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[German Version] I. Bible – II. Philosophy – III. History of Theology and Dogmatics – IV. Ethics – V. Law – VI. Social Politics, Social Ethics – VII. Missiology – VIII. Islam I. Bible 1. Ancient Near East and Old Testament The concept of justice in the ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible is basically one of connectivity. It designates the positive relation of the king to the gods and to his people, of the individual to the various collectives ranging from the family to the entire nation, of the deed to the doer's well-being,…

[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 …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies 1. Human destiny. The human experience of existence holds both positive and negative events. Personal and structural processes involving violence and suffering are constants. The “horizon of justice and righteousness” allows us to surmise that the events that take place in the course of the world are not random but are turbulences on the surface of a fundamental order. Disorientation (anomie) does not destroy the need for security. These turbulences remain a question to which religious ¶ traditions and atheistic projections of Dasein offer ans…

[German Version] I. The Term – II. New Testament – III. History of Doctrine – IV. Dogmatics I. The Term The earliest meaning of justification (like Ger. Rechtfertigung) was “administration of justice,” “legal process,” “execution of sentence,” even “capital punishment” (Elert), but early on it could also stand for defense and acquittal. In modern times it has come to be used only in the sense of vindication or legitimation. Hebrew צְדָקָה/ ṣĕdāqāh and Greek δικαíωσις/ dikaíōsis emphasize the declaration of justness, Latin iustificatio the creation of justness. The Old and…