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[German Version] Non-Christian religions have experienced repeated revivals, particularly after en…

[German Version] (also called Augustine Chong; 1760, Korea – 1801, Korea), Korean theologian and martyr. Yak-jong belonged to the pioneer generation of Confucian scholars around P.I.S. Hun who – long before the first European missionary entered Korea in 1836 – accepted Christianity and established an enduring Christian presence in Korea, then hermetically isolated. They knew of “Western teaching” through Je…

[German Version] Christianity in Sri Lanka can look back over a remarkably long history. After a sporadic presence on the island since the 6th century and a continuous presence since the early 16th, it subsequently went through a development that was sometimes in step with the various stages of European colonial rule and at other times took a significantly different course. The earliest reliable evidence for the existence of Christian communities in Sri Lanka is a comment in the …

[German Version] The modern Western missionary movement led to an encounter with a multitude of non-European societies as well as different models for the resulting cultural contact. These have ranged from the various versions of a tabula rasa theory – which denied non-Christian cultures any intrinsic religious value – to understanding of the need for a culturally authentic interpretation of Christianity. Conceptions such as accommodation (II), indigenization, and contextualization (contextuality: I) display many similarities, but …

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[German Version] (Aug 17, 1874, Vellalanvilai, South India – Jan 1, 1945, Dornakal), Indian church leader and one of the most distinguished representatives of the early Asian mission and ecumenical movements. The son of a village pastor, he came into contact with diverse Christian groups as the traveling secretary of the YMCA (Young Men's Christia…

[German Version] (Oct 6, 1873, Tillicoultry, Scotland – Jan 27, 1962, London), Scottish educationist, missionary, and ecumenist in southern Asia and western Africa. Fraser was born in India, where his father was a high-ranking colonial official. From 1904 to 1924, he was in the service of the Anglican Church Missionary Society in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) as Principal of Trinity College Kandy, and from 1924 to 1935 in Ghana as the founding rector of Achimota College, where, among others, Kwame Nkrumah wa…

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[German Version] I. History – II. Missiology I. History 1. Preliminary remarks As never before in its history, Christianity has become a “world religion.” …

[German Version] I. History – II. Missiology I. History Independent local forms of Christianity and the aspiration to be emancipated from the control of European missionaries appeared early on in the history of the emerging churches of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Examples include the movement initiated by the female African prophet D.B. Kimpa Vita in the Congo during the early 18th century, which temporarily threatened Portuguese rule in the region. Independent church movements became a widespread phenomenon at the close of the 19th cen…

[German Version] I. Church History The policy of the state toward the church in National Socialist Germany had met with resistance since 1933, on the part of both Protestants and Catholics. As already demonstrated by the founding of the Pastors’ Emergency League in Berlin (by M. Niemöller), by the opposition to the National Socialist Deutsche Christen at the confessing synods of Barmen and Dahlem, and by the open criticism of the resolute faction within the Confessing Church (voiced in the position paper of the Second Provisional Church Directory from M…

[German Version] I. Early Church – II. Middle Ages (to 1450) – III. 1450–1600 – IV. 1600–1800 – V. 1800–1890 – VI. 1890–1945 – VII. 1945– I. Early Church Christianity spread throughout the ancient world with remarkable speed. As early as 110, the Roman legate Pliny the Younger reported the presence in Bithynia in Asia Minor of a great number of Christians “of every age and class, and of both sexes,” both “in the cities” and “throughout the rural areas.” Toward the middle of the 3rd century, the Christians held such a position of strength that even a series of Empire-wide persecutions (Persecutions of Christians: I) could no longer stamp them out. From the very outset, Christian congre¶ gations understood themselves as part of a world-wide community. Several factors aided the spread of Christianity, including easier travel and other blessings of the Pax Romana, as well as the extended network of Jewish synagogues, which often served as starting points for Christian preaching both within and beyond the Roman Empire. The New Testament already reveals two different modes of expansion: first, very rapid spread across provincial boundaries t…

[German Version] I. The Conference – II. Reception in Asia, Africa, and Latin America – III. Ecumenical Significance I. The Conference The “World Missionary Conference to consider Missionary Problems in relation to the Non-Christian World” met in the assembly hall of the United Free Church of Scotland in Edinburgh from Jun 14 to 23, 1910. Originally conceived as a successor to the conferences of London …

[German Version] The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) arose in the mid-19th century as the response of the revival ¶ movements (Revival/Revival movements) to changing social conditions in rising industrialization. The associations are interdenominational and offer groups for Bible study and prayer, educational programs and places of social protection. The YMCA was formed in Paris in 1855 as the first world ecumenical movement. The frequently stated purpose of its mem…

1. OT 1.1. Historiography and Historical Thinking To a greater extent than is sometimes realized, ancient Israel (§1) shared in the very diverse “mythical” historical thinking of the surrounding world. It read present events in the light of past events, beginning in a distant primal period, which would both explain and if necessary validate them. It thus narrated, established, and handed down the stories of the past, not least of all in the cult. The course of history was determined by human conduct in response to divine ordinances. Presenting this history, either in detailed episodes or in larger frameworks, had a paradigmatic function, offering warning and admonition by means of ac…

[German Version] I. The Concept Nationalism may be described as an integrative ideology that claims that loyalty to the inclusive body of the ¶ nation has absolute priority over all other commitments. Such competing loyalties include loyalty to a particular estate or social class, a dynasty, a local state, a region, a tribe, a denomination, or a religion. While the concept of a nation played a role in political debates in medieval Europe, its reference was not to the totality of the people but to the ruling class (the nationes of the nobility and the clergy). Modern nationalism emer…

[German Version] I. General – II. Latin America, Asia and Africa I. General Catechumenate is a term, derived from Gk κατήχειν/ katḗchein as used by Paul (e.g. Gal 6:6), for the in…

[German Version] I. General – II. History and Culture – III. Religious History – IV. History of Christianity I. General The designation “India,” Gk ἰνδός/ indós, Latinized as indus, goes back to Sanskrit sindhu (orig. “boundary”?) through the intermediary of Old Persian hindu; it is a designation of the River Sindhu and of the Indus region, from which …

[German Version] I. Geopolitical Considerations, Concept – II. History of Religions – III. Modern Asian Religions outside Asia – IV. Christianity I. Geopolitical Considerations, Concept Culturally, economically, and politically, Asia is extraordinarily heterogeneous. The Islamic states of the Near East with their oil wealth are part of this continent, as are the multireligious societies of South and Southeast Asia, relatively poor in resources, and the countries of East Asia with their extraordinarily dynamic economies (at least through the mid 70s). …

[German Version] I. General – II. The West – III. Theology and Practical Theology – IV. Ortho…

[German Version] I. 1st to 19th Century – II. 20th and 21st Centuries I. 1st to 19th Century 1. Early Church The concerns of the first centuries of the church were less with the establishing of fellowship than with its preservation – focused in the fellowship of the Lord's Supper – among Christians and congregations (Paul, Saint, Apostolic Council, Clement I (Romanus), Ignatius [Ignatian …

[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 in any case an outgrowth of the history of Christianity; in other words, the development of Christianity has opened o…

[German Version] I. Concept, Presuppositions – II. Development – III. Middle Eastern Church History and Historiography – IV. Religious Education I. Concept, Presuppositions 1. Concept …