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[German Version] (1129/1130 – Aug 6, 1195, Braunschweig), duke of Saxony and Bavaria, son of the Guelph Henry…

[German Version] 1. Those who belong to a convent (Lat. conventus), i.e. all the full members of a religious community at a specific location. 2. In the context of a particular monastic way of life, and especially among the mendicant orders, “conventuals” refers to that group or tendency within the order which continues to follow the “old observance” (usually in a previously mitigated form) in the midst of internal disputes over the proper observance of the rule, and which accordingly …

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[German Version] The Ambrosians are a religious community first mentioned in 1375 in a bull of Gregory XI; they are traced to three nobles from Milan. The monasteries they established lived independently according to the Augustinian rule (Augustine, Rule of) and followed the Ambrosian rite in worship; they were united by Eugene IV with other groups as the …

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[German Version] (died c. 617 [?]) is said to have lived as a hermit in the hill country between the Hunsrück and the Palatine Forest in the time of Bishop Magnerich of Trier (died …

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[German Version] The concept of a théologie monastique was introduced by J. Leclercq, in a monograph on Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny ( Pierre le Vénérable, 1946); he subsequently developed it in studies of the monastic literature of the High Middle Ages, especially the work of Bernard of Clairvaux ( L'amour des lettres et le désir de Dieu, 1957; ET: The Love of Learning and the Desire for God, 1961). Since then it has proved its value as a key concept for understanding the theology of Bernard and medieval theology in general. It has long since been accepte…

[German Version] The Wilhelmite order goes back to a hermitage (Monasticism: III) founded in Tuscany in the mid-12th century. Its founder is said to have been a French noble named Wilhelm, a former soldier who settled near Pisa in 1145 after several pilgrimages; later he moved to the mountain valley of Malavalle, near Siena, where he lived a strictly ascetic life as a hermit with a single companion (later joined by a second). After his death on Feb 10, 1157, a h…

[German Version] I. History of the Discipline – II. Church History I. History of the Discipline Geography has come a long way from its beginnings in the mythical worldview (ANE creation accounts, early Greek philosophical speculation) and in the pragmatic exploration of the world (travel reports of merchants) to its development as an exact science. In antiquity, it was understood as a comprehensive lore of the earth and its inhabitants. The earliest accounts took the form of descriptions of coasts (Periplus et al.), which were soon joined by geographic and ethnograph…

[German Version] A lay abbot in the narrow sense, is a layman who is entrusted with the conduct and use of a monastery without being a member of its convent or even a monk. In the Frankish Empire of the 9th and 10th centuries and its successor states, members of the nobility were particularly frequently vested with this function. In a secondary meaning, lay abbot also designates the clerical holder of a commendam, who does not have the status of a monk (frequent from the High Middle Ages to the early modern period).…

[German Version] (Oct 19, 1433, Figline Valdarno, Italy – Oct 1, 1499, Careggi, Italy). Ficino was the son of the personal physician of Cosimo de' Medici; the latter supported Ficino and prompted him to change his course of studies from medicine to philosophy. He acquired an extremely thorough knowledge of Greek and produced annotated translations of esp. Plato (1463–1469), Plotinus (1484–1486), and a series of other neo-Platonic authors. In Florence he founded a Platonic Academy (I, 5) in which h…

[German Version] The principality of Liechtenstein is a microstate (160 km2) between the Swiss cantons of Sankt Gallen and Grisons (Graubünden) to the west and the Austrian state of Vorarlberg to the east. It is a hereditary constitutional monarchy with a population of 35,300 (2007), 80% Catholic, 7.4% Protestant (1996). Rulers of Liechtenstein are first mentioned in the 12th century, with two lines possessing lands in Styria and Moravia. When the Styrian line died out in 1619, the Moravian lord of Nikolsburg (modern Mikulov; 1608/1623) was elevated to the rank of imperial prince. In 1699 and 1712, the prince purchased the dominions of Schellenberg and Vaduz on the right bank of the Alpine Rhine, which had been held by various feudal lords. In 1719 they were elevated to an immediate principality under the name of Liechtenstein. In 1723 Liechtenstein was given a voice and vote in the Reichstag; in 1806 it became a sovereign state by joining the Confederation of the Rhine, but it was joined in a customs union with Austria and then from 1919 with Switzerland. Today Liechtenstein, highly industrialized and prosperous, provides an on-paper address for more than 70,000 companies. Christianized in the 4th century as part of the Roman province of Raetia prima, the territory has always been part of the diocese of Chur. It did not respond to the Reformation. In the post-Reformation period, it came under the influence o…

