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1. AllgemeinP. (von lat. praedicatio, ›Bekanntmachung‹) bezeichnet die öffentliche Verkündigung im Rahmen des christl. Gottesdienstes. Diese lässt sich in zwei Gattungen einteilen: (1) die Homilie (griech. homilía; lat. tractatus, ›Rede‹, ›Erörterung‹), d. h. die Auslegung zuvor verlesener Bibel-Texte (›Lesung[en]‹) – ein Brauch, den das Christentum vom Judentum übernommen hat; (2) die Kanzelrede (lat. sermo, ›Rede‹), die ein Thema systematisch entfaltet und sich am Kirchenjahr (lat. sermo de tempore, ›P. über die Zeit‹), an den Heiligenfesten ( de sanctis, ›über die He…

1. Einleitung 1.1. AllgemeinIn der Nz. gehören S. zur relig. Praxis aller christl. Kirchen, wenngleich mit unterschiedlichem Gewicht und in unterschiedlichem Verständnis. Gemeinsam ist jedoch der Glaube, dass die Feier der S., wie die Verkündigung des Wortes Gottes, zum Wesen der christl. Kirche gehört und dass S., obwohl von Menschen vollzogen, der Verheißung Jesu Christi Raum geben, seiner Gemeinde nicht nur geistig, sondern auch leibhaft erfahrbar gegenwärtig zu sein und sie an dem ewigen Heilsg…

1. Geschichte und Kultur 1.1. ÜberblickT. bedeutet »Überlieferung«. Idealtypisch versteht man darunter einen je spezifischen Fundus von Wissensbeständen und Techniken, Sitten und Bräuchen, Einstellungen und Haltungen, Normen und Institutionen, der innerhalb einer Gemeinschaft relativ unverändert von einer Generation an die folgende weitergegeben wird und deren Kultur dadurch Kontinuität und Identität verleiht. »Als Träger von T. im engeren und weiteren Sinne gelten bevorzugt die kleinen sozialen Einheiten (Eltern, Familie, Clan) oder Beruf…

1. BegriffsgeschichteDas dt. Wort Priester (= Pr.), das wie die Entsprechungen in anderen westeurop. Sprachen (engl. priest, franz. prêtre, ital. prete) etymologisch auf das kirchenlat. presbyter (von griech. presbýteros, ›Älterer‹) zurückgeht, hat unterschiedliche Bedeutungsinhalte. Während Pr. in der allgemeinen Religionsgeschichte und im AT einen relig. Spezialisten bzw. Funktionsträger v. a. im Bereich des Kultes bezeichnet (Pr. im Sinne des lat. sacerdos), verzichtet das NT vollständig auf priesterliche Begrifflichkeit. Die Funktionsträger in den G…

1. AllgemeinDer Begriff schísma (»Spaltung«, »Trennung«) ist ein griech. Lehnwort, das unübersetzt ins Kirchenlatein und in moderne Sprachen gelangte. Er bezeichnet (1) den Vorgang einer Abspaltung von der Kirche; (2) den dadurch hervorgerufenen Zustand und (3) die so entstandene Gruppe. Ein Sch. unterscheidet sich insofern von einer Häresie, als es sich nicht wie diese gegen den Glauben, sondern gegen die Einheit der Kirche richtet. Augustinus lieferte dafür um 400 eine bündige Formel: »Ein Sch. besteht dann, wenn einer, der dasselbe glaubt und dieselben Ri…

1. DefinitionMoral theology (Latin  theologia moralis) is a subdiscipline within theology, which was becoming increasingly specialized during the early modern period. In the light of faith, moral theology deals with conduct (Ethics) in contrast to cognition (Dogmatics). While the word  moralis [ philosophia] appears already in Cicero, who used it to translate Greek  ḗthos (“custom”;  De fato) and was common in the Middle Ages, the phrase  theologia moralis does not appear until the early modern period (exception: [8. 45 f.]). It first appears in a book title in the lat…

1. IntroductionPastoral care refers to the assistance church officials (pastors) provide for individuals and groups of the faithful in questions of faith and the religious conduct of life. The  Regula pastoralis (“Pastoral Rule,” c. 590) of Pope Gregory I, the normative guide to pastoral care well into the early modern period, uses the Latin terms  cura pastoralis (“pastoral care,” French  la pastorale) and regimen animarum (“guidance of souls”). The literal Latin equivalent of German Seelsorge,  cura animarum (“care/cure of souls”), does not occur until the earl…

1. DefinitionThe term heresy (from Greek  haíresis, “school (of thought),” “faction”) denotes a serious deviation in the faith (“false doctrine”), resulting in exclusion from the church (Excommunication). The German synonym Ketzerei is derived from the name of the medieval mass movement of the Cathars (Greek  katharoí, “pure ones”), which formed an anti-church in the 12th century and were persecuted relentlessly. Heresy, as a violation of the integrity of the faith by individuals or groups, must be distinguished from apostasy (Greek  apostasía) as “renunciation” of the fa…

