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[German Version] (Apr 28, 1860, Besigheim, Württemberg – Feb 13, 1944, Stuttgart). Brought up in Pietist tradition as a student, Schrempf was plunged into a crisis of faith by the biblical criticism of K.H. v. Weizsäcker. As a pastor in Leuzendorf, his scruples regarding the official creed grew so strong that in 1891, citing Matt 6:33, he replaced the Apostles’ Creed at baptism with a simple baptismal question of his own composition. When he called attention to this change during an official visit…

[German Version] (Nov 15, 1811, Beeskow, Mittelmark – Feb 5, 1900, Berlin). After studying in Berlin and serving as a preacher and teacher in Wittenberg and Kulm, Steinmeyer was appointed pastor in Nowawes in 1843. In 1854 he received his habilitation in Bonn and was appointed to a chair. From 1858 to 1887 he was professor practical theology and New Testament in Berlin, also serving as university preacher until 1870. Steinmeyer is noted primarily for his contribution to homiletics ( Homiletik, publ. posthumously in 1901). Like F.D.E. Schleiermacher, he made a clear distinct…

[German Version] (May 12, 1780, Leipzig – Dec 29, 1835, Jena). After studying in Leipzig, Schott was appointed associate professor there in 1808; he served as a full professor in Wittenberg from 1809 to 1812 and in Jena after 1812. An advocate of moderate supernaturalism, he rejected I. Kant’s criticism of rhetoric, arguing that just as prose is addressed to cognition and poetry to feeling, so rhetoric is addressed to the will. Homiletics, a special kind of rhetoric, is distinguished from it by it…

[German Version] Basically synonymous with calling, vocatio has become a technical term for appointment to an ecclesiastical office. A distinction is made between vocatio interna and vocatio externa. In Roman Catholicism, vocatio interna is an inward call initiated by an act of God’s grace; it requires scrutiny and confirmation by the local ordinary to become legally effective ( CIC/1983 cc. 1025, 1029; but cf. c. 203, §1). From the Lutheran perspective, the vocatio externa is a call to an ecclesiastical ministry by representatives of the congregation obeying God’s c…

[German Version] I. Origin and Reception The life-threatening illness of M. Luther (I) in the spring of 1536 induced the elector John Frederick to ask him for a “theological testament.” To be signed by leading theologians, it was intended to prevent the doctrinal controversies within Protestantism the elector feared would break out after Luther’s death. A few years later, the urgency of such a doctrinal affirmation was heightened when Pope Paul III called for a general council in Mantua; the elector r…

[German Version] I. City and Territory – II. Church History – III. Regional Church ( Landeskirche) I. City and Territory The settlement “on the high bank” (Honovere) of the River Leine was incorporated into the diocese of Minden following the Saxon wars of Charlemagne and was first referred to as a city in 1150. At the time of the Reformation, Hannover (German spelling) was one of the more important cities in the principality of Calenberg ¶ and disposed of five parish churches and 14 chapels. The citizenry enforced the Reformation against the will of the council and …

[German Version] (Mar 19, 1780, Gramzow, Uckermark – Sep 26, 1846, Berlin) studied theology in Halle and Geneva. He was appointed preacher to the French congregation in Berlin in 1810; in 1814 he was appointed court chaplain and cathedral preacher. In 1824 he was appointed chief consistorial councilor and in 1840 also professor of homiletics at Berlin. Theremin sought “through eloquence to persuade his listeners of what they should recognize as truth and obey as a moral command” (Palmer, 681). He …

[German Version] (Oct 5, 1872, Dillingen/Donau – Mar 23, 1938, Hamburg), became town curate in Würzburg in 1895, pastor in Nürnberg in 1902, and in Berlin from 1916 to 1922. In 1922 he was the effective co-founder and first leader of the Christian Community ( Christengemeinschaft). As a respected preacher, Rittelmeyer advocated in Nürnberg (with C. Geyer), and, after disputes with the Bavarian church leadership (the “Nürnberg Church dispute”), in Berlin, a Christi-¶ anity responsive to free forms of being a Christian, and to modern culture, and committed to religious…

[German Version] I. Dogmatics – II. Practical Theology I. Dogmatics Absolution is the assurance, in the context of confession (II; III), that sins have been forgiven. The history of absolution traces back to Matt 16:19; 18:18; John 20:22f. Drawing on Thomas Aquinas ( Summa theologiae III, q. 84), the Councils of Florence ( DH, 1323) and Trent ( DH, 1673) defined absolution as the form of the sacrament of penance or repentance (IV), which has as its matter the actions of…

[German Version] 1. Bernhard (Apr 25, 1856, Medebach – Oct 13, 1934, Hannover) served as pastor in Gielde (from 1883) and in Hannover-Kleefeld (St. Peter, 1891–1923). As a preacher and author of theological works, he was an important representative of moderate liberalism. Through his sermons, composed in simple language and incorporating the concerns of daily life, he was also able to reac…

[German Version] I. History – II. Catholic and Protestant Preaching Today – III. Medieval and Modern Judaism I. History Preaching preceded its theory, homiletics. The first attempts to frame a theory of preaching were those of John Chrysostom (περὶ ἱεροσύνης/ perí hierosýnēs) and Augustine of Hippo ( Doctr. chr.), who built on con-¶ temporary rhetoric. For centuries preachers learned their art more by example than by theoretical reflection. For the Early Church, synagogue instruction (see III below), the philosophical diatribe, and the preachin…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Examination of repentance from the perspective of religious studies must confront the problem that the term itself has no culturally neutral meaning. Many of the phenomena in other religions that Christians tend to call repentance appear in a different light when viewed in the context of different anthropological presuppositions, ¶ so that due weight must be given to the religious anthropology in question. Generally speaking, it is true to say that in almost all non-Christian religions the notion of repentance c…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. Early Judaism – IV. New Testament – V. Church History – VI. Systematic Theology – VII. Practical Theology – VIII. Law – IX. Missiology I. Religious Studies Over the course of history, the word office has been used for a wide variety of functions. In every case, however, what is peculiar to the term is that it refers to an activity independent of the unique personal characteristics of the officeholder. In the context of religious studies, what first comes to mind is the office…