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Concluding chapter 8. Churches and religious culture

(5,453 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. “Christianity” and “churches”This subject area is not called simply “Christianity” but has the more complex title “Churches and Religious Culture.” Clearly it was intended to present the early modern history of Christianity, one of the great transformations of the early modern period. For centuries, Christianity affected all areas of life; it inspired soaring hopes and terrifying fears, and – with its changes and innovations – it contributed in a major way to the fact that Europe in 185…
Date: 2023-11-14

Synkretismus

(1,806 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Rüther, Kirsten
1. AllgemeinDer Ausdruck S. (engl. syncretism; franz. syncrétisme) wurde in der Nz. zuerst von Erasmus von Rotterdam in Aufnahme eines antiken griech. Terminus ( synkrētismós) gebraucht, der den Kretern unterstellte, sie würden ihren inneren Streit bei äußerer Bedrohung begraben und zusammenhalten. Erasmus empfahl S. bei Streitigkeiten, die er auf unchristl. Rachsucht zurückführte. Sich trotz relig. Differenzen polit. zu verbünden, hielt er, wie auch Ulrich Zwingli oder Philipp Melanchthon (anders als Martin Luther), für möglich.In der Frühen Nz. wurde der Begriff zu…
Date: 2019-11-19

Person

(3,507 words)

Author(s): Schaede, Stephan | Sparn, Walter | Hofer, Sibylle
1. Philosophie und Theologie 1.1. Begriff und kultureller KontextP. (lat. persona) stammt aus der antiken Bühnensprache, wo es das Gesicht, d. h. die Maske, also die Rollenidentität des Schauspielers bezeichnete; in institutionellen Zusammenhängen wurde das Wort auf den individuellen Inhaber von Rechten und Pflichten sowie auf die polit., seit dem MA auch auf die kirchl. Amts- und Würdenträger übertragen und in der Grammatik auf die drei möglichen Instanzen des Sprechens angewandt, d. h. auf die 1., 2. und 3. P. Dies…
Date: 2019-11-19

Weltbild

(3,654 words)

Author(s): Beuttler, Ulrich | Sparn, Walter
1. Begriff Der Ausdruck »W.« wurde zwar schon im MA als Übersetzung von lat. forma ideaque mundi (»Gestalt und Idee der Welt«) oder von imago mundi (»Bild der Welt«) geprägt, blieb in der Nz. jedoch marginal. Für die Darstellung der zusammenhängenden Gesamtheit der mannigfaltigen Erscheinungen in der Welt wurden andere Begriffe gebraucht oder eingeführt: In wiss. Absicht sprach man von »Physik«, »Naturphilosophie«, Cosmologia generalis (1731; »Allgemeine Lehre von der Welt«; Christian Wolff), in pädagogischer Absicht von Orbis sensualium pictus (1658; »Gemalte Sinnenwelt«…
Date: 2019-11-19

Jenseits

(1,807 words)

Author(s): Hölscher, Lucian | Sparn, Walter
1. BegriffVorstellungen vom jenseitigen Leben finden sich bei fast allen Völkern und zu fast allen Zeiten. Doch der Begriff J. existiert im Deutschen, ebenso wie sein Gegenstück, das »Diesseits«, erst seit der Wende zum 19. Jh. Das Substantiv J. findet sich erst seit Ende des 18. Jh.s vereinzelt in den Quellen – so etwa 1781 in Schillers Räubern der Ausruf: »Sei wie du willst, namenloses Jenseits, wenn ich nur mich selbst mit hinübernehme« [12. 4. Akt, 5. Szene] – bevor der Ausdruck seit den frühen 1830er Jahren weitere weltanschauliche Verbreitung fand.Die begriffliche Gestalt d…
Date: 2019-11-19

Leib und Seele

(1,917 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Wolff, Jens
1. Begriffe und TraditionenDie menschlichen Erfahrungen, die zum Glauben an eine asymmetrische Dualität von L. und Seele Anlass geben (Schlaf, Traum, Ekstase, Schmerz, Tod und Geburt [9]), hatten sich in Europa bis zum Beginn der Nz. metaphysisch, anthropologisch und epistemologisch verdichtet [12. Kap. III und V]: Was geschieht mit einem Individuum nach seinem leiblichen Tod? Wodurch unterscheidet sich beseeltes Sein von unbelebtem Sein und toter Materie? Wie hängt speziell der erkennende Teil der S., der Geist, mit dem Körper zusammen? Letztere Frage wird (nur) im Deut…
Date: 2019-11-19

Luthertum

(2,592 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. Begriff, Entstehung und ProfilDer 1544 geprägte Begriff L. war – wie die (häufiger verwendeten) Ausdrücke »die Lutherischen«, »Lutherani«, »Lutheranismus« etc. – eine pejorative, den Vorwurf der Häresie unterstellende Fremdbezeichung für die Anhänger der Reformation, die seit dem Wirken Martin Luthers 1517 ihre kirchliche und politische Sprengkraft entfaltete. Luther selbst sprach sich gegen den Ausdruck »lutherisch« aus; daher bezeichneten sich die Kirchen, die sich auf der Grundlage regionaler Kirchenordnungen (seit 1528), der L…
Date: 2020-11-18

Apokalyptik

(1,951 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. Begriffe und Vorgeschichte 1.1. Apokalyptik und ApokalypseDer Begriff A. wurde erst 1820 von dem Theologen K. I. Nitzsch für ein Denken und Verhalten gebildet, das den künftigen Weltlauf als Abfolge dramatischer Ereignisse ansieht, die sich in eine kosmische Katastrophe ausweiten und dieser Welt und Zeit ein Ende setzen. In solchen Weltanschauungen wird unterstellt: (1) das Geschick der Menschheit ist Teil der kosmischen Geschichte, die ihrerseits die Menschengeschichte zum Mittelpunkt hat; (2) die Dramatik …
Date: 2019-11-19

Weltanschauung

(1,593 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. Begriff»W.« ist ein von Immanuel Kant 1790 geprägtes Wort, dessen heutiger Gebrauch schwierig und oft unklar ist. Zum einen gilt W. als eigentümlich dt. Ausdruck, der in mehreren europ. Sprachen als Fremdwort gebraucht wird [15]; er wurde auch übersetzt (engl. world view, world vision; franz. vision bzw. conception du monde), ist dann aber nicht mehr zu unterscheiden von »Weltbild«, und tatsächlich wird der engl. Ausdruck meist als »Weltbild« rückübersetzt. Zum anderen hat das dt. Wort W. seit der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jh.s massenhafte Verbreitung g…
Date: 2019-11-19

Kirchen und religiöse Kultur

(5,079 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. »Christentum« und »Kirchen«Das Fachgebiet führt nicht den schlichten Titel »Christentum«, sondern wählte den komplexeren Titel »Kirchen und relig. Kultur«. Zweifellos hatte es die Aufgabe, die nzl. Geschichte des Christentums darzustellen: als einen der großen Wandlungsprozesse der Nz., der lange Zeit alle Lebensbereiche betraf, der hochfliegende Hoffnungen und bedrohliche Ängste hervorrief und der mit seinen Veränderungen und Neuerungen stark dazu beitrug, dass Europa um 1850 gegenüber der Zeit um 1450 als …
Date: 2019-11-19

Wiedergeburt

(1,334 words)

Author(s): Thiede, Werner | Sparn, Walter
1. BegriffW. (Übersetzung von griech. palingenesía bzw. lat. renascentia) war in der Nz. meist die christl. Metapher für den (einmaligen) Vorgang einer der natürlichen vergleichbaren geistlichen Geburt einer Person, d. h. der zweiten, für ihr ewiges Leben entscheidenden Geburt. Der Ursprung, das Gespräch Jesu mit Nikodemus (Joh 3), blieb präsent; wie die paulinische Formel »neue Schöpfung« wurde der Begriff von Anfang an mit dem Akt der Taufe verknüpft (u. a. Tit 3,5 f.; Sakrament). In loser Anknüpfung an seine gelegentl…
Date: 2019-11-19

