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1. According to the view one takes of religious studies, the history of religion is either one department of such studies or it is the main discipline itself. In about 1694 G. W. Leibniz (1646–1716) became the first to differentiate the histoire des religions from church history. In his Natural History of Religion (1757), D. Hume (1711–76) became probably the first to juxtapose critically religion’s “natural history” (terminology adopted by the whole Enlightenment) with the salvation history represented by the church. In French and Italian, for ex…

1. Definitions Iranian religions are the authentic religions of peoples and tribes that spoke or speak Iranian languages. One may also refer to other religions whose features appear in Iranian religions and are material variants of them. We do not include religions in non-Iranian languages that are native to territories that came under the rule of Iran (…

Georg Ernst Stahl (1660–1734), a German physician and chemist who established the phlogiston theory, used the term “animism” from the psychology of the early modern period, wanting as a doctor to give scientific form to the classical identification of the life principle and the soul. The English anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor (1832–1917) then took it over from Stahl, proposing it in …

The term “nature religion” has been used in a great variety of senses, of which seven are distinguished here. Philosophical. In the second and first centuries b.c. (later, the Stoics), and also in the 18th century (D. Hume), early doctrines of human nature came to completion with the observation or postula…

The Divine Light Mission originated as a humanitarian organization seeking to propagate a method of meditation for the achievement of “perfect knowledge.” It was founded in 1960 at Patna (Bihar, India) by Shree Hans (Skt. haṇsá, “goose,” symbol of the white color of the soul and the migratory bird), who died in 1965. At the funeral of Shree Hans, his son, Prem Pal Singh Rawat, who was born on December 10 or 16, 1957, in Hardwar (Uttar Pradesh, India), comforted those who mourned his father’s death with the thought that they still had perfect knowledge with them. The son himself had become the subject of this knowledge, the perfect master, in the place of his father, and he took the title “guru” and the name Maharaj Ji, or Great King, a title of respect, to which other titular names were often added. The h…

1. Scope of the Term The broadest usage of “ecstasy” encompasses several semantic domains. Ethologically, the moment when the earliest hunter and his prey first met was probably one of united concentration on the encounter, of holding of breath and silence, of tense quiet along with the ability to spring very quickly into action. 1.1. On the human side the continuation and development of this basic attitude is a history of self-interpretation, with new social contexts and anthropologies as inalterable presuppositions. This was first the case probabl…

The number four ranks high among the symbolically significant numbers (Symbol). In translations of Monophysite arguments both for and against Apollinarius of Laodicea (d. ca. 390), theological Latin refers to quaternitas along with trinitas. “Two natures,” it was argued, means “two sons,” and hence we have a tetrad instead of a triad (Trinity). In religious history the term “quaternity” denotes a fourfold structure. On the basis, for example, of the four points of heaven, the four ages, the four sides of a square, the four temperaments, the four…

Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a spiritual, neo-Hindu movement (Hinduism). 1. Founder The founder of TM was Mahesh Prasad Warma (b. 1911 or 1918). He was initiated into the traditions of meditation by Himalayan and South Indian masters. The last of these, and the most influential, was Shankara (700?–750?). When Mahesh had developed his own method, Transcendental Meditation (TM), he put “Maharish…

Cao Dai is the religion of the Vietnamese god Cao Dai, whose name means “great palace.” The full self-designation is (Dai-Dao) Tam-Ky Pho-Do, or “(Great Way of) the Third Forgiveness of God.” Along this way, the unity of all religions is to be recovered, a unity that had already been divided in a “first forgiveness” under the forerunners of Confucius, Lao-tzu, and Buddha Sakyamuni, and then in a “second forgiveness” under these founders themselves plus Jesus Christ. Around this focus, many in th…

1. Concept 1.1. Gk. diabolos, from which the Eng. “devil” is derived, is the usual LXX translation of śāṭān (adversary). In the NT it is used more in the Greek sense as “accuser” or “…

A Marrano is a Christianized Jew or Moor of medieval Spain, especially one who converted only to escape persecution (Conversion 1). From the 11th century Spanish Jews (Judaism), showing that they too had to avoid things, borrowed from the Arabs the term maḥram (something prohibited), which, in its Castillian form marrano, they used to refer to pigs. The reconquistadores then took over the word and applied it to the Jews themselves. When baptism was forced on the Jews, it became a common term of contempt for those thus baptized (they called themselves ʾănûsı̄m, “coerced ones”), who w…

