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1. Term The term “reconciliation” has been an important one in Christian theology, although it is used sparingly in the NT. It is most prominent in 2 Cor. 5:18–21. God has restored to himself the relationship with the world that human transgressions had irretrievably broken. Reconciliation really involves a new creation, in which a person “is in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:17; New Self). God accomplished this new creation by redeeming the world “in Christ.” Reconciliation is the same as atonement, which strictly means “at-one-ment.” But atonement has come to have a narrower use…

1. Protestant Theology 1.1. Theology in Confrontation with the Enlightenment, Romanticism, and Materialism 1.1.1. Theology in Relation to Church and State Protestant Despite the many similarities and convergent tasks that connected Protestant theology in many countries in the 19th and 20th centuries, there were significant differences, dependent on the relation of theology, church, and state or society. In central Europe and Scandinavia, theology was mostly an integral part of the state universities, except for countries where Protestants were a minor…

1. Term Tolerance is, according to its literal sense, “bearing” (Lat. tolero, “carry, bear, tolerate”). At a first level, this means to accept others, including something that is different. On a secondary level, there is the added point of seeing the existence of others as valid, as well as their special features within defined arrangements, without being significantly concerned about, or striving for, integration. In a further step, others—strangers—are accepted, along with their particularities. Finally,…

The original meaning of “hermeneutics” is “translation” in the broadest sense: the authoritative communication of a message (e.g., from God) that needs a mediator, the rendering of a text from one language into another, and the exposition of something said or written with a view to bringing out its meaning. The term is derived from the Greek hermēneuō, “interpret, explain, translate.” The root derives from the name of the Greek god Hermes, the mediator of meaning between the realm of gods and that of human beings. In the NT the term (including its use with the prefixes dia. and meta-) is t…

1. The Phrase “Dialectical theology” is the name for a movement that after World War I initiated a new period in theology and the church, first of all in Germany. It found expression in the journal Zwischen den Zeiten (Between the times; 1923–33), produced by Karl Barth (1886–1968), Friedrich Gogarten (1887–1967), Georg Merz (1892–1959), and Eduard Thurneysen (1888–1974). Coworkers were Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976) and Emil Brunner (1889–1966); for a time, Paul Tillich (1886–1965) was also in dialogue with them. 1.1. Purpose What the proponents of the trend had in mind can ha…