digambara settled in southern India, whereas the Śvetāmbara settled in the north and especially the west, where they are concentrated today. By the council of Valabhī in the mid-5th century at the latest, the difference that emerged…
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Religion Past and Present
Svetlov, Pavel Yakovlevich
(272 words)
[German Version] (Dec 1, 1861, Svyatoe Ozero, Ryazan’ Oblast – Nov 26, 1941, Irpen’), archpriest, professor of apologetics at the University of Kiev (not at a seminary). As one of the most creative theologians of the period of awakening prior to 1917 and the first among strictly academic theologians to oppose the ideas of A. Ritschl, he argued for discarding a onesidedly juridical doctrine of redemption; in later years, he sought to protect the doctrine from the opposite extreme of a purely subjec…
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Religion Past and Present
Swabia
(690 words)
[German Version] Swabia (Ger.
Schwaben, Lat.
Suevia) developed from area settled by the Alemanni in the Merovingian period. From the Carolingian period, it was one of the political entities constituting the
Regnum Francorum ¶ and later the East Frankish German Empire. To the west, Swabia bordered on the Rhine and Alsace, to the east the Lech and Bavaria; to the north, at the latitude of Stuttgart, it adjoined Franconia (Franks/Franconia), and at the elbow of the Rhine in the southwest it adjoined Burgundy. To the southeast, it b…
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Religion Past and Present
Swaziland
(534 words)
[German Version] (Ngwane). Swaziland, one of the smallest countries in the southern hemisphere, is a landlocked kingdom, surrounded by South Africa on three sides and bordered by Mozambique on the fourth side. Although South Africa’s influence predominates in Swaziland, it was a British protectorate from 1906 until its independence in 1968. Western Swaziland is high veld, consisting mainly of short, but sharp mountains. These dwindle to plains in the center and east of the country, where plantatio…
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Religion Past and Present
Swearing-in, Church Law
(188 words)
[German Version] The churches enjoy a right to be sworn by virtue of their right of self-determination defined in German Basic Law art. 140 in combination with art. 137 §3 of the Weimar Constitution. Church law accordingly provides for both a forensic oath of witnesses (an assertory oath [VII]) and a promissory oath of office. In Protestant law (Canon law), use is made of the right to be sworn in primarily in the context of disciplinary and administrative proceedings, in the context of a witness’s…
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Religion Past and Present
Sweat
(163 words)
[German Version] Like other excretions of the human body (Saliva), sweat externalizes an individual’s vital force, making it available for use. In ancient India, an archer’s sweat applied to an arrowhead had the power to destroy the enemy (
Kauśikasūtra 17.44). St. Paul’s face cloths or handkerchiefs were used to heal the sick and exorcise evil spirits (Acts 19:12). The sudarium of Veronica, purportedly bearing the image of Jesus’ face, is said to have healed Emperor Tiberius. In Egypt the salves and frankincense earmarked for the go…
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Religion Past and Present
Swedberg, Jesper
(163 words)
[German Version] (Aug 28, 1653, Falun, Sweden – Jul 26, 1735, Skara), served as court chaplain to Charles XI, as professor of theology at Uppsala, and after 1702 as bishop of Skara. He is best known as the author of widely-read postils and an important exposition of the catechism (1709) and also as a hymnodist and editor of the 1694 hymnal, but also as a language reformer and organizer of the church’s care for Swedes in North America. As a royalist, he supported the dominance of Lutheran orthodoxy…
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Religion Past and Present
Sweden
(2,740 words)
[German Version]
I. General Sweden is a constitutional monarchy in northern Europe, bordered on the west by Norway, the North Sea, and Denmark and on the south and east by the Baltic and Finland. It has an area of 449,964 km2, with a population of 8.94 million, including 1.05 million immigrants. Its population centers are in the southwest, south, and east. The capital is Stockholm. Its language is Swedish, but linguistic minorities include 100,000 Finnish speakers. There is a small Sami-speaking minority in Lapland.