1. DefinitionAlthough theologians in the early church like Origen (3rd century CE) engaged  de facto in dogmatics, the term dogmatics itself (Latin  theologica dogmatica, from Greek dogmatikḗ, “teaching regarding the church’s teaching –  dógma – i.e. “theological teaching, doctrine”) did not gain currency until the theology of the 17th century. During the early Enlightenment, J.F. Buddeus was the first to offer a definition, in his encyclopedic introduction to theology (1727) [11]: the term  dogmatics denotes the portion of theology that explains and demonst…

1. To the 15th centuryThe term “pastorate” in English refers to the office of pastor, but the German term Pfarramt encompasses in a kind of personal union both the pastorate and the  rectory or parish house as the administrative center of a parish, which comprises either the faithful within a specific area (territorial parish) or belonging to a specific group (personal parish). (On the etymology of the German words  Pfarrei, “parish,” and  Pfarrer, “pastor,” see [4. 153]).The Christian parish (Congregation) of Roman late antiquity, whose territory was coextens…

1. Definition and meaningConfession (from Latin  confessio) has been the most common form of the church’s penitential discipline from the early Middle Ages until (to some extent) the present. The German equivalent is  Beichte, from MHG  bigiht, contracted  bīht[e]: “declaration, avowal”. The debate over whether it should be recognized as a sacrament and how it should be formally regulated and practiced by the church became a major bone of contention among the three main Christian religious groups. These differences have had not only…

1. Definition and backgroundThe Council of Trent (Latin  Concilium Tridentinum) was the definitive ecclesiastical council (Council [ecclesiastical]) of the early modern period. With interruptions, it met in Trent (Latin Tridentum, Italian Trento) from 1545 to 1563. Its decrees, approved by the papacy, were too late to stem the tide of the Reformation, but it put its stamp on the Roman Catholic Church of the centuries that followed (Confessionalization).When Martin Luther, condemned by the pope in 1520, appealed to a general council to give him justice, he wa…

1. Introduction 1.1. Definition and backgroundEven today the term  office (German  Amt) still covers a broad semantic spectrum that preserves the manifold references and contexts of premodern administrative activity (Government). It extends from the exercise of a specific function through the designation of a territorial administrative district to a local authority or even a building in which lower-ranking administrative bodies are housed. As a result of developments at the beginning of the early modern period, this semantic richness can be documented, for example, in the  Deu…

1. DefinitionThe term  dogma (Greek: “tenet, proposition”) in early modern usage, as in antiquity, the early church, and scholasticism, was used to denote doctrines and opinions of diverse content. The label can be applied to both church doctrines generally accepted as true and to disputed philosophical opinions, and even to Christian heresies. Since the term could definitely have a pejorative sense, it is understandable that until well into the early modern period the Christian theology of the Lat…

1. General See Childhood; Pedagogy; SchoolPeter Walter2. Late medieval religious education and HumanismDuring the Middle Ages, transmission of at least the rudiments of religious teaching and practice was considered primarily the task of the family. Contrary to the assumption of earlier researchers, however, besides their own religious practice and the preaching of the church (Sermon), there do not appear to have been sermons addressed specifically to children [6. 278]). The tools available to parents included brief written guides, which could be acquired an…

1. Protestantism The Reformers saw the Bible as the complete, self-evident revelation of God. This meant a rejection of a spiritualistic appeal to additional inner revelations as well as the Catholic view that God has revealed himself equally in the Bible and in Church tradition so that the Bible can only be properly understood and interpreted by ecclesiastical ministers of the teaching tradition (Ministry [ecclesiastical]), and under no circumstances by just anyone. This difference in revelation …

1. IntroductionMission (Neolatin  missio, “[act of sending]”; “dispatch”) denotes what was originally an exclusively Christian phenomenon: the active propagation of a religion, Christianity, by annunciation and sacramental incorporation into the church. A distinction is drawn between this “outer mission” ( missio externa) and the “inner mission” ( missio interna) that aims to recruit or recover to the faith people in already Christian countries.The literate religions that existed before and alongside Christianity did spread through migration, like Judaism…

1. Terminology In ecclesiastical usage,  patriarchate denotes the administrative sphere of a patriarch. Since late antiquity,  patriarch (Greek  patriárches - a compound of  patḗr, “father,” and árchein, “be a commander,” “rule” – originally meaning “clan chief” or “progenitor”) was a title of senior Christian clergy. As early as the first ecumenical Council of Nicaea (325), we can see a regional structure of the church with centers at Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch; they were joined in 381 by the new capital, Constantinople, and in 451 by Jerusalem.These five episcopal sees, …

1. Catholicism 1.1. The Catholic episcopateThe word bishop (from Greek  epískopos, “overseer”) denotes (1) in the New Testament a member of a community’s governing body; (2) beginning in the 2nd century, the head of an urban Christian congregation, who governs it with the help of presbyters and deacons; (3) from late antiquity to the present, the head of a sizable district (Diocese), the diocesan bishop. Besides governance of their own dioceses, bishops in the third sense also have responsibilities withi…

1. Establishment and constitutionJesuits is the abbreviated name for members of the  Societas Iesu (“Society of Jesus”), the largest, most important, and also the most controversial male order of the Roman Catholic Church in the early modern era.The Jesuits were established by the Basque nobleman Iñigo López de Loyola, who later went by the Latin version of his name, Ignatius. Originally a soldier, after being severely wounded in 1521 he changed his life’s direction and began a course of study that culminated in Paris with the de…