[English Version] I. Religionsgeschichtlich 1. griech. Φυ´σις/Phy´sis (…

[English Version] I. Archäologisch S. sind im AO seit dem präkeramischen Neolithikum (um 7000 v.Chr.) bezeugt, zuerst als einfache, runde oder ovale Platten oder als Tierfigur gestaltete Stempel, ab dem späten 4.Jt. (Susa, Uruk) auch walzenförmig als so…

[German Version] I. General Facts – II. Christianity I. General Facts Lying west of Great Britain in the North Atlantic, Ireland belongs to the British Isles and covers an area of 84,421 km…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies 1. The Greek Φύσις/ Phýsis is an abstract personification and an effective divine power. It is not restricted to any particular area of responsibility, and h…

[German Version] I. Archaeology Seals are attested in the ancient Near East since the pre-pottery Neolithic (c. 7000 bce), initially in the form of simple round or oval disks or theriomorphic stamps. Beginning in the late 4th millennium (Susa, Uruk), we also find cylinder seals (Good Shepherd: I, fig.). The latter were in use until the end of the first millennium bce, but they are also found in Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean region. In cultures where papyrus or leather was the commonest writing material, smaller stamp seals were preferred. In Egypt c. 2300 bce, carved stamp seals ca…

[German Version] I. Life – II. Church Historian – III. Systematic Theologian Jul 6, 1912, Berlin-Steglitz – Sep 30, 2001, Zollikerberg/Zürich), Protestant German theologian.…

[English Version] I. SoziologischS. sind nach landläufiger Vorstellung v.a. eine dichte und heterogene Ansammlung von Gebäuden unterschiedlicher Nutzung, versehen mit spezifischen Rechten und immer auch Marktort. Im Verständnis der »eur. S.« ist sie v.a. aber auch die Arena der Stadtgesellschaft. Die Soziologie betrachtet die Entwicklung städtischer Gesellschaften seit etwa 150 Jahren, weil S. Orte wirtschaftlichen Wachstums, sozialer Vielfalt, gesellschaftlicher Innovationen und von Konflikten au…

[English Version] I. Geschichtlich 1.  Mittelalter und Reformation Die bis heute wichtigste Institution wiss. Bildung und Forschung ist eine Schöpfung des ma. Abendlands. Ihre Entstehung bedeutete einen tiefen Einschnitt in der Gesch. der Wissenschaft, bes. auch in der Theologiegeschichte. Die bis ins 12.Jh. hinein herrschende Vielfalt a…

[English Version] I. Neues Testament 1.  Nachfolge Jesu in den Evangelien Ein wichtiger Aspekt der Darstellung des Wirkens Jesu in den Evv. ist sein Ruf zur N. Dieser Ruf ergeht bedingungslos und fordert unmittelbare Entscheidung. Wenn die Jünger Jesu Einladung, ihm zu folgen, vernehmen, gehorchen sie sofort und folgen ihm (α᾿κολουϑει˜n̆/akolouthei´n; Mk 1,16–20 parr.; 2,13–14 parr.; vgl. Lk 5,1–11; Joh 1,35–51). Andere verkennen jedoch den bedingungslosen und unmittelbaren Charakter seines Rufes und verpassen so die Gelegenheit, Jesus zu folgen (Mt 8,18–20 par.; Lk 9,61f.). Die Evv. halten ausdrücklich fest, daß sowohl Männer als auch Frauen zu dem Jüngerkreis, der Jesus folgte, gehörten. Im Kreuzigungsbericht verweist Mk 15,40f. parr. auf eine Gruppe von Frauen, die Jesus in Galiläa nachgefolgt waren. Lk 8,1–3 enthält einen w…

