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Der Herrschaftsbereich der mesoamerikan. A. erstreckte sich am Ende des 15. Jh.s vom Pazifischen Ozean bis zum Golf von Mexiko und stellte daher das erste Großreich auf dem amerikan. Kontinent dar, mit dem die span. Konquistadoren 1519 in Berührung kamen (Reiche, außereuropäische; Kulturkontakt). Die in Bilderhandschriften und späteren Aufzeichnungen mündlicher Traditionen erhaltenen Wandersagen der Mexica erzählen von der noch jungen Geschichte dieser Nahuatl sprechenden, von Norden her eingewanderten Volksgruppe. Ihre entbehrungsreichen Wanderun…

1. Begriff und methodischer ZugangUnmittelbar vor der Ankunft der Europäer lebten auf dem amerikan. Doppelkontinent schätzungsweise 40 bis 50 Mio. Menschen, die in Bevölkerungsgröße, Sprache [3. 94] und Kultur sowie sozialer, wirtschaftlicher und politischer Organisation außerordentlich divers waren [4]. Das Spektrum reichte von saisonal umherziehenden Jägern und Sammlern mit informeller politischer Führerschaft bis hin zu ansässigen Bauern, die in übergreifende politische Systeme mit urbanen Zentren und Klassenschichtung integrier…

1. Introduction The Maya is the name given to speakers of the largest indigenous language family in Mesoamerica, who now number 8 million, and to the archaeological cultures in their settlement region. They already inhabited this region in pre-Columbian times, in what is now southern Mexico (Yucatán Peninsula and Chiapas), Belize, Guatemala, western Honduras, and El Salvador. It encompasses the karstic northern lowlands of Yucatán, the hot and humid southern Petén Basin, the highlands o…

1. Terminology and methodological approach When the first Europeans were about to set foot on the dual landmass of the Americas the continent was home to an estimated number of 40 or 50 million people, who were characterized by an extraordinary diversity of population density, languages [3. 94] and cultures as well of social, economic and political organization [4]. They ranged from seasonally foraging hunters and gatherers led by informally chosen chiefs to sedentary farmers integrated in comprehensive political systems which included urban centers an…

[German Version] (Mar 27, 1923, Tokyo – Sep 29, 1996, Tokyo), internationally known and much celebrated Japanese author. From his youth, he felt “foreign” in his homeland because of his Catholic faith and desired also in his writing to bridge the cleft, painful for him, between his Christian “garment” and his Japanese “body.” The struggle for an authentic inculturation of the gospel in the Japanese spirit and context finds particular expression in his most famous novel Silence (Jap. Chinmoku, 1966), set in the time of the 17th-century Japanese …

[German Version] I. Concept – II. Religious Studies – III. Early Christianity – IV. Early Church to the Reformation – V. Modern Era – VI. Orthodox Churches – VII. Asia, Africa, Latin America – VIII. Systematic Theology – IX. Ethics – X. Practical Theology – XI. Ecumenical Discussion – XII. Law I. Concept 1. Theology The loan-word, church, which in common parlance can mean both the Christian worship service and the building dedicated to its performance as well as the constituted social configuration of Christian faith in t…

[German Version] I. Throughout the world, water appears as the fundamental and original element of the world and life (cf. Earth, Fire, Wind), and thus plays an important role in religious protologies. In the form of a primordial ocean or subterranean lakes, cosmogonic myths describe it as a created or already preexistent original substance. From an anthropological perspective, other fluids or “humors” can also be distinguished as constitutive of the human being. The vital importance of water, its purifying power, but also its threatening aspects ¶ (floods, tidal waves, massive r…

[German Version] I. Comparative Religion – II. New Testament – III. Practical Theology – IV. Liturgy – V. Missiology I. Comparative Religion Exorcism, latinized from the Greek ἐξορκίζεῖν/ exorkízein, literally “to conjure out,” consists of procedures aimed at removing psychic, social, or material disruptions that are attributed to the presence of undesirable spirits. Exorcism is accordingly practiced worldwide and …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Practical Theology – III. Ethics (Phases of Maturation) – IV. Judaism – V. Hinduism I. Religious Studies In almost all cultures and religions, a person apparently experiences his life not only as a straight line, but more as cyclically sequenced, more-or-less discontinuous phases with varied social status and role claims. The transition between these phases usually takes place as a controlled “growing process,” not only accompanied by so-called rites of passage, but in f…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. History – III. Philosophy of Religion – IV. Fundamental Theology. – V. Missiology I. Religious Studies 1. The Concept and Its History Myth may be defined by either content or function. Defined by content, myth is a belief about something significant, such as the world or society. Defined by function, myth accomplishes something significant, such as explaining the world or supporting society. Most theories of myth are concerned with the function of myth, but many are also concerned with either the origin or the subject matter of myth. Myt…