Kirchenausstattung

(2,046 words)

Author(s): Strohmaier-Wiederanders, Gerlinde | Sparn, Walter
1. DefinitionWie das sakrale Gebäude (Kirchenbau) ist auch die K. im nzl. Europa überall und durchgehend als christl. erkennbar. Die wichtigsten Stücke der K. sind der Altar (oder ein ihn ersetzender Tisch; vgl. Altarbaukunst), der Taufstein und die Kanzel bzw. ein Lesepult; dazu kam seit dem Spät-MA eine Orgel (zunächst in größeren Kirchen, im 19. Jh. auch in der kleinsten Dorfkirche; Orgelmusik), sowie ein bewegliches oder festes Gestühl, z. B. das Chorgestühl in Klosterkirchen oder das Gemeindegestühl v. a. in protest. Kirchen. An diesen g…
Date: 2020-11-18

Sakrament

(6,418 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Walter, Peter | Nüssel, Friederike | Wasmuth, Jennifer
1. Einleitung 1.1. AllgemeinIn der Nz. gehören S. zur relig. Praxis aller christl. Kirchen, wenngleich mit unterschiedlichem Gewicht und in unterschiedlichem Verständnis. Gemeinsam ist jedoch der Glaube, dass die Feier der S., wie die Verkündigung des Wortes Gottes, zum Wesen der christl. Kirche gehört und dass S., obwohl von Menschen vollzogen, der Verheißung Jesu Christi Raum geben, seiner Gemeinde nicht nur geistig, sondern auch leibhaft erfahrbar gegenwärtig zu sein und sie an dem ewigen Heilsg…
Date: 2020-11-18

Welt

(3,739 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. Die Komplexität des BegriffsDer Begriff W. (engl. world, franz. le monde) ist überaus vieldeutig sowie vielfältig spezifizierbar (vgl. z. B. Weltalter; Weltanschauung; Weltbilder; Weltwahrnehmungen; Weltliteratur; Verkehrte Welt). Der heutige Sprachgebrauch kennt sowohl die Mehrzahl von »W.en«, d. h. von sinnvoll unterstellten Ganzheiten (»die W. der Kunst«, die »Nach-W.«) als auch » die W.« als Gesamtheit alles Wirklichen und Möglichen, d. h. als unabschließbaren Horizont unseres »In-der-W.-Seins«. Auch die Frühe Nz. sprach von W.en im Sinne von Planeten…
Date: 2019-11-19

Kirche und Staat

(4,396 words)

Author(s): Unterburger, Klaus | Sparn, Walter | Schneider, Bernd Christian | Synek, Eva
1. EinleitungDas wechselseitige, aber nie symmetrische Gegenüber von K.u.S. im nzl. Europa ist das Ergebnis einer histor. Entwicklung, die einerseits an der politischen Ethik des NT (Röm 13; Offb 13) orientiert blieb, die aber andererseits tiefgreifende Veränderungen sowohl der kirchlichen als auch der staatlichen Institutionen, nämlich die Entstehung der nzl. Territorial- und Nationalstaaten, zu bewältigen hatte. Anfänglich war die Vorstellung leitend, dass die europ. Staaten in der Nachfolge des Röm. …
Date: 2019-11-19

Kirchenbau

(5,105 words)

Author(s): Fürst, Ulrich | Strohmaier-Wiederanders, Gerlinde | Sparn, Walter | Faensen, Hubert
1. AllgemeinIm K. der Nz. blieben theologische und pastorale Bestimmungen wirksam, welche die christl. Sakralarchitektur seit ihren Anfängen geprägt hatten: Die Kirche war Versammlungsort der Gemeinde, welche selbst als eigentlicher Ort und Konstituierendes des Gottesdienstes zu gelten hatte; Raumform und Ausstattung sollten die liturgischen Abläufe unterstützen sowie ihre Inhalte erfahrbar machen. Vor diesem Hintergrund sorgten allerdings sich immer wieder verändernde kulturelle Parameter und gravierende rel…
Date: 2019-11-19

Atheismus

(1,911 words)

Author(s): Graf, Friedrich Wilhelm | Sparn, Walter
1. BegriffA. (von griech. átheos, »ohne Gott«, »gottlos«) bezeichnet einerseits in komplexer Vielfalt Weltdeutungen und Lebensentwürfe, welche durch die bewusste Ablehnung der Existenz eines oder mehrerer Götter, transzendenter Wesen oder Mächte geprägt sind (positiver A.), andererseits die bewusste Verneinung der irdischen Wirksamkeit solcher Götter oder Mächte bei gleichzeitiger Anerkennung der theoretischen Möglichkeit ihrer Existenz (negativer A.). Weil jedoch Ausdrücke wie Gott, Schöpfer, Absolutes, höchstes Wesen, Ursprung alles Seienden, letztes Pr…
Date: 2019-11-19

Zwei-Regimente-Lehre

(2,268 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. Begriff Der erst im späten 19. Jh. aufgekommene Begriff Z.-R.-L. bezieht sich auf die ältere, gemeinchristl. Überzeugung, dass Gott die Welt auf zweierlei Weise regiere, teils mit ewiger, teils mit nur zeitlicher Zielsetzung: zum einen mittels der Religion (der christl. Kirche) und zum anderen mittels der Politik. Der Begriff ist insofern missverständlich, als es sich weniger um eine einzelne theologische »Lehre« handelte als vielmehr um einen größeren Komplex, in dem sich theologische, staatsrechtliche, polit., geschichtsphilosophische …
Date: 2019-11-19

Wahrheit

(4,276 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Mizrahi, Moti | Großhans, Hans-Peter
1. AllgemeinDas Wort W. (lat. veritas, franz. vérité) bedeutete indogerman. »Achtung«, »Zustimmung«, »Treue« (daher engl. truth); auch griech. alḗtheia (wörtlich »Unverborgenheit«) wurde für die Begriffsgeschichte wichtig. Die lebenspraktischen Fragen, ob eine Behauptung oder Mitteilung wahr ist, an welchen Maßstäben dies zu messen und zu erkennen ist, finden in jeder Kultur implizite oder explizite Antworten; die Frage, was W. sei, tritt zutage, sobald eine Kultur in Religion und Wissenschaft reflexiv wird. In E…
Date: 2019-11-19

Sünde

(4,502 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. Begriff, KontexteS. (engl. sin, franz. péché) bezeichnet seit dem frühen MA eine schuldhafte und strafwürdige Verfehlung eines verantwortlichen Täters gegen ein göttliches Gebot bzw. gegen ein durch göttliches Gebot legitimiertes kirchl. Gesetz. Über den moralischen Begriff »Laster« hinaus meint das relig. bzw. theologische Wort S. immer eine Beschädigung des menschlichen Gottesverhältnisses. In diesem (engeren) Sinne übersetzt das Wort die Ausdrücke hamartía der griech. und peccatum der lat. Bibel. Verwandte, aber nicht immer klar unterschiedene Begriffe sind »Böses«…
Date: 2019-11-19

Protestantismus

(2,377 words)

Author(s): Graf, Friedrich Wilhelm | Sparn, Walter
1. Begriff und historischer KontextDer dt. Kollektivsingular P. kam erst im 18. Jh. auf, während das engl. und das franz. Wort ( protestantism, protestantisme) schon im 16. Jh. gebräuchlich wurden. Aber auch P. bezieht sich auf die reformatorischen Protest- und Reformbewegungen des 16. Jh.s und bezeichnet alle christl. Kirchen, Freikirchen und Gruppen, die daraus hervorgegangen sind und sich meist auf die Reformatoren Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, Martin Butzer, Ulrich Zwingli und Johannes Calvin berufen (Reformation 2.). Der Begriff betont das den Konfessionen (Luther…
Date: 2020-11-18

