Search

1. Humanismus und ReformationGegenüber der spätma. K. [13], die in Chroniken, Annalen und Viten (Biographie; Hagiographie) ihre bevorzugten Gattungen fand, brachte der Humanismus mit seiner neuartigen, philologisch-kritisch orientierten Gelehrsamkeit und seiner programmatischen Hinwendung zur antiken Textwelt ( ad fontes, »zu den Quellen«) epochenscheidend neue Impulse. Dank der Erfindung des Buchdrucks kam es auch im Bereich der christl. Historiographie zu einer breiten, zuverlässigen Editions-Arbeit, die sich zunächst auf lat., dann auch auf griech.…

Während die Auseinandersetzung der christl. Theologie mit nichtchristl. Religionen unter dem Begriff Apologetik firmiert, bezeichnet K. denjenigen innerchristl. Lehrstreit, der nicht die Sachdifferenzen zwischen einzelnen Theologen oder Schulrichtungen zum Gegenstand hat, sondern allein solche Streitfragen, an denen sich christl. Kirchen, Konfessionen und Denominationen voneinander scheiden. Insbes. steht der Begriff für die Auseinandersetzung zwischen dem Katholizismus und den großen protest. Konfessionen (Protestantismus). Dabei werden die trennenden …

1. Sachverhalt Die Sammelbezeichnung Th. R. ist ein Begriff von mittlerer Schärfe. Er zielt in jedem Fall auf theologische (= theol.) Phänomene, meint also nicht relig. Strömungen, die primär als Frömmigkeitsbewegungen in Erscheinung getreten sind wie z. B. die spätma. devotio moderna, der Pietismus oder der Methodismus (Religiöse Reformbewegungen). Innerhalb der Geschichte der als methodisch und systematisch verfahrende Reflexion von relig. Lebens- und Glaubensbeständen betriebenen Theologie greift er über den Begriff der Schule hin…

1. Gegenstand und VorgeschichteDie Idee einer D., also einer Historisierung des Wahrheitsanspruchs kirchlicher Lehre, wurde im Zeitalter der Aufklärung als eine sublime Form der Dogmenkritik entwickelt und führte im 19. Jh. zu konstruktiven Neubegründungen der theologischen Geschichtsschreibung. Die Alte Kirche war von der Unabänderlichkeit ihrer Lehrtradition überzeugt; dogmatische Abweichungen galten ihr darum als Ausdruck von Ketzerei (Häresie). Im MA tauchte zaghaft der Gedanke auf, der bindende kirchliche Lehrbestand könnte, wenn auch nicht ver…

1. Definition The umbrella term theological tendencies is somewhat fuzzy. In any case, it denotes theological phenomena, not religious movements, which tended to appear primarily in forms of piety, such as the late medieval  devotio moderna, Pietism, or Methodism (Religious reform movements). Within the history of theology (as methodical and systematic reflection on objects of religious life and belief), it is broader than the concept of a school, which (at least in the strict sense) means the narrow circle of students associat…

While the debate of Christian theology with non-Christian religions takes place under the heading of apologetics, controversial theology denotes doctrinal debate within Christianity. It does not deal with differences between individual theologians or schools of thought but only with issues that divide Christian churches, confessions, and denominations from each other. The term is used particularly for the debate between Catholicism and the major Protestant confessions (Protestantism). The divisive differences…

1. Humanism and ReformationWhereas late medieval ecclesiastical historians [13] preferred the genres of chronicles, annals, and vitae (Biography; Hagiography), Humanism brought epoch-making changes of direction with its new critical and philological erudition and its programmatic turn to the texts of Antiquity ( ad fontes, “to the sources”). The invention of printing also led to the production of a wide range of reliable editions in Christian historiography, including first Latin, later Greek sources, culminating in the recovery o…

1. Background and antecedentsThe idea of a history of dogma, that is, historicization of the truth claim of ecclesiastical teaching, was developed in the age of the Enlightenment as a sophisticated way of criticizing dogma. The early church was convinced of the immutability of its doctrinal tradition and therefore considered dogmatic divergences to be expressions of heresy. In the Middle Ages, the idea cautiously arose that the binding body of the church’s teaching could be extended, albeit not cha…

[German Version] (baptized Dec 8, 1723, Edesheim – Jan 21, 1789, Paris). Holbach studied law and natural sciences in Leiden from 1744 to 1748 and lived the rest of his life as a wealthy man in Paris. Holbach's Paris townhouse and his country residence Granval were meeting points of pre-revolutionary Enlightenment (I) and were frequented by D. Hume, J.-J. Rousseau, D. Diderot, Claude Adrien Helvetius, and others. Holbach wrote over 400 (perhaps as many as 1,100) articles for Diderot's Encyclopédie (Encyclopedia, Encyclopedists), which he probably helped finance to a conside…

[German Version] (Aug 3, 1681, Allstedt – May 1, 1764, Göttingen) studied philosophy and theology in Jena (M.A. in 1702), where he also lectured in philosophy from 1702 to 1709. He undertook an educational journey to the Netherlands in 1705, became superintendent of the theological seminary and collaborator at the Gymnasium of Eisenach in 1709, superintendent and professor (and eventually headmaster) at the gymnasium of Göttingen in 1717, and was awarded a Dr. theol. in Helmstedt in 1728. With the…