[German Version] I. History…

[German Version] I. Judaism – II. Christianity – III. Islam I. Judaism Talmudic tradition includes several examples of disputations between Jewish scholars and pagan philosophers or Roman emperors, dealing mainly with the questions of divine unity, the creation and the role of Israel ( …

[German Version] I. Sociology The popular idea of a town or city is primarily a densely populated and heterogeneous collection of buildings having various uses, provided with specific rights, and always having a market place. The “European city” is however principally understood as being also the arena of city society. Sociology has studied the development of urban societies for about 150 years, because towns are places of close-knit economic growth, social diversity, and innovations and conflicts. To modern sociology the town was simply the laboratory of society. Today in Europe (excluding eastern Europe) about 85% of the total population live in towns or cities, and the proportion is rising. For just 100 years, urban sociology and human geography had worked scientifically with urban society. During this period two themes have been central: on the one hand, the nature of corporate living and the (esp. spatial) separation between different groups, and on the other hand change, to…

[German Version] I. New Testament – II. Church History – III. Dogmatics I. New Testament 1. General: The Greek word αἷμα ( haîma, “blood”) first of all denotes the blood of humans (Mark 5:25; John 19:34) as well as of animals (Heb 9:7, 18–25). Apart from flesh (…

[German Version] I. Western Hagiography – II. Eastern Hagiography – III. Medieval and Modern Judaism I. Western Hagiography Western hagiography, as a literature that has no scholarly purpose but serves to venerate saints, first followed Greek examples. Its most important genre, the lives of the saints, is shaped less by the panegyric biography of the martyr bishop Cyprian of Carthage, written by the deacon Pontius (2nd half of 3rd cent. ce), than by the vitaes of the desert father Anthony of Padua, written by Athanasius (with two Latin translations), and…

[German Version] I. New Testament – II. Church History – III. Ethics I. New Testament 1. Discipleship of Jesus in the Gospels…

[German Version] I. Earliest Christianity According to CIJ 2, 1266 and …

[German Version] I. To the Reformation – II. Modern Era – III. Present I. To the Reformation The term “edifying literature” (or “devotional literature”) embraces all Christian literature that is not liturgical, juristic, merely informative, or scholarly (history, theology) but is meant to edify and encourage piety and Christian conduct. But the boundaries distinguishing e…

[English Version] I. Zum Begriff Der franz., auch ins Dt. und Engl. übernommene Begriff R. gehört zur großen Gruppe der organischen Metaphern für gesch. Vorgänge. Seit dem 19.Jh. lange Zeit allein auf tierisch-menschliches Leben bezogen und als »Wiedergeburt« verstanden, wird er in der neueren Forschung (seit Jost Trier) angemessener dem pflanzlichen Bereich zugeordnet und als »Wiederwuchs«, d.h. als Wiederausschlagen von Trieben aus abgehauenen Bäumen und Sträuchern, erklärt. Bereits im vorchristl.…

[English Version] I. Philosophisch Der Begriff einer Wirkungsgesch. (Wg.) erlangt in der Hermeneutik (: IV.) Hans-Georg Gadamers eine philos. Bedeutung. Er steht dort für den Versuch, die grundsätzliche Bedingung des Verstehens überlieferter Texte zu klären und das Verstehen in der ihm eigenen Geschichtsgebundenheit durchsichtig zu machen. Demnach geht es bei der Wg. nicht mehr um die philol. oder hist. Aufgabe, die Fortwirkung eines Textes zu untersuchen. Vielmehr soll sich das Verstehen selbst als ein Teil der W…

