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[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. Early Judaism – IV. New Testament – V. Dogmatics I. Religious Studies 1. The judgment discussed here is not in response to a specific transgression or lapse on the part of an individual; it is a judgment upon his or her entire life, taking place only after death and determining the fate of the ¶ deceased in the next world. Because this notion implies the idea of a just recompense, it has the quality and function of a theodicy that seeks to bring about the correlation between virtue and happiness that is absent from life on earth: the divine verdict ultimately establishes the necessary balance between good and evil. But the notion of a “last” judgment has also been helpful in the context of moral education: in the battle against negligence and immorality as well as deviant teachings, the threat of being punished with eternal suffering has sometimes been a …

[German Version] I. Archaeology and Religious Studies The wild predecessors of cultured vines ( Vitis vinifera vinifera) are found especially in the north-eastern Mediterranean region and in the area of the Black Sea. The earliest evidence of collecting grapes, presumably from wild stocks, is 9,000 years old (Çayönü, Tell Aswad and Jericho). The earliest indications of vine cultivation come from the end of the 4th millennium …

[German Version] I. History of Religions – II. Biblical – III. Philosophy of Religion – IV. Dogmatics – V. Ethics – VI. Science I. History of Religions 1. So-called chaos research (see VI below) has renewed a positive meaning of the term with the model of the “creative” self-organization of matter (thus without the goal-oriented will of an ordering creator). Previously, since Late Antiquity, a negative evaluation of chaos had prevailed: Since creation demonstrates the existence of God, chaos was a negative in relation to the Creator God in a dualistic system, as disorder ( confusio: Augus…

[German Version] I. Old Testament and Judaism – II. Christianity – III. Islam I. Old Testament and Judaism 1. Only in three passages does the Old Testament speak of humankind's being made in the image of God (collective use of הָ]אָדָם]/[ hā] ʾādām in Gen 1; cf. Gen 1:27: male and female): in the relationship between God and human beings in Gen 1:26f. and 9:6, and in the relationship between human beings in Gen 5:1, 3 (all P). Substantially the same idea is conveyed in Ps 8:6–9*; for later treatment of the theme, Sir 17:3–7 and Wis 2:23f. are significant. Throughout most of Christian history,…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. History of Religions – III. Philosophy of Religion – IV. Art History I. Religious Studies All cultures have concepts of a hereafter or beyond (“the next world”), although they are extremely diverse. They involve a realm of existence different from the visible earthly world but nevertheless thought of as real. Concepts of the hereafter are part of cosmology and therefore are related to the real world: the hereafter may be localized above or below the earth, in inaccessible regions, for example; tombs, caves, and springs are popular gateways to it. The upper air (“hea…

[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 …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. History of Religions – III. Old Testament – IV. New Testament – V. Philosophy of Religion – VI. Dogmatics – VII. Judaism ¶ I. Religious Studies Concepts of the hereafter do not, of themselves, necessarily contain statements concerning eternal life. On the contrary, concepts of the hereafter develop with dynamics of their own and thus variability. Eternal life and souls freed after death often stand in a specific relationship. Eternal life as a theme of …

[German Version] As part of the ritual for the great Day of Atonement, (Lev 16, cf. 23:26ff.; Num 29:7 ff.), the high priest Aaron lays his hands (Laying-on of hands) on a he-goat, the so-called scapegoat (Vulgate caper emissarius, Fr. bouc émissaire, Ger. Sündenbock), putting the sins of the Israelites on its head and then employing someone designated to take it to “an isolated place” or “the wilderness” (Lev 16:8, 10, 21f.), where rabbinic tradition says that it meets its death ( m. Yoma). Various interpretations have been proposed for the name Azazel (עֲזָאזֵל; Lev 16:8, 10, 26) that…

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. Art History I. Old Testament Cain and Abel, the children of the first human couple Adam and Eve, are the protagonists of one of the characteristic fraternal narratives of the book of Genesis (cf…

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Old Testament – III. Judaism – IV. New Testament – V. History of Theology – VI. Creation and Preservation – VII. Religious Education – VIII. Islam – IX. Science – X. Art History I. History of Religion 1. Fundamentals Life, nature, the environment, the passage of time – these are everyday experiences for any society. But reality also includes the danger that this world may be imperiled or perilous. Chaos and death are part …

[German Version] (May 11, 1913, Frankfurt am Main– Feb 18, 1997, Tübingen) received his doctorate under Alexander Scharff from Munich in 1936, habilitated in 1942, was assistant to the Protestant theology faculty at Tübingen beginning in 1950, named extraordinary professor in 1960, Professor of Egyptology in 1964, and emeritus since 1978. Brunner was the founding father of Egyptology at Tübingen and made important contributions to the study of Egyptian language ( …

[German Version] I. Terminology and Scope The book of Psalms is a unique collection of 150 poetic texts compiled to make a work …

[German Version] (Dec 17, 1918, Essen – Nov 14, 2000, Essen). After earning his doctorate in Heidelberg (1944) and his Habilitation in Bonn (1948; associate professor of Old Testament there from 1951), Kraus accepted an appointment as professor of OT in Hamburg in 1954, and was professor of Reformed theology in Göttingen …

[German Version] I. Concept and Terminology – II. Religio-historical Aspects – III. Theological Significance I. Concept and Terminology References to Yahweh's “kingdom” or “kingship,” using the abstract nouns מַלְכוּת/ malkût (1 Chron 17:14; 28:5; Pss 103:19; 145:11–13; Dan 3:33; 4:31 [Eng. 4:34]; etc.), מְלוּכָה/ mĕlûkāh (Obad 21; Ps 22:29*),מַמְלָכָה/ mamlākāh (1 Chron 29:11), and …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament I. Religious Studies Light and darkness, day and night, the rising and setting of the life-giving sun determine the vital rhythm of nature and human beings; they find expression in feelings, in language and thought, in symbols and myths. Light is on the side of the gods, the sphere of the divine, the spirit. As a religious symbol, light represents life, salvation, and bliss. Darkness is ambiguous: it can ¶ signify death, perdition, and woe, but it can also represent protective concealment (hell, etymologically …

[German Version] I. Old Testament The word shekhinah (שְׁכִינָה), a postbiblical…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies The term substitution, originating in the language of law, is used primarily in Christian theology, but it is well suited for use in religious studies as well, even though so far there has been no detailed systematic treatment of it. In the most general sense, we speak of substitution when the true subject affected or acting (God, an individual like the king, or a collective) is represented by another …

[German Version] Lament I. Religious Studies – II. Bible – III. Systematic Theology – IV. Practical Theology – V. Judaism I. Religious Studies Lament has its roots in human experience; it gives voice to suffering and mourning, in ritual, poetic, or informal form. Its end is not theoretical, like theodicy, but practical: people react to the experience of situations perceived as mentally, physically or socially painful and process these experiences individually or collectively. The prototypical occasion for mournin…

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[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Bible – III. Dogmatics – IV. Ethics …