Search

1. Term The term “Lutheranism” may be used in a variety of ways: as describing the form of Christianity that developed from the 16th-century Reformation at Wittenberg and most particularly from the teachings of its leader, Martin Luther (1483–1546); as describing the theological and confessional tradition based on the documents of the Book of Concord; or as describing the self-understanding and/or the identity of church bodies throughout the world that claim agreement with Luther’s teaching. Luther himself, however, decried the use of his name: “I ask that [people] mak…

[German Version] I. New Testament – II. Church History – III. Dogmatics and Canon Law – IV. Missiology I. New Testament The NT contains no evidence of the episcopate in the traditional Catholic sense (a single bishop at the apex of a hierarchical clerical ministry functioning as head of a Christian community), but it does use the word ἐπίσκοπος ( epískopos; the etymological source of bishop) for functionaries and officials exercising oversight in the community (Acts 20:28; Phil 1:1; 1 Tim 3:1–7; Tit 1:7–9). For the primitive church, it is therefore better ¶ to speak of episkopoi rathe…

[German Version] I. Background – II. Establishment – III. Fundamental Difference: Two Types – IV. Schism in the Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche; BK). “Bekennende Kirche” was the self-designation of those who, from 1934, appeared alongside and in opposition to the administrative bodies dominated by the Deutsche Christen (“German Christians”) at the levels of the Reich, the state, and the community, with their own forms of organization suited to the confession. Depending on the respective legal sit…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Church History – III. Dogmatics – IV. Practical Theology – V. North America – VI. Missiology I. Religious Studies Generally speaking, the term laity (from Gk λαος/ laós, “people”) denotes adherents of a religious tradition who do not act as religious specialists or function within a defined socio-religious class (Priesthood, Monasticism). The use of the term is therefore inappropriate in religions without religious specialists, for example Islam. In some religions, the laity, who…

[German Version] I. History As it developed in the Early Church and the Middle Ages, the term synod (from Gk σύνοδος/ sýnodos, “assembly, being together on the way”) cannot be separated from the term council. Only in 19th- and 20th-century Protestantism is a separate treatment warranted; in that context – with roots going back to the 16th century – the synod represents a new constitutional phenomenon (Church polity: IV, 2; V, 1.c). Its antecedents include medieval diocesan synods (as extensions of the provincial syn…

[German Version] The Pneumatomachi, a group found primarily in Asia Minor, had a traditional binitarian doctrine of God, rejecting the divinity of the Holy Spirit (Spirit/Holy Spirit). They were an outgrowth of the “middle way” that evolved after 358, made up of followers of Origen and Eusebius. Within this new group of Homoiousians, some opposed the consubstantiality of the Holy Spirit in speaking of the divine essence. This accentuation of doctrinal differences with the Niceans, who were a disti…

[German Version] I. Primitive Christianity – II. History of Doctrine – III. Dogmatics – IV. Forms of Extra-ecclesial Christology I. Primitive Christianity 1. History of research and preliminary questions a.  The term Christology, which originated in the early 17th century, was coined for systematic reflection concerning Jesus Christ. Initially, conceptions and Christologies dealing with the salvation history of the whole Bible beginning with the Old Testament were as highly valued as the New Testament (cf. e.g. G.F. Händel's Messiah). NT Christology went its own way…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. Early Judaism – IV. New Testament – V. Church History – VI. Systematic Theology – VII. Practical Theology – VIII. Law – IX. Missiology I. Religious Studies Over the course of history, the word office has been used for a wide variety of functions. In every case, however, what is peculiar to the term is that it refers to an activity independent of the unique personal characteristics of the officeholder. In the context of religious studies, what first comes to mind is the office…

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Church History – V. Dogmatics – VI. Ethics – VII. Practical Theology – VIII. Church Law – IX. Judaism – X. Islam I. History of Religion In the following comments the term community will refer exclusively to a religiously motivated association of people. From the standpoint of the history of religion, the formation of communities is more the exception than the rule. The fact that associations such as tribes, as well, howe…

[German Version] The German term Reichskirche (“imperial church”), scarcely found in historical sources, denotes the post-Constantinian (Constantine the Great) synthesis of civil and ecclesiastical sovereignty in the “Roman Empire,” whose claim of universal dominion made it different from other states. Only in this sense does the term differ from analogous realities in other territories, called state churches, national churches, or regional churches. I. Imperium Romanum A constitutive element of the Roman imperial church was its attachment to the figure of th…

