Religion Past and Present
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Subject: Religious Studies
Edited by: Hans Dieter Betz, Don S. Browning†, Bernd Janowski and Eberhard Jüngel
Religion Past and Present (RPP) Online is the online version of the updated English translation of the 4th edition of the definitive encyclopedia of religion worldwide: the peerless Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart (RGG). This great resource, now at last available in English and Online, Religion Past and Present Online continues the tradition of deep knowledge and authority relied upon by generations of scholars in religious, theological, and biblical studies. Including the latest developments in research, Religion Past and Present Online encompasses a vast range of subjects connected with religion.
Subscriptions: see brill.com
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Religion Past and Present (RPP) Online is the online version of the updated English translation of the 4th edition of the definitive encyclopedia of religion worldwide: the peerless Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart (RGG). This great resource, now at last available in English and Online, Religion Past and Present Online continues the tradition of deep knowledge and authority relied upon by generations of scholars in religious, theological, and biblical studies. Including the latest developments in research, Religion Past and Present Online encompasses a vast range of subjects connected with religion.
Subscriptions: see brill.com
Khajurāho
(158 words)
[German Version] (or Kharjūravāhaka) is the name given to the temple complex of the homonymous capital of the Chandela Rajputs (princes) in the Indian federal state of Madhya Pradesh; it consists of approx. 25 Hindu (Hinduism) and Jainist (Jainism) sandstone temples. The originally 85 sacred buildings are thought to have been erected between 950 and 1050/1060. They represent the culmination of the northern Indian
śikhara (temple-tower) style: small stepped towers and mock cupolas come together at the convex, upward-vaulted main tower. On the outer façades, i…
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Religion Past and Present
Khama III
(410 words)
[German Version] (c. 1837, Mushu, Bechuanaland [present-day Botswana] – Feb 21, 1923, Serowe), known as “the Great,” chief of the Ngwato people. Khama was the son and heir of the reigning monarch Sekogma I. In his early twenties, against his father's wish, he fell under the influence of an itinerant Christian evangelist and in May 1860 he was baptized. The Christian who most influenced him was John Mackenzie of the London Missionary Society, missionary in Shoshong in present-day ¶ Botswana from 1862 to 1876. Khama remained a devout Christian throughout his life and a fanat…
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Religion Past and Present
Khlysty
(276 words)
[German Version] (Russ.
Chlysty, “flagellant”), a polemical designation of a Russian dualistic sect which originated in the mid-17th century as a result of ecstatic-prophetic experiences and which gave itself the name Christy (“Christians”) or Božʾi ljudi (“People of God”). It was founded by the farmer Danila Filippov, in whose person the manifestation of the god Sabaoth was venerated, by his spiritual son Ivan Suslov as the manifestation of Christ, and by Suslov's mother as the Mother of God. A ri…
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Religion Past and Present
Khoisan
(856 words)
[German Version] The Khoisan people comprise numerous predominantly foraging ethnic groups such as the !Kung in South Africa, the Sandaw in Tanzania, and the Maligo in Angola. Their history in southern Africa spans thousands of years, predating the appearance of Bantu tribes, such as the Tswana, and the Zulu. Initially thought by the Europeans to have no religion, the Khoisan (whom Europeans called “Bushmen” and “Hottentots”) in fact possess a religious culture of remarkable sophistication. This s…
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Religion Past and Present
Khomyakov, Aleksey Stepanovich
(471 words)
[German Version] (May 13, 1804, Moscow – Oct 5, 1860, Ternovskoe, Kazanʾ), was a Slavophile philosopher of history and a lay theologian who exerted considerable influence on the Russian spiritual life of the 19th century through his conception of the unity of the church; the after-effects of his ideas in the Russian philosophy of religion also had an impact on the early ecumenical movement in the 20th century. After studying mathematics as well as natural sciences, philosophy, history, and theolog…
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Religion Past and Present
Kibbutz
(324 words)
[German Version] (Heb., orig.
