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[German Version] denotes the “mutual interchange of attributes” of the second person of the Deity with the human person Jesus of Nazareth or attributes of humanity with the second person of the Deity in the person of Jesus Christ (Christology). It manifests first in the language of worship (prayer addressed to Jesus; predication of Mary as Theotokos) as well as in the biblical documents and ecclesiastical tradition (1 Cor 2:8b; Mark 2:10). The Chalcedonian Defin…

[German Version] (Sep 29, 1792, Copenhagen – Mar 3, 1862, Slagelse, Zealand). After his university studies, degree, and habilitation, he was appointed to a pastorate in Copenhagen; there he translated the Augsburg Confession and its Apologia as well as patristic texts into Danish. In 1829 he succeeded E.W. Hengstenberg as superintendent in Glauchau (Saxony); during his tenure, a revival movement (Revival/Revival movements) took root. Rudelbach was a confessional Lutheran (Neo-Lutheranism), who also supported the Evangelische Kirchenzeitung and its antirationalist posit…

[German Version] (Mar 6, 1903, Darmstadt – May 20, 1984, Heidelberg), one of the leading participants in the ecumenical dialogue following World ¶ War II. His academic career began during the Kirchenkampf; he was active in many functions on behalf of the Confessing Church. Initially he taught at Bethel; after the seminary was dissolved by the Gestapo in 1939, he served as a pastor. After the war, he accepted a call to Heidelberg, where the founded the first Ecumenical Institute. His multifaceted ecumenical involvement both in…

[German Version] (Jun 29, 1858, Middels, East Frisia – Oct 7, 1933, Leipzig). After studies at various universities from 1878 to 1881, Ihmels became a pastor in 1883. In 1884 he was appointed director of studies at the seminary in Loccum. In 1898 he became professor of systematic theology in Erlangen (Erlangen School); in 1902 he was called to Leipzig. Appointed as the first bishop of the regional church in Saxony, he became active in the ecumenical movement. Ihmels was an enormously effective pre…

[German Version] (1224/1225, Roccasecca, duchy of Aquino – Mar 7, 1274, Fossanova) I. Life and Work Thomas Aquinas was born the son of Landolfo de Aquino, a member of the lower nobility, and his wife Theodora, in Roccasecca in the duchy of Aquino, his family’s seat. Aquino lay at the frontier of the church ¶ states, in the far north of the kingdom of Sicily. As oblate (I) Thomas received his early education at the nearby Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino. In 1239 he went to study at the Imperial University of Naples. There, c. 1244, he entered the …

[German Version] In the first instance, the expression real presence means a position that takes the words of institution (“This is my body/blood”) literally, arguing that “in, with, and under” the elements of the Eucharist, the body and blood of Jesus Christ are actually received, in contrast, say, to the position of Berengar of Tours and Zwingli, which interprets the words of institution metaphorically and considers the elements signs representing the humanity of Christ, seated at the right hand of God…

[German Version] κένωσις/ kénōsis; exinanitio). The Christ-hymn in Phil. 2:6–11 describes the life of Jesus in two “stages” as a path from incarnation to the cross and as post-resurrection exaltation. The doctrine of the “state” of humiliation, which was not really articulated terminologically until the intra-Protestant dispute concerning Christology, adopts the central term associated with the first stage: heautón ekénōsen (v. 7). This doctrine expounds the relationship between the doctrines of the person and work of Christ. Beginning with the initial …

[German Version] (Nov 8, 1876, Petersburg – Jan 5, 1940, Bad Nauheim), church historian at Breslau (Wrocław), Vienna, and Rostock (from 1921). His edition of the commentary on the Sentences by Gandulf of Bologna deserves special mention, along with his studies on the history of the Reformation, including his analysis of K. Holl’s interpretation of justification ( Mystik und Rechtfertigung beim jungen Luther, 1937) and the Diet of Augsburg ( Luther und Melanchthon während des Augsburger Reichstags, 1931). His strength was the elicitation and vivid description of the inte…

[German Version] This term refers to the clarification of the mode of the unity of God and human in Christ gained in the course of the Early Church's christological disputes (Christology) by differentiating between the Greek ϕύσις/ phýsis (Lat. natura) and ὑπόστασις/ hypóstasis (Lat. suppositum/ persona): it describes a unity of deity and humanity on the level of the ὑπόστασις (Hypostasis) despite the difference in the natures (Doctrine of two natures). The formula thus attained is extremely capable of and in need of interpretation; the various understa…

[German Version] (Nov 21, 1806, Nürnberg – Oct 5, 1879, Munich), studied with F.W.J. Schelling and others in Erlangen (1823–1826) and with F.A.G. Tholuck in Halle (1826–1828). Under Tholuck's revivalist influence, he came to a “conversion experience.” He became professor in Erlangen in 1836, was transferred to Bayreuth as consistorial councillor (because of his vote in the “genuflexion controversy”), became professor in Leipzig (1845), preacher at the upper court and vice-president of the regional…

[German Version] (Mar 17, 1800, Fraustadt, Lower Silesia [now Wschowa, Poland] – Dec 16, 1862, Eisleben) was a figure in the post-1817 revival movement. His writing was influenced by Romanticism, and he drew on the patriotic liberalism of the Burschenschaften. In 1818 he came in contact with F.A.G. Tholuck and the revivalist group associated with H.E. Baron v. Kottwitz; he dated his conversion from that year. He was active as an academic teacher (e.g. in Barmen-Wichlinghausen). His primary interest was exegesis; he focused initially …