[German Version] Lübeck's origins go back to the German colonization and Christianization of Slavic Vagria/East Holstein under Henry the Lion, after the failed establishment of the bishopric of Oldenburg c. 972–983 and the destruction of the seat of the Slavic principality at Liubice (Old Lübeck). The German commercial town was founded in 1159 and the bishopric was moved there in 1160; a cathedral, several monasteries, and four parish churches were erected between 1163 and 1229. The small episcopa…

[German Version] the supreme administrative organs of the Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche), which legitimized the creation of alternative church structures since the fall of 1934. In contrast to the national synods of the German Evangelical Church and to the administration of the church of the Reich under L. Müller, the first “Confessing Synod of the German Evangelical Church” in Barmen (May 29–31, 1934) declared itself the sole legal representative of the German Evangelical Church. (H. Asmussen probably coined the term “Confessing Synod” [ Bekenntnissynode]). Tensions in…

[German Version] I. History This institution, founded in 1948 (a German Federal Church with eight member churches) has a prehistory rooted in the 19th century which presupposes the confessional division of German Protestantism from 1529 to 1648. It is based on the axiom that, according to ¶ CA 7, all churches that follow the Lutheran confessional documents form a single church. This also results in fellowship in the Lutheran World Federation. 1. Because of a lack of precision in the terms “confession” and “Lutheran,” and the persistency of the Landeskirchen model, efforts for union …

[German Version] I. History, Constitution, and Structure – II. Works and Institutions (EKD; Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland) I. History, Constitution, and Structure To an increasing degree, the federalistically determined history of German Protestantism in the 20th century has been stamped by the growing responsibility of the general membership of the unified agency of the EKD and its predecessor institutions. 1. Founding, 1945–1948 Since the 19th century, from the Eisenach Conference of 1852 to the Union of German …

[German Version] (Apr 1, 1776, Hanau – Jul 25, 1853, Lübeck), influential revival preacher and reformer in Lübeck, who became doctor of theology in Berlin in 1817. Turning from a devout Enlightenment (II, 4.c) to a christocentric theology of religious experience and revelation (emphasis on grace, faith, and rebirth from 1807 on) – and under the influence of F.D.E. Schleiermacher, F.H. Jacobi, and G. Menken – Geibel combined Romanticism and Idealism with biblicism and religious nationalism. He init…

[German Version] (c. 340/345–400). Amphilochius was the cousin of Gregory of Nazianzus and a student of Libanius. After practicing law in Constantinople c. 365–371, he became an ascetic. In the fall of 373, he became metropolitan of the new ecclesiastical province of Lycaonia, which he reorganized and strengthened (church discipline, new dioceses, conflict with pagans and heretics, etc.). As an ally of Basil the Great, he contributed significantly to the victory of Basil's doctrine of the Trinity (Neo-Niceanism) in Asia Minor – for example, by his Epistola synodica against the …

[German Version] 1. Theodosius Andreas (Jan 3, 1817, St. Petersburg – Sep 23, 1889, Tartu [Ger. Dorpat], Estonia). Harnack studied at Dorpat from 1834 to 1837; after three years as a private tutor, he also studied at Berlin, Bonn, and Erlangen. He became a Privatdozent in 1843. From 1848 to 1852 and again from 1866 to 1875 he was professor of practical theology at Dorpat, from 1853 to 1866 at Erlangen. In 1852/1853 he taught systematic theology at Dorpat. He was orphaned at 15; in 1857 his first wife…

[German Version] ( Bruderrat), designation for the leadership bodies of the Confessing Church ( Bekennende Kirche) at all levels. At first prevalent in especially the (pietistic) community movement ( Gemeinschaftsbewegung), after 1933 it emanated from the emphasis on collegiality and from the ideal of a new kind of “collegial” leadership in opposition to the Führer-principle. I. From Oct 20, 1933, the executive committee of the Pastors' Emergency League was a “Council of Brethren” headed by M. Niemöller; the representative committees …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies In general usage, tradition (from Lat. transdare/ tradere, “hand on, transmit”) connotes retention and safeguarding, understood as a conservative handing down of mores, customs, norms, rules, and knowledge. The emphasis is on continuity with the past. Jan Assmann interprets tradition as an exemplary case of “cultural memory,” an enduring cultural construction of identity. In religions appeal to tradition is a prominent element justifying interpretations, practices, clai…

[German Version] (Deutsche Evangelische Kirche, DEK). In the history of the attempts to replace or modify the structure of German Protestantism determined by regional churches, the time after 1933 offered a paradigm of fundamental significance. The idea, propagated to a degree from the 19th century onward, of a national church acquired new relevance following the National Socialist overthrow of the state (National Socialism), above all through corresponding demands of the Deutsche Christen in view…