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[German Version] (c.1300, Strasbourg – Jun 16, 1361, Strasbourg). Along with Meister Eckhart and H. Suso, Tauler was the most important representative of German Dominican mysticism (III, 3.b) on the Upper Rhine. Trained at the Dominican convent in Strasbourg, which he had joined around the age of 14, he did not hold a degree in theology but had received a good education; philosophically active, he participated in the neoplatonic revival in the Dominican order (Berthold of Moosburg). In terms of th…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies and History of Philosophy The dogmatic definition of the Holy Spirit as a person within the one divine substance (Trinity/Doctrine of the Trinity) presupposes not only a particular philosophical context but also a religio-historical horizon. A formative influence on the conceptualization of the Holy Spirit was exercised by the various anthropomorphic interpretations of elemental anthropological or normative qualities in the context of polytheistic interpretations of …

[German Version] I. New Testament – II. Church History – III. Theology I. New Testament 1. The term ἀντίχριστος appears in Christian literature only in 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7, and, dependent on these texts, Pol. Phil 7:1. There it refers to someone who turns against Christ and the confession of Christ, not – as would be linguistically possible – someone who seeks to take the place of Christ; in context, it refers to theological opponents collectively. …

[German Version] I. Neurobiology and Psychology – II. Religious Studies – III. Ancient Near East and Old Testament – IV. Early Judaism – V. Greco-Roman Antiquity – VI. New Testament – VII. Church History – VIII. Fundamental Theology – IX. Practical Theology – X. Missiology – XI. Art History I. Neurobiology and Psychology Dreams are hallucinatory experiences that generally occur during sleep. Unlike real experiences, they involve associations that are temporally, spatially, and emot…

[German Version] (died Mar 30, 1530, Stuttgart). The Augsburg weaver Bader, who was released from a brief imprisonment in 1527 following his tactical revocation of his anabaptist beliefs and who fled from Augsburg in 1528, prolonged the unfulfilled eschatological predictions of H. Hut from 1528 onward by means of his own isionary conception. With only a few followers, he expected the rul…

[German Version] I. Definition Sociology is an empirical social science; its field of study encompasses the relatively enduring forms and structures of social action (Action, Science of ) and the resultant social units, from entities like the family and kinship group and social groups to large-scale organizations and states. The word itself is an artificial combination of Latin socius (“companion, fellow”) and Greek logos (“word, truth,” in an extended sense “knowledge”). It appears for the first time in vol. IV of the Cours de philosophie positive of A. Comte (1838). As a scie…

[German Version] (Dec 28, 1654, Metz – Mar 7, 1729, Berlin). During his service as a page at the Saxon-Eisenach court in Marksuhl (c. 1666 to 1670), Naudé became familiar with German culture and the internal differences within Protestantism. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, he came to Brandenburg in 1687 by way of Saarbrücken and Hanau. There he embarked on a career in mathematics (1687 teaching in the Gymnasium in Joachimsthal, appointed court mathematician in 1696, made a made member…

[German Version] (d. Jun 29, 1293, Tournai) supported the Beguines as archdeacon in Brügge (from 1276/1277) and Tournai (from 1279) and had decisive influence as magister regens of theology in Paris from 1275 to 1292. Although he was involved in the condemnation of rigorous Aristotelianism (his role was never completely clarified), during the various stages of his intellectual development, he nevertheless followed Avicenna and Augustine in placing Aristotelian modes of thought in the context of a Christian Neoplatonism (…

[German Version] (1328, Kalkar – Dec 20, 1408, Cologne). Henry of Kalkar received the M.A. in Paris in 1357, and later the Bacc.theol. Renouncing already acquired benefices, he entered the Charterhouse of Cologne (Carthusians) in 1365. From 1368 to 1396, he held leading positions in charterhouses near Arnhem and Roermond, in Cologne, and near Strasbourg, while also officiating as visitor of his province from 1375 ¶ onward. In performing the spiritual dimension of these offices, he developed a devotional theology of monastic discipleship which aimed to achieve …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. New Testament – III. Church History – IV. North America – V. Systematic Theology – VI. Islam – VII. China I. Religious Studies Millenarianism (chiliasm) refers to the notion of a 1,000-year (Lat. millenarius, Gk χίλια/ chília) period ¶ immediately preceding the Last Judgment and the end of the world. This conception of world history (see also II) derives from Jewish apocalypticism (III) and became widespread over time, being interpreted in various ways depending on the age and cultural envi…