II. Non-Christian Religions The ancient Swedish religion was a Ge…
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Religion Past and Present
Swedenborg, Emanuel
(513 words)
[German Version] (Jan 29, 1688, Stockholm – Apr 8, 1772, London), versatile natural scientist, inventor, mining engineer, exegete, and theosophist. He was the son of J. Swedberg. Active in intellectual circles in Uppsala in the early 18th century, he had a hand in founding the first Swedish scientific society (Kungliga Vetenskapssocieteten, 1710). His travels – to England, the Netherlands, France, Italy, and Germany – alternated with stays in Stockholm, where he worked as an assessor for the Board…
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Religion Past and Present
Swedenborgians
(339 words)
[German Version] E. Swedenborg did not found a new church himself, but he quickly attracted a following in Sweden, although congregations of the Swedenborgian New Church did not appear there until 1866. The first congregation of Swedenborgians had already been formed in London in 1787. There the Swedenborg Society began translating and publishing Swedenborg’s works in 1810. An umbrella organization was formed in London in 1815, the General Conference of the New Church. The first Swedenborgian congregation in the United States was founded in Baltimore in 1793. The Gen…
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Religion Past and Present
Swedish Missions
(377 words)
[German Version] In the late 19th century the Church of Sweden and the revival movements were influenced by commitment to mission. Important protagonists were Peter Fjellstedt (1802–1881) and George Scott (1804–1874), whose efforts led in 1835 to the founding of the first missionary organization, Svenska Missionssällskapet. In 1845 the Lutheran Lunds Missionssällskap was founded. The new evangelical revival movement led to the establishment of the Evangeliska Fosterlands-Stiftelsen, which began mi…
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Religion Past and Present
Sweelinck, Jan Pieterszoon
(125 words)
[German Version] (May, 1562, Deventer – Oct 16, 1621, Amsterdam), organist of the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam. Sweelinck was an employee of the city at a time when organ accompaniment of liturgical singing was not common. His activity therefore consisted primarily of performing (Church concert), other municipal functions like carillon-playing, and giving organ lessons. Through his students J. Praetorius and Heinrich Scheidemann, his influence extended far beyond the Netherlands. He composed vocal and i…
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Religion Past and Present
Swift, Jonathan
(134 words)
[German Version] (Nov 30, 1667, Dublin – Oct 19, 1745, Dublin), Anglo-Irish satirist, poet, and patriot, studied at Trinity College (Dublin) before receiving his degree at Oxford (1692) and being ordained an Anglican clergyman (1695). From 1713 on, he served as dean of St. Patrick’s in Dublin. His graphic, forceful publications attacked Deism, dissenting Protestantism (Dissenters), scientific naturalism, and political corruption. His greatest satire,
The Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World by Lemuel Gulliver (2 vols., 1726), used fanciful descriptions of i…
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Religion Past and Present
Swiss Missions
(491 words)
[German Version] Switzerland has a complex identity, with its trilingual population and its traditional separation into Protestant and Catholic cantons. All three language areas have tended to orientate themselves to the main metropolitan cultural centers: Germany, France, and Italy. Mission history is no exception. The Basel Mission (BM), largely though not exclusively Germanophone, was founded by the urban elite in Basel, who recruited young men from rural Pietist families, gave them special training and sent them abroad as missionaries. The
Mission Suisse en Afrique du Sud (M…
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Religion Past and Present
Switzerland
(3,455 words)
[German Version]
I. General Switzerland (Swiss Confederation, Confoederatio Helvetica) came into being in 1848 when a league of states joined together to form a federal state with a federalist constitution based on direct democracy. It has an area of 41,282 km2 and includes the central Jura Mountains, a midland between Lake Geneva and Lake Constance, and the Alps. Its four national languages – German, French, Italian, and Romanish – are spoken in four regions, each with its own cultural identity.