Endzeit

(893 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
Der Glaube, dass man in der E. lebe, weil »dieser Welt« ihr Ende bevorstehe, prägte die Nz. bis ins 18. Jh. (Weltbilder). Seine religiöse Grundlage war die Annahme der christl. Apokalyptik, dass mit Jesus Christus die Heilsgeschichte an ihr Ziel gekommen sei. Die Zeit »nach Christus«, d. h. zwischen seinem Kommen und seiner Wiederkunft zum Weltgericht und zur universalen Aufrichtung des Reiches Gottes in einer neuen Welt (Eschatologie), ist danach eine letzte Zeit, die »E.« des alten Äon. Schon im Urchristentum musste die ursprüngliche Vorstellung, dass…
Date: 2019-11-19

Mystik

(3,613 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Leppin, Volker | Bryner, Erich | Grözinger, Karl Erich
1. EinleitungM., ein aus dem 17. Jh. datierender Allgemeinbegriff, hat sich allen religionswiss. und -psychologischen Definitionsversuchen des 19. und frühen 20. Jh.s entzogen [1]; [3]; [5]. Die neuere Forschung gebraucht ihn daher nur als heuristischen Begriff für sehr unterschiedliche, jeweils bestimmten kulturellen und sozialen Kontexten zugehörige Phänomene intensiver individueller Erfahrung der Verbindung oder Vereinigung (lat. unio mystica) mit dem Gott, dem Göttlichen, dem Heiligen usw. Diese Phänomene sind niemals unmittelbar zugänglich, da…
Date: 2019-11-19

Jesus Christus

(4,219 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. Allgemein »J. Ch.« ist ursprünglich kein Name, sondern das Bekenntnis, dass J. von Nazareth der Christós (griech. »Gesalbter«, Messias) Gottes sei. Als solcher war J. Ch. in der europ. Nz. eine maßgebliche Figur religiöser und kultureller Orientierung. Sie erfuhr jedoch tiefgreifende Veränderungen, die zugleich Indikatoren einer Ablösung von der fraglosen Autorität der christl. Tradition zugunsten der eigenständigen, kritisch modifizierenden Rezeption waren. Der Glaube, dass ein irdischer Mensch in seinem Leben und Sterben die Gegenwart Gottes selbst verkörpert ha…
Date: 2020-11-18

Musik, kirchliche

(6,120 words)

Author(s): Kremer, Joachim | Sparn, Walter | Fischer, Michael | Petzoldt, Martin | Totzke, Irenaeus
1. Allgemein Unter K. M. oder Kirchenmusik (= Km.) versteht man alles, was innerhalb christl. Kirchen an M. erklingt. Dieses rein funktionale Verständnis beschreibt keine musikal. Gattungen oder stilistischen Kennzeichen. Die Vielzahl musikal. Erscheinungsformen der kath. (s. u. 5.2.), evang. (s. u. 5.3.) und orth. Kirchen (s. u. 5.4.) steht einer absoluten und zeitlosen Beschreibung entgegen. Dies löst auch der Begriff »geistliche M.« nicht auf, weil diese nicht zwingend liturgischer Art sein muss. Der Begriff »religiöse M.« trägt seit der Überhöhung…
Date: 2019-11-19

Christologie

(2,758 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. BegriffDas im 17. Jh. geprägte theologische Kunstwort Ch. bezeichnet die normative Reflexion (Dogma) der Person und des Wirkens Jesu Christi und dessen fortdauernder religiöser Bedeutung. Dieses intellektuelle Christusbild der Ch. ist eines unter mehreren, denn die Christusfrömmigkeit fand ihren Ausdruck stets auch in symbolischen, literarischen, bildnerischen, musikalischen und theatralischen Formen; trotz wechselseitiger Beeinflussung gingen diese Christusbilder (Jesus Christus; Ikonographie) jedoch keineswegs immer konform m…
Date: 2019-11-19

Unendlichkeit

(3,059 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Scholz, Erhard
1. Metaphysik1.1. Begriff und VorgeschichteDer Begriff der U. (engl. infinity, franz. infinité) wird häufig uneigentlich (metaphorisch) für sehr große oder unbekannte Größen verwendet (»unendliche Tiefe des Meeres«), sodass der eigentliche Gebrauch in den Hintergrund tritt. »Das Unendliche« (= Unendl.; lat. infinitum, griech. ápeiron, »das Grenzenlose«, »Unbestimmte«) im eigentlichen Sinne ist jedoch seit den Anfängen der griech. Philosophie ein präziser, dem »Endlichen« konstrastierter math. und metaphysischer Begriff; unklar war allerdings oft, wie sic…
Date: 2019-11-19

Kirchenjahr

(2,512 words)

Author(s): Grethlein, Christian | Sparn, Walter | Petzolt, Martin | Bärsch, Jürgen
1. EinleitungDer Begriff K., wohl erstmals in der Postille des lutherischen Pfarrers Johannes Pomarius (Magdeburg 1585) bezeugt (s. u. 4.1.), bezeichnet den Jahreslauf der christl. Feste und Feiertage. Im Rhythmus von Woche und Jahr feiert die Kirche das Gedächtnis Jesu Christi (Herrenjahr) [1], wobei der Feier der Heiligengedenktage (Namenstag) sekundäre Bedeutung zukommt (Heiligenjahr).Kern und »Ursprung« ist der Sonntag, an dem in der Feier der Eucharistie (Gottesdienst) des zentralen Ostergeschehens gedacht wird (Wochenostern). Seine weitere Ausprägung erfu…
Date: 2019-11-19

Prädestination

(1,920 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. Begriff, Motive, ProblemkonstellationP., die göttliche ›Vorherbestimmung‹ von Menschen zum ewigen Heil, war ein für die Theologie, aber auch für die Metaphysik der Frühen Nz. zentraler Begriff, der jedoch seit der Aufklärung radikaler Kritik verfiel. Er wurde nach biblischen Vorgaben (Röm 8,29 f.; Eph 1,5) von Augustinus ( De praedestinatione sanctorum, 428/29) gebildet. Über die bereits stoische Annahme der providentia (›Vorsehung‹), d. h. der Lenkung der Welt im Ganzen durch einen Gott, hinausgehend reflektierte die P.-Lehre die Gewissheit der Chr…
Date: 2019-11-19

Fundamentalismus

(1,225 words)

Author(s): Graf, Friedrich Wilhelm | Sparn, Walter
1. BegriffF. ist ein Begriff aus der Zeit der nordamerikan. Religionskämpfe des frühen 20. Jh.s. Für die Nz. hat er insoweit Bedeutung, als die Erschließung von spätmodernen Religionskonflikten dazu beitragen kann, die für die nzl. Gesellschaften Europas typischen religiösen Auseinandersetzungen, konfessionellen Antagonismen und dogmatischen Kontroversen über religiöse Identitäts-Konstruktionen neu zu verstehen.Der Begriff F. wurde im Kontext der religionspolitischen Kämpfe zwischen konkurrierenden Gruppen im Protestantismus der USA um 1920 gebildet. Zunehme…
Date: 2019-11-19

Metaphysik

(3,122 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Schmidt-Biggemann, Wilhelm
1. DefinitionM. (mittellat. metaphysica, von griech. ta metá physiká, »das, was [im Kanon der aristotelischen Lehrbereiche] nach der Natur kommt«) ist der seit der Antike überlieferte Name für eine theoretische Disziplin, die sich nicht mit einzelnen Gegenständen als solchen befasste, sondern mit allem, insofern es ist und (daher auch) gedacht werden kann: dem Sein alles Seienden. Die M. galt daher seit Aristoteles als »Erste Philosophie«, d. h. als Leitdisziplin der Wissenschaft überhaupt. Zu den Themen der M. gehörte nicht nur das Sein der Dinge der Welt u…
Date: 2019-11-19

