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[German Version] (1207–1273, Konya, Turkey), Persian poet, whose son, Sulṭān Walad, founded the Mawlawi order (“dancing dervishes”). Rūmī’s style is distinguished by a fervor previously unknown in the Persian language; at times it even leads him to violate the classic forms of Persian poetry. His most important works include: (1) Dīwān, also called Dīwān-i Šams-i Tabrīzī, (2) Maṯnawī, a mystical and edifying epic that enjoys great esteem throughout the Persian-speaking world, and (3) Fīhi mā fihi, in prose. Many of his letters have also been preserved. …

[German Version] I. Origin and Spread – II. Doctrine – III. Islamic Philosophy – IV. Islamic Art (Architecture and Book Art) – V. Islamic Studies – VI. Christianity and Islam – VII. Judaism and Islam – VIII. Islam in Europe – IX. Islam in North America – X. Political Islamism I. Origin and Spread 1. Muḥammad and his message In 569 ce, Muḥammad was born in Mecca, a city with the shrine of the Kaʿba at its center. Mecca enjoyed good relations with the Sasanian Empire and its Arab vassal princes in Ḥīra, but considered itself politically independen…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Examination of repentance from the perspective of religious studies must confront the problem that the term itself has no culturally neutral meaning. Many of the phenomena in other religions that Christians tend to call repentance appear in a different light when viewed in the context of different anthropological presuppositions, ¶ so that due weight must be given to the religious anthropology in question. Generally speaking, it is true to say that in almost all non-Christian religions the notion of repentance carries less weight than in Christianity. If we keep this fundamental difference in mind, we can speak more freely of repentance in non-Christian religions as well. From the perspective of religious studies, we can point to structural analogies in other religions without prematurely suggesting identification. A more precise definition of the phenomenon we call repentance must start with our inescapable Christian preconception. An attitude of repentance can shape a life only when we confront a numinous power (God). Face to face with this power, we develop a feeling of our own “numinous worthlessness” (Otto, 1917). The Christian notion of penitence presupposes a great gulf between the perfect Creator and his imperfect creatures, who are inclined again and again to assert their own will, separating them…

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. New Testament – III. Christianity – IV. Judaism – V. Islam I. Old Testament 1. God's love The notion of YHWH's love (in Heb. primarily derivatives of the root אהב/ ʾhb) for his people first appears in the book of the prophet Hosea, where God's love is cited as the “ground of divine election” (Jenni) in response to challenges to the election (I) of Israel by God (Hos 1:9). Hosea uses the image of a father's love (11:1; cf. also 11:4); despite his son's disobedience, he cannot give him up (11:8; the image reappears in 14:5*). Hosea borrows the father-son image from the relationship between God and the king (2 Sam 7:14; the ancient Near Eastern ideology o…

[German Version] I. The Concept …

[German Version] I. The Concept – II. Religious Studies – III. History – IV. Philosophy of Religion – V. Practical Theology – VI. Islamic Mysticism – VII. Hindu Mysticism – VIII. Taoist Mysticism I. The Concept The concept of mysticism is closely linked to the development of the history of religion in Europe and the term must not be taken and applied uncritically as a general term for a phenomenologically determined group of phenomena in other religions (see also II, 3 below). Attempts at definition are either phenomenolog…

[German Version] 1. Gerhard (Apr 6, 1888, Sooden/Werra – Jul 1, 1967, Freiburg im Breisgau). This historian and son of a pastor was a teacher, like his brother Karl Bernhard (see 2. below); he served from 1915 to 1919 as a soldier. In 1925 he became professor in Freiburg. He translated T. More’s Utopia, wrote a history of Heidelberg University in the Middle Ages, and, as editor, opened the ARG to international research in 1938. Ritter was Baden’s delegate to the Barmen Confessing Synod. Because of the memoranda for D. Bonhoeffer, Ritter was imprisoned in 1944. He took part in 1945 at the Synod of Treysa, and in 1948 in the World Conference of Churches in Amsterdam; he acted as adviser to the Evangelical Church in Germany. Ritter’s biography of Luther (1923) was an expression of the crisis of cultural P…

[German Version] I. Philosophy of Religion The phenomenon of unio mystica within mysticism is of interest to the philosophy of religion because recent analytical approaches in religious studies and the psychology of religion permit a more precise assessment of the philosophical issues involved, and also because it brings to light (so much better) a philosophically discussable connection between religious behavior or experience and rational cognition (Epistemology). Although the term itself is not always u…

[German Version] I. Names and Terms – II. Religious Studies – III. Ancient Near East and Old Testament – IV. New Testament – V. Church History – VI. Philosophy of Religion – VII. Fundamental Theology – VIII. Dogmatics – IX. Judaism – X. Islam – XI. History of Art and Literature I. Names and Terms 1. Devil The secular Greek noun διάβολος/ diabolos comes from one of the meanings of the verb διαβάλλω/ diaballō, “separate, sever,” which led to meanings such as “accuse, slander, deceive.” From the Greek noun came Latin diabolus, from which the English …