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1. Topography Jerusalem is situated immediately west of the Mount of Olives (790–820 m. / 2,600–2,700 ft. above sea level), at the junction of northern and southern Palestine, on the Cisjordan highlands. Up to the last century it was bordered on the east by the Kidron Valley (2 Sam. 15:23; John 18:1) and on the west and south by the Hinnom Valley (Josh. 15:8; 18:16). It is divided by the Cross Valley, a central valley that runs from north to south (Josephus J.W.  5.140), separating a western hill from one on the east. Settlement began on the south side of the southeast hill…

[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 th…

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. New Testament – III. Judaism – IV. Law – V. Ethics I. Old Testament The death penalty in the Old Testament has three causes: 1. blood revenge as a direct legal reaction by a family damaged by a homicide; 2. cultic law involving severe violations of religious taboos such as …

[German Version] The canonical Old Testament describes the settlement as a military conquest of Palestine by the 12 tribes of Israel, beginning in Transjordan under Moses’ leadership with a victory over Sihon and Og, kings of the Amorites, and the capture of Heshbon (Num 20f.; 32; Deut 1–3). After Moses’ death (Deut 34), the settlement continued west of the Jordan under Joshua’s leadership, initially in Benjaminite ter…

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[German Version] I. The Concept – II. Economic Systems and their Theories – III. Economy and Religion …

[German Version] I. Bible – II. Philosophy – III. History of Theology and Dogmatics – IV. Ethics – V. Law – VI. Social Politics, Social Ethics – VII. Missiology – VIII. Islam I. Bible 1. Ancient Near East and Old Testament The concept of justice in the ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible is basically one of connectivity. It designates the positive relation of the king to the gods and to his people, of the individual to the various collectives ranging from the family to the entire nation, of the deed to the doer's well-being, as well as the correlation between the human being and nature. The antithesis of juridical and soteriological interpretations of …

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. New Testament – III. Judaism I. Old Testament 1. History of scholarship For the biblical tradition of the Torah, Moses, born in Egypt (Exod 2:1–10), was the founder of Israel's religion and its lawgiver at Sinai (Exod 3f.; Exod 19 – Num 10), the designer of its judicial system (Exod 18*), the leader of the people in Egypt and during the exodus (Exod 2; 5–15) and ¶ the subsequent journey from Egypt to the land of Moab (Exod 16f.; Num 10 – Deut 34), who before hi…

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. New Testament I. Old Testament 1. The rational spirit of the Hebrew Bible and biblical scholarship. Modern biblical scholarship, with its historico-reflexive self-understanding, has its fir

[German Version] Following Exod 24:7, the law collection in Exod 20:22–23:13(19) is termed the Book of the Covenant. The oldest legal corpus in the Old Testament, dating to the middle to late monarchial period, although pre-deuteronomic, the Book of the Covenant was edited together from several originally independent, smaller, thematically self-contained colle…

[German Version] I. Place and Date While individual poems like Song 1:9–11 may go back to the preexilic period, collections, redaction(s), and linguistic revision(s) date from just before and especially during the 3rd century bce. The text contains several loanwords: pardēs (4:13: “orchard,” from Old Iranian), ¶ ʾ appiryôn (3:9: “palanquin,” most likely from Gk), and…

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Dogmatics and Ethics – V. Politics and Jurisprudence I. History of Religion Laws are generally regarded as formulated, i.e. sentential and often codified rules of life and coexistence; this ¶ refers especially to principles of nature (Law/Natural law) and norms of action (Commandment, Ethics). For the modern age, the validity of natural laws arises from hypothetical laws that have been verified through observation and experiments, and have thereby been proven or j…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Etymologically the term priest derives from Greek πρεσβύτερος/ presbýteros, “elder”; it denotes a religious functionary, especially an expert responsible for the cult. The Greek word did not originally have this meaning. A second semantic strand puts a priest (Gk ἱερεύς/ hiereús, Lat. sacerdos) in charge of things that are sacred (Sacred and profane). The characteristics that comparative religion usually associates with priesthood are often transferred globally from Christianity, especially Roman Cathol…