[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Philosophy of Religion – III. Church History – IV. Fundamental Theology – V. Dogmatics – VI. Ethics – VII. Practical Theology I. Philosophy In a broad sense shaped by daily life in the world, …

[German Version] I. The Concept and its Problems – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Judaism – V. Church History I. The Concept and its Problems Since the emergence of historical consciousness in the late 18th and early 19th century, literary historiography has attempted to present literary phenomena not simply as a sequential chronological or lexical (alphabetical) list but in their internal, substantial coherence and its historical development. The notion of literary history goes back to antiquity, but to …

[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Religious Studies – III. Church History – IV. Buddhism – V. India I. Terminology Monasticism is a collective term for an alternative way of life, always religiously motivated, that includes asceticism but is also characterized by a more or less radical withdrawal from society (the “world”) as well as from the monastics' own community of faith. The term monk commonly used in Christianity (from secular Gk μοναχός/ monachós, “solitary,” Lat. monachus, borrowed by way of a hypothetical 8th-century monichus* into Old High German [ m…

[German Version] I. Comparative Religion – II. Christianity – III. Buddhism – IV. Monastic Law I. Comparative Religion The term monastery (or cloister) derives from the Christian tradition, where it denotes the living and working quarters, relatively secluded from the outside world, of a monastic community leading some type of ascetic life (Asceticism; see II below). In the broader context of other religions, the term is also tied to the context of monasticism. When certain social structures in non-Christian religions are categorized as “monastic,” it is not difficult to find “monasteries” housing functionaries called by the same analogy “monks” and “nuns.” The monastic life of such religious specialists comprises communal observance of certain ascetic rules of conduct – for example dietary laws, ritual regulations, and celibacy – and preservation of the religious tradition – for example by collecting and copying texts or providing instruction and training. By commonly accepted analogy, monasteries and monasticism are found in several religions, includin…

[German Version] I. Concept Poverty is a major source of distress. It is a historical circumstance, not a natural condition. We speak of relative poverty when someone’s income is below the mean, absolute poverty when it is below subsistence level. From the perspective of the Bible and contemporary theology, pov…

[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Fundamental Theology – III. Applications I. Philosophy The concept of effective history ( Wirkungsgeschichte) takes on philosophical significance in the hermeneutics of H.G. Gadamer, where it represents the attempt to clarify the fundamental requirement for understanding texts and make this understanding transparent in its own historically conditioned context. …

[German Version] I. Concept The French term “Renaissance,” which was also borrowed by German and English, belongs to the large group of organic metaphors applied to historical occurrences. Used from the 19th century in sole reference to animal/human life and understood in the sense of “rebirth,” it is assigned in recent research (since Jost Trier) more appropriately to the botanical sphere and explained as “renewed growth,” i.e. as a renewed sprouting of shoots ¶ from felled trees and bushes. Pre-Christian Latin already employed renasci (from nasci, “to be born, to become, to ar…

[English Version] I. Zum Begriff Die wachsende Beliebtheit des dt. Begriffs S. wie seiner Äquivalente in eur. Volkssprachen in der rel. und theol. Lit. ist ein Phänomen des 20.Jh. Zwar ist das Adj. spiritalis (spiritualis) zur Wiedergabe des pln. πn̆ευματικο´ς/pneumatikós (1Kor 2,13–3,1 u. ö.) mit dem Oppositionsbegriff carnalis (für σαρκικο´ς…

[English Version] I. Religionswissenschaftlich R. bez. die Überreste (lat. reliquiae, »Zurückgebliebenes«) kraftgeladener Menschen (Krieger, Häuptlinge, Zauberer, Heroen, Propheten, Märtyrer, Heilige [Heilige/Heiligenverehrung]), ihrer Körper, Kleidungsstücke und Gebrauchsgegenstände. Ihre Verehrung gründet auf dem Glauben, daß diese Kräfte über das Grab hinaus dauerhaft wirksam sind, mit dem Ziel, dieser Macht oder des Segens teilhaftig zu…