Fire has played a role in human history at least since Peking man (dated perhaps as early as 500,000 b.c.). In its use by the human race, fire can be both positive (providing light, warmth, and a means of cooking) and negative (bringing burning and destruction). It has been regarded as of heavenly origin, especially when kindled by lightning. When kindled by rubbing, it is a manifestation of human culture. When it came to be viewed as a symbol can be decided only in connection with the development of forms of religion that offer representations and symbols, which differ from culture to culture. I…

1. Term and Beginnings 1.1. Between G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831; Hegelianism) and E. Husserl (1859–1938), “phenomenology” was a simple methodological term designed to indicate the fullest possible recording of facts and data. The phrase “phenomenology of religion” was used by P. D. Chantepie de la Saussaye (1848–1920) for the phenomenological part of his Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte (vol. 1; Freiburg, 1887; ET Manual of the Science of Religion [1891]). Others in later editions would speak of religious manifestations and ideas. Under this head Chantepie de la…

“Llullian method” denotes the overall approach of Ramón Llull (ca. 1233-ca. 1315)—Catalan writer, Scholastic, polymath, adviser of popes and princes, ¶ Islamic and Jewish scholar and missionary—whose basic goal in his writings was to see Jews and Muslims converted. Of his 263 writings, 36 contain the word ars (method, way, art) in the title. Llull called this literary work, and especially the summary of it, Ars generalis ultima (1305–8), or Ars magna. This title, similar to the Ars maior and Ars minor of Roman grammarian Aelius Donatus (4th cent. a.d.), whose influence extended …

1. Term From Thales, the Greeks believed that “all things are full of gods” (Aristotle, De anima 1.5, 411a8–9; Aristotelianism). Only in concrete cases, however, did they call this idea polytheism (e.g., Aeschylus Supp.  424 mentions polytheos hedra, “seat of many gods,” for an altar; Greek Religion). Neither they nor other peoples made of polytheism an abstract concept. The Jews did so when, distancing themselves from polytheism, they criticized the lovers of polytheïa (Philo De mut. nom.  205). So too did Christians, for whom Orpheus taught the Greek polytheotēs (thus the asc…

1. Term Monotheism is a religious, theological, or philosophical position whose normative feature is recognition of only one God. Those who use the term “monotheism” in either confession or research are differentiating between different views of God. Like other isms, this term also tends to denote a movement, sphere, or epoch in which, whether the respective inhabitants or contemporaries use the term or not, a specific outlook or opinion prevails. Whether those who define their own position claim the validity of t…

¶ “Theogony” (Gk. theogonia, “birth of the gods”), the title of an epic poem by Hesiod (ca. 700 b.c.), refers to the origin of the gods. Many of the almost 300 gods whose names and qualities Hesiod gives in this work make up the world, so that a theogony is also a cosmogony. When the world is constituted, it is ruled by the great gods (Uranus, Cronus, Zeus). Hesiod makes use here of the concept that northern Syria and Asia Minor employed: a succession of gods instead of a genealogical list or an anthropomorphizin…

1. Founder Abhay Charan De (1896–1977), founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), was born in Calcutta, where he received university training in philosophy, English, and economics. In 1922 he came in contact with the Vishnu Gaudiya Mission (Hinduism 3.3), whose founder, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura (d. 1937), had prepared the way for the worldwide work of the 32d guru in a succession that had begun with the prehistorical avatars, or “descents,” of the gods (see 3). In 1933 De became a formal disciple of B…

1. History The Yezidis are a religious community in the Syrian district of Simʿān and across to Ossetia. Though not unlike Iraqi Arabs, their Kurdish dialect (Kurds) and distinctive tradition make them a distinct ethnic group. Around 1900 they numbered up to 300,000, but after World War I only 100,000 and by 1983 only around 20,000. In 2005 estimates of the number of Yezidis worldwide ranged up to several times this reduced figure, mainly in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Armenia, with a sizable group in Germany as guest workers. Yezidis call themselves Dāsin (pl. Dawāsin; Syr. Dasnīyē), after a…

1. Names Kurdistan, originally a term for “steppe country” and later for the land of the Kurds, was the term given by the Seljuk government of Iran (1092–1194) to a region that must have stretched from between Lakes Van (in present-day western Turkey) and Urmia (in eastern Iran) south to the Zagros Mountains (extending along the Iran-Iraq border). The basic word came to be used, as in Arabic, as a collective and denoted “tiller of the field” or “shepherd.” Today some scholars identify the Kurds as the Karduchoi of Xenophon’s Anabasis (3.5.15–4.1.11), a group living east of the Upper T…