Fortschritt

(2,025 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Walther, Gerrit
1. BegriffDas um 1770 aus dem franz. progrès gebildete Wort »F.« bezeichnet wie dieses und seine Äquivalente (engl. progress, improvement, advancement; ital. progresso) die spezifisch nzl. Auffassung geschichtlicher Bewegung und Veränderung im Unterschied zu älteren Bewegungsbegriffen wie »Weg«, »Wachstum« oder »Entwicklung«. Zwar können auch schon die lat. Wortwurzeln (lat. progressus, profectus, processus) die Veränderung der Dinge hin zum Besseren bedeuten; das an kosmischen Zyklen orientierte Weltbild der Antike, aber auch die christl. Vorst…
Date: 2019-11-19

Weltanschauung

(1,631 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. TerminologyThe word   Weltanschauung was coined by Immanuel Kant in 1790; its use today is problematic and often unclear. It is a peculiarly German expression, used as a loan-word in several European languages [15]; it has also been translated (English  world viewworld vision; French vision  or  conception du monde), but then it no longer differs from  Weltbild (World view), and in fact the English expression is usually retranslated into German as  Weltbild. On the other hand, since the second half of the 19th century, the German word has become hugely pop…
Date: 2023-11-14

Progress

(2,200 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Walther, Gerrit
1. The termThe English noun  progress (in the sense of advancement or improvement; from Latin progressus via Old French  progres) came into use around 1600. Like its equivalents (French  progrès, German Fortschritt, Italian  progresso), it denotes the specifically early modern view of historical movement and change in contrast to earlier concepts of movement such as journey, growth, and development. It is true, though, that the related Latin roots ( progressusprofectus, processus) can mean the change of things for the better; both classical cosmology, based …
Date: 2021-03-15

Infinity

(3,304 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Scholz, Erhard
1. Metaphysics 1.1. Concept and prior historyThe term “infinity” (French infinité; German  Unendlichkeit) is often used figuratively (metaphorically) to denote very large or unknown values (“infinite depths of the ocean”), so that its literal use has faded into the background. “The infinite” (Latin  infinitum, Greek  ápeiron, “the boundless”, “the indeterminate”) in the strict sense, however, has since the first days of Greek philosophy been a precise term in both mathematics and metaphysics contrasted with the “finite.” What was often unc…
Date: 2019-10-14

Church interior

(2,275 words)

Author(s): Strohmaier-Wiederanders, Gerlinde | Sparn, Walter
1. DefinitionLike the sacral building itself (Church architecture), the church interiors in early modern Europe were all clearly recognizable as Christian. The most important features were the altar (or a table replacing it; see Altar design), font, and pulpit or lectern; from the late Middle Ages on, there was also an organ (initially in the larger churches, in the 19th century even in the smallest village churches; Organ music), as well as movable or permanent seating, e.g. choir stalls in mona…
Date: 2019-10-14

Sacrament

(6,920 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Walter, Peter | Nüssel, Friederike | Wasmuth, Jennifer
1. Introduction 1.1. General considerationsIn the early modern period, sacraments were part of the religious practice of all Christian churches, albeit with varying emphases and interpretations. Nevertheless, all believed that the celebration and administration of the sacraments, like the proclamation of the word of God, was central to the Christian church, and that sacraments, though performed by human beings, provided a place where the promise of Jesus Christ to be present with his flock was fulfi…
Date: 2021-08-02

Church architecture

(5,877 words)

Author(s): Fürst, Ulrich | Strohmaier-Wiederanders, Gerlinde | Sparn, Walter | Faensen, Hubert
1. Introduction Theological and pastoral concepts continued to define early modern Church architecture that had shaped Christian sacral architecture since its very earliest days. The church was a meeting-place for the congregation that had to fulfill a function as the real venue and crucible of the divine service (Worship). Spatial forms and fittings had to support liturgical procedures and make their content available to experience. Still, changing cultural parameters and profound religious and c…
Date: 2019-10-14

Jesus Christ

(4,907 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. General observations “Jesus Christ” is not originally a name but the declaration that Jesus of Nazareth is the  christós (Greek: “anointed,” Messiah) of God. As such, in the European modern era, Jesus Christ was a prominent figure in religious and cultural orientation. However, these orientations underwent far-reaching changes amounting to a move away from the unquestioned authority of the Christian tradition toward a more independent, critically modifying reception. The belief (Faith) that God incarnated himse…
Date: 2019-10-14

Palingenesis

(1,448 words)

Author(s): Thiede, Werner | Sparn, Walter
1. ConceptPalingenesis (Greek palingenesía, Latin  renascentia, German  Wiedergeburt, literally “rebirth”) in the early modern period was mostly the Christian metaphor for the (singular) process of a spiritual birth of a person comparable to their physical birth, that is, second birth, a prerequisite for eternal life. The origins of the concept in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus (Jo 3) were remembered, and like the Pauline formula of “new creation,” it was from the outset associated with the act of …
Date: 2020-10-06

Church year

(3,111 words)

Author(s): Grethlein, Christian | Sparn, Walter | Petzolt, Martin | Bärsch, Jürgen
1. Introduction The term “church year,” probably first attested (as German Kirchenjahr) in the postil of the Lutheran pastor Johannes Pomarius (Magdeburg 1585) (see below, 4.1.), denotes the annual cycle of Christian festival and holiday. In the rhythm of the week and year, the church celebrates the memory of Jesus Christ (year of the Lord) [1], with the celebration of the saints’ days (Name day) taking a secondary role (year of the saints).The core and “origin” of the year was the Sunday on which the key events of Easter are celebrated (Passion Week) in the fe…
Date: 2019-10-14

Predestination

(2,010 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. Definition, motives, problemsPredestination, God’s “preordination” of individuals to eternal salvation, was a central concept for early modern theology but also for metaphysics, though it was subject to radical criticism with the coming of the Enlightenment. It was introduced by Augustine ( De praedestinatione sanctorum, “On the Predestination of the Saints”; 428/429) on the basis of biblical texts (Rom 8:29f.; Eph 1:5). Going beyond the Stoic notion of  providentia (providence), that is, the governance of the world as a whole by a god, the doctrine of…
Date: 2021-03-15

Metaphysics

(3,425 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Schmidt-Biggemann, Wilhelm
1. DefinitionMetaphysics (Middle Latin  metaphysica, from Greek  ta metá physiká, “the [works traditionally arranged] after the Physics [in the Aristotelian canon]”) has since Greco-Roman antiquity been the traditional name for a theoretical discipline that deals not with individual objects as such, but with everything that is and can (therefore) be thought about: the Sein alles Seienden (Heidegger: the "being of all that is being"). Since Aristotle, then, metaphysics has been regarded as the “primal philosophy”, that is, the guiding discipline of …
Date: 2019-10-14

Christology

(3,146 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. SignificanceThe theological term  Christology, coined in the 17th century, denotes normative reflection (Dogma) on the person and work of Jesus Christ and his enduring religious significance. This intellectual image of Christ in Christology is one among many, for devotion to Christ always found expression in symbolic, literary, visual, musical, and theatrical forms as well. Despite reciprocal influences, however, these images of Christ (Jesus Christ; Iconography) by no means always conformed to t…
Date: 2019-10-14

Mysticism

(3,883 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Leppin, Volker | Bryner, Erich | Grözinger, Karl Erich
1. IntroductionThe noun mysticism, a general term dating from the 17th century, eluded all attempts of students of religion and the psychology of religion to define it in the 19th and early 20th century [1]; [3]; [5]. More recent researchers therefore use it only as a heuristic term for highly diverse phenomena of an intense individual experience of bonding or union (Latin  unio mystica) with God, the divine, the holy, etc. – always in specific cultural and social contexts. These phenomena are never accessible directly, since we know of them only through (…
Date: 2020-04-06

