Search

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Archaeology – III. Iconography and the Bible – IV. Christian Iconography – V. Jewish Iconography – VI. Islamic Iconography – VII. Buddhist Iconography – VIII. Hindu Iconography I. Religious Studies Iconography (Gk εἰκονογραϕία/ eikonographía) originally meant the description of images (Arist. Poet. XV; Strabo XV 1.19), but nowadays is used to refer to the methodical study of images. Where scholars distinguish between iconography, iconology , and iconics (Ger. Ikonik), iconography denotes the description of the object, …

[German Version] I. Mythology – II. Art I. Mythology The stories of Orpheus reflect the emergence and rejection of a religious movement in Archaic Greece: a prince from Thrace in northern Greece enchants everyone with his artistry; the psychagogic and ecstatic power of music (Ecstasy) is recalled in a journey to the netherworld. Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus, dies; to win her back, he descends into Hades. Through his music, he charms even the rocks and persuades the implacable gods of the dead to release his dead wife from their kingdom without return. But Orpheus cannot restrain his human desire to assure himself of his love and look at Eurydice. And so he fails to conquer death through love and his music. He loses his dead wife, but he himself returns from Hades. And Orpheus himself lives on: after his death, his singing head travels over the sea to Lesbos, …

[German Version] I. History of…

[German Version] The seven-branched candelabrum (Candlestick/Candelabrum: I) including base, shaft, and branches with cups and lamps belonged to the furnishings of the tabernacle and was made of pure gold ¶ (Exod 25:31–40; 37:17–24); it was set up in the temple (II, 4.b) of Solomon in Jerusalem, along with ten copper candlesticks (1 Kgs 7:49), and in addition to the one set up by Moses ( Pr.Man. 98b). The menorah was carried off along with the rest of the tabernacle furnishings when the Babylonians (Chaldea/Chaldeans) destroyed the temple in 587 bce (Jer 52:19). Following the recons…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Use of the Greek word σύμβολον/ sýmbolon in a sense relevant to religious studies is attested quite early in the history of European religions; Dio of Prusa (1st/2nd cent. ce), for example, used it in his speech on Phidias’s statue of Zeus in Olympia ( Oratio 12.59). In this context, the Greek term reflects the problem posed by…

[German Version] The emergence of the synagogue as an institution and structure was the result of a long process of transformation within Judaism. After the destruction of the Jerusalem temple (II, 4) in 70 ce, temple sacrifice was replaced by a religious life grounded in prayer (XI, 1). This communal prayer required a suitable space where the community could assemble during worship (II, 3), which now centered on a reading from the Torah. This new understanding of worship represented a critical turning point for Judaism: the syn…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies, Systematics – II. Academic Research Disciplines – III. History – IV. Christian Theology I. Religious Studies, Systematics 1. Methodology. In defining the relationship between art and religion from the perspective of religious studies, one cannot speak of a universal concept of art and religion on the phenomenal level. To do comparative work, however, sufficient abstract characteristics must be established as a tertium comparationis to enable a systematic examination of the relationship betwe…

[German Version] I. Jewish Catacombs – II. Christian Catacombs …