[English Version] I. Alte Kirche 1.  Grundsätzliches Im Sinn der Definition von P. als Anspruch der röm. Bischöfe unter Berufung auf Mt 16,16–19; 28,20; Lk 22,31f.; Joh 21,15–19 als Nachfolger und Erben des Petrus auf die Leitung und den Jurisdiktions- und Lehrprimat in der Gesamtkirche (Primat: I.) kann vom P. im eigentlichen Sinne erst seit dem MA und nur für das lat. Abendland gesprochen werden; für die Alte Kirche handelt es sich um die Gesch. des röm. Bischofsamtes und der christl. stadtröm. Geme…

[English Version] I. Zum BegriffDer Begriff R. entstammt dem Wortfeld: Reich, Imperium, Gewalt, Herrschaft, Herrlichkeit. Von daher hat er die Bedeutung der Fülle der irdischen Güter (Gut), die solche Macht verleiht, sodann auch Fülle, Überfluß an etwas überhaupt. Man muß unterscheiden zw. einem allg. ökonomischen Sinn und einem weiten, übertragenen Sinn von R. Allg. meint er Besitz, Habe, die Summe verfügbarer Güter und Werte, die den zur Befriedigung der Bedürfnisse notwendig erachteten Bedarf wesentlich übersteigt. In weite…

[German Version] I. Terminology The term wealth belongs to the semantic field that includes kingdom, empire, violence, dominion, and glory. In that context it suggests first an abundance of earthly goods that brings power, then abundance or profusion of almost anything. A distinction must be made between an economic sense of wealth and a broader figurative sense. In its economic sense it means property, possessions, the sum of available goods and values (Value/Values) that substantially exceeds what is conside…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. Judaism – IV. New Testament – V. Church History – VI. Dogmatics and Ethics I. Religious Studies …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Christianity – III. Judaism I. Religious Studies 1. General Clothing fulfills the need for ornamentation and presentation, protection against the weather, and, in certain cases, magic. Appearance and materials follow climatic conditions, economic and technical capabilities (sewing, weaving, etc.), social or fashion conventions, and can be specified according to function (professional attire) or situation (festal attire). Clothing increases the complexity of the optical appearance of its ¶ wearer. It visualizes and makes more precise the wearer's characteristics, hierarchical position, social, religious, political, or ethnic identity, gender, and social function. Clothing is seen as the external expression of the internal condition and is closely associated with its wearer. The wearer's power and identity can be transferred to the clothing or part of it (e.g. the hem; 2 Kgs 2:8,14), which, consequently, fully represents the wearer as a mark…

[German Version] I. Terminology The growing popularity of the term spirituality and its equivalents in other Western languages in religious and theological literature is a 20th-century phenomenon. Although the adjective spiritalis (or spiritualis) appeared in early Christian Latin, translating Pauline …

[German Version] I. Early Church – II. Middle Ages and Reformation – III. Modern Period and Today – IV. Chronological List of the Popes I. Early Church 1. Definition. If papacy is defined as the claim (based on Matt 16:16–19; 28:20; Luke 22:31f.; John 21:15–19) of the bishops of Rome as successors and heirs to Peter to leadership along with jurisdictional and magisterial primacy (I) within the universal church, papacy in the strict sense dates only from the Middle Ages in the Latin West. In the Early Church, the point at issue is the history of the Roman see and the Christian community in the city of Rome, with occasional attempts to assert primacy within the universa…

[German Version] I. The Cross in Non-Christian Religions – II. Crucifixion in Antiquity – III. The Crucifixion of Christ – IV. Church History – V. Dogmatic Theology – VI. The Cross in Modern Art I. The Cross in Non-Christian Religions From prehistoric times to the present, various forms of the cross have appeared in many non-Christian cultures and religions, used both as a religious symbol and as an ornamental design (the boundaries are fluent). It is a primal human symbol. As such it is polysemous and has …