Meaning “way of blessedness” in Sanskrit, Ānanda Mārga is the name of a Hindu reforming movement that was started in 1955 at Jamalpur, in Bihar, India. Its originator was Prabhata Ranjana Sarkar (b. 1921), who called himself Shree Ānanda-murti, and to whom his followers attached a further title “shree.” With the Ānanda he thought of himself as a member of the classical Vedanta triad sat (being), chit (thought), and nanda (bliss), which, as attributes of Atman or Brahman, compose the true nature of humanity and the univers…

“Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh” is the guru name of Rajneesh Chandra Mohan (1931–81). It combines with the given name “Rajneesh” the appellative “Bhagwan,” commonly used in India for gods, demigods, and holy men (from Skt. bhag(a)van, meaning “reverend” or “divine”), and the title “Shree.” Rajneesh was born in Kuchwada (Madhya Pradesh), India, on December 11, 1931. On March 21, 1953, he experienced the “other reality,” which his philosophy enabled him to interpret as God, truth, dharma, tao, and so forth. He deepened the experience by techniqu…

Afghanistan became a separate kingdom under Aḥmad Shāh Durrāni (ruled 1747–73), who, as an officer of Nāder Shāh of Persia, left the army and was able to build his small Pashtuni state on the subjection of various ethnic groups in northeast Iran and central Asia. About 90 percent of the present-day population are rural peasants or nomads. Approximately 78 percent belong to the Sunni branch of Islam, 20 percent are Shiites, and 1 percent are Ismailis. The rest consist primarily of Hindus, Si…

1. Term The prophets of Israel with their criticism of Canaanite worship, as well as the philosophers of antiquity with their attacks on Greek myths, held aloof from what we now call religion, an attitude that is essential in the study of religion. The same applies to Islamic geographers, Christian missionaries, European explorers, and students of mythology from the days of the Enlightenment, also of comparative linguistics from the days of Romanticism, especially when new knowledge was brought to light. The whole complex of what might be called religion in the form of a secta, lex, latr…

Yoga, the Vedic term for “exertion,” “strain,” or “venture” (related to Gk. zygon and Lat. iugum, “yoke”), is a technical term used in various senses. 1. In a less technical sense yoga has to do with forms of trance (Ecstasy), asceticism, and meditation¶ . Two or three such rituals reach back to the end of the second century b.c. in southern Asia. Then in a more crystallized sense we find jñānayoga, bhaktiyoga, and karmayoga (yoga through the ways of knowledge, surrender/devotion, and action) in the Bhagavad Gita, and the Yoga Sutras of Patañjali (lived between 2d cent. b.c. and 2d cent. a.d.).…

1. Cultures that have loanwords from Lat. visio (a seeing, view) often use them for visionary hallucinations. Such a vision, which takes place when the person is awake, is not a dream. Psychokinetic phenomena may accompany it, and it may include paranormal information. If the visionary is religiously inclined, it might seem to contain a revelation. The vision itself is not a revelation and must be interpreted. The visionary might be the interpreter, or some other person might be. Interpretation imparts mystical knowledge, falling between the rational and the occult (Occultism). 2. A …

Cyprus (Heb. Kittim, after the harbor Citium, mentioned often by the Phoenicians and the site of present-day Larnaca), from the Greek “Kypros” (etymology unknown), is a Mediterranean island 100 km. (60 mi.) west of the Syrian coast and 65 km. (40 mi.) south of the coast of Turkey. 1. Late Paleolithic and Neolithic settlement of Cyprus before the fourth millennium b.c. points to close relations with the Near East. During the third and second millennia the Copper and Bronze Age of Egypt, Crete, Mycenae, Syria, and Anatolia made Cyprus, with its rich m…

[English version] (n. Pl., ἡ τῶν ξυλοφορίων ἑορτή). Das jüdische “(Fest des) Holztragens”. An ihm wurde, vielleicht schon seit E. des 5. Jh. v. Chr. (Neh 10,35; 13,31) und wohl bis Anf. des 2. Jh. n. Chr. (Taan. 4,4: Simon ben Azzai, um 110 n. Chr.), einmal im Jahr (Mitte August/Anf. September) die Darbringung des Holzes hervorgehoben, das zur dauernden Erhaltung des für das morgendliche und abendliche Brandopfer brennenden Feuers nötig war bzw. - nach Zerstörung des Tempels (III.) - gewesen wäre (Ios. bell. Iud. 2,17,6). Colpe, Carsten