[German Version] As a regional designation (“the hollowed out, washed out region”; cf. also Arab. wahda), Judah (Heb. יְהוּדָה/ yehûdāh; Gk ‘Ιουδα/Iouda) refers to the southern range in the hills to the west of the Jordan. It gave the name to the tribe of Judah (Tribes of Israel) that settled there, from which the allied state of Judah developed in the time of David. Until the death of Solomon part of a state with the other tribes of Israel, Judah became independent again alongside the northern kingdom of Israel aft…

[German Version] I. Old Testament In the preexilic period, Sabbath (שַׁבָּת/ šabbāt) meant the day of the full moon; from the Exile on, it denoted a weekly day of rest. The origins of this day of rest go back to the early days of Exile. The earliest laws regarding the preexilic day of rest appear in the Book of the Covenant (Exod 23:10) and the cultic code in Exod 34:18–23, 25f. (v. 21) (Law and legislation: III). In the Book of the Covenant, the commandment to ¶ observe a day of rest is part of the privilege law of YHWH that deals with setting apart the firstfruits and firstborn …

[German Version] I. The Prophet – II. The Book – III. Effective History …

[German Version] In accordance with LXX and Vulgate (Bible translations: I), the fifth book of the Pentateuch is termed Deuteronomy (Deut); in the Jewish tradition it is named “discourses” ( debārïm) after the beginning of the book. The name Deut is a summary of the law (Law and legislation), which is stylized as a collection of farewell discourses by Moses in 1–4; 5–28; 29–32; 33 and which, in the final form of the Pentateuch, claims to be a repetition of the Sinaitic Torah in the land of Moab. …

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. Judaism – III. New Testament – IV. Early Church – V. Patriarchates – VI. Islam – VII. Religious and Political Situation Today – VIII. Archaeology I. Old Testament Jerusalem (ירושׁלם/ yerûšālēm, MT yerûšālayim) was founded c. 1800 bce as a fortified town in the central Palestinian uplands at a strategic point for transportation between northern and southern Palestine. Outside the Bible, the name appears from the 18th century on in the Egyptian execration texts and the Amarna letters (as Akkad. uruu-ru-sa-lim). It derives from the verb yrh I (“found”) and means “foundation of (the god) šalem.” In the Late Bronze Age, the Canaanite city of Jerusalem was under Egyptian suzerainty. The Old Testament preserves an accurate historical memory that around the tu…

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[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Church History – V. Sociology – VI. Systematic Theology – VII. Law – VIII. Practical Theology – IX. Judaism – X. Islam I. Religious Studies The term marriage denotes a relationship entered into between two or more persons of different sex, ritually formalized, intended to be permanent, and recognized by society. In all cultures, definitions of economic and sexual rights and the conveyance of social status to children (Child/Childhood) are part of the socially ¶ defined framework of marriage. An emphasis on offspring is not constitutive for all forms of marriage. Although as a rule marriage is understood as an institutionalized relationship between men and women, it cannot be defined exclusively heterosexually. Besides same-sex forms of marriage in certain African societies and among the Nāyar in southern India (Gough, 1968), homosexual partnerships (Homosexuality) are socially recognized in certain European countries and parts of North America. Theref…

[German Version] I. Social Sciences 1. Concept. War is conflict between large groups, peoples, nations, and states conducted by force of arms. The more precise definition of the term and its differentiation from peace are disputed. Behavioral science tends toward a broad definition: war is a specifically human form of inter…

[German Version] (Heb. חִזְקִיָּה/ ḥizqiyyāh) ruled Judah as king from 725–696 bce. Under his rule, the kingdom of Judah developed from a tribal state – which, isolated on the Judean mountains, was affected by political events less than the more highly developed northern kingdom of Israel (II, 1) and was based economically primarily on small animal breed…

