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1. OT 1.1. Historiography and Historical Thinking To a greater extent than is sometimes realized, ancient Israel (§1) shared in the very diverse “mythical” historical thinking of the surrounding world. It read present events in the light of past events, beginning in a distant primal period, which would both explain and if necessary validate them. It thus narrated, established, and handed down the stories of the past, not least of all in the cult. The course of history was determined by human conduct in…

[German Version] I. History – II. Missiology I. History Independent local forms of Christianity and the aspiration to be emancipated from the control of European missionaries appeared early on in the history of the emerging churches of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Examples include the movement initiated by the female African prophet D.B. Kimpa Vita in the Congo during the early 18th century, which temporarily threatened Portuguese rule in the region. Independent church movements became a widespread…

[German Version] I. The Conference – II. Reception in Asia, Africa, and Latin America – III. Ecumenical Significance I. The Conference The “World Missionary Conference to consider Missionary Problems in relation to the Non-Christian World” met in the assembly hall of the United Free Church of Scotland in Edinburgh from Jun 14 to 23, 1910. Originally conceived as a successor to the conferences of London …

[German Version] I. General – II. Latin America, Asia and Africa I. General Catechumenate is a term, derived from Gk κατήχειν/ katḗchein as used by Paul (e.g. Gal 6:6), for the institution through which the church, with reference to baptism, forges the necessary link between Christian faith and learning. It is found, after precursors in the scholarly Latin of the 16th and 17th centuries, in the early 19th century as a term for Early Church instruction, but it then quickly became the designation for programs of catechesis and church reform (Henkys). 1. Early Church baptismal catechu…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Church History – III. Survey of the Christian Confessions – IV. Systematic Theology I. Religious Studies For an overview of Christianity at the end of the second millennium of its development, it is reasonable to give a comparative presentation against the background of the world of religion. It must be remembered, however, that “religion” is not an immutable, ahistorical quantity: it is variable and controversial. The modern concept of religion is …

[German Version] I. Church History The policy of the state toward the church in National Socialist Germany had met with resistance since 1933, on the part of both Protestants and Catholics. As already demonstrated by the founding of the Pastors’ Emergency League in Berlin (by M. Niemöller), by the opposition to the National Socialist Deutsche Christen at the confessing synods of Barmen and Dahlem, and by the open criticism of the resolute faction within the Confessing Church (voiced in the position paper of the Second Provisional Church Directory fr…

[German Version] I. Concept, Presuppositions – II. Development – III. Middle Eastern Church History and Historiography – IV. Religious Education I. Concept, Presuppositions 1. Concept The concept of church history has not yet been studied sufficiently, but it is already clear that since antiquity extraordinarily different conceptions of Christian historiography have been in simultaneous competition over the interpretation of past, present, and future. Often the different methodological option…

[German Version] (Oct 6, 1873, Tillicoultry, Scotland – Jan 27, 1962, London), Scottish educationist, missionary, and ecumenist in southern Asia and western Africa. Fraser was born in India, where his father was a high-ranking colonial official. From 1904 to 1924, he was in the service of the Anglican Church Missionary Society in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) as Principal of Trinity College Kandy, and from 1924 to 1935 in Ghana as the founding rector of Achimota College, where, among others, Kwame Nkrumah wa…

[German Version] Christianity in Sri Lanka can look back over a remarkably long history. After a sporadic presence on the island since the 6th century and a continuous presence since the early 16th, it subsequently went through a development that was sometimes in step with the various stages of European colonial rule and at other times took a significantly different course. The earliest reliable evidence for the existence of Christian communities in Sri Lanka is a comment in the ¶ Christian Topography of the Nestorian merchant and writer Casmas Indicopleustes around the year…

[German Version] (also called Augustine Chong; 1760, Korea – 1801, Korea), Korean theologian and martyr. Yak-jong belonged to the pioneer generation of Confucian scholars around P.I.S. Hun who – long before the first European missionary entered Korea in 1836 – accepted Christianity and established an enduring Christian presence in Korea, then hermetically isolated. They knew of “Western teaching” through Jesuit tracts in Chinese published by M. Ricci and his successors in Beijing. Despite the pers…

