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[German Version] is the beginning of the pre-Easter penitential season (Lent). Ash …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Sacred times are ritually observed periods of time of varying duration that serve to modulate life within a community through reference to an exceptional shared experience. Someone who prays at an appointed hour knows that he or she is united with like-minded others even when alone. When people live close to nature, the necessary cooperation requires adaptation to the environment’s seasonal changes. There the ritual organization of temporal caesuras addresses bot…

[German Version] I. General Background and History – II. Practical Theology – III. Orthodox Church I. General Background and History The church year – like church art, architecture, etc. – is one of the great cultural products of the Christian faith. It attempts to give cultural form to the gospel by means of the human perception of time. It thus stands alongside other attempts to …

[German Version] To commemorate Luther’s posting of his theses on the eve of All Saints’ Day in 1517, the continental churches of the Reformation and the Lutheran churches in the United States observe Oct 31 (or the following Sunday) as Reformation Day (officially …

[German Version] Initially liturgical commemoration of the apostles, like that of the martyrs, was only local. The earliest commemorations at Rome were on Jun 29 (Peter and Paul) and Feb 22 (death of Peter?). Because these feasts were biblical, the Lutheran churches continued to observe most of them; when one fell on a workday, it was often observed as a “semi-holiday.” The new Roman …

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[German Version] I. History and Programs The modern missionary movement generated a growing concern for church cooperation and unity, for which the term “ecumenical” (Ecumene) began to be used in the 19th century. The World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh (1910) gave expression to these concerns and spawned the initiatives that have coalesced in the course of the 20th century as the “Ecumenical movement” (II). Both the Faith and Order and the Life and Work movements established patterns of ecumenic…

[German Version] 1. In the early peri…

[German Version] I. Terminology The German word Gottesdienst (“worship,” lit. “service of God”) is attested since the 13th/14th century as a German translation of Latin cultus (Cult/Worship). It came into common use in the 16th century, especially in Luther’s works. Starting with an ethical understanding of the word, Luther himself used it as a technical term for the common celebration of the Word of God, as it evolved from the evangelical reform of the Catholic sacrifice (IV) of the mass. For centuries the term Gottesdienst remained limited to this specific form of worship of the Protestant churches. After Vatican II, the Roman Catholic Church adopted it on a grand scale (e.g. by the creation of a Roman Congregatio de Cultu Divino [Ger. Gottesdienst, Eng. Divine Worship] et Disciplina Sacramentorum replacing the for…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies As with other divine attributes, the wrath of God (cf. Wrath/Anger) is an anthropomorphism that is encountered in iconography (I; e.g. of Thangkas [ …

[German Version] I. On Nov 17, 1816 Frederick William III of Prussia issued a cabinet order specifying that the last Sunday of the church year was to be set aside as a nationwide church feast in memory of the deceased (Memorials to the dead). This had been preceded, on Jul 4, 1816, by a “ceremony in memory of the soldiers who fell on the battlefield.” In addition to commemorating those who had lost their liv…

[German Version] I. History – II. Liturgical Studies Today I. History The German term Liturgik (“liturgics”) was first used by the 16th-century Catholic mediation theologian G. Cassander; in the 19th century, Catholics began to use it for the historical, critical, systematic, and practical theory of Christian worship. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of liturgics in this sense to the mid-19th century. The term Liturgiewissenschaft (“liturgical studies”) was introduced by C.A. Baumstark in 1919 and R. Guardini in 1921, modeled on W. Dilthey's term Geisteswissenschaf…

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[German Version] 1 As generally understood, holidays are characterized by the fact that they interrupt everyday (work) life and open up a space for self-determined activity or leisure beyond vocational and other duties. As a rule, they are implemented to mark special occasions or are celebrated in a regular sequence. It is common to distinguish holidays terminologically from the weekly recurring days of rest, although this is questionable with regard to the …

[German Version] Probably under Eastern influence (longer Lent because of different fasting [III] practice), in the mid-6th century Lent (Quadragesima) came to be preceded in Rome by a season of Pre-Lent, with the Sundays of Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima (also called Estomihi). The development may also have been influenced Gallican practice and greater felt need for penitence in the face of invasions by the Goths…

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[German Version] I. History 1. Sunday (Lat. dies solis, Ger. Sonntag, Dutch zondag, Danish Søndag) is the second day of the Greco-Roman planetary week, which displaced the original Roman eight-day week in the 2nd century ce. Influenced by the model of the Jewish seven-day week but also by astrological notions from the Near East, it associated the days of the week with the seven known “planets” (including the sun and moon). As Mithraic religion and the cult of sol invictus (celebrated on Dec 25; introduced by the emperor Aurelian in 274 ce) gained influence, Sunday took on special sign…

[German Version] The Christian calendar of feast days can be understood as a series of overlapping cycles of time. A first cycle consists of the Sundays recurring in the rhythm of the seven-day week. They provide the foundation stones for the Christian feast day calendar and determine its basic form. The second cycle begins with Easter, the oldest Christian annual feast (Feasts and festivals). Like the Passover (Pesach; Feasts and festivals) feast it is linked to the lunar cycle and today stretches from the pre-Easter time of repentance (Lent, Passiontide) to Pentecost, and beyond. According to the Protestant feast day calendar, the number and dates of Trinity Sundays depend also on the date of Easter. A third cycle consists of Christmas (Dec 25) and Epiphany (Jan 6) with their preparatory and subsequent times. Because they are linked to the solar calendar, they disrupt the weekly rhythm and collide with the Easter cycle. In order to reduce the associated difficulties, the new Roman feast day calendar integrates the Su…

[German Version] I. History – II. Christian Liturgy – III. Practical Theology – IV. Art History – V. Music I. History 1. Origins. “Christmas,” the nativity feast or birthday celebration of Christ on Dec 25, comes from Middle English Christmesse, Christ's Mass; cf. Dutch Kerstmis. The German Weihnachten, “holy nights,” refers to the twelve days between Dec 24 and Jan 6. The Lat. natalis, dies nativitatis, or nativitas domini nostri Jesu Christi is reflected in Span. navidad, Ital. natale. Gk ἡ γενέθλιος ἡμέρα τὰ γενέθλια, ἡ κατὰ σάρκα γέννησις τοῦ κυρίου/ …