[German Version] I. Concept and Scope – II. Religious Studies – III. Bible – IV. Judaism – V. As a Theological Discipline – VI. As a Philosophical Discipline (Business Ethics, Discourse Ethics, Economic Ethics, Ethics, Bio-Medical Issues, Ethics Commissions, Ethics Education, Ethics of Conviction, Ethics of …

[German Version] I. Bible Hebrew Bible uses violence (חָמָס/ ḥāmās; …

[German Version] In the Old Testament, fraternal ethics refers to an ethos that gives, first every Judean, and later also foreigners, the solidarity owed to the closest natural members of one's family. Fraternal ethics originated in Deuteronomy in reaction to the dissolution of natural fraternal ethics in the 8th/7th century Assyrian crisis through the destruction of extended families and their solidarity-stabilizing cult of ancestors (III) as a consequence of Judean and Assyrian resettlements and…

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[German Version] The Sumerian culture of the 3rd millennium, made comprehensive by the invention of writing (Paleography) and its high capacity for mythical interpretation of the world, had a formative impact on the Babylonian and Assyrian Empires of the 2nd millennium. The notion of a world capital, developed in Sumerian Nippur, was taken up in the imperial centers of Babylon and Ashur and became the basis of their competition. With the Semitic assimilation of Sumerian culture, a mixed civilization arose in which original bilingualism demanded a high standard of scribal learning that supported the development of divination, astrology (I), astronomy, mathematics, geography, medicine, pharmacy, and jurisprudence as branches of learning. The canonical texts of the myths, epics, omens, and legal collections of the Babylonian scribal curriculum were received and transmitted in the second half of the 2nd millennium in a climate of cultural internationalism in the ancient Near East. Finds attest the Babylonian myth of Adapa in Amarna, the myth of Atrahasis in U…

[German Version] The judicial system in the ancient Near East and biblical Israel was shaped by its political context. In the ancient Near East, the king, acting for the gods to ¶ establish law (Law and legislation: III) and dispense justice (I, 1), was the supreme judge, so that when the king delegated judicial authority, the judiciary operated under his oversight. In Egypt (II, 1), central viziers' courts in Upper and Lower Egypt supervised the local lay courts. The courts were bound by the legal edicts of the king; their ca…

[German Version] I. Terminology The five books of Moses (Genesis, called by the rabbis bĕrēšît, “in the beginning,” its first word; Exodus, šĕmôt, “names”; Leviticus, wayyiqrāʾ, “and he called”; Numbers, bĕmidbar, “in the desert”; Deuteronomy, dĕbārîm, “words”), whose tale runs from creation (Gen 1) to the death of Moses (Deut 34), were called in Greek ὁ(ἡ) Πεντάτευχος (βίβλος)/ ho[ hē] Pentáteuchos ( bíblos), “Five Scroll Work”; in the 2nd century ce, this term entered the tradition of the Early Church in Alexandria (e.g. Orig…

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Ethics I. History of Religion The theme of the enemy is connected with the development or protection of identity and is directed toward people of other tribes or states, those of other faiths, or a hostile region of the world. The enemy can r…

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[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. History – III. German Criminal Law Today – IV. Penal Canon Law (Roman Catholic) – V. Islam I. Old Testament Old Testament law (Law

[German Version] Immediately before his death (Deut 34), Moses composed a tract on the apostasy, punishment…

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. Judaism I. Old Testament 1. Name The anthroponym Jacob (יַעֲקוֹב/ yaʿaqôb) is attested as a common name throughout the ancient Near East from Mesopotamia and Egypt in the 2nd millennium as ia( ḫ) qub-( ēl) to late 1st-millennium Palmyra as yʿqwb. As a sentence name it derives from the verbal root ʿqb (Old South Arab. and Eth.: “protect”; Ug.: “be near”), so that the theophoric form may be translated “God protects” or “God is near.” In the Hebrew Bible, only the hypocoristic form without a theophoric subject ¶ occurs. The Hebrew Bible derives the n…