[German Version] Non-Christian religions have experienced repeated revivals, particularly after encounters with Christianity. The classic paradigm in the Early Church was the attempt of Julian the Apostate to restore pagan religiosity – an experiment that failed but was noteworthy because in many respects the revived spirit of “Hellenism” was unmistakably modeled on the example of the Christian church Julian opposed – moves to centralize the priesthood, liturgical regulation, and institutionalization of social welfare. In the context of the history of Christianity ou…

[German Version] I. Europe – II. Asia, Africa, Latin America I. Europe 1. Concept The term “religious disputations” (or “[inter-]-religious conversations,” Ger.: Religionsgespräche) encompasses discussions concerning religion, in particular Christianity, both between representatives of different religions and between Christians of different confessions (see also dialogue). They may involve the …

[German Version] (Madras). From the mid-19th century, there were repeated calls in Protestant India for a national church to which all Indian Christians would belong, irrespective of their confessional identity. Such efforts led, especially in Bengal and South India, to various experiments; the most important was the founding of the National Church of India in Madras in 1886. It sought to bring together Indian Christians in a self-governing and self-supporting church. Western confessional differen…

[German Version] I. General – II. History and Culture – III. Religious History – IV. History of Christianity I. General The designation “India,” Gk ἰνδός/ indós, Latinized as indus, goes back to Sanskrit sindhu (orig. “boundary”?) through the intermediary of Old Persian hindu; it is a designation of the River Sindhu and of the Indus region, from which Persian Hindūstān, “Place/territory of the Hindus,” is derived. The Indians themselves called the land (among other designations) Bhārata, “[Land of the] Descendants of Bhārata” (the l…

[German Version] I. General – II. The West – III. Theology and Practical Theology – IV. Orthodox Churches – V. Asia, Africa, Latin America I. General Churches are built to provide a physical setting for the Christian celebration of the Eucharist, in order to shelter it and also to give it a place of prominence set apart from the outside world. The Bible does not discuss the legitimation and need for churches as distinct structures; historically, church buildings made their first appearance at th…

[German Version] The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) arose in the mid-19th century as the response of the revival ¶ movements (Revival/Revival movements) to changing social conditions in rising industrialization. The associations are interdenominational and offer groups for Bible study and prayer, educational programs and places of social protection. The YMCA was formed in Paris in 1855 as the first world ecumenical movement. The frequently stated purpose of its mem…

[German Version] (Apr 21, 1651, Sancoale, India – Jan 16, 1711, Kandy, Sri Lanka), Christian Brahmin, Goan priest and Oratorian. The spectacular resurgence of Catholicism in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) at the end of the ¶ 17th century is associated with Vaz. Catholicism had practically vanished from the island with the end of Portuguese colonial rule in 1658. Despite strict restrictions by the new Dutch authorities, Vaz made it to Ceylon in 1687. Disguised as a beggar, he initially visited the north (Mannar, Jaffna), then the west (Negomb…

[German Version] (Aug 17, 1874, Vellalanvilai, South India – Jan 1, 1945, Dornakal), Indian church leader and one of the most distinguished representatives of the early Asian mission and ecumenical movements. The son of a village pastor, he came into contact with diverse Christian groups as the traveling secretary of the YMCA (Young Men's …

[German Version] I. Geopolitical Considerations, Concept – II. History of Religions – III. Modern Asian Religions outside Asia – IV. Christianity I. Geopolitical Considerations, Concept Culturally, economically, and politically, Asia is extraordinarily heterogeneous. The Islamic states of the Near East with their oil wealth are part of this continent, as are the multireligious societies of South and Southeast Asia, relatively poor in resources, and the countries of East Asia with their extraordinarily dynamic economies (at least through the mid 70s). Equally diverse are the…