II. Church History
1. Antiqu…
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Religion Past and Present
Sydow Brotherhood
(309 words)
[German Version] The Sydow Brotherhood, the first union of Protestant pastors, was founded in the village of Sydow (Altmark) by the local pastor Georg Schulz (1889–1954), who later moved to Barmen-Unterbarmen. Until 1945 the brotherhood was open only to clergy, unlike the Berneuchen groups. Under a Council of Brethren, its mission was renewal of the clergy theologically, in service to the church and the world and amid the tensions arising from life and society. Rather than a fix…
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Religion Past and Present
Syllabus
(936 words)
[German Version]
I. Syllabus Errorum (1864) The
Syllabus errorum is a list of modern errors, published on Dec 8, 1864, as an appendix to the encyclical
Quanta cura of Pius IX. It consists of 80 statements taken from earlier addresses and writings of the pope. In general terms, the background of the condemnation was the Curia’s intensified campaign against liberalism since 1849, especially its struggle against the liberal Catholicism (III) of figures like C.F. de Montalembert (speech at the 1863 Catholic Congress in Mechel…
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Religion Past and Present
Sylten, Werner
(208 words)
[German Version] (Aug 9, 1893, Hergiswyl, Switzerland – Aug 26, 1942, Schloß Hartheim concentration camp, Austria), Protestant clergyman. After studying in Marburg and Berlin (F. Siegmund-Schult…
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Religion Past and Present
Sylvan (Silvan), Johannes
(147 words)
[German Version] (born in South Tyrol – Dec 23, 1572, Heidelberg), theologian, preacher, convert to Protestantism. Around 1555 he was active in Würzburg as a preacher on current controversies for the bishop. His reading of the works of Melanchthon led him to Reformation theology. In 1560 he converted to Lutheranism in Tübingen and became a pastor in Calw. Frederick III of the Electoral Palatin…
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Religion Past and Present
Sylvester, János
(156 words)
[German Version] (Hung. János Sylvester [or Erdös]; c. 1504 Seini – before May 6, 1552, Vienna), Humanist, writer, Bible translator, pioneer of scientific Hungarian linguistics. In Cracow (1526–1528), Sylvester studied with Leonard Cox and wrote the earliest printed Hungarian metrical poem (
Rosarium, 1527). He studied twice in Wittenberg (1529 and [?] 1534–1536). He made cult…
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Religion Past and Present
Sylvestrines
(216 words)
[German Version] The Sylvestrine order (
Congregatio Silvestrina Ordinis Sancti Benedicti, CSilvOSB) was founded in Montefano (near Fabriano, in Italy) in 1231 by the hermit Silvestro Guzzolini (c. 1177–1267) as a reformed Benedictine congregation; it was recognized in 1247 by Innocent IV as
Ordo S. Benedicti de Montefano…
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Religion Past and Present
Symbolism
(1,087 words)
[German Version]
I. Art In 1886 the writer Jean Moréas published a Symbolist manifesto, the stated aim of which was not to express artistic ideas directly but to represent them by defamiliarization. This manifesto also profoundly influenced the visual arts at the turn of the 20th century, allowing painting and graphics to turn to the realm of dreams, the unconscious, and the imagination for significant content. Unlike naturalism (IV) and realism (IV), Symbolism sought to express the realm of the hum…
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Religion Past and Present
Symbols/Symbol Theory
(9,049 words)
[German Version]
I. Religious Studies Use of the Greek word σύμβολον/
sýmbolon in a sense relevant to religious studies is attested quite early in the history of European religions; Dio of Prusa (1st/2nd cent. ce), for example, used it in his speech on Phidias’s statue of Zeus in Olympia (
Oratio 12.59). In this context, the Greek term reflects the problem posed by images of the gods: what is intrinsically inaccessible to human vision (Vision/Intuition) is somehow to be represented visually. In religious studies, especially in the phenomenology of religion, the concept of symbols has playe…
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Religion Past and Present
Symbolum Quicumque
(318 words)
[German Version] The
Quicumque vult (from its opening words; often called the Athanasian Creed) is a Latin text probably written in the early 6th century (or before 500?), likely in Spain or southern Gaul. It was probably known by Caesarius of Arles (cf. CChr.SL 103, 20f.) and was in widespread use in the Western churc…
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Religion Past and Present
Symeon of Thessalonica
(162 words)
[German Version] (2nd half of the 14th cent., Constantinople – Sep, 1429, Thessalonica) was made archbishop of Thessalonica between June of 1416 and April of 1417; while there he had to endure the siege of the city by Sultan Murad II from 1422 until his death. His extensive writings include liturgical, dogmatic, and heresiological works. In the natural sciences, he recognized the superiority of the Latins; theologically, however, he was a convinced Palamite. His commentary on the Divine Liturgy and other services is still read. Gerhard Podskalsky Bibliography Works: PG 155 Συμεώv ἀρχι…