[German Version] The university founded in 1386 by Rupert I, Elector Palatine, was initially staffed by scholars forced out of Paris and Prague because of ecclesial and national opposition. The founding rector Marsilius of Inghen guided Heidelberg on the path of a moderate via moderna; from 1452, the via antiqua shared equal rights. The scholastic manner of instruction (Scholasticism) was supplemented after 1456 with the humanist (Humanism: III), but not profoundly altered. Brought to the Lutheran Reformation in 1558 by Ottheinrich (1556–1559)…

[German Version] (1550, Liège – after 1630, Straßburg [Strasbourg]). Though born into a Catholic family, Sudermann came into contact with Calvinism, Lutheranism, and Anabaptism early on. Having worked as a private tutor, after 1585 he served as an educator of the nobility at the Bruderhof in Straßburg. He had already come in contact with the ideas of K. v. Schwenckfeld, some of whose writings he began publishing in 1584. He dated his own attraction to Schwenckfeld’s teaching from a conversion expe…

[German Version] (Georgsohn; 1501, Flanders – Aug 25, 1556, Basel). The glass painter Joris's public criticism of a Host procession in Delft in 1528 led to his mutilation and banishment. After receiving adult baptism in 1534/1535, Joris promoted his claims to leadership when he mediated between the Melchiorite Anabaptists (who were divided after the fall of Münster), seeking an – at least temporary – renunciation of violence (Bocholt meeting, 1536). Ecstatic visions in December 1536 confirmed his …

[German Version] (1285/1289, Jandun – 1328, Todi). John, who received his M.A. in Paris in 1310, regarded Averroes as a normative authority, more definitively so than the consistent Aristotelians of the 13th century did. He accepted Averroes's doctrine of the soul and cosmology as philosophically correct but did not intellectually harmonize them with Christian doctrine, which he never explicitly disputed. Together with Marsilius of Padua, whom he influenced intellectually (although he did not co-author the Defensor pacis), he escaped the Inquisition in 1326 and fled to …

[German Version] I. Course – II. French Revolution and Religion – III. Effects on Germany In the French Revolution, discontent exploded over the inability of French absolutism under Louis XVI to achieve reform. It signaled the dissolution of the old European estates (Estate-based society) and absolutism, to be replaced by bourgeois society (Bourgeoisie) and the constitutional state based on the rule of law. I. Course The struggle of the aristocracy in the parlements to preserve their traditional privileges frustrated the govern-¶ ment, which, facing a major financial cris…

[German Version] (died Nov 29, 1342, Munich). After receiving his doctorate in theology in Paris in 1316 and being elected minister general of the Franciscans, Michael became the key figure in the transition from the practical to the theoretical poverty (IV) debate. In agreement with John XXII, he opposed the Spiritual Franciscans, whom he had been unable to reintegrate into the order; after the chapter in Perugia in 1322, however, he rejected its denial of the total poverty of Christ and his disc…

[German Version] (Dec 11, 1694, Frankfurt am Main – Jul 24, 1776, Lingen). After studying jurisprudence in Marburg and Halle (C. Thomasius) and undertaking educational journeys, especially to the courts of European rulers, Loën lived in Frankfurt am Main from an inherited fortune from 1724. Drawing on the form of the courtly Baroque novel, he developed an ¶ enlightened conception of state politics in Der redliche Mann am Hofe (The candid man at court; 1740). In the essay Die einzig wahre Religion (The only true religion; 1750f.), he elaborated an irenic program on the basis …

[German Version] (Jan 9/10, 1502, Münster? – after 1570). Gifted as a visionary from his youth, Niclaes moved from Amsterdam to Emden after his calling as a prophet in 1540. He expanded late medieval mystical concepts into a prophetic-chiliastic spiritualism. Against a background of pantheistic ontology, he saw himself as the reincarnation of Christ. Through his missionary journeys, the “Family of Love” (Familists) spread, through their experience of the Spirit transcend-¶ ing the bounds of confession and religion; this was not rightly understood in the many accusa…

[German Version] (Dec 26, 1643, Wees – Oct 31, 1713, Leiden). After studying in Utrecht and Leiden ( J. Cocceius), in 1666 Til became pastor of the Reformed church in Huisduinen. After other positions, he came to Dordrecht in 1683, where the next year he was also appointed to a chair at the Schola Illustris. In 1702 he moved to Leiden. The focus of his work was scholarly philological exegesis of the Old Testament prophets. He modified the covenant theology he learned from Cocceius by including Cartesian (R. Descartes) elements, paving the way for the early Enlightenment by giving theologia n…

[German Version] (c. 1495, Rattenberg, Tyrol – 1556, Augsburg). In his home town Marbeck was given in 1525 the office of Bergrichter (mountain magistrate). He resisted the unreasonable request to use this function to put an end to Anabaptist activity. He gave up his office after the execution of the Anabaptist preacher Leonhard Schiemer in 1528, and was probably baptized himself in Krumau (Bohemia). In 1528 he was granted citizenship of Strasbourg. With his mystical theology of suffering discipleship leading through…

[German Version] (c. 1490, Haina – Dec 6, 1527, Augsburg). From 1524 and under the influence of A. Bodenstein von Karlstadt and T. Müntzer (Anabaptists), Hut, a bookkeeper, rejected infant baptism and was baptized in 1526 by H.Denck. After participating in the Peasants' War in the hope that it might bring about the eschatological cleansing, he reacted to its failure by prolonging Müntzer's millenarianism (III, 3), now expecting the judgment of the wicked and the thousand-year kingdom to commence i…

[German Version] (c. 1500, Großbockenheim – after 1532, probably in Moravia). On Jun 9, 1527, Jakob Kautz, then preacher (from 1524) in Worms, publicly posted “Seven Articles” that stressed the importance of the “inner word” under the influence of H. Denck and rejected infant baptism as well as the notion of the Real Presence; the intended disputation was probably meant to initiate a reformation in line with spiritualistic Anabaptism (Anabaptists). Expelled from Worms on July 1, Kautz took part in…

[German Version] (c. 1470, Zweibrücken – Aug 10 or 15, 1545, Landau). Formerly a teacher and chaplain at the court of Zweibrücken, Bader became pastor in Landau in 1518. Because of his Reformational preaching from 1522 onward, the clerical court of Speyer banned him in 1524, but the council of Landau protected him. His work influenced the education of youths (…

[German Version] (c. 1500, Schwäbisch-Hall – 1543, Strasbourg) was a Spiritualist (Spiritualism: II, 1) and an Anabaptist. Hoffmann was active from 1523 as a lay preacher in Livonia. He placed the mysticism of suffering imparted by A. Bodenstein von Karlstadt in an apocalyptic context. The time before the Last Day announced for 1533 was to bring Christians suffering, but also knowledge, directly conveyed by the Spirit. Despite a certificate of orthodoxy issued by Luther in 1525, Hoffmann was expel…

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Ancient Near East – III. Greco-Roman Antiquity – IV. Old Testament – V. New Testament – VI. Church History – VII. Judaism – VIII. Islam I. History of Religion “Hospitality” refers to the customs that regulate the temporary admittance of a stranger to a particular group. This aspect can be well illustrated, for instance, with the Greek term for hospitality, ϕιλοξενία/ philoxenía (the “welcoming of a stranger”). The host protects the guest from the numerous perils to which he or she is exposed in his precarious …

[German Version] (1489, Ossig [Osiek] – Dec 10, 1561, Ulm). After studying at Cologne and Frankfurt an der Oder, Schwenckfeld v. Ossig, scion of a noble Silesian family, returned to diplomatic service in the duchy of Liegnitz, a position he had to resign for health reasons in 1523. An early follower of Luther, he sought to spread the Reformation in Silesia by extensive ¶ preaching and personal influence on Duke Frederick II of Liegnitz (1480–1547). Along with his early dependence on Luther, he also incorporated strong strains of mysticism into his own theology, which h…

[German Version] (c. 1500, Heybach – Nov 1527, Basel). After completing his studies at Ingolstadt (1517–1519), where he was formatively influenced by humanism, ¶ Denck acted as a school rector in Nuremberg from 1523, upon the recommendation of J. Oecolampadius. The ideas of A.B. v. Karlstadt and T. Müntzer strengthened his criticism of the Nuremberg Reformation, which, in his opini…

[German Version] (c. 1500, Maaseik – after 1574). After studying at Cologne and a stay in the duchy of Jülich, Campanus came to Wittenberg c. 1527/1528. His exclusion from the debate at the Colloquy of Marburg (Disputations, Religious: I) marked the beginning of his conflict with the Wittenberg Reformers, which was intensified in 1530 when he disputed the divinity of the Holy Spirit. He soon returned to Jülich, where a warrant for his arrest (at first not executed) was issued in 1532. His Göttlicher und Heiliger Schrift … Restitution (1532) expounded his anti-trinitarian th…

[German Version] 1. Johann Georg (Jun 17, 1693, Meiningen – Jan 13, 1775, Jena). Walch began studying classical languages and ancient history in 1710 at Leipzig, where he delivered his first lectures on classical philology as Magister. In 1718 he was appointed professor of philosophy and antiquities at Jena; in 1719 rhetoric was added and poetry in 1722. In 1724, even before he received his doctorate in theology (1726), he was appointed associate professor of theology. In 1728 he was made full professor. He took the lectures of hi…

[German Version] (Johannes Herwich aus Ilten; 1425, Ilten – c. 1500, Eisenach). Hilten enrolled at Erfurt in 1445 and received his Bacc. artium in 1447. Later he entered the Franciscan order. In 1463 he moved to Livonia, where in 1472 be became lector and preacher in Dorpat (modern Tartu). He was held under claustral house arrest on various charges in Weimar and Eisenach after 1477. He is mentioned in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession (Augsburg Confession, Apology of the; art. 27; BSLK, 378), because the Wittenberg Reformers thought that in the context of his apo…

[German Version] (died after 1547). From 1526 to 1528, he was the preacher of an anabaptist congrega-¶ tion (Anabaptists) in Eibenschütz (Bohemia). From 1529 he worked in Strassburg, where he had contact with H. Bünderlin and K. v. Schwenckfeld. Realizing that anabaptism was coming under threat, he clearly distanced himself from the movement. No later than 1536, he became adviser to Albert of Prussia in Königsberg. Af…

[German Version] At the request of French cardinals – who wanted to ensure the Roman Catholic faith of bishops, in view of the royal right of nomination in France – the decrees of Trent from the council’s 24th and 25th sessions in 1563 prescribed for bishops and other clergy the declaration of an expanded confession of faith upon assuming office, and for academic teachers the regular swearing of an oath of Catholicity. The text, presumably written in the context of the Roman Inquisition, was promulgated by Pope Pius IV in the bull Iniunctum nobis (Nov 13, 1564). ¶ In it, the Niceno-Constant…

[German Version] I. Life – II. Work – III. Influence (Venerabilis Inceptor; c. 1285, Ockham, England – Apr 9, 1347, Munich) I. Life William probably studied a reduced program of arts at the Franciscan college in London before proceeding in 1308 to study theology at the University of Oxford. Here he delivered his lectures on the Sentences from 1317 to 1319. It is not clear whether, or to what extent, William was involved in the disputes between the mendicant orders and the university. In any case, he came under sharp philosophical attack, especially from t…

