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[German version] I. Definition A procession (Greek πομπή/ pompḗ, Latin pompa) can be defined as the action of a group of people who are 'proceeding' (Latin procedere) in a formalized and orderly sequence. A distinction can be made between two types of formal processions: those that take place irregularly and those that are held at regular intervals. Price, Simon R. F. (Oxford) II. Greco-Roman antiquity [German version] A. Irregularly occuring processions During Classical antiquity, processions that took place irregularly were ritualized events involving a variety o…

[German version] I. Classical antiquity Pilgrimage, defined here as a journey of considerable length to a sacred place, undertaken for religious reasons, was a common practice in all of antiquity, not solely a Christian phenomenon. Rutherford, Ian C. (Reading) [German version] A. Greek world The best-documented form is the state pilgrimage ( theōría ), in which the Greek city-states sent out envoys ( theōroí) to attend religious festivals, announce their own festivals or consult oracles. However, festivals drew not only official theōríai but also private pilgrims; in general…

Merkt, Andreas (Mainz) I. History of Theology (CT) [German version] A. Basic Concept (CT) The history of theology (HT) is that area of theological studies which examines the history of the development of theological ideas. The need for this study in the theory of Christianity arises principally from theological and anthropological considerations. First, according to Christian belief, God himself took on an historical form in Jesus of Nazareth; scholarly reflection on this religion demands, therefore, an hist…

[German version] I. Definition The term 'creation of the world' ('CW') (κτίσις/ ktísis, Lat. creatio) in the narrower sense should be distinguished from two similar concepts. Unlike 'cosmogony', 'CW' refers to a personal act. Secondly, unlike 'fashioning of the world' in the sense of the craft of a demiourgos [3] (cf. [1]), 'CW' does not mean the mere modelling of existing material in analogy to the creative intervention of an artist, but the absolute bringing-into-being of everything (the universe, i.e. 'the whole', τὰ πάντα/ tà pánta) out of the void. The concept of a creation…