[German Version] Klostermann introduced this term to Old Testament studies in 1877 to describe Lev 17–26. It derives from such phrases as, “you shall be holy, for I, YHWH, your God, am holy,” appearing frequently in 19–22. J. Wellhausen interpreted the Holiness Code as law (Law and Legislation: II) independent of its literary context in Lev 1–16, younger than Deuteronomy and older than the Priestly…

[German Version] I. History of Religions State cults in the narrow sense are religious ceremonies, governed by tradition or law, performed in the name of the state and for its benefit; typically they are addressed to extrasensory powers such as gods, demons, natural numina, or personalized cosmic forces. It is necessary to distinguish cults celebrated regularly at fixed times and places from those staged …

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[German Version] I. Concept Talion is derived from the Roman lex talionis, in which it referred to a regulated act of retribution – in keeping with a legal norm that was meant to place limitations on self-administered justice. This stands in contradiction to the general understanding of talion as “doing as you are done by,” also in the sense of self-administered justice. In modern usage, talion is thus particularly understood in the sense of blood revenge or vendetta. The latter meaning is therefore focuse…

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[German Version] I. Conception – II. Greco-Roman Antiquity – III. Ancient Near East and Israel – IV. Church History – V. Fundamental Theology – VI. Ethics – VII. Church in International Law – VIII. Islam I. Conception 1. Legal conception International law is the quintessence of the legal norms that regulate sovereign relations between the international legal subjects. International legal subjects are primarily states, t…

[German Version] I. Terminology The sociology of religion studies religion’s social aspects and manifestations, clearly including religious institutions, organizations, and social groups. It also studies more situational forms, less clearly defined, such as gatherings, ceremonies, and collective rituals (e.g. processions [Rite and ritual]). In …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Peace (negatively: absence of fighting and war; positively: security, wellbeing, and harmony) is considered desirable in all traditional religions, although they also have their specific legitimations of war. In archaic religions, peace is primarily related to the community and understood as a present reality. However, from the …

[German Version] I. Concept and Legal Definition – II. History of Religion – III. Ancient Near East and Old Testament – IV. Greco-Roman Antiquity – V. New Testament – VI. Dogmatics – VII. Ethics of Law – VIII. Sociology of Law I. Concept and Legal Definition There is no generally accepted definition of law. At most, there is a consensus that law is basically to be understood as the politically institutionalized order of human relations. The observance of the (general) rules (i.e. compliance or sanctioning of transgressions) emanatin…

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. Judaism – III. New Testament – IV. Church History – V. Dogmatics and Ethics – VI. Practical Theology I. Old Testament The designation Decalogue (“ten words”) for the series of ten commandments derives from the Greek translation of the Hebrew ʾaśeret haddebārîm (δεκάλογος “ten words”). It is employed in late deuteronomic theory in …

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[English Version] I. Religionsgeschichtlich…

[English Version] , hebr. שְׁכֶם/š ekæm, »Schulter«, Stadt auf dem mittelpaläst. Gebirge zw. Ebal und Garizim, die nach den Ausgrabungen von Sellin und G.E. Wright zw. 1913 und 1969 mit dem bei Nablus gelegenen Tell Balāṭa identifiziert wird. Die mittelbronzezeitliche Gründung der zunächst unbefestigten Stadt ist auf ca.1900 v.Chr. zu datieren. Sie war mit einer Hofanlage ausgestattet, die nach Wright als Tempel, doch eher als Palastanlage zu deuten ist (Otto 133–150). Im 17.Jh. wurde S. durch eine massive »Zyklopenmauer« verbunden mit einem Sechs-Kammer-Tor im Nordwesten befestigt, die im 16.Jh. durch eine weitere Mauer mit Toranlage im Osten verstärkt wurde. Über dem Palast wurde ein Langhaus-Tempel mit massivem Mauerwerk zu fortifikatorischem Zweck errichtet. S. war bereits im 19.Jh. den Ägyptern ein Zentrum der…

