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[English Version] I. Begriff Der Begriff R. (lat. revolvere, »umdrehen, umwälzen«) bez. eine plötzliche qualitative Änderung bestehender Verhältnisse und Prozesse, die nicht nur einzelne Elemente betrifft – etwa die Auswechslung des Personals der Staatsführung im Staatsstreich –, sondern einen kompletten Systemwandel mit sich bringt. Verwendung fand der Begriff urspr. in der Astronomie (Umlaufbahn eines Himmelskörpers). Seit der frühen Neuzeit ist er Bez. für umstürzende Wandlungen des polit. Syste…

[English Version] I. Soziologisch und sozialgeschichtlich Der erstmals bei R. Pannwitz (Die Krisis der eur. Kultur, 1917) nachweisbare Begriff umfaßt ein breites Spektrum heterogener Bedeutungen, dessen Extreme durch die Vorstellung einer neuen Epoche nach dem Ende der Moderne einerseits und Konzepte reflexiver Radikalisierung moderner Pluralitätserfahrungen andererseits markiert werden. Die schnelle Durchsetzung des Begriffs seit den 70er Jahren des 20.Jh. begann in den nordamer. Kunst- und Literatu…

[German Version] I. General – II. Church History – III. Systematics – IV. Practical Theology – V. Missiology I. General The expression liberal theology became prevalent in the “Saddle Period” (Reinhart Koselleck) of Neo-Protestantism between 1780 and 1820; it denotes a type of “modern theology” that combines strong demands for individual freedom through criticism of religious tradition, differentiation of subjective faith from ecclesiastically defined confessions of faith, an individualistic understanding of reli…

[German Version] I. Sociology and Social History First attested in the writings of R. Pannwitz ( Die Krisis der europäischen Kultur, 1917), the concept of postmodernism spans a wide spectrum of heterogeneous meanings, the extremes of which are marked, on the one hand, by the notion of a new age that is meant to follow upon the end of modernity, and on the other hand by conceptions of a reflexive radicalization of modern experiences of plurality. The rapid adoption of the concept since the 1970s began in North Amer…

[German Version] I. History – II. Philosophy – III. Social Sciences and Ethics – IV. Religion I. History 1. General Since the 18th century, European liberalism has fought for a civil society, demanding three kinds of civil rights: (1) equality before the law, guaranteed by the rule of law; (2) equal opportunity for political participation, made possible by the right to vote and free access to the public arena; (3) provision of basic social opportunities. Legal equality was the first of these demands put forward…

[German Version] I. Concept The term revolution (from Lat. revolvere, “turn over”) denotes a sudden qualitative change of existing circumstances and processes, a change that does not just affect individual elements – like the replacement of government personnel in a coup – but brings change of the overall system. The term was used originally in astronomy for the orbit of a heavenly body. Since the early modern era, has been used to refer to changes that overturn the political system, but this definition …

[German Version] I. Church History – II. Philosophy – III. Practical Theology I. Church History 1. The German term Neuzeit, which first appeared in church historiography around 1870, and which corresponds to the English term “modern times,” encompasses a broad spectrum of heterogeneous meanings. Terms such as tempus novum, historia nova, or neue Zeit (“new times”) – in contrast to the Middle Ages (I) – were coined in the 17th century to express experiences, both fascinating and frightening, of accelerated change in many areas of life along with…

[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…

[English Version] I. Begriff, geschichtliche und rechtliche Grundlagen Der Parteienbegriff blieb in der polit. Semantik der eur. Neuzeit stets mehrdeutig, und die hist. Ausprägungsformen der P. waren äußerst vielfältig. Als intermediäre, organisatorisch verfestigte Gesinnungsgemeinschaften zw. Gesamtbevölkerung und Regierung und legitimiert durch das jeweilige nationale Wahlrecht beförderten P. den Prozeß der Parlamentarisierung und Demokratisierung polit. Herrschaft. In England mit den Tories und Whig…