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Religion Past and Present
Symeon the New Theologian (Saint)
(309 words)
[German Version] (late 949, Galatea in Paphlagonia – Mar 12, 1022, near Chrysopolis), eminent Byzantine mystic and poet, whose works contain his personal testimony to mystical experience. He was a spiritual student of the Studite (Studios Monastery) Symeon the Pious (917–986/987). At the age of 21, amid prayer and tears, Symeon experienced the first of 970 visions of the divine Logos in the form of immaterial light. In 976 he himself entered the Studios monastery but soon had to leave because he w…
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Religion Past and Present
Symmachus, Pope (Saint)
(319 words)
[German Version] (Nov 22, 498 – Jul 19, 514). On the day that Symmachus, a deacon from Sardinia, was pope, the Roman archpriest was also appointed and consecrated; the conflict was referred to King Theodoric (analogously to the schism between Boniface I and Eulalius). In 499 Theodoric decided in favor of Symmachus, and Laurentius had to withdraw to the bishopric of Nocera. After Roman senators lodged accusations against Symmachus and the administrator appointed by Theodoric proved unable to preven…
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Religion Past and Present
Symmachus, Quintus Aurelius Memmius Eusebius
(208 words)
[German Version] (c. 335 – c. 402), influential senator and representative of the pagan party in Rome. In 384, as prefect of the city, he petitioned Emperor Valentinian II in Milan to have the altar of Victoria re-erected in the Roman curia and the financial privileges of the priests of the old cult renewed. Despite the great impression made by this third
relatio (“submission”) through its magnificent style and moving content, Symmachus was unsuccessful, since Bishop Ambrose of Milan insisted forcefully that the
relatio be rejected. Shortly before the death of Symmachus, Prude…
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Religion Past and Present
Sympathy
(529 words)
[German Version] In one sense,
sympathy has its roots in Greek philosophy (Natural philosophy, Hellenism, Neoplatonism), where it denotes harmony with nature, while 18th-century English moral philosophy ¶ used it primarily to describe intersubjective relations. On the one hand, the natural philosophy of the Classical era prepared the way logically for the ontological correlation of the interpretations of Poseidonius (Reinhardt, 183), who viewed sympathy as an emotional response that gives expression to a principle inherent…
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Religion Past and Present
Synagogue
(1,835 words)
[German Version]
I. Antiquity
1. The Greek word συναγωγή/
synagōgḗ (cf. LXX), like כְּנֶסֶת/
kneset, orig. meant “assembly”; only later did it come to mean “place of assembly” (Heb. בֵּית הַכְּנֶסֶת/
bet ha-kneset). It is therefore uncertain, for example, whether Acts 6:9 refers to congregations of Hellenistic Jews or their synagogues. Other synonymous terms were also common: προσευχή/
proseuchḗ (“prayer/place of prayers”) – found almost exclusively in the Greek Diaspora – and (ἅγιος) τόπος/(
hágios)
tópos or Aramaic אַתרָא קְדִישָׁא/ʾ
atra qedisha (“holy place”) – found pri…
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Religion Past and Present
Synagogue Architecture
(1,096 words)
[German Version] The emergence of the synagogue as an institution and structure was the result of a long process of transformation within Judaism. After the destruction of the Jerusalem temple (II, 4) in 70 ce, temple sacrifice was replaced by a religious life grounded in prayer (XI, 1). This communal prayer required a suitable space where the community could assemble during worship (II, 3), which now centered on a reading from the Torah. This new understanding of worship represented a critical turning point for Judaism: the syn…
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Religion Past and Present
Synaxarion
(171 words)
[German Version] (from Gk σύναξις/
sýnaxis, assembly). In the Orthodox churches, the
Synaxarion contains the information on the daily propers for the liturgical commemoration of the saints (Saints/Veneration of the saints: III, 2). This information usually includes the day of the month, an epigram concerning the saint, brief historical notes, information about the saint’s commemoration, place of burial, and any translations of his or her relics, and an abridged
vita. This information for the liturgical year, summarized in a book for the church in Constantinople (…
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Religion Past and Present
Syncretism
(5,112 words)
[German Version]
I. Terminology The word
syncretism in its broadest sense denotes any blend or combination of diverse cultural phenomena. This usage derives from an apparently reasonable but false etymology:
syncretism is commonly derived from the Greek verb συνκεράννυμι/
synkeránnymi, “mix.” In fact, however, it is a neologism coined by Plutarch (
Mor. 490b), who called the way Cretans came together in the face of external enemies
synkretismos…
