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[German Version] I. Religious Studies All religions share the conviction that human actions hold a significance that reaches far beyond a person’s current life situation. On the precise manner in which an equitable balance between personal behavior and current or future life is achieved, however, there is considerable divergence of views – depending on the historical and social context of the respective religion. From the perspective of religious studies, it is advisable to differentiate between the…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Social Ethics – III. Sociology I. Religious Studies The term “kinship” refers to the genealogical relationships (Genealogy) that an individual inherits from both his parents (Generational relationships), and also the behavioral rules and expectations that are inherent in these relationships. Kinship comes into existence when natural processes (esp. partnership and birth) are overlaid with ritual significance and associated with a culturally determined morality. Es…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Bible I. Religious Studies Genealogies are pedigrees (Tribe/Clan), ancestral tables (Ancestors, Cult of), etc., that represent a kind of constitution in societies (Society) with no state. In state societies, they usually legitimize the claims of the ruling ¶ and priestly dynasties. They originate in societies with private property in land or cattle that is passed on with the assistance of rules of inheritance based on known genealogical relationships. Depending on the type of genealogy, various…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. Early Judaism – IV. New Testament – V. Dogmatics – VI. Philosophy of Religion I. Religious Studies The use of father as a designation of God is almost universal. It is especially frequent in certain contexts: 1. In many cultures, deification of ancestors begins as their death recedes into the past (in Hinduism after three generations). Forefathers gradually lose their individuality and become gods or merge with familiar deities. Thus the original ancestor is often identif…

[German Version] I. History of Religions – II. Dogmatics – III. Sociology and Social History I. History of Religions Estates are socially and juridically closed groups that occupy a specific niche in society – defined by birth, social function, way of life, and frequently cultic observance. They develop in a society that is already stratified. Those who exercise political and religious control (Domini…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Philosophy of Religion – III. Old Testament I. Religious Studies Deities defined by emphasis on their relationship to ancestors (“fathers,” see also Ancestors, Cult of) are historically and ethnographically attested in Near Eastern and East African cultures. Usually named in the form “God of X” or “God of my/your father” or “God of my/your fathers,” they can also be known by a specific proper name. The cult of such father deities occurs – independently of a specific…

[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 I. History of Religions Miracles are extraordinary, mystifying human experiences that cannot be explained by normal causes, which in many cases suggest the intervention of a deity or superhuman power. Miracles are found in all cultures and are among the traditions of almost all religi…

[German Version] Individuals are regarded as mediums if they have extrasensory perceptions and as mediators can make contact with superhuman beings (spirit, ancestor, saint, god). Usually such a being is said to penetrate (intrusion) and take possession of the body of the medium. The spiritual being temporarily takes the place of the soul or the personality of the medium (depersonalization) and exerts a numinous power within the medium. The medium is in an altered state of consciousness, which can range from a light trance to the full loss of consciousness, and is transformed in manner of speaking, gestures, and facial expressions into the spiritual being that has taken possession of it. After the end of the trance, the medium usually has no memory of what happened. People become mediums mostly through the experience of a spontaneous, involuntary possession, through which a spiritual being reveals itself as a protective spirit. The mediums then gain control over their protective spirits or their auxiliary spirits and can invoke and release them at will. With the help of these spirits, the medium is in a position to diagnose illnesses, to name their natural or supernatural causes, and to prescribe therapies (Sickness and healing: II). Some mediums also possess the gifts of fortune-telling, clairvoyance, necromancy, or performing magical acts. Mediums are traditionally found in numerous cultures of Eurasia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands, primarily in socio-politically more complex societies whose production comes mostly from agriculture and raising stock. Since the middle of the 19th century, under the influence of the spiritism founded by Allan Kardec in France, mediums have also emerged in industrial societies, where in séances they make contact especially with the spirits of the dead and convey message…

[German Version] I. Medicine Sickness and healing are basic phenomena of human life and core concepts of any anthropology. Nevertheless defining them and the relationship between them still raises problems, not least because each is a collective term. There is debate within medicine over whether sickness and healing can be neutral categories, purely descriptive and empirical, wit

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Retribution – recompense of good with good and evil with evil, in religion as reward (Payment) or punishment for human conduct, imposed in this life or the next by God or fate – is an aspect of reciprocity, the principle of quid pro quo…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. Classical Antiquity I. Religious Studies Nearly all societies view death as a transition from one mode of existence to another. To enable the departed or his or her soul to complete this transformational process successfully, the survivors must perform certain rituals, referred to collectively as the cult of the dead (or mortuary cult). Signs of such a cult are among the earliest witnesses to the cultural and religious history of humankind. From the end of the paleolithic period and the mesolithic period, there is archaeological evidence for regular burials and traces of a ritual treatment of the dead. Various theories about the cult of the dead were already developed in the early days of ethnology and religious studies. While J.G. Frazer studied the psychological consequences of fear of the magical power of ancestors, É. Durkheim directed his interest toward the social implications of the mortuary cult, which promotes the solidarity of the bereaved and hence the integration of society. Arnold van Gennep analyzed the forms of the mortuary cult as rites of passage, positing a three-stage model with rites of separation, transition, and re-integration. S. Freud studied the “emotional ambivalence” of the bereaved, who mourn the loss of an “identity figure” while at the same time coming into an inheritance. Although these earlier theories about the cult of the dead were speculative, being based on limited ethnographic data, they have retained their significance to the present day. Scholarship of the past decades h…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies …