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[German Version] are an emphatic assurance of salvation or of a fulfilled life, and are employed in sapiential, prophetic, liturgical, and other (even profane) contexts; this genre is related to blessings and to oracles of salvation. In general, the beatitude is signaled by a predicate ( ʾašrê in Hebrew with the character of an interjection, makários in Greek, tūbēi in Aramaic), which is followed by a subject qualified by relative and conditional clauses or participles, and sometimes by a future, …

[German Version] I. The Concept From the 1970s into the 1990s, New Age was a buzz word for the expectation of a global new era marked by evolutionistic optimism (versus the apocalyptic scenarios of the Cold War), a monistic worldview, recovery of a unity of humankind with the natural world (end of the age of technocracy), and a “new consciousness” of a spiritual, ecological, and peaceable society, along with “holistic” approaches and increased appreciation of spiritual experiences vis-à-vis systems, including religious systems. The New Age movement combined utopian, myst…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Temptation is a theologoumenon of many religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It arises in the presence of free will when evil makes its appearance as fascinating, enticing cajolery, often insinuating. There are various forms of temptation: by a deity, by human individuals, by demons, in a nontheistic con-…

[German Version] I. Early Use of the Term In Neoplatonism (Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus,Damascius, Magical papyri), the term ϑεοσοφία/ theosophía (“wisdom concerning divine things”) denotes a knowledge of God combining elements of wisdom, mysticism, speculative metaphysics, and initiation into mysteries. For the church fathers, theosophy and theology wer…

[German Version] a versatile theological writer c. 160–180 ce (according to Eusebius of Caesarea, bishop of Sardis). A list of his works is given in Eus. Hist. eccl. IV 26. 2–14. Most are lost, but the number of fragments has increased in recent years. The Easter homily …

[German Version] (Canon Muratori), discovered by Ludovico Antonio Muratori in a Milan codex miscellany (c. 8th cent.); a fragment, published in 1740, of an early list of New Testament books with commentary, the text of which was complemented by four fragments of 11th–12th century codices from Montecassino (but no early Christian citations). As liturgical readings the following are recommended: the four Gospels (in the order Matthew, Ma…

[German Version] I. Church History 1. On Jan 2, 1901, the Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas, headed by C.F. Parham, experienced pneumatic phenomena, which were interpreted as missionary preparation and “baptism in the Spirit” (as in Acts 2). From 1906 to 1913, the “Azusa Street Revival” in Los Angeles, led by Pastor W.J. Seymour, the son of a black slave, became the birthplace of the modern Pentecostal movement. “Pentecostal churches” sprang up almost overnight (see II, 1 below). In 2002 some 20% of all people in the United States were influenced by Pentecostalism in its broadest sense (see also II below). Pentecostal churches sprang up in India, Canada, Great Britain, Mexico, Scandinavia, and elsewhere – often independent of the American Pentecostal movement. In Latin America (see also III below), energetic missionary activity and responsiveness to the concerns of the poor (although acceptance of liberation theology came only very recently) have made Pentecostal churches the strongest Protestant force, especially in Brazil (Assembléias de Dios no Brasil, 1911, with some 15 to 17 million members today). In Africa, too, Pentecostal churches are widespread, and to a lesser extent in Asia, with substantial groups in India, Indonesia, Korea, and the Philippines. In Europe large Pentecostal churches have emerged in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Romania, Italy (Assemblee de Dio in Italia, 1947), and Great Britain, where the Welsh revival of 1904–1905 anticipated elements of Pentecostalis…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Antiquity – III. Bible – IV. Church History – V. Practical Theology – VI. Philosophy of Religion – VII. Judaism – VIII. Islam I. Religious Studies No definition of magic has as yet found general acceptance. Approaches that go back to the late 19th century (E.B. Tylor, J.G. Frazer) view magic as a primitive cognitive system, the lowest rung on an evolutionary ladder (Evolution) …

[German Version] I. New Testament The legend in Mark 9:2–13 proclaims Jesus as Son of God in the presence of his innermost circle of disciples. This is clearly an important compositional element for Mark: the beginning (1:1, 11), middle (9:7), and end (15:39) of the Gospel bear witness to Jesus as God’s Son. The combination with 8:27–33 breaks through Jesus’ incognito and defines his mission – passion (Passion/Passion traditions) and resurrection (II). For a moment, the disciples receive an insight i…