[German Version] (May 6, 1758, Arras – Jul 28, 1794, Paris), lawyer. In 1789 Robespierre became a member of the États-Généraux and of the National Assembly (France : III, 1.i), as deputy of the Third Estate. He occupied a central function for the course of the French Revolution, as spokesman for the Jacobin Club. In 1792 he became one of the leaders of the radical Montagnards in the National Convention; his attacks on the king and the monarchy became increasingly outspoken. In July 1793 he became a member of the Co…

[German Version] I. Concept and Terminology – II. History – III. Ethics – IV. Constitutional and International Law – V. Education I. Concept and Terminology In the usage of international law and national constitutional states, human rights are rights possessed by every individual (Human beings) by virtue of his or her humanity, independent of cultures, nationalities, and periods (universality). Their guiding principle is that of human dignity (inviolable, indisposable, inalienable). Guarantees of human rights can a…

[German Version] (Mar 24, 1246, Mechelen – c. 1310). Henry Bate studied the artes in Paris c. 1266–1272; after 1281 he held various clerical offices in Liège. Besides his interest in astronomy and astrology (translating treatises of Ibn Ezra and Abu Ma'zar, Tabulae mechlinenses), he composed a metaphysically oriented, compilatory Speculum based on a hierarchical structure of the intelligible world, displaying influences ranging from Aristotelianism (including Siger of Brabant) to Neoplatonism (esp. Proclus). Volker Leppin Bibliography Works: Speculum divinorum et quorund…

[German Version] I. Linguistics – II. Philosophy – III. Religious Studies – IV. Philosophy of Religion – V. Old Testament – VI. New Testament – VII. Church History – VIII. Judaism – IX. Islam I. Linguistics Linguistically, a name is a proper noun ( nomen proprium) as opposed to a common noun ( nomen appellativum); both function grammatically as substantives. Proper nouns (names) designate individual persons, places, things, and ideas or collectives thought of as individuals; they do not ascribe common attributes to their referents. Outside…

[German Version] (1492, Siegelsbach, near Heilbronn – 1446, Bergzabern), matriculated at Heidelberg in 1510 and became a pastor in Flinsbach in 1519. In 1520 he received his master’s degree. From 1524 on he was a clergyman and Latin teacher in Bergzabern. Having sided with the Swiss in the Eucharistic controversy (Eucharist: II, 3), he came increasingly under M. Bucer’s influence, especially after conflict with the Anabaptists (meeting with H. Denck in 1527). Volker Leppin Bibliography J.P. Gelbert, Magister Johann Baders Leben und Schriften, Nikolaus Thomä und seine Briefe, 1868.

[German Version] After the loss of the Kurkreis with Wittenberg University (Wittenberg, University of) ¶ as a consequence of the Schmalkaldic War, the University of Jena constituted the state university of Ernestine Saxony and its successor states. During the imprisonment of Ernst Friedrich, a school of higher education was established in Jena in 1548. Its first teachers included such important but contrasting figures as V. Strigel, a student of Melanchthon, and the strict Lutheran E. Schnepf (from 1549). The fact that the Ernestin…

[German Version] (before 1350, Krakow –Mar 5, 1410, Heidelberg). Matthew studied in Prague (1367, M.A.; 1384, professor of theology), where he worked also as a clergy-critical preacher and as an edifying writer. In 1394, he went to Heidelberg University, where he became rector in 1396/1397. After supporting the building up of theological studies in Krakow from 1397, he returned to Heidelberg before 1400, and carried out diplomatic missions for the Electors. His criticism of the curia, aimed at cleansing the see of Rome, especially against simony ( De squaloribus curiae Romanae, 1403;…

[German Version] (Apr 1, 1753, Chambéry – Feb 26, 1821, Turin). After studying law in Turin from 1769 to 1772, Maistre practiced law in his home town, and in 1773 became a freemason (Freemasons). His career reached its peak in 1788 when he became senator of Savoy. The military encroachment of the French Revolution into his home town in 1792 forced him to emigrate the following year to Lausanne. This destabilizing experience made him a political advocate of the Restoration ( Considérations sur la France, 1796). The theological basis for this was a strong sense of providence. Mai…

