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[German Version] (Placeus; 1596, Saumur – 1655/ 1656, Saumur). After theological studies under J. Cameron in Saumur, Place became professor of philosophy and history in Saumur in 1621, pastor in Nantes in 1625, and professor of theology in Saumur in 1633. Along with his friends M. Amyraut and L. Cappellus, he moderated strict Calvinism by emphasizing ethical and general human aspects, for example, in modifying the doctrine of original sin. With reference to Calvin, and on account of his interest i…

[German Version] (Cloppenburg; May 13, 1592, Amsterdam – Jul 30, 1652, Franeker) studied theology in Leiden under F. Gomarus and Johannes Polyander, as well as at several foreign universities, notably in Heidelberg, Basel and Geneva. He became pastor in Heusden (1618), Amsterdam (1621) and Brielle (1629). In 1640, he was appointed professor of theology in Harderwijk and, in 1643, in Franeker. The literary oeuvre of this staunch Calvinist is dominated by disputes with Mennonites, Arminians and Socinians. His Disputationes de foedere Dei et testamento veteri et novo (1643) prepared…

[German Version] (Jan 6, 1677, Nîmes – Dec 30, 1730, The Hague), Reformed preacher and theologian. After fleeing from France in 1686 following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (Huguenots: I, 1) and studying in Geneva, he became a pastor of refugee congregations in London, then after 1705 in The Hague. He gained a reputation as an outstanding preacher and used it in support of persecuted coreligionists. Moderately orthodox and totally averse to polemic, his biblical interpretations were primarily in the service of apologetic and ethical goals. Christoph Strohm Bibliography Works i…

[German Version] (Fr. gueux, “beggar”), originally a taunt, soon the self-designation of Dutch aristocracy who opposed Spanish domination and Catholic persecutions of believers in the last third of the 16th century. The designation probably originated when one of the advisers of the Governor General, Margareta of Parma, upon being presented with a petition concerning, inter alia, the abolition of the Inquisition on Apr 5, 1566, cried out: “Voilà des beaux gueux.” The aristocracy and soon also other champions of freedom adopted this designation as ho…

[German Version] (Molinaeus; Oct 16 or 18, 1568, Castle Buhy en Vexin – Mar 10, 1658, Sedan) studied at the Protestant academy in Sedan; became a tutor in England in 1588; was professor of Greek language and philosophy in Leiden, 1592–1598; and pastored the Reformed congregation in Charenton near Paris, 1599–1620. From 1621 until his death, he was preacher and …

[German Version] Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, took the city in 1591. In the 17th century, it was already home to a Latin school and a Calvinist academy, founded in 1655, at which noted theologians like C. Wittig and J. Braun taught. In 1679 the chaos of war forced the academy to close. Attempts to reestablish it in the 18th century failed. Not until 1923, after almost 20 years of efforts on the part of the Sankt Radboud Foundation, was the Catholic University of Nijmegen founded as a count…

[German Version] (1579, Glasgow – Nov 27, 1625, Montauban) went to France around 1600 and was initially active as a teacher in the vicinity of Humaniora. After studying in Paris, Geneva, and Heidelberg, he became pastor in Bordeaux in 1608, professor of theology at the Protestant academy in Saumur in 1618 and in Montauban in 1624. In the disputes with the Arminians, Cameron defended the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, but modified it by emphasizing …

[English Version] I. Geschichte Der Ref. B. wurde im August 1884 auf einer anläßlich des 400. Geburtstags Zwinglis abgehaltenen Tagung in Marburg als eingetragener Verein »zur Wahrung und Pflege der Güter und Gaben der ref. Kirche« gegründet. Er war gedacht als lockerer Zusammenschluß von Kirchen, Gemeinden und Kirchenmitgliedern, die ref. Identität angesichts des gerade im Zusammenhang des 400. Geburtstags Luthers 1883 als bedrängend wahrgenommenen luth. Übergewichts in Deutschland zu stärken such…

[German Version] I. History The Reformed League (Reformierter Bund) was founded in August 1884 at a conference in Marburg commemorating the 400th anniversary of Zwingli’s birth; as a registered association, its purpose was defined as “preservation and cultivation of the goods and bounties of the Reformed Church.” It was conceived as a loose association of churches, congregations, and individual members, seeking to strengthen Reformed identity in light of the Lutheran preponderance in Germany, which…

[English Version] I. ReligionsgeschichtlichAbgaben eines Teiles des Gewinns an die Götter sind aus den Rel. des AO und der klassischen Antike bekannt und ausgehend vom AT (z.B. Lev 27,32f.; 1Sam 8,15) kennen das Judentum und das Christentum Z. (s.u. III., IV.). Auch die in einem erweiterten Sinn in der bibl. Tradition stehende »Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage« (Mormonen) greift diese Vorstellung im Buch Mormon auf (vgl. Alma 13,14f.), begründet sie aber neu durch eine Offenbarung…

