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[German Version] The Jordan (Heb.הַיַּרְדֵּן/ hayyarden, Gk ὁ ἰορδάνης/ ho iordánēs, Arab. al-urdunn; etymology disputed), divided into the upper and lower Jordan Valley, flows through the central Palestinian section of the Syro-African rift. With its four sources springing from the Hermon massif, with Lake Huleh, the Sea of Galilee (Galilee, Sea of), and especially the tributaries from the east, Yarmuk and Jabbok, and the Dead Sea (with the Arnon and the Zered) at its end, it is the largest inland water sy…

Al Mamlakah Al Urduniyyah Al Hāshimiyyah (The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan) Demographics (United Nations) Population 10,209,000 Area 89,000 sq. km (34,000 sq. mi) Population density 110/sq. km (300/sq. mi) Growth rate p.a. 2.19% (per 1,000: births 23, deaths 4) Under 15 years 34% Urban dwellers 91% (0.98% p.a.) Largest cities Amman 2,148,000; Zarqa 729,000; Irbid 557,000; Russeifa 524,000; Al Quwaysimah 385,000; Tila al-Ali 327,000 Languages & peoples (World Christian Database) Mother tongues 97% Arabic, 1% Kabardian, 1% Adyghe, plus 9 others Peoples 49% Palestinian Arab; 15% …

[German Version] Belonging geologically to the Syrian rift as the continuation of the course of the Jordan River, the Dead Sea constitutes the lowest point on earth (approx. 400 m below sea level). With a length of approx. 85 km and a breadth of 17.5 km, it covers a surface of approx. 10,000 km2. Its northern basin reaches 400 m in depth, the portion south of the Lisan peninsula is flat and, today, almost dried up. Although the high salt content (28–33% instead of …

[German Version] (Tell Deir ʿAllā) lies in the central Jordan rift, 5 km to the east of the Jordan River and 1.5 km north of the Jabbok, and was a junction of of important north-south and east-west routes. Excavations by the University of Leiden (Hendricus Jacobus Franken, Gerrit van der Kooij) and the University of Irbid (Moawiyah M. Ibrahim, Zaidan Kafafi), …

[German Version] The thesis of a Decapolis founded by Pompey in 63 bce as a Hellenistic bastion against the Arabs in the East is outmoded. A self-concept as Decapolis (Gk “ten cities”) arose only in the middle of the 1st century ce when a few cities of Coelesyria attempted to escape new Herodian sovereignty by proclaiming their autonomy in the Provincia Syria (cf. the beginning of minting municipal coins with the city Tyche: Canatha 38/39, Skythopolis 39/40 [Beth-Shean], Gerasa and Hippos 67/68 ce; only Gadara, rebuilt by Pompey, minted coins from 63 bce on). In the …

[German Version] I. Archaeology – II. History (Arab. Tell el-Qāḍī), city near the southern foot of Mount Hermon enjoying a location favorably situated along trade routes in a fertile valley at one of the sources of the Jordan River. I. Archaeology A differentiated city developed at this site during the EBA (27th – 24th cent.) to which a mighty earthen wall was added during the MBA (1st half of the 2nd mill.). After being destroyed at the end of the MBA, …

[German Version] I. History – II. Location גִּלְגָּל; from gll, “to roll, rotate,” perhaps “debris (field)” and often interpreted as “(stone) circle,” is interpreted etiologically in Josh 5:9 as “to roll away” in reference to guilt. I. History The book of Joshua cites (the) Gilgal as the first encampment after crossing the Jordan, as the site of the stone monument, of circumcision, of the first Passover-Mazzot Feast (Feasts and Festivals: II) in the land (4:19–5:12, literary prototype for Mic 6:5) and as the point of departure for…

[German Version] I. Causes and background – II. Course of war – III. Result I. Causes and background In 66–73 (74?) ce there was an uprising of the Jews in Palestine against the Roman Empire and, simultaneously, a many-sided civil war within the Jewish population there. The brutal conflict resulted – aside from the loss of thousands of lives – in the destruction of Jerusalem and the second temple in 70 ce. The name “Jewish Revolt” (taken from Flavius Josephus's, De bello Iudaico) betrays the Roman perspective. The Jews would have called it the war of liberation or redempti…

Abstract: The word “baptism” comes from the Greek word for washing. Baptism can be by immersion (in ritual bath or flowing water), affusion (pouring water over head), or aspersion (sprinkling). Bapti…

Medinat Yisra’el (The State of Israel) Demographics (United Nations) Population 8,714,000 Area 20,000 sq. km (7,900 sq. mi) Population density 430/sq. km (1,100/sq. mi) Growth rate p.a. 1.56% (per 1,000: births 18, deaths 5) Under 15 years 28% Urban dwellers 93% (1.51% p.a.) Largest cities Tel Aviv 4,181,000; Haifa 1,147,000; Jerusalem 932,000; Be'er Sheva 638,000 Languages & peoples (World Christian Database) Mother tongues 26% Arabic, 17% Hebrew, 14% Russian, 10% Judeo-Arabic, 6% Romanian, plus 36 others Peoples 19% Palestinian Arab; 15% Israeli Jewish (Sabra); 14% Jew…