[English Version] . Der Begriff bez. zunächst eine Position, die in einem wörtl. Verständnis der Einsetzungsworte (Dies ist mein Leib/Blut) davon ausgeht, daß »in, mit und unter« den Elementen des Abendmahls tatsächlich der Leib und das Blut Jesu Christi empfangen wird; dies in Abgrenzung etwa zur Position des Berengar von Tours oder Zwingli, welche die Einsetzungsworte als uneigentliche Rede deuten und die Elemente als Hinweiszeichen auf die nach der Himmelfahrt zur Rechten Gottes sitzende Mensch…

[English Version] I. Leben und Werk Th. wurde als Sohn des niederen Adligen Landulf de Aquino und seiner Frau Theodora auf Roccasecca, dem in der Grafschaft Aquino, an der Grenze zum Kirchenstaat im äußersten Norden des Königreiches Sizilien gelegenen Sitz der Familie, geboren. Als Oblate (: I.) erhielt er in der nahegelegenen Benediktinerabtei Monte Cassino eine erste Schulbildung und ging 1239 zum Studium an die kaiserliche Universität Neapel. Dort trat er etwa 1244 dem Dominikanerorden bei und sch…

[English Version] Thomasius, Gottfried (26.7.1802 Egenhausen – 24.1.1875 Erlangen), gehört in das Feld der »Erlanger Schule« (Prof. dort seit 1842). Th. betrachtete die Schrift, das kirchl. Bekenntnis und das individuelle Bewußtsein des Heils (Glaube) als inhaltlich identische Manifestationen des Christentums; er entwarf seine um die Christologie konzentrierte und deren Implikationen entfaltende Dogmatik (Christi Person und Werk, 5 [Teil-]Bde., 1852–1861) methodisch als Explikation des durch Christ…

[English Version] Walter, Johannes v. (8.11.1876 Petersburg – 5.1.1940 Bad Nauheim), Kirchengeschichtler in Breslau, Wien und Rostock (seit 1921). Herauszuheben sind seine Edition des Sentenzenkomm. des Gandulf von Bologna; reformationsgesch. Studien: etwa zur Deutung der Rechtfertigung durch K. Holl (Mystik und Rechtfertigung beim jungen Luther, 1937) und zu »Luther und Melanchthon während des Augsburger Reichstags« (1931). W.s Stärke ist die Erhebung und lebendige Beschreibung der Binnenperspektiv…

[English Version] Stier, Rudolf Ewald (17.3.1800 Fronstadt, Niederschlesien – 16.12.1862 Eisleben), gehört in den Zusammenhang der Erweckungsbewegung nach 1817. Geprägt durch die Romantik (lit. Tätigkeit) und die Burschenschaften fand er 1818 Anschluß an F.A. G. Tholuck und an die erweckten Kreise um H.E. Baron v. Kottwitz und datierte auf 1818 seine Bekehrung. S. war als akademischer Lehrer (u.a. in Barmen-Wichlinghausen) tätig. Sein Interesse galt der Exegese, und hier zunächst der Textgrundlage (…

[English Version] Schlink, Edmund (6.3.1903 Darmstadt – 20.5.1984 Heidelberg), einer der führenden Teilnehmer am ökum. Dialog nach dem 2. Weltkrieg. Der Beginn seiner akademischen Tätigkeit fiel in die Zeit des Kirchenkampfes; er war in vielen Funktionen für die Bekennende Kirche tätig und lehrte zunächst in Bethel; nach der Aufhebung der Theol. Hochschule durch die Gestapo 1939 war er Pfarrer und folgte nach dem Krieg einem Ruf nach Heidelberg, wo er das erste Ökum. Institut aufbaute. Seine vielfä…

[English Version] . Der Begriff leitet sich von der Bekenntnissituation nach Mt 10,32f. her, in der es (in der Situation der Verfolgung) um die Entscheidung über die Proklamation der Zugehörigkeit zu Christus oder die Absage an Christus geht. Nicht jede Entscheidungssituation ist eine Bekenntnissituation. So ist für Paulus das Essen von Götzenopferfleisch an sich bedeutungslos für das Verhältnis zu Gott (Adiaphora); für den allerdings, der das Essen des Götzenopferfleisches nur als Trennung von Christus betrachten kann, gilt, daß e…

1. By the term “Reformation principles” the Formula of Concord and Protestant orthodoxy (§1) understand negatively slanted formulations of the doctrine of justification, above all sola fide, “by faith alone,” on the basis of Martin Luther’s (1483–1546) rendering of Romans 3:28 (see LW  ¶ 35.187ff.; Faith 3.5.3). This exclusion of works as a ground of justification does not mean the isolating of faith but singles out justifying faith because it receives the righteousness of Christ that is given by grace alone. The formula thus has the implication of solus Christus (Christ alone) and sol…

1. Term The term “sacramentality” and the related adjective “sacramental” have no single meaning but are used in different ways in different connections. Formally, “sacramentality” is an abstract term based on “sacrament” and denoting what is essential to a sacrament as such. It serves, then, to show with what right the church describes various actions as sacraments. In this sense M. J. Scheeben (1835–88) raised the question of the sacramentality of marriage (pp. 593–610). By its very nature the term “sacramentality” looks beyond the question of the number of sacramen…