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[German Version] The distinction between law and gospel has its theological setting in Luther's discovery at the dawn of the Reformation; from that beginning, it informed the debates within Lutheranism during the Reformation, the attempt to resolve them in the Lutheran articles of faith (I), and the deliberations of Reformed theology. Only in the context of the theological confessionalization in the 19th century and even more in the theological, ecclesiastical, and political debates of the 20th ce…

[German Version] Insight into the createdness of the world and human beings is rooted in the Christian belief in the triune God as Creator of the world (Creation). The confession of God as Creator must thus be formulated as a statement about one's own creatureliness: “I would believe that God has created me together with all creatures” (Luther, Short Catechism, art. 1, BSLK 510). Human experience of oneself and of the world is interpreted entirely in the horizon of one's relationship to God. Thus the structures of the experience of life ar…

[German Version] (Apr 4, 1857, Rennersdorf, Oberlausitz – Apr 8, 1940, Frankfurt am Main), theologian, publicist, and politician, representing liberal-social Protestantism. After attending school in Zittau, Rade studied in Leipzig, where he found a teacher and lifelong friend inA. v. Harnack, then a Privatdozent. In 1881 he gained his doctorate with a dissertation on Pope Damasus, in 1882 he became minister in Schönbach, and in 1889 he married Dora Naumann, sister of F. Naumann. Rade was the author of a popular biography of Luther that a…

[German Version] I. Fundamental Theology – II. Dogmatic Theology – III. Ethics I. Fundamental Theology Both in fundamental theology and in philosophy, there is considerable dissent as to the justification, significance, and function of consensus (from Lat. consensus, “agreement, unanimity”). In the philosophical context, the recourse to universal consensus, or to the consensus of all rational people, with respect to controversial claims of truth and validity is found as early as Plato ( Gorg. 487e) and Aristotle ( Top. A1, 100b21–22). Cicero ( Div. I 1; Tusc. I 36) invokes it …

[German Version] I. Terminology 1. History of the concept. Today the term theology (ϑεολογία/ theología) is usually used in the sense established in Christianity over a long history: it denotes systematic reflection on and explication of the fundamental content of the Ch…

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[German Version] (Dec 23, 1889, Winterthur – Apr 6, 1966, Zürich) encountered early on the influence of the Religious Socialism movement in the person of H. Ku…

[German Version] I. The Concept in Relation to Other Theological Disciplines…

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[German Version] I. Philosophy of Religion The theology of religions is dedicated to philosophical or theological reflection on the relationships between religions and worldviews (Weltanschauung). Recently three fundamental types of such theology have been distinguished: exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism, which understands all religions as responses, in principle on an equal footing, to the experience of (the one?) transcendence (Uniqueness of Christianity, Dialogue: II). It is questionable whet…

[German Version] I. Dogmatics – II. Ethics – III. Practical Theology I. Dogmatics 1. The Catholic Understanding The term “ecumene,” from the present passive participle of the Greek verb οἰκεῖν/ oikeín, “to dwell,” originally denoted the inhabited earth. The use of the term in Scripture is ambiguous: the OT (apolitically) in the sense of “world,” the NT, in addition to that, of the …

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[German Version] I. Resurrection of the Dead 1. History of religions a. Resurrection as a religious category. The concept of resurrection has been shaped extensively by connotations drawn from the tradition of Christian theology. In this sense, it is understood as a unique event that takes the body and soul of a human being, separated at death, and reunites them for a new, eternal life in the next world. Here it serves to mark a distinction from other notions of a postmortal existence (e.g. reincarnation, metempsyc…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies 1. Concept. The word revelation echoes the Greek ἀποκάλυψις/ apokálypsis (“uncovering”), which was translated into Latin as revelatio and then borrowed into most European languages. The literal meaning already indicates that revelation involves a reality, content, more specifically a message hidden from mortals. Revelation is important: it is relevant religious knowledge necessary for salvation, for finding meaning, and for dealing with everyday life. It is knowledge that peo-¶ ple do not already possess by nature, and their reli…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Philosophy of Religion – V. Dogmatics – VI. Practical Theology – VII. Missiology – VIII. Art – IX. Judaism – X. Islam I. Religious Studies 1. It is fundam…