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1. IntroductionFrom the perspective of the academic study of religion, prayer (Latin  oratio, preces) is the “dialogical approach of an individual to his or her God, in order to represent their own existence to him in its neediness or satisfaction as the sphere of action of  this God” [3. 32]; it is a fundamental form of human communication. Prayer is an expression of both personal, individual practice (private prayer) and institutionally organized practice (liturgical prayer; see Worship). Both types of prayer influence and partially shape…

1. Overview Preaching (from Latin  praedicatio, “proclamation”) denotes public proclamation in the setting of Christian worship. It can be divided into two genres: (1) the homily (Greek  homilía; Latin  tractatus, “speech,” “exposition”), that is, the interpretation of previously read Bible texts (“lections”) – a practice adopted by Christianity from Judaism – and (2) the sermon (Latin  sermo, “speech”), which develops a topic systematically and is based on the church year (Latin  sermo de tempore, “sermon on the season”), the feasts of the saints ( de sanctis, “on the sai…

[German Version] I. New Testament – II. Dogma and the History of Dogma – III. Art History I. New Testament Christ's descent into hell, i.e. his descent to the underworld, the realm of the dead, is, as Descensus ad inferos, one of the christological statements of the early and medieval church's confession of faith (Apostles' Creed, Athanasian Creed; Confession (of faith): III). Nonetheless, the NT does not offer a single certain text for this notion; at most, 1 Pet 4:6 may be interpreted as preaching by Jesus to the dead, before his resurrection (cf. Ign. Magn. 9.2; Gos. Pet. 10.41f.; Iren. H…

[German Version] I. Catholic Theology – II. Orthodox Theology – III. Protestant Theology I. Catholic Theology The semantic field of mysterium in Catholic theology exhibits two characteristic poles; though they cannot be separated, there is some tension in their relationship. One pole is the dialectic of God's revelation and hiddenness in his action of revelation and salvation. This semantic pole has its roots in the biblical use of the term (esp. in the Pauline, deutero-Pauline, and trito-Pauline ¶ material), but it is still dominant in formal scholastic usage in the 1…

[German Version] I. Church History – II. The Branches of Orthodoxy – III. Orthodoxy throughout the World – IV. History of Orthodox Theology I. Church History 1. Terminology. The term orthodox (cf. also Orthodoxy: I) goes back to Hellenistic Judaism. Flavius Josephus, for example, commends τὴν ὀρϑὴν δόξαν περὶ Θεοῦ/ tḗn orthḗn dóxan perí Theoú instead of Greek myths and reports that the Essenes viewed other Jews as ἑτερόδοξοι/ heteródoxoi ( Apion. II 256; Bell. II 129). ¶ This idiom passed into Christian usage in the 2nd century. The critical moment for its ecclesiastica…

[German Version] I. General Russia (Russ. Rossiya) has been known by that name only since the early 18th century (Peter the Great). Previously the name Rus’ had been in common use; the earliest documents used it to designate both the land and its people. The origin of the term Rus’, a feminine singular noun, is disputed; etymologically it most likely derives from Finnish Ruotsi (“Sweden”). The historical and geographical heartland of Russia can be defined as the territory of the upper Dvina, the upper Volga, and the upper and middle Dnieper. The southern step…

[German Version] I. History – II. Systematic Theology I. History The term “Mariology,” used to refer to theological interest in the Mother of Jesus Christ (Mary) − and to the systematic subdiscipline of dogmatics that developed out of this interest − first appeared in the title of the work Summa sacrae Mariologiae by Placido Nigido (Palermo 1602, 21623); the variant “Marialogy” was introduced by Vincent Contenson (see below) in 1669. Thereafter, the concept disappeared until the 19th century. The matter itself has, for christological reasons, been t…

[German Version] I. Literature – II. Music – III. Orthodox Liturgy I. Literature Historically, the term ode (Gk ᾠδή/ ōdḗ, “song”; cf. the derivative lit. forms of the palinode, “poetic retraction,” and parody, “mock song/poem”) was increasingly reserved for a formal song or poem of exalted emotion ( carmen). Pindar (apart from four books of epinicia [victory songs], only frgms. extant) was the poetic muse of Horace (IV 2), whose four books of carmina ( odae), though little read in the Latin Middle Ages, provided a model for the Latin and vernacular strophic lyric poet…

1. Katholisch 1.1. Sachbestimmung und BedeutungIn kath. Perspektive ist G. bzw. Liturgie (griech. leitourgía, »Dienst für die Gemeinde«) ein Sammelbegriff für jene Feiern, in denen die Kirche mittels eines rituellen Geschehens des Heilshandelns Gottes in Jesus Christus gedenkt und ihm Lobpreis, Dank und Bitte darbringt. Dabei bildet die Messe (die sakramentale Vergegenwärtigung von Tod und Auferstehung Christi) Mitte und Höhepunkt. Während weitere als Sakrament bezeichnete G. Stationen im Lebenslauf begleiten (z. B. Taufe, Eheschließung, Krankensalbung), zeichnet die Ta…