[German Version] Missio Dei, “mission of God,” was introduced into the discussion by K. Hartenstein; the term advanced after the missions conference in Willingen (1952, Mission Conferences, German) and soon became a central concept in the theology of mission. In spite of many different emphases, it implies a new Trinitarian foundation for the understanding of missions (cf. opera and missiones in the context of the “economic Trinity”). For, in distinction to ecclesiocentric mission concepts, the Triune God is to be understood as the real “subject” of mis…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Bible – III. Fundamental Theology and Dogmatics – IV. Philosophy – V. Philosophy of Religion – VI. Natural Sciences – VII. Ethics I. Religious Studies Religious ideas and rituals focus fundamentally on life in this world and the next (Here and now, and the hereafter), i.e., coping with life and death (I). Through an immense range of variations, certain returning elements are discernible. Because of its numinous origin (Creation), life is usually felt to be “owed,” but because …

[German Version] I. In a series of organizations that followed each other in hectic succession, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (Mar 13, 1911 – Jan 24, 1986) sought to capitalize on the unexpected boom of autonomous Dianetics groups that followed upon his self-help bestseller Dianetics, published in 1950, and preceded the Church of Scientology ¶ (as it began calling itself in 1954, initially in California; later Church of Scientology International). The name reflects Hubbard’s expansion of Dianetics “therapy” to a comprehensive philosophy of salvation with the programmatic label Sciento…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Bible – III. Dogmatics I. Religious Studies Myths of an original state are usually associated with cosmogonic and anthropogonic (Anthropogony) myths concerning the origins of the world, life, animals, and human beings, for the original state refers to a primal age (Protology) before all time, falling between creation and history. Many religious traditions describe a harmonious, even paradisal eon when humans or (sometimes theriomorphic) protohumans were “still” in d…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies From the outset, religions are involved in processes of exchange with their (religious) environment. This structural relationship to the surrounding world finds expression in internal representations of what is “strange/alien/foreign” or “other” and is part of the self-reference of religious systems. Because other religions are often experienced as competing entities, in most traditions they represent a great challenge to the adherents’ own identity. Therefore re…

[German Version] I. Natural Sciences and Psychology – II. Religious Studies – III. Philosophy – IV. Old Testament – V. New Testament – VI. Church History – VII. Dogmatics and Ethics – VIII. Judaism – IX. Islam I. Natural Sciences and Psychology 1. Evolution From the perspective of the natural sciences, the theory of evolution offers the most comprehensive framework for understanding human beings. It views the human species as a late product of a biogenetic process that began with the origin of life (VI) on earth some 3.8 billion …

[German Version] I. I. New Testament – II. Missiology I. New Testament Matt. 28:16–20 is often called the Great Commission. The text is a manifesto summarizing the entire Gospel. The speaker in the narrative is “Jesus” (“Ye/Ya saves”: 1:21), “Immanuel” (“El/God is with us”: 1:23; cf. also 2:15; 11:27; 17:5; 28:18). The theocentric Christology in Matthew implies a universal understanding, including Israel. Just as El or YHWH is believed in as the God of Israel and the nations, so is the God whose epiphany is in the histori…

[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Systematic Theology – V. Practical Theology – VI. Judaism – VII. Islam I. Terminology 1. Religious Studies a. As an emic linguistic term, “faith” is found not only in the context of the Christian West (cf. fides, foi, Glaube, etc.), but also in other religious traditions. The Sanskrit term śraddhā (cf. Pāli saddhā; Avestan zrazdā-) seems to represent an Indo-European etymological pendant to Lat. credo, as demonstrated by the possible reconstruction of Indo-Germanic * k'red-dhē-, “set one's heart o…

[German Version] Documents and personal property are protected by seals (Seal/Stamp). Sealing is designed to protect against unauthorized appropriation or access; it protects the authenticity and authority of the person affixing the seal (sender, owner) with symbolic power. The meaning of sealing in secular legal usage provides the background for the many references to sealing in religious contexts. Tatoos and amulets, for example, place their bearers in the numinous protective sphere of a deity o…