[German Version] I. Symbols of Christ (verbal or visual symbols) vicariously represent Christ himself but are also shorthand for the event of salvation (the boundary is fluid: the cross is both, the manger only the latter) and thus tokens of Christian identity and building-blocks of Christian art. Most symbols of Christ come from the New Testament; verbal symbols are, therefore, prior to visual symbols (see also Image; Iconology). Christ is the Lamb (of God) (John 1:29; Rev 5:6–13), the heavenly bridegroom of the Church (Eph 5:32; Rev 19:7; the church's interpretation of the Song of Songs) or of the soul (mysticism), the Good Shepherd (John 10; Luke 15:3–7 in later exegesis). The symbolism of the rock (representing God in the Old Testament: Ps 18:34f.) was applied to ¶ Christ (1 Cor 10:4; Justin, Dial. 114.4) and to Peter (Matt 16:18). Like the cornerstone (Acts 4:11; Eph 2:2…

[German Version] (λάβαρον, λάβωρον). According to Eusebius of Caesarea Vita Const. I 26–31 (cf. II 7; Autopsy), a labarum is a vexillum (military standard) with a Christogram at the top, medallions of the emperor and his sons, and drapery attached to a crossbar. In…

[German Version] The Letter of Lentulus is an apocryphal “contemporary” description of Jesus' personality and appearance: long, dark brown hair, parted in the middle and curling below his ears, a short, slightly forked beard, bluish-gray eyes; a handsome, serious radiance (cf.…

[German Version] I. New Testament – II. Eastern Liturgy – III. Christian Art I. New Testament Apart from Luke 10:3 and John 21:15, where it designates the disciples and the community (otherwise sheep), the word lamb appears only in christological contexts. Its Old Testamant associations are clear in 1 Cor 5:7, where Paul refers to Christ as “our paschal lamb that has been sacrificed,” whose death – according to the context – sets Christians free for new life, and in Acts 8:32–35, where a quotation from Isa 53:7f. LXX is applie…

[English Version] I. Neues Testament Die Legende Mk 9,2–13 parr. proklamiert Jesus als Gottessohn vor dem innersten Jüngerkreis. Deutlich ist starkes kompositionelles Interesse des Mk: Anfang (1,1.11), Mitte (9,7) und Ende (15,39) des Ev. bezeugen Jesus als Gottessohn. Die Zusammenstellung mit 8,27–33 lüftet das Inkognito Jesu und definiert seinen Auftrag (Passion und Auferstehung [: II.]). Die Jünger erhalten für einen Moment Einblick in Jesu Umgang mit der himmlischen Welt (Mose und Elia als Entrückte: 2Kön 2; As…

[English Version] I. Kirchengeschichtlich 1. In der von Ch.F. Parham geleiteten Bethel Bible School (Topeka, KS) kam es am 1.1.1901 zu pneumatischen Erfahrungen, die als missionarische Zurüstung und »Geisttaufe« (nach Apg 2) erlebt wurden. 1906–1913 wurde die »Azusa Street Erweckung« (Los Angeles) unter Führung des schwarzen Sklavensohns und Pastors W.J. Seymour zur Geburtsstätte der modernen Pfingstbewegung (Pb.). In rascher Folge entstanden »Pentecostal Churches« (»Pfingstkirchen«, Pk.; s.u. II.,1). 2002 sind etwa 20% aller US-Amerikane…

[English Version] I. ReligionsgeschichtlichV. ist ein Theologumenon der jüd., christl. und isl., aber auch anderer Rel. Sie entsteht, wenn in einer Situation der Willensfreiheit das Böse als faszinierende, verlockende Überredung u. ä. auftritt (häufig als »Einflüsterung«). Zu unterscheiden sind die V. durch Menschen, durch die Gottheit, durch Dämonen, V. in einem nichttheistischen Kontext sowie der Gottheit durch Menschen. Oft wird V. als Werk einer dämonischen Macht interpretiert, die symbolische…

[English Version] I. Vorgeschichte des Begriffs Der Begriff ϑεοσοϕι´α/theosophía (»Weisheit von göttlichen Di…

[English Version] sind eine Form emphatischer Zusprache von Heil bzw. Lebenserfüllung in weisheitlichen, prophetischen, liturgischen u.a. (auch profanen) Kontexten, verwandt mit Segen und Heilsorakel. I. allg. folgt auf ein signalhaft vorangestelltes Prädikat (hebr. 'ašrê mit Interjektionscharakter; griech. makários; aram. ṭūbēj) ein Subjekt, das durch Relativ- und Konditionalsätze oder Partizipien qualifiziert wird, und evtl. eine futurische, im NT eschatologische Konkretisierung des zugesagt…

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