1. EinleitungDas griech. Wort theología (Rede bzw. Lehre von Gott und den göttlichen Dingen), mit dem Aristoteles die höchste Stufe der Philosophie, die sog. Metaphysik, bezeichnete ( Metaphysik 11, 7, 1064 b 1–3), wurde in der christl. Spätantike zunächst für Aussagen über das Wesen Gottes gebraucht, während sein Wirken in der Welt als Schöpfer und Erlöser unter den griech. Begriff oikonomía (»Hausverwaltung«) im Sinne von Heilsordnung gefasst wurde [2. 1081 f.]. Im 12. Jh. nahm Th., wenn nicht rein philosophisch als Synonym von Metaphysik, sondern für die chr…

1. IntroductionThe Greek word  theología (discourse/teaching concerning God and divinity) was used by Aristotle for the highest level of philosophy, so-called metaphysics ( Metaphysics 11.  7, 1064 b 1–3). In late antiquity, Christians used it initially for statements about the nature of God, while using the Greek word  oikonomía (household management) in the sense of “order of salvation” for God’s action in the world as Creator and Redeemer [2. 1081 f.]. In the 12th century, when theology was used for Christian theology rather than purely philosophically as…

1. Catholic 1.1. Scope and meaningIn the Catholic context, public worship, specifically liturgy (Greek leitourgía, "congregational act of worship"; German Gottesdienst, "divine service"), is a general term referring to gatherings in which the Church performs rituals to commemorate salvation granted by God through Jesus Christ and offers him worship, thanks, and prayer. The Mass (re-enacting in sacramental form the death and resurrection of Christ) is the central focus and epitome of this practice. The term "ac…

[German Version] I. Early Church The title patriarch appears to have been first used by early Judaism (I), with reference to the both the ancestral biblical figures ( 4. Macc. 7.19; 16.25; T. 12 Patr.; Ber. 16b) and the religious leaders of the Romans’ Jewish subjects (Heb. nasi ), throughout the history of that central religious office. The first such patriarch was probably Judah ha-Nasi, during the Severan dynasty (193–235); Cod. Theod. XVI 8.29 (May 30, 429) records the excessus (“termination”) of the Jewish patriarchate. In Christianity, the Montanists (Montanism; cf. Jerome, Ep. 4…

[German Version] I. History The evening service of the Western churches in the the Liturgy of the Hours has been shaped by various traditions. Congregations gather for a liturgy of the Word in which certain Psalms are sung, Bible lessons are read, sermons are preached, and prayers are offered. Monastic communities include this service in their systematic recitation of the entire Psalter in course ( Psalterium currens). A tradition associated with house churches and cathedral churches adopted the practice of hailing the newly-lit lights of evening – among Chris…

1. Einleitung 1.1. Allgemein R. I. ist im heutigen Verständnis die Lehre von den relig. Bildinhalten und, in Absetzung von der profanen Ikonographie, ein Sammelbegriff für eine inhaltsbezogene Auseinandersetzung mit Kunstwerken religiöser Thematik. Zugleich ist die R. I. die Methode zur Annäherung an relig. Bildinhalte, die sich im nzl. Europa v. a. im christl. Bereich finden (›christl. I.‹; vgl. aber auch Islamische Kunst und Architektur).In der Nz. erlebte die Kunst mit christl. Thematik tiefgreifende strukturelle Änderungen. Für den Bereich der Griechi…

1. Introduction 1.1. Concept and historical backgroundReligious iconography in the current sense is the study of the meanings of religious images and, as distinct from profane iconography, refers generally to engagement with the content of works of art on religious themes. It also denotes the method for studying the content of the religious images found in (mostly Christian) early modern Europe (“Christian iconography”; but see also Islamic art and architecture).Christian-themed art underwent profound structural changes in the early modern period. For the Greek …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Church History – III. Survey of the Christian Confessions – IV. Systematic Theology I. Religious Studies For an overview of Christianity at the end of the second millennium of its development, it is reasonable to give a comparative presentation against the background of the world of religion. It must be remembered, however, that “religion” is not an immutable, ahistorical quantity: it is variable and controversial. The modern concept of religion is …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. Judaism – IV. Early Christianity – V. Church History – VI. Liturgical and Practical Aspects I. Religious Studies The words “feast” and “festival” (cf. fête, festa, fiesta, Fest, etc.) derive from the Latin festus ( dies). They refer to the calendar and also evoke the notion of the divine: a feast day is a special day set aside and dedicated to a certain supernatural being. “Feast” or “festival” can therefore be understood as synonyms for religious celebrations. To speak,…

[German Version] ¶ I. Terminology To an unusual degree, the theology of the Trinity is characterized by a strained combination of narrative biblical language and speculative philosophical language. The word trinitas was first used by Tertullian ( Prax. 2.1–4), as a translation of Greek τριάς/ triás (orig. “threeness”). To denote the divine unity (God: V, 1), the 4th-century debates showed that the term οὐσία/ ousí (“Essence”; see also Divine essence) borrowed from Greek philosophy was theologically legitimate. The term ὑπόστασις/ hypóstasis (Hypostasis) was sometimes used i…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. The Christian Cult and the Mysteries – III. Art History I. Religious Studies Modern discussion of the Greek mysteries goes back to the material collected by the Dutch scholar Jan de Meurs (1619), which served as the main source for I. Casaubon's argument that the Early Church borrowed but changed some terminology and institutions from the mysteries ( Exercitationes, 1655). The belief that there was a specific religious phenomenon, “the mystery cults of antiquity,” that could be compared directly with the practice…