Church and state

(4,982 words)

Author(s): Unterburger, Klaus | Sparn, Walter | Schneider, Bernd Christian | Synek, Eva
1. Introduction The reciprocal but never symmetrical relationship between Church andState in early modern Europe was the result of a historical development that in some respects remained indebted to the political ethics of the New Testament (Rom 13; Rv 13), while in other respects confronting profound changes in both ecclesiastical and secular political institutions, specifically the emergence of the early modern territorial and nation state. At first, the underlying assumption was that the Europe…
Date: 2019-10-14

Atheism

(2,127 words)

Author(s): Graf, Friedrich Wilhelm | Sparn, Walter
1. Terminology The word atheism (from Greek átheos, “without  God”, “godless”) denotes both a complex variety of interpretations of the world and life-designs shaped by conscious rejection of the existence of one or more gods, transcendent beings, or powers (positive atheism) and a conscious denial of the earthly influence of such gods or powers, while simultaneously recognizing the theoretical possibility of their existence (negative atheism). Terms such as “God,” “creator,” “absolute,” “supreme being…
Date: 2019-10-14

Two kingdoms doctrine

(2,564 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. Definition The term Zwei-Regimente-Lehre (two governments doctrine), coined in the late 19th century, refers to the older belief, common to all Christian bodies, that God governs the world in two ways, partly with an eternal purpose, partly with a merely temporal purpose: the first by means of religion (the Christian church), the second by means of politics. It is easy to misunderstand the term, since what is involved is less a single theological “doctrine” than a larger complex in which theologi…
Date: 2022-11-07

Syncretism

(1,909 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Rüther, Kirsten
1. Historical surveyThe term syncretism (French  syncrétisme, German  Synkretismus) was first used in the early modern period by Erasmus of Rotterdam with reference to the classical Greek term  synkrētismós, which implied that the Cretans would bury their internal conflicts and unite in the face of external threats. Erasmus counseled syncretism in dealing with controversies, which he ascribed to un-Christian vindictiveness. He believed it was possible to join in a political alliance despite religious differences – as did …
Date: 2022-11-07

Sin

(4,833 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. Terminology and contexts Since the early Midde Ages, sin (German Sünde, French  péché) has meant a culpable and punishable transgression of a divine commandment or an ecclesiastical law legitimated by a divine commandment by a responsible offender. Over and above the moral concept of “vice,” the religious or theological word  sin always denotes an injury to the human relationship with God. In this (narrower) sense, it translates such words a  hamartía in the Greek Bible and  peccatum in the Latin Bible. Related but not always clearly distinct is the term  evil (German Böses or …
Date: 2022-08-17

Truth

(4,345 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Mizrahi, Moti | Steinle, Friedrich | Großhans, Hans-Peter
1. BackgroundThe Indo-European word behind  Latin  veritas, French  vérité, German  Wahrheit (English “truth”) meant “respect,” “assent,” “fidelity”; Greek  alḗtheia (literally “unconcealment”) was also important for the history of the term. The pragmatic questions concerning whether an assertion or message is true and what criteria we should use to assess and recognize its truth have been answered implicitly or explicity in every culture. The question of what truth is arises whenever a culture reflects on its…
Date: 2022-11-07

Protestantism

(2,626 words)

Author(s): Graf, Friedrich Wilhelm | Sparn, Walter
1. The term and its historical contextThe collective singular noun Protestantism and its French equivalent  protestantisme were already in use in the 16th century; the German  Protestantismus did not come into use until the 18th century. The term refers to the protest and reform movements of the 16th-century Reformation and denotes all the Christian churches, free churches, and groups that emerged from it, most of which appealed to the Reformers Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, Martin Bucer, Huldrych Zwingli, and Jo…
Date: 2021-03-15

World view

(4,273 words)

Author(s): Beuttler, Ulrich | Sparn, Walter
1. DefinitionThe term world view was coined in the Middle Ages as a translation of Latin  forma ideaque mundi (form and idea of the world) or  imago mundi (image of the world), but it remained marginal in the early modern period. Other terms were used or introduced for the coherent totality of the manifold phenomena of the world: in scientific contexts, people spoke of physics, natural philosophy, or  cosmologia generalis (general theory of the world, 1731; Christian Wolff), in pedagogical contexts of  orbis sensualium pictus (“Sensible World Painted,” 1658; in German edit…
Date: 2023-11-14

Lutheranism

(2,829 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. Definition, origin, and profileThe term  Lutheranism (German  Luthertum) was coined in 1544. Like the more common terms  die LutherischenLutherani, Lutheranismus, and so on, it was originally a pejorative exonym, implying the charge of heresy, applied to the adherents of the Reformation, who since the activities of Martin Luther in 1517 had been vigorously flexing their ecclesiastical and political muscles. Luther himself disliked the expression  Lutheran; therefore the churches that reorganized themselves on the basis of regional church orders (begin…
Date: 2019-10-14

Fundamentalism

(1,342 words)

Author(s): Graf, Friedrich Wilhelm | Sparn, Walter
1. The term The term  fundamentalism is a product of the religious conflicts in North American during the early 20th century. It is relevant to the early modern period because the exploration of late modern religious conflicts can contribute to a better understanding of the religious conflicts, confessional antagonists, and theological controversies over the construction of religious identity typical of Eurpean societies in the early modern period.The term was coined around 1920 in the context of the religio-political conflicts between competing groups with…
Date: 2019-10-14

Body and soul

(2,099 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Wolff, Jens
1. Terminology and traditions At the beginning of the early modern period in Europe, the human experiences that give rise to belief in an asymmetrical duality of body and soul (sleep, dreams, ecstasy, grief, death, and childbirth [9]) had coalesced metaphysically, anthropologically, and epistemologically [12. ch. III and V]. What happens to individuals after their bodily death? How do animate beings differ from inanimate beings and from dead matter? How specifically is the cognitive element of the soul, the mind (Geist), related to the …
Date: 2019-10-14

Person

(3,976 words)

Author(s): Schaede, Stephan | Sparn, Walter | Hofer, Sibylle
1. Philosophy and theology 1.1. Definition and cultural contextThe word person (Latin  persona) originates from ancient theater, where it was used to indicate the mask worn by an actor and hence also the identity of his role; in institutional contexts, the word was transferred to the individual holder of rights and duties, as well as to political and (since the Middle Ages) ecclesiastical officials and dignitaries. In grammar, the word is used for the three possible speakers of a verb, that is, the 1st, 2nd…
Date: 2020-10-06

End time

(1,018 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
The sense of living in the end time because “this world” was coming to an end was a prevailing belief of the early modern period until the 18th century (World view). Its religious basis was the assumption in Christian apocalypticism that Jesus Christ heralded the end of the history of salvation. The time “after Christ,” that is, between his coming and his return for the Last Judgment and the universal establishment of the Kingdom of God in a new world (Eschatology), was accordingly seen as a fin…
Date: 2019-10-14

Apocalypticism

(2,218 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. Terminology and background 1.1. Apocalypticism and apocalypseThe term “apocalypticism” (German  Apokalyptik) was introduced in 1820 by the theologian K.I. Nitzsch for the conviction and conduct that views the coming course of the world as a sequence of dramatic events that expand to become a cosmic catastrophe, bring the world and time to an end. Such Weltanschauungen assume that: (1) the fate of the humankind is a part of cosmic history, which in turn has human history as its focus; (2) the drama of this history is governed not only by human v…
Date: 2019-10-14

Music, ecclesiastical

(7,037 words)

Author(s): Kremer, Joachim | Sparn, Walter | Fischer, Michael | Petzoldt, Martin | Totzke, Irenaeus
1. IntroductionThe term ecclesiastical or church music encompasses all music that is heard within Christian churches. This purely functional sense implies no musical genres or stylistic properties. The abundance of manifestations of music in the Catholic (see below, 5.2.), Protestant (see below, 5.3.), and Orthodox churches (see below, 5.4.) precludes an absolute definition valid across the whole of history. Using the term “spiritual music” makes matters no easier, for spiritual music need not be…
Date: 2020-04-06

