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1. OT 1.1. Translation and Usage The Hebrew word bĕrît, “covenant,” occurs 287 times in the OT, only in the singular. Even the latest attempts (e.g., by E. Kutsch) have not convincingly clarified its etymology. Showing a derivation from a Semitic root, however, would not necessarily throw light on its semantic function (J. Barr), which can and must be understood in terms of its semantic field and the relevant context. In translation, the LXX does not use synthēkē (agreement, contract) but almost always diathēkē (last will and testament). The Vg (Jerome [ca. 345–420]), howeve…

1. OT 1.1. Using anthropomorphic or anthropopathic language, many religions described their gods in human terms; they could thus see them as wrathful. Fear of divine wrath was undoubtedly one of the main motivations behind the development of religion and also of the cult. Israel was close to its neighbors in this regard, as may be seen from an inscription of King Mesha of Moab (mid-9th cent. b.c.), who, speaking of the long-standing oppression of Moab by King Omri of Israel (§1.5), attributes it to the wrath of Chemosh, the Moabite god (KAI 181.5; TUAT 1.647; cf. 2 Kgs. 3:27). 1.2. Mention of …

1. OT 1.1. Term The idea of law has many nuances in the OT, which we see from the different words used for it. Thus we have mišpāṭı̂m (ordinances), huqqı̂m (statutes), miṣwôt (commandments), dĕbārı̂m (words), and others. These terms cover civil and criminal law and both the ethical and the cultic sphere. More comprehensively after Deuteronomy we find tôrâ, which originally denoted only the direction of the priest in cultic, legal, and moral questions (Deut. 33:10; Hos. 4:6; Mic. 4:2; Jer. 18:18; Ezek. 7:26; Mal. 2:6–7) but in Deuteronomy is used for the whole revelati…

Words from both the Lat. iustitia (justice, justification, justify) and the Anglo-Saxon rightwise(n) (righteousness, declare or make righteous) are available in English to render terms from the single root ṣdq in Hebrew and the dikaio- word family in Greek. Accordingly, in English there are often separate treatments of “justification” and “righteousness” (e.g., R. B. Hays, J. Reumann). In German, as in many languages, the relevant terms Rechtfertigung and Gerechtigkeit are more closely related. This article treats the theology and proclamation of the doctrine …

1. General Features P. Melanchthon (1497–1560; Reformers) described the Epistle to the Romans as a compendium of Christian doctrine. In v…

In 1941 Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976) wrote a programmatic essay “Neues Testament und Mythologie. Das Problem der Entmythologisierung der neutestamentlichen Verkündigung” (NT and mythology. The problem of demythologizing the NT proclamation). Only after World War II, however, did a full-scale discussion—often embittered—of demythologizing take place. Other themes have replaced it now; it is no longer a main subject of ecclesiastical and theological debate. For the foreseeable future, however, it will undoubtedly be recognized as an important theological issue. According to…

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[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Christianity – III. Judaism – IV. Buddhism – V. Islam I. Religious Studies 1. Overview. Mission is not a fundamentally universal phenomenon in the history of religions; neither is every form in which religion is passed on eo ipso mission. “Primary,” tribal religions are not missionary religions. Their domain is coterminous with their society and its way of life; they are handed down from one generation to the next in the course of natural life. The question of truth does not arise. An indivi…

[German Version] Together with old-age pension and survivors’ benefits, the ministerial stipend is the heart of the adequate livelihood the churches owe their clergy, who can then devote themselves totally to their pastoral ministry as a full-time vocation and be financially independent to fulfill the duties assigned to them at ordination. This obligation to support the clergy follows from the decision made by the Early Church and consciously ratified by the churches of the Reformation that minist…

[German Version] I. Catholicism – II. Orthodoxy – III. Protestantism The term parish comes from the Greek παροικία/ paroikía (“resident alien’s dwelling”), which in early Christianity expressed the foreignness of Christians in society. Resulting from this basic feeling, individual congregations were called παροικίαι/ paroikíai from the 2nd century. Until Late Antiquity, paroikía remained a technical term for a bishop’s congregation. Only after the rise of pastoral subcenters in large towns and rural areas, which became the main point of reference for ¶ believers’ religious life, did the term parochia…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament. – III. New Testament – IV. P…

[German Version] An “immediate parish” (Ger. Immediatgemeinde) is a congregation outside the geographical parochial (Parish/diocese) structure that reports directly to the governing body of the church (Ch…

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[German Version] I. Catholic Main Churches – II. Protestant Main Churches (Evangelical Church in Germany) I. Catholic Main Churches The expression “main church” or “principal church” is not found in the manual of canon law ( CIC 1983). It is used in two senses: 1. As a general expression for a church that stands out from a group of churches in a particular way. This position of prime importance is ¶ attributed particularly to episcopal churches (Cathedrals), and also to quasi-diocesan regional churches of equal ranking (cf. CIC 1983 c. 368 ). In the cathedral the bishop assumes his office ( C…

[German Version] Land holdings as part of the property of the church can be traced back to the dotations of the Carolingian period. According to the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae (775-790), every newly erected church was to be endowed with two hides of land (= 7.6 hectacres); in the 819 ecclesiastical capitulary of Louis the Pious, the dotations were augmented by one so-called imperial hide. The lands were intended to serve the needs of the local church, i.e. its worship and maintenance (church lands) as well as to suppo…