[German Version] I. 1st to 19th Century – II. 20th and 21st Centuries I. 1st to 19th Century 1. Early Church The concerns of the first centuries of the church were less with the establishing of fellowship than with its preservation – focused in the fellowship of the Lord's Supper – among Christians and congregations (Paul, Saint, Apostolic Council, Clement I (Romanus), Ignatius [Ignatian …

[German Version] The modern Western missionary movement led to an encounter with a multitude of non-European societies as well as different models for the resulting cultural contact. These have ranged from the various versions of a tabula rasa theory – which denied non-Christian cultures any intrinsic religious value – to understanding of the need for a culturally authentic interpretation of Christianity. Conceptions such as accommodation (II), indigenization, and contextualization (contextuality: I) display many similarities, but …

[German Version] I. Early Church – II. Middle Ages (to 1450) – III. 1450–1600 – IV. 1600–1800 – V. 1800–1890 – VI. 1890–1945 – VII. 1945– I. Early Church Christianity spread throughout the ancient world with remarkable speed. As early as 110, the Roman legate Pliny the Younger reported the presence in Bithynia in Asia Minor of a great number of Christians “of every age and class, and of both sexes,” both “in the cities” and “throughout the rural areas.” Toward the middle of the 3rd centur…

[German Version] I. History – II. Missiology I. History 1. Preliminary remarks As never before in its history, Christianity has become a “world religion.” Since the middle of the 1980s, the majority of the Christian population of the world no longer lives in the northern, but in the southern hemisphere. This development is the consequence of significant demographic shifts and of the differing growth dynamics of the churches of the North and the South. At the same time, most…

[German Version] I. The Concept Nationalism may be described as an integrative ideology that claims that loyalty to the inclusive body of the ¶ nation has absolute priority over all other commitments. Such competing loyalties include loyalty to a particular estate or social class, a dynasty, a local state, a region, a tribe, a denomination, or a religion. While the concept of a nation played a role in political debates in medieval Europe, its reference was not to the totality of the people but to the ruling class (the nationes of the nobility and the clergy). Modern nationalism emer…

[English Version] Vaz, Joseph (21.4.1651 Sancoale, Indien – 16.1.1711 Kandy, Sri Lanka), christl. Brahmane, goanesischer Priester und Oratorianer. Mit dem Namen V. verbindet sich der spektakuläre Wiederaufstieg des Katholizismus in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Ende des 17.Jh. Dieser war mit dem Ende der port. Kolonialherrschaft 1658 de facto von der Insel verschwunden. Trotz strikter Kontrollen durch die neuen niederländischen Herren gelangte V. 1687 nach Ceylon. Verkleidet als Bettler reiste V. zunächst dur…

[English Version] Revival, außerchristlich. R. nicht-christl. Rel. hat es immer wieder gegeben, gerade auch als Folge der Begegnung mit dem Christentum. Das klassische Paradigma in der Alten Kirche stellt der Versuch einer Restauration paganer Religiosität unter Julian Apostata dar – ein Experiment, das zwar scheiterte, aber schon deshalb bemerkenswert ist, da sich der zu neuem Leben erweckte »Hellenismos« in vielen Merkmalen – wie den Ansätzen zur Zentralisierung der Priesterschaft, liturgischer R…

[English Version] I. Begriff N. ist zu beschreiben als Integrationsideologie, die für die Loyalität gegenüber der Großgruppe »Nation« absoluten Vorrang vor allen anderen Bindungen beansprucht. Solche konkurrierenden Loyalitäten können die gegenüber einem bestimmten Stand, sozialer Klasse, Dynastie, partikularen Staat, Landschaft, Stamm, Konfession oder Rel. sein. Während der Begriff Nation bereits in den polit. Debatten des eur. MA eine Rolle spielte, dort freilich nicht die Gesamtheit des Volkes, …