World

(4,339 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. The complexity of the conceptThe term world (German  die Welt, French le monde) is extremely ambiguous and modifiable (see, for example, Ages of the world; Weltanschauung; World view; World perception; World literature; Topsy-Turvy World). Current usage includes both the plural  worlds, that is, supposedly meaningful totalities (“the art world,” the “afterworld”), and  the world as the totality of all that is real and possible, that is, the unlimited horizon of our “being in the world.”The first centuries of the early modern period also spoke of worlds in the s…
Date: 2023-11-14

Afterlife

(2,000 words)

Author(s): Hölscher, Lucian | Sparn, Walter
1. Term Ideas about life after death are to be found among nearly all peoples and in nearly every era. Yet, like its counterpart Diesseits (“this life”), the term Jenseits (“afterlife”, literally “the beyond”) in German has only existed since the turn of the 18th century. The noun Jenseits is only found, sporadically, in sources from the late 18th century, e.g. in the exclamation in Schiller’s Die Räuber (1781; The Robbers): “Sei wie du willst, namenloses Jenseits, wenn ich nur mich selbst mit hinübernehme” (“Be what you will, nameless World Beyond, as long as…
Date: 2019-10-14

Schegk, Jakob

(243 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
[German Version] (born Degen; 1511, Schorndorf – May 9, 1587, Tübingen), professor of philosophy at Tübingen from 1536, also professor of medicine there from 1543; he was superintendent and several times rector of the Tübingen Stift; he lost his sight in 1577. His commentaries on Aristotle’s logic and physics represented the (non-Scholastic and anti-Ramist) reform of ¶ Aristotelian topics and theory of proof in logic and were closely associated with scientific advances in Italy in physics. His theological significance rests on his opposition to M. Ser…

Friendship

(3,210 words)

Author(s): Mohn, Jürgen | Berges, Ulrich | Fitzgerald, John T. | Gandler, Hans-Helmuth | Vowinckel, Gerhard | Et al.
[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Philosophy – V. Social Sciences – VI. Systematic Theology I. Religious Studies Religious studies have paid little attention to friendship, since it appears initially not to be a phenomenon of primary relevance to religion but to denote simply a personal relationship between individuals, culturally conditioned and codified, that represents a form of identityforming social life. As a result, very different understandings of friendship…

Descent into Hell

(2,415 words)

Author(s): Böcher, Otto | Sparn, Walter | Felmy, Karl Christian
[German Version] I. New Testament – II. Dogma and the History of Dogma – III. Art History I. New Testament Christ's descent into hell, i.e. his descent to the underworld, the realm of the dead, is, as Descensus ad inferos, one of the christological statements of the early and medieval church's confession of faith (Apostles' Creed, Athanasian Creed; Confession (of faith): III). Nonetheless, the NT does not offer a single certain text for this notion; at most, 1 Pet 4:6 may be interpreted as preaching by Jesus to the dead, before his resurrection (cf. Ign. Magn. 9.2; Gos. Pet. 10.41f.; Iren. H…

Piety

(3,477 words)

Author(s): Jödicke, Ansgar | Sparn, Walter | Koch, Traugott | Seiferlein, Alfred | Weismayer, Josef | Et al.
[German Version] I. Religious Studies Piety (recently often also “spirituality”) is understood, first, as the forms of expression of lived religiosity; research in this area is particularly the subject of folklore studies and church history for the idividual, secondly, piety has to do with particular qualities of feeling, such as reverence, with which the psychology of religion (Gruehn, Sundén) is concerned. Objective and subjective components are combined in various ways in the historical developme…

Antichrist

(2,868 words)

Author(s): Klauck, Hans-Josef | Leppin, Volker | George, Martin | Sparn, Walter
[German Version] I. New Testament – II. Church History – III. Theology I. New Testament 1. The term ἀντίχριστος appears in Christian literature only in 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7, and, dependent on these texts, Pol. Phil 7:1. There it refers to someone who turns against Christ and the confession of Christ, not – as would be linguistically possible – someone who seeks to take the place of Christ; in context, it refers to theological opponents collectively. …

Thomasius, Christian

(594 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
[German Version] ( Jan 1, 1655, Leipzig – Sep 23, 1728, Halle), was a prominent philosopher of law during the early German Enlightenment. Born into a Lutheran family of scholars (father Jakob Thomasius), Christian Thomasius studied philosophy in Leipzig from 1669 onward; from 1672 onward, after having read the works of H. Grotius and S. Pufendorf, he studied jurisprudence in Frankfurt an der Oder (Samuel Stryk), where he was awarded a doctoral degree in 1679. Enjoying little success as a lawyer, T…

Baroque

(6,748 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Hüttel, Richard | Mikuda-Hüttel, Barbara | Kühlmann, Wilhelm | Hagel, Doris
[German Version] I. Use and History of the Term – II. Architecture and Landscaping – III. Painting and Sculpture – IV. Literature – V. Music I. Use and History of the Term Initially a pejorative designation for irregular and un-natural elements of architecture following the Renaissance, the term “Baroque” has, since J. Burckhardt (1855) and Heinrich Wölfflin (1888), been revaluated into a term describing an artistic,…

Hell

(5,978 words)

Author(s): Auffarth, Christoph | Houtman, Cornelis | Frankemölle, Hubert | Lang, Bernhard | Sparn, Walter | Et al.
[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Church History – V. Dogmatics – VI. Judaism – VII. Islam – VIII. Buddhism – IX. Contemporary Art I. Religious Studies 1. Hell as a place of retribution in the afterlife for those who continually transgress the religiously sanctioned rules of their community is not specifically Christian or monotheistic. But it is also not an idea that springs automatically from the question of how the dead exist (Death). Although hell was long viewed as a…

Law and Legislation

(7,555 words)

Author(s): Michaels, Axel | Otto, Eckart | Räisänen, Heikki | Sparn, Walter | Starck, Christian
[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Dogmatics and Ethics – V. Politics and Jurisprudence I. History of Religion Laws are generally regarded as formulated, i.e. sentential and often codified rules of life and coexistence; this ¶ refers especially to principles of nature (Law/Natural law) and norms of action (Commandment, Ethics). For the modern age, the validity of natural laws arises from hypothetical laws that have been verified through observation and experiments, and have thereby been proven or j…

Schmidt, Johann Lorenz

(391 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
[German Version] (Nov 30, 1702, Zell am Main – Dec 19/20, 1749, Wolfenbüttel), translator of the so-called Wertheim Bible. The son of a clergyman, Schmidt studied philosophy and theology at Jena (with J.F. Buddeus) and was appointed tutor to the comital (i.e. Protestant) House of Löwenstein-Wertheim. In this position he worked on a Bible translation, the first portion of which, the Pentateuch, was published by his pupils in 1735 ( Die göttlichen Schriften vor den Zeiten des Messie Jesus...). It triggered four years of public debate throughout Germany. Primarily at the ins…

Human Beings

(18,165 words)

Author(s): Gregersen, Niels H. | Grünschloß, Andreas | Figal, Günter | Janowski, Bernd | Lichtenberger, Hermann | Et al.
[German Version] I. Natural Sciences and Psychology – II. Religious Studies – III. Philosophy – IV. Old Testament – V. New Testament – VI. Church History – VII. Dogmatics and Ethics – VIII. Judaism – IX. Islam I. Natural Sciences and Psychology 1. Evolution From the perspective of the natural sciences, the theory of evolution offers the most comprehensive framework for understanding human beings. It views the human species as a late product of a biogenetic process that began with the origin of life (VI) on earth some 3.8 billion …