[German Version] I. History of Religion Instances in which a certain share of a person’s gains were ceded to the gods are known from the religions of the ancient Near East and of Classical Antiquity; on the evidence of the Old Testament (e.g. Lev 27:32f.; 1 Sam 8:15), Judaism and Christianity were also familiar with tithing (see III, IV below). Even the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), which only cultivates a loose relationship to biblical tradition, takes up this notion in the B…

[English Version] I. Geschichtlich und konfessionskundlich 1.  Begriff Aus programmatischen theol. Gründen lehnten die ref. K. die Fremdbez. »calvinistische Kirchen« ab. Sie bezeichneten sich selbst als ref. K., weil sie sich nicht als neue Kirchentümer neben der einen, hl. Kirche verstanden, sondern als deren Glied, aber als Glied einer nach dem Gotteswort der Hl. Schrift erneuerten Kirche. Darum vermieden sie in ihrer Selbstbez. Bezüge auf einen theol. Stifter oder einen bestimmten Entstehungsort. Di…

[English Version] I. Zum BegriffDer Begriff Z. geht zurück auf census (lat. Steuerkataster). Konzeptuell dem heutigen Z. vergleichbar sind jedoch erst die ma. censuales oder censuarii, (anfangs noch abhängige) »Zinsleute«, die dem Herrn für die Nutzung von Land periodisch Abgaben entrichteten. Der Z. mochte hier noch immer eine (hoheitliche) Abgabe sein, entscheidend war jetzt jedoch erstmals und blieb seitdem: die Zahlung für die Nutzungsüberlassung, typischerweise periodisch, stets nutzungszeitab…

[German Version] I. Concept – II. Legal Aspects – III. Economics – IV. Non-Christian Antiquity – V. Bible – VI. Christianity – VII. Judaism – VIII. Islam I. Concept Interest is payment in exchange for a right of use or exploitation, typically on a temporary basis and always agreed for a fixed period of time. Money later gained increasing importance as an object of lending and now occupies a dominant position, although other items or rights remain possible as objects of lending, as for example rent. In economics (see III below), this mutual commitment between the conferral…

[German Version] I. History and Theology 1. Terminology. For programmatic theological reasons, the Reformed churches rejected the exonym Calvinist churches. They referred to themselves as Reformed churches because they did not think of themselves as new churchdoms alongside the one holy church but as a part of that church, albeit as part of it renewed according to God’s Word in Holy Scripture. In speaking of themselves, therefore, they eschewed references to a theological founder or a particular place of origin. The 17th-century formula ecclesia reformata semper reformanda means …

[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 Deut 10:4 for the Decalogue, in Deut 5:6–21 and by the post-dtr. redaction of the …

1. Historischer Überblick 1.1. Begriff und neuzeitliche DeutungR. (von lat. reformatio, ›Wiederherstellung‹, ›Umgestaltung‹) ist seit der Mitte des 19. Jh.s spezieller Terminus für die eine Seite jener Vorgänge, durch die im 16. Jh. die westl. Christenheit in mehrere einander antagonistische Konfessionskirchen auseinandertrat; sein Antonym, welches die andere Seite bezeichnet, ist Gegen-R.Zuvor hatte der Begriff die allgemeine Bedeutung von Reform. So begegnet reformatio bzw. die zugrundeliegende verbale Form reformare in den kirchl. und polit. Reformbewegungen…

1. Historical survey 1.1. Terminology and early modern interpretationSince the mid-19th century,  Reformation (from Latin  reformatio, “restoration,” “transformation”) has been a specialized term for one side of the 16th-century events that tore Western Christendom apart into mutually antagonistic confessional churches; its antonym, denoting the other side, is  Counter-Reformation.Previously the term had carried the general meaning of “reform.” In the ecclesiastical and political reform movements of the late Middle Ages, we find both  reformatio and the verb  reform…

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. The Early Church – III. Middle Ages, Reformation, Counter-reformation – IV. The Modern Period – V. Martyrs of the Orthodox Church – VI. Judaism – VII. Islam – VIII. Missiology I. History of Religion The term martyrium (Greek μαρτύριον/ martúrion) was coined in early Christianity, where it denotes a self-sacrificial death in religious conflict as a witness to faith Historical and systematic references are found in many contexts, in which comparable terms imply something slightly different. For example, the Islamic šahīd, “witness…

[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 beginning of the Christian era, religious developments produced stronger differentiations. Peace is no longer seen as a social phenomenon…