[German Version] (c. 1856/1863, Esmeralda County, NV – 1932, Esmeralda County, NV), a Paiute prophet and messiah (IV, 2.c) of the Ghost Dance of 1890. He was named Wovoka (“chopping instrument”) by his father who trained him in shamanistic practices (Shamanism). His father participated in the 1870 Ghost Dance led by Wodziwob, which was focused on the return of the ancestral dead who had died in 19th-century epidemics. Also known as Jack Wilson, Wovoka manifested Christian, Mormon, and Skokomish Sh…

[German Version] Many small-scale, indigenous societies in Eurasia and North America venerate bears (Grizzly, Black, Polar, and Kodiak). This continues one of the oldest ritual practices among hominids in which the human skeletal remains have been arranged with bear bones. Because of their anthropomorphic qualities bears are also revered in ceremonies, remembe…

[German Version] The name Maccabees denotes primarily a family of Jewish freedom fighters and leaders, also called the Hasmoneans (see below). It can also refer to a collection of postcanonical Jewish writings (Maccabees, Books of the), and in Christian traditions to a group of Jewish martyrs during the persecution under the Seleucid Antiochus IV. This persecution triggered the Maccabean revolt under the priest Mattathias ¶ and his five sons. Mattathias, who belonged to the priestly division of Jehoiarib (1 Chr 24:7), was ordered by Antiochus to offer sacrifi…

[German Version] I. Liturgy Until the liturgical reform that followed upon Vatican II, every celebration of mass for the deceased began with the Latin antiphon to the introit, Requiem aeternam, borrowed from 4 Ezra. This is why the term “requiem” came to designate any mass for the dead (also: mass for souls) that is celebrated with chant. The other special chants of the masses celebrated for the deceased were also fixed. Especially the sequence Dies irae and the offertory Domine Iesu Christe, along with other particularities (omission of Ps 43 [42] in the prayer at the foot …

[German Version] I. Terminology and Overview The term “Indian” goes back to the erroneous identification by C. Columbus of the pre-European population of the American continents as the inhabitants of India. The term itself (or the Spanish-Portuguese form indio) ¶ is felt more to be derogatory by Indians themselves. For this reason the term indígenas (“natives”) is used in the Latin American realm (Latin America) as a self-definition as well as an external definition. As a generic term within religious studies it encompasses diverse peoples whose re…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies and History of Religions – II. Death and the Realm of the Dead in the Old Testament – III. Judaism – IV. New Testament – V. Philosophy – VI. Philosophy of Religion – VII. History of Dogma and Dogmatics – VIII. Ethics – IX. Practical Theology – X. Art – XI. Islam – XII. Buddhism – XIII. Hinduism I. Religious Studies and History of Religions 1. General Modern religious criticism regards religion as compensation for human anxiety in the face of death. …

[German Version] Achenbach, Reinhard, Munich, Germany Ackerman, Robert, Philadelphia, PA, USA Adick, Christel, Bochum, Germany Adogame, Afe, Bayreuth, Germany Adriaanse, Hendrik Johan, Leiden, Netherlands Ahlers, Reinhild, Münster, Germany Ahme, Michael, Kiel, Germany Ahn, Gregor, Heidelberg, Germany Ahrens, Theodor, Hamburg, Germany Ajayi, J.F. Ade., Ibadan, Nigeria Aland, Barbara, Münster, Germany Albani, Matthias, Leipzig, Germany Alberigo, Giuseppe, Bologna, Italy Albertz, Rainer, Münster, Germany Albert-Zerlik, Annette, Mainz, Germany Albrecht, Christian,…