Demonic, The

(2,174 words)

Author(s): Berner, Ulrich | Sparn, Walter
[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Dogmatics – III. Philosophy of Religion I. Religious Studies R. Otto used the concept of the demonic in close association with the concept of the numinous, which occupied the center of his theory of religion. The essence of the numinous includes the element of the tremendum, the unnerving or unsettling element corresponding on the human side to numinous or religious awe – whose “preliminary stage” according to Otto is demonic awe ( Das Heilige, ch. 4.a). This understanding corresponds to a similar un…

Theodicy

(8,171 words)

Author(s): Weßler, Heinz Werner | Barton, John | Klaiber, Walter | Sarot, Marcel | Sparn, Walter | Et al.
[German Version] I. Religious Studies In archaic cultures, the wellbeing of the community is determined by a fatal power that can be influenced by religious rituals but is ultimately incalculable. In the context of advanced early urban cultures, however, there emerged religious worldviews in which universal concepts of order played a central role. In this historical context, a “functioning world order” (Klimkeit) became the structural principle for models explaining the world. The connection between …

Alienation

(1,490 words)

Author(s): Zenkert, Georg | Sparn, Walter | Stock, Konrad | Dober, Hans Martin
[German Version] I. Philosophy - II. Dogmatics - III. Ethics - IV. Practical Theology I. Philosophy The term “alienation,” made particularly prominent through the influence of Marxist literature, takes its philosophical sense from the work of G.W.F. Hegel. Etymologically, it derives from Lat. alienatio and Gk. ἀλλοτρίωσις/ allotriōsis. Besides “estrangement” in general, it can also denote a legal transfer of title (Aristotle, Rhet. 1361 a 22). The term occurs in various contexts in Christian theology, denoting both …

Hoffmann, Daniel

(219 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
[German Version] (c. 1538, Halle/Saale – Nov 30, 1611, Wolfenbüttel), Lutheran theologian. Hoffmann was appointed professor of philosophy in Helmstedt in 1574/1576 and professor of theology in 1578. In association with V. Strigel, S. Musäus, and T. Heßhus, Hoffmann attempted to preserve the integrity of Luther's doctrine against Philippistic (P. Melanchthon) and Flacian (M. Flacius) deviations, but also, while defending the Lutheran doctrine of the Eucharist, against the “new dogma” of ubiquity (J…

Hütter, Leonard

(417 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
[German Version] (Hutterus; Jan 1563, Nellingen near Ulm – Oct 23, 1616, Wittenberg), after studying the arts and theology in Strasbourg (M.A. 1583), Heidelberg and Jena, he received the Dr.theol. in Leipzig (1593) and became professor of theology in Wittenberg (1596) alongside P. Leyser, Sr. and A. Hunn (Hunnius). Like them, Hütter was a policy advocate and theological interpreter of the Formula of Concord: as orthodox scriptural exegesis, it was the result, as was the Augsburg Confession ( Analysis, 1594), of the work of the Holy Spirit ( Libri Christianae Concordiae … explicatio, 16…

Gabler, Johann Philipp

(173 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
[German Version] (Jun 4, 1753, Frankfurt am Main – Feb 17, 1826, Jena), Protestant theologian, became professor of OT at Altdorf in 1785, and at Jena in 1804, where he had studied OT and NT exegesis from 1772 to 1778 with J.G. Eichhorn and J.J. Griesbach. Linked with theological neology (Enlightenment: II, 4.c), but not a rationalist, Gabler successfully developed the program (Mar 30, 1787) for the methodological separation of a “biblical theology” set apart from variable dogmatics by historical e…

Künneth, Walter

(276 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
[German Version] (Jan 1, 1901, Etzelwang – Oct 26, 1997, Erlangen). A disciple of F. Brunstäd (Dr.phil. 1923) and K. Heim (Lic.theol. 1927), Künneth was appointed to the Apologetische Centrale in Berlin in 1926 and was its director from 1932. As a cofounder of the Jungreformatorische Bewegung (reform movement), he was prohibited from public speaking and writing in 1937. He became pastor in Starnberg in 1938 and dean in Erlangen in 1944, where he was made honorary professor in 1946 and professor of…

Gutke, Georg

(183 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
[German Version] (Oct 1, 1589, Cölln an der Spree – Aug 19[?], 1634, Berlin) was rector of the Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster in Berlin from 1618 onward. As a philosophical author he professed the Wittenberg Aristotelianism of his teacher J. Martini in Logik (1626) and Metaphysik (1628/1630) and logically conceived a new discipline of Intelligentia. The cognition-enabling habitus primorum principiorum (1625) accordingly rests on the “subtility” of things, i.e. on their relationality with respect to each other, to God, and to the cognitive intellect, to wh…

Life

(7,317 words)

Author(s): Grünschloß, Andreas | Liess, Kathrin | Zumstein, Jean | Sparn, Walter | Gander, Hans-Helmuth | Et al.
[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Bible – III. Fundamental Theology and Dogmatics – IV. Philosophy – V. Philosophy of Religion – VI. Natural Sciences – VII. Ethics I. Religious Studies Religious ideas and rituals focus fundamentally on life in this world and the next (Here and now, and the hereafter), i.e., coping with life and death (I). Through an immense range of variations, certain returning elements are discernible. Because of its numinous origin (Creation), life is usually felt to be “owed,” but because …

Scheibler, Christoph

(198 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
[German Version] (Dec 6, 1589, Armsfeld, Waldeck – Nov 10, 1653, Dortmund), Lutheran philosopher and theologian. In 1610 he was appointed professor of Greek, logic, and metaphysics at Gießen and served as rector. In 1625 he was appointed superintendent and gymnasiarch in Dortmund. A prolific writer, Scheibler gave Lutheran Scholastic Aristotelianism a distinctive character vis-à-vis Wittenberg (J. Martini): in its more didactic logic, which included Ramist motifs ( Opus logicum, 1613), and in its metaphysics, which was oriented sapientially as well as ontological…

Suárez, Francisco

(1,410 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
[German Version] ( Jan 5, 1548, Granada – Sep 25, 1617, Lisbon), SJ, leading theologian, philosopher, and legal theorist of Spanish Scholasticism. Suárez studied in Salamanca. Initially rejected for lack of aptitude, he was accepted into the Jesuits in 1564. In 1571 he began teaching philosophy in Segovia; after 1574 he taught theology in Valladolid, Segovia, and Alcalá. In 1580 he began teaching at the Collegium Romanum in Rome. In 1585 sickness forced him to return to Alcalá, where he succeeded …

Religious Experience

(2,499 words)

Author(s): von Brück, Michael | Sparn, Walter | Stock, Konrad
[German Version] I. Religious Studies Experience is a process occurring directly in the conscious mind, whereby the perceiving subject and internal as well as external objects of the conscious mind link up to form an experience, representing a separate category, which is connected episodically with the moment in which a particular perception occurs. (Religious) experience (Ger. Erlebnis) is the subjective perception of an experience (Ger. Erfahrung). An experience is participation in an event; the accumulation of experiences generates knowledge. An event is c…

Angels

(5,988 words)

Author(s): Woschitz, Karl M. | Görg, Manfred | Wischmeyer, Oda | Sparn, Walter | Lohberg, Gabriele | Et al.
[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament– IV. Church History – V. Philosophy of Religion – VI. Dogmatics – VII. Art History – VIII. Practical Theology – IX. Judaism – X. Islam I. Religious Studies Religious conceptions include numinous intermediary beings of the most varied types and origins that mediate between the divine sphere and humanity and also serve higher powers. These are sometimes …

Calling

(3,654 words)