[German Version] (Jun 6, 1684, Hawkhurst, Kent – Jul 24, 1768, Hawkhurst, Kent). After his formation at a Presbyterian academy in London from 1699 to 1703 and studying in Utrecht and Leiden, Lardner was an independent preacher from 1709, and a private chaplain and tutor from 1713. While officiating as an assistant preacher in London (from 1721), he worked on his main publication, a work of popular enlightenment entitled The Credibility of the Gospel History (17 vols., 1727–1757), which was based on a series of lectures. The basic notions of historical criticism impart…

[German Version] (c. 910–992), reforming abbot of Montier-en-Der (from 967/68) and St. Bénigne (c. 982–985). Adso composed lives of various saints and (between 949 and 954) an influential summary of the Antichrist tradition in biographical form. In it, Adso categorized the West Frankish Carolingians (to whom his patron Gerberga was related by marriage) as the heirs of Rome in God's plan of salvation. Volker Leppin Bibliography CCCM 45, 1976 R. Konrad, De ortu et tempore Antichristi, 1964.

[German Version] Biblia pauperum, was the name given to the Bible abbreviations for preaching purposes in the late Middle Ages. Technically “Bible of the Poor” denotes a specific, primarily pictorial work of monastic provenance. As far as it can be reconstructed, its earliest, originally anonymous exemplar was written in the southeastern German language area in…

[German Version] (Dec 25, 1756, Benevento – Apr 19, 1844, Rome) came from a noble family and was doctor of canon and civil law. In 1785 he was consecrated titular bishop of Damietta, and in the same year, without the recognition of the archbishop of Cologne, took office in the city as papal nuncio. Against episcopalism (II; Ems, Congress of), he vigorously represented the papal position. As nuncio in Lisbon (1794/1795–1802) he fought with equal vigor (having been made a cardinal in 1801) against P…

[German Version] I. Church History – II. Dogmatics – III. Ethics I. Church History The term “enthusiasts” ( Schwärmer) is not a historiographic category but a theologically evaluative term for a type of piety that by false appeal to the Holy Spirit (Spirit/Holy Spirit) pays inadequate regard to the extra nos of Christian salvation. Luther, along with T. Müntzer and A. v. Karlstadt, shaped its usage in the dispute with the Zwickau …

[German Version] Baroness de Stäel-Holstein (Apr 22, 1766, Paris – Jul 14, 1817, Paris). As an exile during the French Revolution, Mme. de Staël was the central figure of a European network of communication. Refracting the ideas of J.-J. Rousseau through the lens of early German Romanticism, she wrote in criticism of the social conventionality restricting women, and preached the perfecting of humanity in history. Volker Leppin Bibliography C. Blennerhassett, Madame de Staël, 1889 (Eng.).

[German Version] I. Definition The use of spiritualism as a precise technical term was shaped by the Soziallehren of E. Troeltsch, who used it to distinguish between two groups Luther had lumped together as Schwärmer (“Enthusiasts”): spiritualists and Anabaptists. The common characteristic shared by the groups called spiritualists is their belief in the direct effect of the Holy Spirit (Spirit/Holy Spirit) within each individual, in contrast to the outward working of the Spirit through the words of Scripture. As a rule, this belief i…

1. DefinitionMemory (Latin  memoria, “faculty of recollection”) is generally understood as a reservoir (in the sense both of content and container) of knowledge of the past, available for recollection or refreshment through the process of “calling to mind” (Greek anamnēsis). Almost all theories of memory seek to link the thesaurus model with the actual act of remembering. Memory and recollection have since Aristotle been a subject of rhetoric under the heading of the  ars memorativa (“mnemotechnics”). Mnemonics belongs to rhetoric because it is an essential techni…

1. General 1.1. Problems of definitionEmotions are deeply rooted in human developmental history. As a fundamental phenomenon of subjective experience, they were common to humans and higher animals, and are based on a physiological state with measurable physical reactions (e.g. changes in pulse or breathing, motor expression in mime and gesture). However, they are characterized by cultural variation [4] in the expression and moral evaluation of emotions, as well as in their precise definition and frequency. To this extent, emotions are also subject …