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1. The ancient Cynics were shadowy figures. The word “cynic” has never been explained etymologically, though it was usually thought to be the teaching place of the founder of the school, Antisthenes (b. ca. 445 b.c., a student of Socrates, who taught in the gymnasium Kynosarges), or to be grounded on a nickname: with Diogenes of Sinope (d. ca. 320 b.c.), a shameless and sarcastic pupil of Antisthenes, philosophy seemed to have gone “to the dogs” (Gk. kyōn, adj. kynikos). As “Socrates gone mad,” according to Plato, Diogenes attacked with a “quixotically evil tongue” …

[German Version] I. Philosophy of Religion What is perfect lacks nothing that would make it better. It can surpass only itself. As a fundamental concept in logic and metaphysics, the idea of perfection, especially in the school metaphysics of Leibniz and Wolff, plays a leading part in defining the absolute: all positive attributes that pertain to God pertain to God in the highest degree (completely, without any limitation), together and by very nature, notwithstanding the simplicity of God’s being (Un…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Church History – III. Philosophy – IV. Fundamental Theology – V. Ethics – VI. Culture, Art, and Religion – VII. Practical Theology I. Religious Studies The word “culture” derives from Latin cultura, “tilling of land”; since antiquity it has been used metaphorically for cultura animi, “cultivation of the mind,” and for status culturalis, the desirable refinement contrasting with the human status naturalis. …

[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Fundamental Theology – III. Practical Theology I. Philosophy Critical theory is the designation for the philosophical program of the Frankfurt School, a group of philosophers and social scientists belo…

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[German Version] I. Religious Studies / History of Religions – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Dogmatics – V. Ethics I. Religious Studies / History of Religions Various versions of the Greek Prometheus myth characterize hope ( elpís) as one of the requirements for human existence (Hesiod Opera et dies V 96; Aesch. Prometheus V 250). In Roman religion, hope ( spes) is one of the concepts personified and venerated as divine powers (Cic. De legibus II 28). It seems reasonable to assume that religious hope differs from nonreligious hope in extending its time frame beyond this earthly life – in other words, the expected consummation is not identical with a fulfilled life in this world. This distinction rests, however, on a conventional concept of religion that is not unquestioned. The same is true of the assumptio…

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[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Fundamental Theology – III. Ethics – IV. Practical Theology I. Philosophy Because the term life-world (Ger. Lebenswelt) usually refers to the concrete world of our everyday life experiences, it has sometimes been equated with everyday life. This interpretation overlooks the fact that it is a highly ambitious concept of theoretical philosophy, which has, …

[English Version] I. Religionsphilosophisch Was vollkommen ist, dem fehlt nichts, wodurch es optimiert werden könnte. Es kann sich nur selbst übertreffen. Als logisch-metaphysischer Grundbegriff dirigiert der Vollkommenheitsbegriff v.a. in der Leibniz-Wolffschen Schulmetaphysik die Bestimmung des Absoluten: Alle positiven Attribute, die Gott zukommen, gehören ihm im höchsten Maße (vollständig, ohne jede Einschränkung), gemeinsam und gleich wesentlich, unbeschadet der Einfachheit seines Wes…