[English Version] I. Religiös-kulturelle Zeitschriften In der 2. Hälfte des 19.Jh. erlebte das deutschsprachige Zeitschriftenwesen einen großen Aufschwung. Für 1890 waren 3203, für 1900 bereits 5231 und für 1914 6689 Einzeltitel erfaßt. Die Z. wurde zum Leitmedium in Wiss. und Kultur. In der Theol. stieg ihr Anteil an den Gesamterscheinungen zw. 1800 und 1908 von 8,3 auf 26,5%. Zw. Fachzeitschriften und Gemeindeblätter schob sich im Zuge der Differenzierung der Zeitschriftenprofile der Typus der rel…

[English Version] I. ReligionswissenschaftlichVolk (V.) und Volkstum sind polit. Funktionsbegriffe, die dazu dienen, eine kollektive Einheit abzugrenzen und in einen bestimmten Sinnzusammenhang einzufügen (s.u. III.). Von einem dt. V. als Subjekt seiner Gesch. kann man erst ab dem 18.Jh. sprechen. V.a. die Kirchenspaltung und die darauf folgenden Religionskriege des 16. und 17.Jh. verhinderten die Ausbildung einer übergreifenden polit. oder rel. Identität auf lange Zeit. Ein nationales Zusammenwac…

[German Version] I. Concept, Historical and Legal Foundations The concept of the party has always been polyvalent in the political semantics of European modernity, while the historical configurations of parties have been subject to extreme variations. As intermediary, organizationally cemented groups representing shared views and positioned between the general population and the government, and legitimized by the respective national electoral law, parties have helped promote the parliamentarization and …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies People and nationhood are functional political terms that serve to define a collective entity and to incorporate it into a specific context (see III below). Only since the 18th century has it been possible to speak of a German nation as the active subject of its own history. The rupture of the church at the Reformation and the subsequent wars of religion in the 16th and 17th century long prevented the development of an inclusive political or religious identity. It …

[German Version] I. Religio-Cultural Journals – II. Journals of Religious Studies – III. Christianity – IV. Judaism – V. Islam I. Religio-Cultural Journals During the second half of the 19th century, the publication of German-language journals experienced a tremendous upsurge. While the year 1890 saw the publication of 3,203 individual titles, the number had grown to 5,231 by the year 1900 and to 6,689 by 1914. Journals became the preferred medium in academia and culture. In the field of theology, the proportion …

[English Version] I. Religionswissenschaftlich In den 60er Jahren des 20.Jh. begann in der Religionswiss. eine intensive Diskussion der kontinuierlichen Abnahme rel. Bindungen in eur. Ländern. Es waren dabei v.a. die Entwürfe von Bryan Wilson (Religion in Secular Society, 1966) und Peter L. Berger (The Sacred Canopy, 1967), die, anknüpfend an Konzepte von Max  Weber, É.  Durkheim u.a., zur Formulierung einer sog. Säkularisierungsthese führten. Säkularisierung (S.) beschreibt demnach einen selbstver…

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. New Testament – III. Early Judaism – IV. Church History – V. Philosophy – VI. Philosophy of Religion – VII. Dogmatics – VIII. Ethics – IX. Sociology, Politics, and Law I. Old Testament 1. The concept of political freedom, which originated in the Greek polis (City cult), first appeared in Hellenistic Jewish historiography. The Stoics' concept of freedom, which contrasts inner freedom and outward constraint, has no counterpart in the OT. The OT is rooted in an internal mythological cultur…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies In the 1960s, religious studies began to discuss the continuing decline of religious commitment in Europe intensively. In particular the writings of Bryan Wilson ( Religion in a Secular Society, 1966) and Peter L. Berger ( The Sacred Canopy, 1967), drawing on the ideas of M. Weber, É. Durkheim, and others led to formulation of a so-called theory of secularization, where secularization denotes a natural aspect of the process of modernization, in which the traditional religious legitimation of the world has increasingly lost…