[German version] The term anti-Semitism, coined in 1879 by Wilhelm Marr, wrongly assumes the existence of a uniform race speaking the Semitic languages. It also integrates into the ideology, which underlies this error and is expressed in this self-characterization, earlier (Christian) religious, political, social and cultural motifs of anti-‘Semitic’ behaviour in the 19th cent. It glances over the fact that such behaviour was not directed against Semites in general but exclusively against Jews. Th…

(Ἡλιάδης; Hēliádēs). [German version] [1] Officer of Alexander [13] Balas Officer of  Alexander [13] Balas, whom he betrayed after the defeat he suffered in 145 BC at Oenoparas at the hands of Ptolemy VI and  Demetrius [8] II (Jos. Ant. Iud. 13,4,8), with another officer and a north Syrian Bedouin sheikh, in exchange for securities offered by the victors, and helped to murder (Diod. Sic. 32,10,1). Colpe, Carsten (Berlin) [German version] [2] Sisters of Helios see  Helios

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Pompeius (Aramaic bēt ṣaydā, ‘house of the catch’ or ‘of the booty’). Place in Gaulanitis ( Batanaea) on Lake Genezareth (in today's plain el-ibṭeḥa) east of the confluence with the Jordan; established as a city in 3 BC by the tetrarch  Herodes Philippus and named Iulias after Augustus' daughter (Jos. Ant. 18,2,1; Bell. 2,9,1; probably today's et-tell), only 2 kms further inland), but in all four gospels mentioned with an Aramaic name (probably just the fishing settlement on the lake, today's ḫirbet el-araǧ). B./Iulias was…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Sassanids | Syria | Zenobia | | Coloniae | Hellenistic states | Hellenistic states | Limes | Pompeius | Rome (Amm. Marc. 14,8,9; Plin. HN 5,19,81 Hemeseni), city in Syria on the Orontes, today's Ḥimṣ (< Byzantine Χέμψ; Chémps). According to archaeological evidence it had been settled from the 3rd millennium BC but E. has been known to us only from Pompey's time as the seat of a clan of Arab ‘kings’, who were Roman vassals from the time of  Herodes Agrippa I (Jos. Ant. Iud. 18,5,4; …

[German version] (modern Ḫirbat ehdeb). Town in lower Gaulanitis ( Batanaea; Jos. BI 4,1,1) with a large Jewish component in the population (Jos. Ant. Iud. 13,15,3; BI 1,4,8) because of the settlement policy of  Alexander [16] Iannaios. Under the Zealots and  Iosephus (cf. Vita passim), G. therefore became a bulwark against the Romans (Jos. BI 2,20, 4; 6). After an uprising in AD 68, the town was captured by Vespasian, who had all the inhabitants put to death as punishment (Jos. BI 4,1,3-10). Colpe, Carsten (Berlin) Bibliography O. Keel, M. Küchler, Orte und Landschaften der Bibel…

[German version] (by analogy with plur., ἡ τῶν ξυλοφορίων ἑορτή/ hē tôn xylophoríōn heortḗ). The Jewish '(festival of) wood-carrying'. Once a year (middle of August/beginning of September) it celebrated, possibly from as early as the end of the 5th cent. BC (Neh 10,35; 13,31) and probably until the beginning of the 2nd cent. AD (Taan. 4,4: Simon ben Azzai, c. AD 110), the fetching of wood, which was, or - after the destruction of the Temple (III.) - would had been, necessary to maintain the eternal fire which burned for the morning and evening burnt sacrifices (Jos. BI 2,17,6). Colpe, Cars…

[German version] [1] Relative and friend of King Herodes [1] Agrippa I Relative and friend of King  Herodes [1] Agrippa I (Jos. Ant. Iud. 19,9,1; 20,7,1), in AD 40 a member of the deputation to the Syrian governor P. Petronius (ibid. 18,8,4), which achieved its goal of stopping Caligula's statue from being erected in the Temple; after that he probably took over the position of commander-in-chief of the army from Silas (ibid. 19,6,3; 7,1), whom he had killed after Agrippa's death in AD 44 (ibid. 19,8,3). Colpe, Carsten (Berlin) [German version] [2] Temple treasurer in Jerusalem Temple treas…