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[English Version] I. Zum Begriff: Religionssoziologie und Religionswissenschaft R. oder Soziologie der Rel. beschäftigt sich mit den sozialen Aspekten und Ausformungen der Rel. Dazu gehören offensichtlich die rel. Institutionen, Organisationen sowie soziale Gruppen. Auch weniger feste, situative soziale Formationen, wie Versammlungen, Zeremonien und kollektive Rituale (z.B. Prozessionen [ Ritus/Ritual]), zählen zum Forschungsbereich der R. In einem weiteren Sinn, der v.a. die deutschsprachige Tradition…

[English Version] I. Zum Begriff und juristisch Eine allg. akzeptierte Definition des R. existiert nicht. Einigkeit besteht allenfalls darüber, daß das R. im Kern die staatl. institutionalisierte Ordnung menschlicher Beziehungen ist, wobei die Einhaltung der aus ihr fließenden (generellen) Regeln – Befolgung oder aber Sanktionierung von Verstößen – durch legitime physische Gewalt (Staat), jedenfalls aber durch einen durch Zuständigkeits- und Verfahrensnormen organisierten Sanktionsapparat garantiert ist. Abgegrenzt wird das R. so von Ordnungs…

[English Version] I. Religionsgeschichtlich S. im engeren Sinne sind durch Tradition oder Gesetzgebung geregelte, im Auftrag, im Namen und zum Wohl des Staates durchgeführte rel. Handlungen, deren Adressaten typischerweise außersinnliche Mächte wie Götter, Dämonen, Naturnumina oder personalisierte kosmische Wirkmächte sind. Es ist zw. solchen S. zu unterscheiden, die regelmäßig zu festgelegten Zeiten und an bestimmten Orten durchgeführt werden, und solchen, die aus gegebenem Anlaß (Thronbesteigung,…

[English Version] I. Altes TestamentS. (שַׁבָּת, »šabbāt«) bez. vorexil. den Vollmondstag, seit dem Exil den wöchentlichen Ruhetag. Der Ursprung dieses Ruhetags geht auf die Frühzeit Israels zurück. Die ältesten Ruhetagsgesetze der vorexil. Zeit sind im Bundesbuch in Ex 23,10 und in der Kultordnung Ex 34,18–23.25f. (Gesetz: II.) in Ex 34,21 belegt. Im Bundesbuch ist das Ruhetagsgebot Teil des Privilegrechts der Aussonderungen von Erstlingen und Erstgeburten (Ex 22,28f.) sowie des Brachejahres (Ex 23,10f.) im siebenten Jahr (Sabbatjahr) und d…

[English Version] I. Religionswissenschaftlich Alle Rel. teilen die Überzeugung, daß den Taten eines Menschen eine über seine gegenwärtige Lebenssituation hinaus wirkende Bedeutung zukommt. Über die Art und Weise jedoch, wie sich der gerechte Ausgleich zw. dem persönlichen Verhalten und dem gegenwärtigen oder künftigen Ergehen vollzieht, weichen die Ansichten – je nach dem gesch. und gesellschaftlichen Kontext der Rel. – beträchtlich voneinander ab. Religionswiss. empfiehlt es sich, zw. dem Glauben…

[English Version] I. Etymologie, Topographie und stadtgeschichtliche Bedeutung des ZionAls Ortsbez. hat Z. (hebr. צִיּוֹן/ṣijjôn), sprachlich verwandt mit hebr. צִיָּה/ṣijjāh »trocken«, die Bedeutung »Trockenplatz« und davon abgeleitet »Bergrücken«. In dieser Bedeutung ist Z. in die Bez. einer »Bergfeste Z.« (hebr. מְצֻדַת צִיּוֹן/m eṣudat ṣijjôn) auf dem Südosthügel Jerusalems oberhalb des Gichon eingegangen, die durch David in »Stadt Davids« (hebr. עִיר דָּוִ…