Author(s): Hjelde, Sigurd | Waschke, Ernst-Joachim | Wilhelm Horn, Friedrich | Sparn, Walter | Martin Müller, Hans
[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Dogmatics – V. Practical Theology I. Religious Studies The term calling or “call” refers to a person's experience of being grasped by a divine or other superhuman power and being taken into its service. The concept thus relates closely to that of election; at the same time, a calling can be seen as a kind of initiation that can precede or follow a longer period of instruction and maturation. The early…

Superstition

(3,603 words)

Author(s): Küenzlen, Gottfried | Sparn, Walter | Stolz, Fritz | Hollenweger, Walter J.
[German Version] I. Religious Studies 1. Terminology. Like the equivalent German term Aberglaube, the word superstition is pejorative in tone and so is inherently critical and polemical: to speak of superstition as a perverted belief implies that the speaker is doing so from the perspective of correct belief or knowledge. 2. Semantic history. The normative, judgmental character of the term shaped its semantic history. In ancient Rome, superstitio was used to describe an exaggerated religious anxiety, just as Greek δεισιδαιμονία/ deisidaimonía meant anxious servility toward …

Horneius, Konrad

(199 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
[German Version] (Hornejus, Horn; Nov 25, 1590, Braunschweig – Sep 26, 1649, Helmstedt), philosophy student of Johannes Caselius and, also theological student of Cornelius Martini. In 1619 he became extraordinary professor of logic and ethics; in 1622, of metaphysics as the successor of Martini; and in 1628, the second professor of theology beside Georg Calixtus. Less innovative than the latter but a successful academic, teacher, and author, philosophically and theologically, Horneius embodied the…

Werdenhagen, Johann Angelius (von)

(325 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
[German Version] (ennobled in 1637; Aug 1, 1581, Helmstedt – Dec 26, 1652, Ratzeburg). After studying philosophy (J. Caselius, C. Martini) and law at Helmstedt, he began teaching as an adjunct in 1601. In 1607 he went to Salzwedel as deputy rector; from 1616 to 1618 he taught as professor of ethics at Helmstedt. Finding that position unpromising, he entered the political service of Magdeburg, lived as a writer in Leiden and The Hague from 1627 to 1632, and then returned to the service of Bremen, M…

Sensuality

(1,613 words)

Author(s): Fricke, Christel | Rosenau, Hartmut | Sparn, Walter | Stock, Konrad
[German Version] I. Philosophy Sensuality is a collective term for various human faculties that mediate sensations. Sensations are mental states. In contrast to abstract thoughts, memories, and fantasies, sensations are qualitatively dependent on the present state of the sensate person. It is traditional to distinguish between perceptual sensations and affective sensations. Sensations function as information, making it possible for us to react appropriately to our environment, have an idea of it, an…

Unio Mystica

(1,258 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter | Nüssel, Friederike | Radtke, Bernd
[German Version] I. Philosophy of Religion The phenomenon of unio mystica within mysticism is of interest to the philosophy of religion because recent analytical approaches in religious studies and the psychology of religion permit a more precise assessment of the philosophical issues involved, and also because it brings to light (so much better) a philosophically discussable connection between religious behavior or experience and rational cognition (Epistemology). Although the term itself is not always u…

Quenstedt, Johann Andreas

(283 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
[German Version] (Aug 13, 1617, Quedlinburg – May 22, 1688, Wittenberg). After the death of his uncle, J. Gerhard, this scion of a patrician family was forced by war to study in nearby Helmstedt ¶ (G. Calixtus, K. Horneius); in 1644, however, he did go to Wittenberg (W. Leyser, J. Hülsemann), where in 1649 he was appointed adjunct professor in the faculties of philosophy and theology. He wrote quite a few geographical and antiquarian works. After receiving his doctorate in 1650, in 1660 he was appointed to the fourth chair of the…

Devil

(8,622 words)

Author(s): Felber, Annelies | Hutter, Manfred | Achenbach, Reinhard | Aune, David E. | Lang, Bernhard | Et al.
[German Version] I. Names and Terms – II. Religious Studies – III. Ancient Near East and Old Testament – IV. New Testament – V. Church History – VI. Philosophy of Religion – VII. Fundamental Theology – VIII. Dogmatics – IX. Judaism – X. Islam – XI. History of Art and Literature I. Names and Terms 1. Devil The secular Greek noun διάβολος/ diabolos comes from one of the meanings of the verb διαβάλλω/ diaballō, “separate, sever,” which led to meanings such as “accuse, slander, deceive.” From the Greek noun came Latin diabolus, from which the English …

Spiritualism

(2,439 words)

Author(s): Leppin, Volker | Weigelt, Horst | Ludwig, Frieder | Sparn, Walter
[German Version] I. Definition The use of spiritualism as a precise technical term was shaped by the Soziallehren of E. Troeltsch, who used it to distinguish between two groups Luther had lumped together as Schwärmer (“Enthusiasts”): spiritualists and Anabaptists. The common characteristic shared by the groups called spiritualists is their belief in the direct effect of the Holy Spirit (Spirit/Holy Spirit) within each individual, in contrast to the outward working of the Spirit through the words of Scripture. As a rule, this belief i…

Orthodoxy

(6,002 words)

Author(s): Baur, Jörg | Sparn, Walter | Muller, Richard A.
1. Lutheran Orthodoxy 1.1. Epoch The term “Lutheran orthodoxy” (sometimes “old Lutheran orthodoxy” or “old Protestant orthodoxy”) is ill adapted to describe this specific form of Reformation Christianity, which extended between the Reformation and the Enlightenment. Radical Pietism called the period orthodox because of (1) its interest in pure doctrine alone and not also in a holy life in devout fellowship and (2) the alliance between ecclesiastical and secular government. But this summary was a cari…

Physicotheology

(1,988 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
Physicotheology is theology that gathers evidences of purpose in nature. It arose in the early Enlightenment as a form of the older European natural theology. It made use of the same allegorical interpretation of nature and of the same teleological proof of God (God, Arguments for the Existence of, 2.5), deducing the existence of an all-powerful and all-wise builder of the universe from its perfect, purposeful, and beautiful order. 1. Roots 1.1. Scientific Physicotheology was an important factor in the development of modern science. By demystifying nature in a pious …

Neology

(1,047 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
1. Term Originally coined to denote linguistic and literary innovation, “neology” came to be used from about 1770 as a term of reproach against theologians who were viewed as proposing new doctrines. The orthodox who were critical of the Enlightenment adopted it, but so too did many supporters (e.g., G. E. Lessing). The reference today is to the middle phase of Enlightenment Protestant theology after 1740. Advocates used it of themselves only rarely and with reservations, preferring “Enlightenment.” Nor is the meaning always uniform. It is i…

Scheibler

(177 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
[English Version] Scheibler, Christoph (6.12.1589 Armsfeld, Waldeck – 10.11.1653 Dortmund), luth. Philosoph und Theologe. 1610 Prof. für Griech., Logik und Metaphysik in Gießen, Rektor; 1625 Superintendent und Gymnasiarch in Dortmund. Lit. überaus fruchtbar, gab Sch. dem luth. Schularistotelismus ein gegenüber Wittenberg (J. Martini) eigenes Gepräge: in der stärker didaktischen, auch ramistische Motive aufnehmenden Logik (Opus logicum, 1613) und in der nicht nur ontologisch, sondern auch sapiential…

Schegk

(208 words)

Author(s): Sparn, Walter
[English Version] Schegk, Jakob (eigentlich: Degen; 1511 Schorndorf – 9.5.1587 Tübingen), seit 1536 Prof. für Philos., seit 1543 Prof. für Medizin in Tübingen; Stiftsephorus, mehrfach Rektor, 1577 erblindet. Seine Komm. zur Logik und zur Physik des Aristoteles repräsentieren die (nicht-scholastische und antiramistische) Reform der Topik und der Beweislehre bzw. hängen eng mit dem naturphilos. Fortschritt in Italien zus. Sch.s theol. Bedeutung lag im Kampf gegen M. Servet und die Antitrinitarier, v.…
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