qevutza, “group,” later
qibbuz, “community”). The first Jewish communal settlement was established in 1909 near Deganya on the shore of the Sea of Galilee by predominantly Russian immigrants. The origins of the kibbutz movement lie in socialism or communism as well as in Zionism. The kibbutz settlements were an important precondition for the founding of the state of Israel. The 1930s also witnessed the rise of a religious kibbutz movement, to which approx. 6% of all kibbut…
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Religion Past and Present
Kibira, Josiah Mutabuzi
(239 words)
[German Version] (Aug 28, 1925, Kashenje, Bukoba, Tanzania – Jul 18, 1988, Rwamishenye, Tanzania) earned a diploma at the Teachers' Training College in Tabora, worked as a teacher at Kahorore High School in Bukoba from 1950 to 1957, and completed his studies in Protestant theology in Hamburg, Germany, in 1961. In the same year, Kibira became a member of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches (WCC). After his M.A. examination at the School of Theology of the University of B…
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Religion Past and Present
Kiel, University
(584 words)
[German Version] The “Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel” was established in 1665, after the end of the Thirty Years War, in a former Franciscan monastery of the city. It is thus one of the late princely university foundations that began in the mid-15th century. Its motto
Pax optima rerum indicates that the memory of wartime perils was still fresh and that the fostering of peace was of paramount importance. Initially only meant to serve the needs of the minor principality of ¶ Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf, it gradually developed into the regional university of Schleswig-…
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Religion Past and Present
Kierkegaard, Søren Aaby
(2,355 words)
[German Version] I. Life – II. Work – III. Influence (May 5, 1813, Copenhagen – Nov 11, 1855, Copenhagen)
I. Life Danish theologian, philosopher, and writer. Kierkegaard was the youngest of seven siblings. His mother, Ane Sörensdatter Lund (1768–1834), had been employed as a maid in the house of his father Michael Pedersen Kierkegaard (1756–1838) after the death of his first wife (1796). As a businessman, the father – an orthodox Pietist and active member of the Herrnhuter Brethern (Bohemian and Moravian Brethren…
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Religion Past and Present
Kiéslowski, Krzysztof
(302 words)
[German Version] (Jun 27, 1941, Warsaw – Mar 13, 1996, Warsaw). After completing his studies at the National Film School in Łodz, Poland, Krzysztof Kiéslowski first worked as a film director for television documentaries. His documentary view of things remained a significant aspect of the motion pictures which he began making in 1973; the critical approach of these films to Poland, as it was then, made him the most prominent representative of the “cinema of moral unrest” up to the time of the imposition of martial law and censorship in 1981. Kiéslowski also became known outside Poland with
Fi…
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Religion Past and Present
Kießling, Johann Tobias
(193 words)
[German Version] (Nov 3, 1742, Nuremberg – Feb 27, 1824, Nuremberg), a tradesman, was the cofounder and director of the Nuremberg branch of the Christentumsgesellschaft (German Christianity Society). He was an important personality within the Franconian revival movement (Revival/Revival movements: I, 7). In 1804, he was involved in the founding of the Nuremberg Bible Society (I, 3), from which the Bayerischer Zentralbibelverein (Bavarian Central Bible Society) emerged in 1823. From 1763 onward, du…
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Religion Past and Present
Kiev
(935 words)
[German Version] I. City and Metropolitan See – II. Theological Academy
I. City and Metropolitan See According to legend, Kiev (Ukrainian:
Kyiv) was founded by the brothers Kij, Šček, and Choriv on the west bank of the river Dnieper (
Dnepr). Owing to its favorable location on the trade route “from the Varagians to the Greeks,” Kiev developed into a political center of the ¶ medieval Rus', which was characterized by the integration of Slavic and Scandinavian elements. Kiev owed its growing prosperity above all to its economic-political and church-cultural r…
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Religion Past and Present
Kiev, Cave Monastery
(206 words)
[German Version] (Russ.
Kievo Pečerskaja Lavra), the oldest monastery, theological and cultural center of Russia, and a place of pilgrimage until today. It was founded in 1051 by the hermit Antonij, who lived in a cave on the bank of the Dnieper. Due to the rapidly growing community of monks, the cave complex was considerably expanded. Their first abbot, Feodosy, extended the cave monastery above-ground and introduced the typikon of the Studios monastery, which spread from here and became accepted in…
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Religion Past and Present
Kikuyu Conferences
(297 words)
[German Version] Missionary activity in Kenya at the end of the 19th century resembled a Christian “scramble for Africa.” To mitigate such unhappy divisions there evolved an annual Protestant mission convention in Kikuyu to deepen the spiritual life and to discuss practical issues. In 1913 the idea of a “federation” of missions emerged, working towards a “United Native Church,” based on three principles of the Lambeth Quadrilateral (Lambeth Conferences) of 1888 (Scripture, creeds, and sacraments),…
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Religion Past and Present
Kilham, Hannah
(183 words)
[German Version] (
née Spurr; Aug 12, 1774, Sheffield–Mar 31, 1832 off Liberia). Hannah Spurr married Alexander Kilham, leader of the Methodist New Connexion, in 1798; he died the same year. She joined the Society of Friends (Quakers/Society of Friends) and was active in schools, Bible Societies, poor relief and anti-slavery. She proposed Quaker educational missions to Africa and a College of African Languages to educate African teachers and produce reading materials. With two sailors from the Gamb…
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Religion Past and Present
Kilian
(132 words)
[German Version] Kilian, an Irish bishop who conducted missionary work in Lower Franconia, especially at the ducal residence in Würzburg, together with his companions Kolonat and Totnan; he suffered martyrdom around 689 when he attempted to impose a ban on marriage to sisters-in-law. The relevant sources are the
Passio minor (c. 840) or
Passio maior (c. 960), with scant historical value. Kilian's mortal remains were exhumed by Burkhard, the first bishop of Würzburg, in 752, and later transferred to the Salvator Cathedral; he is venerated as a dioce…
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Religion Past and Present
Kilmartin, Edward J.
(138 words)
[German Version] Kilmartin, Edward J., SJ (Aug 31, 1923, Portland – Jun 16, 1994, Boston), taught theology at Weston College (1958–1977), Boston College (1968–1977), Notre Dame University (1975–1984) and the Pontificio Istituto Orientale (1985–1994). From 1966 to 1979 he participated in the Orthodox/Roman Catholic Consultation sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Standing Committee of Canonical Orthodox Bishops. Kilmartin placed liturgical worship (Worship: VII) in…
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Religion Past and Present
Kil, Son-Ju
(182 words)
[German Version] (Mar 15, 1869 – Nov 26, 1935). One of the first seven pastors of the Korean Presbyterian Church in Korea (Korea: IV), ordained in 1907. Kil was one of the 33 signatories of the Declaration of Independence from the Japanese colonialism promulgated on Mar 1, 1919. A leading theologian revivalist in the early development of Korean Christian Pentecostal revival movement (Pentecostalism). He initiated dawn prayer services which are prevalent in the customs and habits of the Korean chur…
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Religion Past and Present