[German version] Jos. Ant. Jud. 1,6,2 (§ 137 N.) calls Cheslimus (Χέσλοιμος; Chésloimos) the eponym of a tribe descended from the Egyptians, which in his model is called kasluḥı̄m (Gen. 10.14 and 1 Chr. 1.12; LXX Χασλ- and Χασμωνι[ε]ιμ, Vulg. C(h)asluim). In Josephus their kindred people are the  Philistines, whilst in his model these had previously inhabited the land of the kasluḥı̄m. If the commentary which states this does not belong to the kaptōrı̄m (cf. Jer 47,4 and Am 9,7), then the kaptōrı̄m must have settled in the coastal areas of Egypt, which were attacked in the 1…

[English version] [1] Verwandter und Freund des Königs Herodes [1] Agrippa I. Verwandter und Freund des Königs Herodes [1] Agrippa I. (Ios. ant. Iud. 19,9,1; 20,7,1), 40 n.Chr. Mitglied der Deputation an den syr. Statthalter P. Petronius (ebd. 18,8,4), welche erreichte, daß Caligulas Statue nicht im Tempel aufgestellt wurde; danach hat er wohl die Stelle eines Oberbefehlshabers des Heeres von einem Silas (ebd. 19,6,3; 7,1) übernommen, den er nach Agrippas Tod 44 n.Chr. umbringen ließ (ebd. 19,8,3). Colpe, Carsten (Berlin) [English version] [2] Tempelschatzmeister in Jerusalem Tem…

[English version] (h. Ḫirbat ehdeb). Stadt in der unteren Gaulanitis (Batanaia; Ios. bell. Iud. 4,1,1), durch Siedlungspolitik des Alexandros [16] Iannaios mit hohem jüd. Bevölkerungsanteil (Ios. ant. Iud. 13,15,3; bell. Iud. 1,4,8). Unter den Zeloten und Iosephos (vgl. vita passim) war G. daher ein Bollwerk gegen die Römer (Ios. bell. Iud. 2,20, 4; 6); nach einem Aufstand 68 n.Chr. wurde die Stadt von Vespasianus, der alle Einwohner zur Strafe töten ließ, erobert (Ios. bell. Iud. 4,1,3-10). Colpe, Carsten (Berlin) Bibliography O. Keel, M. Küchler, Orte und Landschaften der Bi…

[English version] Dieser Ort ist auf folgenden Karten verzeichnet: Coloniae | Hellenistische Staatenwelt | Hellenistische Staatenwelt | Limes | Pompeius | Roma | Sāsāniden | Syrien | Zenobia | Straßen (Amm. 14,8,9; Plin. nat. 5,19,81 Hemeseni), Stadt in Syrien am Orontes, h. Ḥimṣ (< byz. Χέμψ). Nach arch. Hinweisen seit dem 3. Jt.v.Chr. besiedelt, wird E. uns doch erst seit der Zeit des Pompeius als Sitz eines Geschlechts arab. “Könige” bekannt, die von den mit ihnen verschwägerten Herodes Agrippa I. (Ios. ant. Iud. 18,5,4; 19,8,…

[English version] Der Begriff A., 1879 von Wilhelm Marr geprägt, setzt fälschlich die Existenz einer die semit. Sprachen sprechenden einheitlichen Rasse voraus. Er integriert ferner der mit ihm ausgesprochenen Selbstcharakteristik der zugrunde liegenden, diesen Irrtum einschließenden Tendenz auch die bisherigen (christl.-) rel., polit., sozialen und kulturellen Motive “semiten”- feindlichen Verhaltens im 19. Jh. Er überdeckt zudem die Tatsache, daß sich solche Verhaltensweisen nicht gegen Semiten,…

[English version] Dieser Ort ist auf folgenden Karten verzeichnet: Pompeius (aram. bēt ṣaydā, “Haus des Fanges” oder “der Beute”). Ort in der Gaulanitis (Batanaia) am See Genezareth (in der h. Ebene el-ibṭeḥa) östl. der Einmündung des Jordan; vom Tetrarchen Herodes Philippus 3 v.Chr. zur Stadt ausgebaut und nach Augustus' Tochter Iulias genannt (Ios. ant. 18,2,1; bell. 2,9,1; wohl nur das 2 km landeinwärts gelegene h. et-tell), doch in allen vier Evangelien weiter mit aram. Namen erwähnt (wohl nur die Fischersiedlung am See, h. ḫirbet el-araǧ). B./Iulias wurde aber wohl wenig…