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Religion Past and Present
Syncretistic Controversy
(429 words)
[German Version] is the name given to the drawn-out controversies in the second half of the 17th century between high Lutheran orthodoxy (II, 2.a.β) and the union efforts of G. Calixtus and the University of Helmstedt, suspected of religious “syncretism…
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Religion Past and Present
Syndicalism
(266 words)
[German Version] Derived from French
syndicat (“trade union”), the term denotes an influential current in the labor movement (Trade unions) at the turn of the 20th ce…
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Religion Past and Present
Synergism
(1,077 words)
[German Version]
I. Dogmatics In general, the term
synergy denotes theological conceptions that consider spiritual or ethical cooperation of the human will with divine grace a causal factor in human salvation (Pelagius/Pelagians/Semi-Pelagians). The Reformers followed Augustine of Hippo in rejecting synergism, seeing justification based solely on God’s free grace (
sola gratia) as the only foundation of salvation. Despite the 1999
Joint Declarationon the Doctrine of Justification by the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation, it remains debatable whether an…
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Religion Past and Present
Synesius of Cyrene
(294 words)
[German Version] (c. 370–415), born to a senatorial Christian family, studied with Hypatia of Alexandria; from 397 to 400, as emissary from the Libyan Pentapolis to the court at Constaninople, he sought to obtain privileges and be accepted as an adviser. His
De donoastrolabii (“On the gift of an astrolabe”),
De regno (“On ruling”), and
De providentia (“Egyptian tales”) along with his sixth hymn subserved this purpose. A reform of the military organization of the Pentapolis in 404 put an end to his career hopes: strengthening of the imperial administr…
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Religion Past and Present
Synod
(3,747 words)
[German Version]
I. History As it developed in the Early Church and the Middle Ages, the term
synod (from Gk σύνοδος/
sýnodos, “assembly, being together on the way”) cannot be separated from the term council. Only in 19th- and 20th-century Protestantism is a separate treatment warranted; in that context – with roots going back to the 16th century – the synod represents a new constitutional phenomenon (Church polity: IV, 2; V, 1.c). Its antecedents inclu…
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Religion Past and Present
Synodal Court
(316 words)
[German Version] (
synodus). The synodal court was a special form of ecclesiastical tribunal (Jurisdiction, Ecclesiastical), a “morals court” presided over by the bishop as judge; it investigated and punished offenses of the laity against canons of the church. It emerged in the ¶ 9th century and was modeled on the Frankish reprimand court. Seven jurors were required to inform the court of offenses known to them. Inqui…
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Religion Past and Present
Synod, Head of
(147 words)
[German Version] Especially in churches in the Reformed tradition, the head of synod is the person who presides over the synod. He is fundamentally limited to this function where a leading clergyman of the regional church is also present, a bishop (III, 3) or regional superintendent. Where that is not the case, as in the Rhineland and Westphalia, the head of synod …
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Religion Past and Present
Synod, Holy
(289 words)
[German Version] In 1721 Peter the Great established the “Most Holy Governing Synod” to govern the Orthodox Church in the Russian Empire. This collegial body replaced the patriarch and the Russian councils. At the behest of the tsar, Archbishop F. Prokopovich composed the Spiritual Regulation of Peter the Great, the instruction implementing and justifying this integration and subordination of the church within the absolutist state. The Holy Synod had full authority over the theological and administrative governance of the church; it was the supreme religious …
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Religion Past and Present
Synodicon
(255 words)
[German Version] On the first Sunday in Lent in 843, after years of struggle, the population of Constantinople were solemnly informed that the heresy of…
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Religion Past and Present
Synoptic Problem
(3,774 words)
[German Version]
I. Definition The Synoptic problem has to do with the literary relationship between the Synoptic Gospels, to clarify whether and how Matthew, Mark, and Luke are literarily dependent on each other. The starting point is the observation that the first three Gospels largely share the same language and sequence of episodes while also differing on many points. The Synoptic problem is thus one aspect of literary criticism and source criticism (Literary criticism and the Bible) and a pheno…
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Religion Past and Present
Syntax
(345 words)
[German Version] (from Gk σύνταξις/
sýntaxis, “ordering together”) is a te…
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Religion Past and Present