[German Version] (Jan 18, 1752, Saalfeld – Feb 4, 1816, Gamstädt near Gotha), studied in Halle an der Saale from 1769 onward (esp. under J.S. Semler and J.A. Nösselt), served as a preacher in Berlin, was appointed professor of theology in Frankfurt an der Oder in 1782, and general superintendent as well as senior councilor of the consistory in Gotha in 1788. As the ecclesial and theological popularizer of an enlightened rationalism (1803–1816: editor of the Magazin für Prediger [Journal for preachers]), Loeffler's translation (1781, 21792) of Souverain's Le Platonisme dévoilé (1700) …

[German Version] (Jun 24, 1561, Lorch – Oct 22, 1619, Tübingen) studied philosophy and theology in Tübingen and became a deacon in Herrenberg in 1586, pastor in Ehningen in 1588, and court preacher and consistorial counselor in Stuttgart in 1590. He received his doctorate in theology and became professor of theology in Tübingen (1592) and then chancellor (1617) and provost of the university. He was an important representative of post-Concord Lutheran theology. In contrast to J. Kepler, who valued …

[German Version] The term edification (“building up”) in its metaphorical religious sense was introduced by the NT (Gk οἰκοδομή/ oikodomē, Lat. aedificatio). It denotes a central aspect of ecclesiology (Church) involving the interplay between the part and the whole. Despite both the deficient and inflationary senses the word has taken on in modern usage, its original, precise sense is vital for theological reflection on the church and the local congregation. The metaphorical use of edification in the NT, borrowed loosely from OT usage, refers t…

[German Version] (Jan 10, 1715, Leuna – Oct 18, 1775, Leipzig) was appointed adjunct professor of philosophy in Leipzig in 1744 and professor of theology at the same university in 1750. As a philosopher, Crusius gave anti-Wolffianism (C. Wolff) its definitive form. By distinguishing between epistemic or ideal causes and real causes, he was able to contest the ontological proof of the existence of God, as well as Leibniz-Wolffian determinism and the notion of a preestablished harmony (G.W. Leibniz). As a theologian, ¶ Crusius was inspired by J. Cocceius and J.A. Bengel …

[German Version] (Jan 31,1741, Zheleznodorozhny [Gerdauen], Russia – Apr 23, 1796, Kaliningrad [Königsberg], Russia). Hippel studied theology in Königsberg from 1756 to 1760, journeyed to Russia from 1760 to 1761, and was tutor in Königsberg from 1761 to 1762. He studied jurisprudence there from 1762 to 1765, became barrister at the municipal court of Königsberg, and later director of the criminal court and city councillor. A member of the Prussian Landrechtskommission (commission for regional law) from 1780 onward, he was then appointed mayor of ¶ Königsberg and war councillor,…

[German Version] (Nov 22, 1709, Osnabrück – Sep 2, 1789, Braunschweig), leading proponent of neology (Enlightenment: II, 4.c). Jerusalem studied philosophy, theology and oriental languages in Leipzig (1727–1730, with Johann Christoph Gottsched, among others), received the M.A. (1731, Wittenberg), undertook a two-year study journey through Holland, and was a private tutor in Göttingen (1734–1737). After several years in England, to which he owed important impulses, and work as a tutor in Hannover (…

[German Version] (Oct 9, 1693, Lübeck – Sep 9, 1755, Göttingen) studied in Kiel from 1716 onward and became professor for controversial theology in Helmstedt in 1723 (for church history in 1725), also abbot of Marienthal and Michaelstein from 1727, general inspector of schools in Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel from 1729, and president of the Leipzig “Deutsche Gesellschaft” from 1732; he played a major part in the founding of Göttingen University (authoring, inter alia, the statutes of the theological school), where he was professor of theology from 1747, and the univer…

[German Version] (Jul 3, 1752, Hehlen – May 2, 1809, Helmstedt). Henke studied theology and philology in Helmstedt (1772–1776), became associate professor of philosophy (1777), associate professor (1778), and full professor of theology (1780) there, and also abbot of the Michaelstein seminary (Harz) in 1786. In 1803, he succeeded his teacher and father-in-law, Johann Benedikt V. Carpzov, as abbot of Königslutter. In 1804, he became vice-president of the consistory and ephorus of the Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig. Henke was a major proponent of pre-Kantian theologic…

[German Version] (c. 1488, York – Jan 20, 1569, London), OSA in 1514, studied philosophy and theology at Cambridge. In 1528 Coverdale left the order under the impact of Luther's theology, which had been taught him by Robert Barnes. In 1534–1535 Coverdale published the first English complete Bible (Bible translationsβ : II, 1.b.). From 1540 Coverdale lived under the pseudonym of Michael Anglus on the continent, in Tübingen and elsewhere and as pastor in Bergzabern from 1543–1547. Coverdale returned to England …

[German Version] (Dec 11, 1714, Seyringen, Principality of Oettingen – Nov 4, 1789, Büt-¶ zow) was inspector of the Halle orphanage in 1752 and deacon at St. Moritz (Halle) in 1753. In 1758 Döderlein was called by Duke Friedrich v. Mecklenburg to Rostock as professor and consistory councillor. Owing to unanimous opposition to the installation of the Pietist Döderlein on the part of the cleri…