(Ἡλιάδης). [English version] [1] Offizier des Alexandros [13] Balas Offizier des Alexandros [13] Balas, den er nach seiner Niederlage, die er 145 v.Chr. am Oinoparas durch Ptolemaios VI. und Demetrios [8] II. erlitt (Ios. ant. Iud. 13,4,8), mit einem anderen Offizier und einem nordsyr. Beduinenscheich zugunsten von durch die Sieger angebotenen Sicherheiten verriet und mitermordete (Diod. 32,10,1). Colpe, Carsten (Berlin) [English version] [2] Schwestern des Helios s. Helios

[English version] (Χέσλοιμος) nennt Ios. ant. Iud. 1,6,2 (§ 137 N.) den Eponymos eines von den Ägyptern abstammenden Volkes, das in seiner Vorlage kasluḥı̄m (Gn 10,14 und 1 Chr 1,12; LXX Χασλ- und Χασμωνι[ε]ιμ, Vulg. C(h)asluim) heißt. Bei Iosephos sind ihr Brudervolk die Philister, während diese nach der Vorlage früher im Land der kasluḥı̄m wohnten. Falls hier die Glosse, die dies besagt, nicht zu den kaptōrı̄m zu stellen ist (vgl. Jer 47,4 und Am 9,7), wären die kaptōrı̄m in den ägypt. Küstengebieten anzusiedeln, in welche im 12.Jh. v.Chr. Seevölker (Seevölkerwanderun…

1. Data Egypt is the most populous Arab country, even though the Nile makes only 4 percent of its land mass suitable for habitation and cultivation. The foundation of the modern Arab Republic of Egypt (Jumhūrīyat Miṣr al-ʿArabīyah), as it has been called since 1971, was laid in July 1952, when the reforming Free Officers under Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918–70) seized power. Egypt had previously been a constitutional monarchy, set up in 1923 after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World Wa…

1. Religious History The term “rite” (Lat. ritus, orig. “what is correctly reckoned,” then “what is appropriate; usage, custom”) came into use in Roman religion for an ordered and solemn ceremony. The adjective ritualis thus means “that which relates to religious usage.” 1.1. Theology tends to use “rites,” and religious studies and social anthropology prefer “ritual,” for religious ceremonies or for sequences of such ceremonies. Ethnology recognizes that whole groups of human actions and animal modes of behavior have a set and standar…

1. Religious History The word “hell” comes from Old Ice. hel, the term in Nordic mythology for the place of the dead in the underworld and for its female ruler. All the dead are there or under her rule except for those killed in battle. The idea was not negative from the outset, as the etymology also shows, for the meaning of the root is “hide, conceal.” The concept became a negative one only with the demonization of virtually all pre-Christian material by the repressive methods of missionaries and by those who after conversion engaged in committing German myt…

1. Religious History 1.1. Variety of Terms and Views The word “soul” (cf. Ger. Seele) embraces the meanings of many other words with a history of their own. These meanings differ not only in ancient cultures but also among themselves. They stand for various human experiences, of which we no longer know whether they were as numerous as the terms used—but do know that historically they represent basic realities of existence. A common feature of these realities is that they are regarded as essentially different from the materials of which we and nature and our world are composed. We may divide …

1. General 1.1. Words and Concept The English words “sacrifice” and “offering” come from Lat. sacrificium and offero. Ger. Opfer goes back to Lat. operari, “be active.” The terms suggest an active relation to the reality concerned in the different religions. The various ways in which the relation is described may thus affect the concept. Even though a distinction might arise between real and symbolic sacrifice, sacrifice is always at the heart of religion and widely influences human conduct in other spheres as well. In religious history we may un…

1. Basic Considerations 1.1. Distinctions No systematic hermeneutical examination of miracles in the larger sense can avoid articulating exactly which elements are to be addressed as objective facts and which as part of the concept itself. Because arguments on the two sides can no longer be adduced in support of one another, the modes in which the two aspects are examined necessarily also diverge. The remaining conceptual content prompts even further distinctions, depending on whether one is dealing with a simple or a complex concept. Only simple concepts mu…

[German Version] 1. Erich (Dec 22, 1861, Clausthal – Feb 18, 1936, Berlin). After studying in Berlin and Greifswald from 1881 to 1886, Schaeder began lecturing in systematic theology at Greifswald in 1891. In 1894 he was appointed adjunct professor at Königsberg (today Kaliningrad) and in 1895 at Göttingen. In 1899 he was appointed ¶ to a full professorship at Kiel and in 1918 at Breslau (Wrocław). He was one of the theologians of the Greifswald school led by A.H. Cremer. In his most important work, Theozentrische Theologie (vol. I 1909, 31925; vol. II 1914, 21928), Schaeder criticized th…