[English Version] I. Europa 1.  Zum Begriff Mit dem Begriff R. werden sowohl Diskussionen zw. Vertretern verschiedener Rel. als auch zw. Christen unterschiedlicher Konfessionen über die Rel., nämlich das Christentum, zusammengefaßt (s.a. Dialog). Dabei kann es um den Versuch gehen, die Menschen, die andere Überzeugungen vertreten, für die eigene Auffassung zu gewinnen; aber es kann auch die Bemühung vorherrschen, das Fremde zu verstehen und die allen gemeinsame Wahrheit herauszufinden. Neben ungezählt…

[English Version] I. Historisch Eigenständige lokale Ausprägungen des Christentums und das Streben nach Emanzipation von eur.-missionarischer Kontrolle hat es in der Gesch. der entstehenden Kirchen Asiens, Afrikas und Lateinamerikas schon frühzeitig gegeben. Verwiesen sei etwa auf die von der afrikanischen Prophetin D.B. Kimpa Vita ausgelöste Bewegung im Kongo des frühen 18.Jh., die zeitweilig die port. Vorherrschaft in der Region bedrohte. Zu einem verbreiteten Phänomen wurden U. seit Ende des 19.…

[English Version] I. Kirchengeschichtlich Die staatl. Kirchenpolitik des nationalsozialistischen Deutschland hatte seit 1933 sowohl im Protestantismus als auch im Katholizismus Widerstände provoziert. Wie bereits die Gründung des Pfarrernotbundes in Berlin durch M. Niemöller und die gegen die nationalsozialistischen Deutschen Christen (DC) gewandten Reichsbekenntnissynoden von Barmen und Dahlem und schließlich die offene Kritik des entschiedenen Flügels der Bekennenden Kirche (BK) in der Denkschrif…

[English Version] Yak-jong, Augustin Chóng (1760 Korea – 1801 ebd.), koreanischer Theologe und Märtyrer. Y. gehörte zu jener Pioniergeneration konfuzianischer Gelehrter um P.S. H. I, die von sich aus – lange bevor der erste eur. Missionar 1836 das Land betrat – um 1784 den Schritt zum Christentum taten und im hermetisch abgeschlossenen Korea eine dauerhafte christl. Präsenz begründeten. Kenntnis der »westlichen Lehre« hatten sie durch jesuitische Traktate in chinesischer Sprache, die auf M. Ricci un…

[English Version] (Madras). Seit Mitte des 19.Jh. wurde im prot. Indien wiederholt die Gründung einer Nationalkirche gefordert, der alle indischen Christen ungeachtet ihrer Konfessionszugehörigkeit angehören sollten. Derartige Bestrebungen führten v.a. in Bengalen und Südindien zu unterschiedlichen Experimenten, unter denen die 1886 in Madras gegründete N. das wichtigste ist. Sie suchte die indischen Christen in einer – sich selbst verwaltenden und unterhaltenden – Kirche zusammenzuführen. Westlic…

[English Version] I. 1. bis 19. Jahrhundert 1.  Alte Kirche Die Sorge der ersten Jh. der Kirche galt weniger der Herstellung als der Bewahrung der – zentral in der Abendmahlsgemeinschaft gegebenen – Gemeinschaft unter Christen und Gemeinden (Paulus, Apostelkonzil, Clemens I. [Romanus], Ignatius [Ignatiusbriefe], Irenaeus von Lyon, Cyprian von Karthago u.a.) und der Ausscheidung falsche Lehre oder Praxis vertretender Theologen und Gruppen. Dabei führten meist erst diese Ausscheidungsprozesse zur Klärung …

[English Version] . Das Christentum in S.L. kann auf eine bemerkenswert lange Gesch. zurückblicken. Sporadisch seit dem 6.Jh. und kontinuierlich seit dem frühen 16.Jh. auf der Insel präsent, hat es in der Folgezeit eine Entwicklung durchlaufen, die den unterschiedlichen Etappen eur. Kolonialherrschaft im Land teils parallel ging, teils einen signifikant unterschiedlichen Verlauf nahm. Das früheste gesicherte Zeugnis für die Existenz christl. Gemeinden in S.L. ist eine Notiz in der »Christl. Topogr…