[English Version] I. Begriff des Pentateuch und seine hebräischen Äquivalente Die griech. Bez. der fünf Bücher Mose (Genesis [rabb. benannt nach dem hebr. Anfangswort b ere'sˇi^t, »im Anfang«]; Exodus [sˇ emo^t, »Namen«]; Leviticus [wajjiqrā', »und der rief«], Numeri [b emidbar, »in der Wüste«], Deuteronomium [d ebāri^m, »Worte«]), deren Fabel sich von der Schöpfung (Gen 1) bis zum Tod des Mose (Dtn 34) erstreckt, als Pentateuch (Pt.) (ο῾[η῾]Πεn̆τα´τευχος [βι´βλος]/ho[hē] Penta´teuchos [bi´blos], »Fünfrollenwerk«) kam im 2.Jh. n.Chr. in altkirchl. Überl…

[English Version] I. ReligionswissenschaftlichEtym. leitet sich der Begriff »Priester« vom griech. πρεσβυ´τερος/presby´teros, »der Ältere«, her; er bez. ganz allg. einen rel. Funktionsträger, insbes. den für den Kult zuständigen Experten. Dem zugrundeliegenden griech. Wort kommt diese Bedeutung urspr. nicht zu. Nach einem zweiten Bedeutungsstrang verwaltet der Priester (griech. ι῾ερευ´ς/hiereu´s, lat. sacerdos) das Heilige (heilig und profan). Die Inhalte, welche heute üblicherweise im Religionsvergleich mit dem Priestertum (Pt.) verbunden …

[English Version] I. Zum Begriff Der Begriff »W.« umfaßt die Gesamtheit aller individuellen Handlungen und sozialen Interaktionen, die der Bereitstellung von Gütern (Waren, Dienstleistungen [Dienstleistungssektor]) zum Zwecke der menschlichen Bedürfnisbefriedigung (Konsum) dienen. Daß Waren »bereitgestellt« werden, bedeutet in aller Regel, daß naturgegebene Stoffe unter Einsatz außermenschlicher Energie und menschlicher Arbeitskraft zu konsumreifen Produkten verarbeitet und den Verbrauchern verfügba…

[English Version] I. Zum BegriffT. ist abzuleiten vom röm. lex talionis und meinte dort einen geregelten Vergeltungsakt (Vergeltung) gemäß einer Rechtsnorm, die als solche Selbstjustiz eindämmen sollte. Dies steht im Widerspruch zum allg. Verständnis von T. als »Gleiches mit Gleichem vergelten«, auch im Sinne von Selbstjustiz. Im heutigen Sprachgebrauch versteht man daher auch speziell die Blutrache oder Vendetta als T. Diese wird somit zugespitzt auf eine unmittelbare Rache im Gegensatz zur entwic…

[English Version] I. Altes Testament Das atl. Gesetz (: II.) hat einen dreifachen Ursprung in den Funktionen 1. der Sicherung der wechselseitigen Handlungserwartung in dem Handlungsnormen mittels der Generalprävention schützenden S., 2. der Gewaltminimierung durch Konfliktregelung im kasuistischen Recht (: III.) als Vorläufer des neuzeitlichen Zivilrechts und 3. der Regelung des Verkehrs mit der göttlichen Sphäre durch ein Kultrecht. Das S. hat seinen auch im rechtshist. konservativen AT noch erkenn…

[English Version] (Zadoq/Zadoqiden). Z. (hebr. צָדוֹק [בְּנֵי]/[b enê] ṣādôq, »Zadok«/»Söhne Z.«=»Zadokiden«) galt als Ahnvater der Priester der Zadokiden (Zn.; 1Kön 4,2) am Tempel (: II.,4.) von Jerusalem (: I.), der unter Salomo, dem Tempelgründer, geamtet haben soll. Daß Z. in der Erzählung von Davids (: I.) Thronfolge (2Sam 7–1Kön 2) als homo novus ohne Vorgesch. erscheint, weist keineswegs auf Z.s vorisraelit. Herkunft, sondern eher darauf, daß Z. erst spät zu einem Akteur der Davidszeit gemacht w…