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[German Version] I. History of Religions – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Church History – V. Philosophy of Religion – VI. Fundamental Theology – VII. Dogmatics – VIII. Education and Practical Theology – IX. Judaism – X. Islamic Theology…

[German Version] The term “early Catholicism” is used when features of a hierarchical, official institutionalization of Christianity are discernible before the 3rd century (e.g. the binding of the Spirit to the office; the principle of tradition and succession; development of a monarchical episcopate; sacramentalism), ultimately leading to the firm establishment of Christianity in the culture and society of (late) antiquity and the tying of individual salvation to membership of the visible church. The expression “early Catholicism” was introduced in 1908 by E. Troeltsch in connection with his socio-typological history of the church (cf. Nagler) and soon became a popular term for the 2nd-century church. In exegetical studies, E. Käsemann used it as an epochal term in the context of historical demise, albeit without reference to its earlier usage. In this case, “early Catholicism” refers to the transitional period from “early (or primitive) Christianity” to the “Early Church,” a period characterized especially by the abandonment of imminent Parousia expectation. It is especially Luke, Acts, the Pastorals, and 2 Peter that are criticized as deriving from early Catholicism, the canonical question being raised particularly in the case of 2 Peter. Here Käsemann initiated a theological controversy in which the expression itself was criticized as being too imprecise, the demand ultimately being raised that it be abandoned entirely because of its anachronistic confessionalism (cf. Hahn). it is important to note whether the expression “early Catholicism” is being used in contrast to the expression “early (or primitive) Christianity” in connection with a (typically Protestant) theory of demise, or in connection with the expression “Early Church” in a (typically Catholic) reference to the unbroken continuity betwee…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Semiotics, a discipline inaugurated primarily by C.S. Peirce and Ferdinand de Saussure (see II and IV below), is the systematic analysis of signs (Gk σημεῖον/ sēmeíon) and the way the human mind perceives and understands them. A sign in the sense of semiotics can be any present …