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[German Version] The most recent phase of paganism, the anti- and a-Christian religious reception of ancient and non-European religions, may be called neo-paganism. It began around the mid-20th century, drawing on 19th-century predecessors (Romanticism, F. Nietzsche, Life Reform movement). Neo-paganism is characterized by the fact that its members turn the negative stereotype “heathen” into a positive self-image, developing a religious role as “new pagans,” and appearing in public to an unprecedented extent. Although 20th-century neo-paganism has roots in the tradit…

The Power of Definition 1. a) The boundary between what religion is and is not, has important effects: it excludes it from undeserved privileges, and lays out its concerns as either illegitimate or unlawful. These issues arise in the debates over ‘fundamentalism,’ Islamic religious education, or over ‘sects and cults,’ as, for example, in the disagreement over whether Scientology is a religion or a (criminal) ‘economic undertaking.’ An example may clarify the point. In December 1992, Hindus destroye…

1. The term ‘reception’ derives from the Latin recipere, ‘to receive,’ ‘to take up.’ It is applied with various meanings in scholarship. In the cultural sciences, it found wide application after its adoption from the Constance theory of option in literary reception. In the area of anthropology and religious studies, it denotes any orientation of a cultural or religious current to a tradition. The bearers of the latter are varied. Correspondingly, religious receptions are identified as forms of religion …

* Introductory remark: The following survey is an attempt to present scientific trends and different schools and styles of research that have either been characteristic of the academic study of religion over the past century or that have recently entered upon the scene but have nevertheless already had an effect on religious research. This is, therefore, a study of the typical and the paradigmatic (which is not to imply that another approach would have been qualitatively inferior, this is simp…

1. Term The term “divination” comes from Lat. divinatio, meaning “divine inspiration; soothsaying.” Divination is a social practice of choosing and evaluating signs. It is related to such phenomena as the interpretation of events, the seeking of causes (diagnosis), and the planning of action (prognosis). But it also carries with it the extraordinary claim of being the disclosure of what is hidden (Apocalypticism 1), of having privileged access to a special “pool” of signs (e.g., the anatomy of sheep livers), and of having unquestionable authority. Divination practic…

Cancik, Hubert [English version] A. Das Begriffsfeld (RWG) Das Verhältnis der mediterranen (altorientalischen, hell., röm., etrusk. etc.) Kulturen zueinander und das der nachant. zu den ant. wird mit einem reichen Wortfeld beschrieben, das die verschiedenen Arten der Beziehung, ihre Intensität und die Bewertung dieser Einflüsse mehr oder weniger deutlich ausdrückt. Mehr organologische (biomorphe) Metaphern stehen neben mehr technischen oder ökonomischen: Einverleibung, Nachleben, (kollektives) Gedächtn…

[English Version] I. Religionswissenschaftlich P. (von lat. paganus, »Heide, Landbewohner, Zivilist«; Heidentum) ist der moderne wiss. Begriff für die bewußte Wiederaufnahme (»Rezeption«) oder Wiederbelebung (»Revitalisierung«; »Rekonstruktion«) antiker und rezenter ethnischer rel. Traditionen oder deren Teilelemente (Kulte; Mythen, Symboliken) außerhalb von Christentum und bibl. Judentum. Obwohl die rel. Besetzung der Außengruppe strukturell auch in anderen exklusiven rel. Gemeinschaften wie der j…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. History – III. Missiology I. Religious Studies Paganism (from Lat. paganus “pagan, rustic, civilian”; Pagandom) is the modern scientific term for the deliberate resumption (“reception”) or revival (“revitalization,” “reconstruction”) of ancient or recent ethnic religious traditions or elements of them (Cults; myths, symbols) outside Christianity and biblical Judaism. Although the religious occupation of an outgroup is structurally conceivable in other exclusive religious ¶ communities, such as Judaism or Islam, paganism …

Cancik, Hubert (Tübingen) [German version] A. The Conceptual Field (CT) The relationship of the Mediterranean (Ancient Oriental, Hellenistic, Roman, Etruscan, etc.) cultures to one another and of Post-Antiquity to Antiquity is described with a broad lexical field which expresses the various types of relationship, their intensity and the assessment of these influences more or less clearly. More organological (biomorphic) metaphors are ranged alongside more technical or economic ones: assimilation, heritage…

[English Version] I. Zum Begriff Der franz., auch ins Dt. und Engl. übernommene Begriff R. gehört zur großen Gruppe der organischen Metaphern für gesch. Vorgänge. Seit dem 19.Jh. lange Zeit allein auf tierisch-menschliches Leben bezogen und als »Wiedergeburt« verstanden, wird er in der neueren Forschung (seit Jost Trier) angemessener dem pflanzlichen Bereich zugeordnet und als »Wiederwuchs«, d.h. als Wiederausschlagen von Trieben aus abgehauenen Bäumen und Sträuchern, erklärt. Bereits im vorchristl.…

[German Version] I. Concept The French term “Renaissance,” which was also borrowed by German and English, belongs to the large group of organic metaphors applied to historical occurrences. Used from the 19th century in sole reference to animal/human life and understood in the sense of “rebirth,” it is assigned in recent research (since Jost Trier) more appropriately to the botanical sphere and explained as “renewed growth,” i.e. as a renewed sprouting of shoots ¶ from felled trees and bushes. Pre-Christian Latin already employed renasci (from nasci, “to be born, to become, to ar…

[English Version] I. Religionswissenschaftlich R. bez. die Überreste (lat. reliquiae, »Zurückgebliebenes«) kraftgeladener Menschen (Krieger, Häuptlinge, Zauberer, Heroen, Propheten, Märtyrer, Heilige [Heilige/Heiligenverehrung]), ihrer Körper, Kleidungsstücke und Gebrauchsgegenstände. Ihre Verehrung gründet auf dem Glauben, daß diese Kräfte über das Grab hinaus dauerhaft wirksam sind, mit dem Ziel, dieser Macht oder des Segens teilhaftig zu werden durch Errichten von Gebäuden über dem Grab, Aufstel…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Relics are the remains (Lat. reliquiae) of individuals endowed with power, such as warriors, chiefs, sorcerers, heroes, prophets, martyrs, and saints – their bodies, their clothing, or objects they have used. Veneration of relics reflects the belief that these forces continue beyond the grave; the intent is to benefit from this power or blessing by erecting structures over the grave, lighting candles or leaving flowers, processions, touching or kissing, or burial near…