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[German Version] (Jul 20, 1635, Ulm – Feb 23, 1706, Ulm). After studying in Straßburg (Strasbourg) and the Saxon universities, he was appointed preacher at the Ulm Minster in 1662 and professor of theology at the Ulm Gymnasium in 1663. In 1664 he received his Dr.theol. in Straßburg with a disputation against chiliasm under J.K. Dannhauer. In 1671 he was appointed director of the Gymnasium in Ulm and in 1678 superintendent in Ulm. He published numerous volumes of sermons and theological works. In 1…

1. Historical Survey The term “Thirty Years’ War,” first used shortly after 1648, denotes the series of political and military engagements that had its focus in central Europe from 1618 to 1648 but that affected the whole of Europe in its complexity, course, and consequences. At the beginning of the 17th century France was still resisting Hapsburg encirclement, the Estates-General were battling for freedom against Spain (though there was a 12-year truce starting in 1609), and the Nordic kingdoms of…

[German Version] I. Ethics The dichotomy of social and cultural reality in public and private spheres is characteristic of the modern life-world, and is the result of modern processes of change in social structure (Modernization). It is true that in the course of functional differentiation (Society: IV; V) essential ingredients of life, for instance work and vocation, are withdrawn from the private sector and transferred to the public one, but at the same time privacy centered on the family is assi…

[German Version] 1. Johannes (1551, Homberg – Aug 13, 1626, Gießen), Protestant theologian. Although trained as a blacksmith, he began studying at Marburg in 1568. In 1573 he became head of the municipal school in Homberg/Efze. In 1576 he continued his studies at Marburg. In 1582 he was appointed court chaplain in Kassel and in 1592 professor at Marburg as well as preacher at the Marienkirche. He was removed from his position in 1607 and went to Gießen, where he was co-founder of the Pedagogium and the university. In 1607 he was appointed full professor and in 1610 superintendent. In ¶ the cont…

[German Version] I. Church History 1. Germany and Europe. Protestantism is a synoptic term for all the Christian churches and groups with roots in the 16th-century Reformation. The term embraces the Lutheran and Reformed confessional churches (Lutheranism, Reformed churches) that emerged directly from the Reformation as well as the Anabaptist movements, the Anglican Church (with some qualifications), and the churches and Free churches associated indirectly with the Reformation that came into being later …

[German Version] 1. Andreas (Dec 14 or 19, 1496 or 1498, Gunzhausen – Oct 17, 1552, Königsberg [today Kaliningrad, Russia]), Reformer of Nuremberg (Nürnberg) and center of a violent controversy over his doctrine of justification. Osiander matriculated at Ingolstadt in 1515, where he learned Greek and Hebrew and was influenced by Humanism and especially by J. Reuchlin and the Kabbalah. In 1520 he was ordained to the priesthood; in the same year, he was employed to teach Hebrew by the Augustinian Herm…

[German Version] I. Church History 1. Germany and Europe a. Definition. Pietism was a religious revival movement in late 17th- and 18th-century Protestantism (I, 1), alongside Anglo-Saxon Puritanism (Puritans) the most significant post-Reformation religious movement. Emerging within both the Lutheran and the Reformed churches, Pietism broke with orthodox Protestantism regulated by the authorities, which it perceived as a moribund Christianity of habit, pressed for an individualized and spiritualized rel…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Prayer is one of the most frequent and important religious acts in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It also appears in other religions – for example the indigenous religions of America. But it does not appear to be universal. Some Buddhist traditions, for example, are atheistic, and in them there is no prayer in the strict sense; these traditions often allow their adherents to pray to gods (e.g. Hindu gods), but they value the goals of such prayer less than enl…