[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Geography – III. Archaeology – IV. History and Society – V. History of Religions I. Terminology The area settled by the Philistines, referred to collectively in Akkadian by such names as palaštu after their conquest by Assyria, probably provided the basis for the Greek ( Sýria hḗ) Palaistínē, first found in Herodotus (1.105; 2.104, 106; 3.5, 91; 4.39; 7.89), even though the hypothetical intermediate Aramaic expression of the Persian period, the likely basis of the Greek form, is still unattested. To the exten…

The term “pseudepigrapha” literally means “falsely ascribed writings.” It is a term given to a variety of ¶ ancient documents that are not part of either the Hebrew Bible (OT) or NT canon, nor are they included in what are called the OT Apocrypha (deuterocanonical books). The convention of attributing such writings to someone other than their real author was common in antiquity. The attribution was generally for purposes of enhanced authority. 1. OT Pseudepigrapha For at least two decades the technical term “Old Testament Pseudepigrapha” (OTP) has been recognized to de…

1. Historical Israel 1.1. Name “Israel” is a theophorous name in which the proper name “El” (God) is combined with the verb śrh as its subject. The OT gives this verb the sense of striving. The patriarch Jacob is called Israel because he had “striven with God” (Gen. 32:28, see also Hos. 12:3–4). This popular etymology, however, is not a reliable witness for the original meaning of the verb, and it also misunderstands the theophoric element “El” as an object. In the OT, the name “Israel” refers to different, albeit related, entities: the early tribes, the united kingdom of …

Overview Since the latter decades of the 20th century, the term “spirituality” has taken on increasing prominence within North American Christianity and popular culture. While a large majority of adults in the United States professes belief in God, how such belief is expressed and lived has shifted dramatically in these decades, and “spirituality” is a catchword for such change; being “spiritual but not religious” defines large numbers of Americans, particularly in younger generations. And people…

The United States of America Demographics (United Nations) Population 331,432,000 Area 9,500,000 sq. km (3,700,000 sq. mi) Population density 35/sq. km (90/sq. mi) Growth rate p.a. 0.71% (per 1,000: births 13, deaths 9) Under 15 years 19% Urban dwellers 83% (0.96% p.a.) Largest cities New York 18,804,000; Los Angeles 12,447,000; Chicago 8,865,000; Houston 6,371,000; Dallas 6,301,000; plus 139 over 300,000 Languages & peoples (World Christian Database) Mother tongues 69% English, 15% Spanish, 2% French, 2% Arabic, 1% Chinese, plus 253 others Peoples 38% USA White; 12% African …

[German Version] Lālibalā is a famous group of monolithic churches in the Wollo (Lasta) region of Ethiopia (Church architecture: V, 2). The site (formerly called Roha), at an elevation of 2,600 m, was made the capital of the Zagwe Dynasty (c. 1137–1270) during the reign of King Lālibalā (c. 1181–1221). Ethiopian tradition ascribes to him the construction of the eleven churches, each hewn out of a single block of reddish rock (tuff). His gadl (vita of a saint) recounts that God commissioned Lālibalā to re-create Jerusalem in Ethiopia. The names and configuration of th…

The Ritual 1. a) Baptism is the celebration of the ritual, common to all Christian churches, that establishes reception into the Church as a religious community. Thus it is a rite of initiation. Water, and the Trinitarian formula, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” are the twin essential elements of this ritual. At baptism, candidates are immersed, either totally or partially, in water, or water flows over them, or they are sprinkled with water. Luther derives the word Taufe (‘Baptism’), with etymological correctness, from tief (‘deep’).1 b) In…

Originally the term baptisterium denoted the basin in the frigidarium (cold bath) of the Roman baths. From the fourth century it came into use for the piscina (Lat. for “tank, basin”), or baptismal church. Other names were balneus and loutron (bath) and, among Christians, phōtistērion (enlightenment). From the third century certain cultic places were set apart for the purpose of baptism. In keeping with the form and situation of the piscina, these were often round or octagonal with surrounding pillars, upper lighting, and a cupola. Such forms derived from the a…

1. Water is a prerequisite for any life, and determines the daily existence of all persons at all moments. It is as much as about sixty percent of our body, and covers three fourths of the earth's surface. We encounter it as sweet water—as a spring, a river, a waterfall, a lake, dew, rain, clouds, ice, and snow. We use it as we eat, bathe, or drink. It quenches thirst, freshens, cools, heals, cleans, flushes the old out and the new in. Where it is missing, as in the desert, the effect is as life…

Elchasai/Elxai, ca. 100 According to Early Christian and Manichaean sources, Elchasai or Elxai was the founder of the sect of the Elkesaites and the recipient of a book of revelation. The main Christian sources about Elchasai are Hippolytus of Rome, who speaks of “Elchasai”, and, independently, Epiphanius of Salamis, who always calls him “Elxai”. Additional information comes from the Cologne Mani Codex and the Arabic writer Ibn an-Nadim. According to Epiphanius, Panarion 19, 2, 2, the name Elchasai means “Hidden Power” (Aramaic: ḥail kesai), which is generally accepted by mode…