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[German Version] I. Fundamental Theology The words nature and grace are used (primarily in Catholic theology) to explain the relationship between philosophical anthropology (I) and the reality of God’s salvation, conceived theologically. This discussion, peculiar to the West, normally involves only the nature of human beings, not that of other beings. The language of medieval Aristotelianism, especially that of Thomas Aquinas, decisively shaped the treatment of this topic by fundamental theology. According to Thomas, grace does not abolish nature but perfects it ( Summa theolo…

[German Version] See also Heavenly voice, Memra, Revelation. I. Religious Studies Humans experience messages from the deity or divine beings (Inspiration/Theopneusty, Revelation) in the form of speech. Formally we must distinguish (a) the word of the deity himself, as recorded in sacred scripture after a phase of oral transmission (Torah, Qurʾān, Vedas, Avesta); (b) words communicated by individuals specially chosen and called by God (the word that calls); (c) words spoken by elect individuals having a spe…

[German Version] refers to the process of constituting or preserving a whole and is employed in the humanities primarily as a sociological and educational-psychological category. Consequently, in the field of theology, integration is a term with primary relevance for practical theology. Conceptually, in particular the third of the meanings of the Latin adjective integer (1. sound, incorrupt, 2. new, 3. whole) has come to dominate the current notion of integration, while the Latin substantive, integratio, primarily connoted “renovation.” The modern concept of integrati…

[German Version] I. Definition …

[German Version] (Mar 20, 1900, Schönbach, Saxony – Sep 2, 1970, Göttingen) was a practical theologian of Lutheran provenience who may be categorized in the sphere of influence of “Word of God theology” (K. Barth), but who sought to take into account influences from Berneuchen theology (W. Stählin, A.D. Müller, O. Haendler) and empirical aspects of the chu…

[German Version] (Apr 18, 1890, Komsomolsk [Ger. Löwenhagen], Russia – Jan 12, 1981, Berlin). After pastoring in Gumtow, Prignitz and Stralsund, Haendler was director of the seminary in Stettin (1931–1935), pastor in Neuenkirchen near Greifswald (1935–1949) and professor of practical theology at Greifswald (1945–1951) and East Berlin (1951–1959). Marked by ¶ the depth psychology of C.G. Jung and the Evangelische Michaelsbruderschaft, he became an early proponent of pastoral psychology in Germany before its broad acceptance after 1970. His 1941 textbook …

[German Version] I. History – II. Liturgical Studies Today I. History The German term Liturgik (“liturgics”) was first used by the 16th-century Catholic mediation theologian G. Cassander; in the 19th century, Catholics began to use it for the historical, critical, systematic, and practical theory of Christian worship. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of liturgics in this sense to the mid-19th century. The term Liturgiewissenschaft…

[German Version] (Jun 2, 1912, Ückermünde, Pomerania – Aug 25, 1982, Loccum), was deeply influenced by his studies under R. Hermann in Greifswald and by D. Bonhoeffer's preachers' seminary in Finkenwalde. H…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Philosophy of Religion – V. Dogmatics – VI. Practical Theology – VII. Missiology – VIII. Art – IX. Judaism – X. Islam I. Religious Studies 1. It is fundamentally true that God is not an object of religious studies, since God – as theology teaches – cannot be made an object of empirical scientific study. Religious studies can only address the concepts that human beings have expressed concerning their God (or gods: God, Representations and symbols of) in history and society, along with s

[German Version] Physical and emotional injuries are commonly called traumas (from the Gk word for “wound”). In a narrower sense, traumas are psychological wounds that manifest themselves as long-term impairments, especiall…

[German Version] (Biblical Scholarship, Hermeneutics, Interpretation) I. Religious Studies – II. History of Religions – III. Greco Roman Antiquity – IV. Bible – V. Church History – VI. Practical Theology – VII. Biblical Scenes in Art – VIII. Judaism – IX. Islam I. Religious Studies Exegesis (for etymology see III below) is the explanation, interpretation, or analysis of sacred or otherwise religiously central documents by experts; it enables and encourages the access of a …

[German Version] I. Natural Sciences The distinction between theory as a consistent linguistic or symbolic system of ordered statements about a par-¶ ticular subject area or phenomenal domain and practice (praxis) as technical action to produce quantifiable phenomena in an experiment, or at least observation against the background of a theory, is fundamental to the modern natural sciences, although the precise definition of the relationship between the two is disputed and is addressed by the philosophy of science. Usually the relationship between theory and praxis is described by saying…

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[German Version] I. Terminology and Theory In its scientific exploration of the past, all historiography aims at a synthesis in the sense of a valid overview of what has gone before. At best, however, the quest can succeed only paradigmatically and typically, because any reconstruction of an histoire totale is doomed to failure. Nevertheless historiography cannot abandon the ven-¶ ture of viewing history (History/Concepts of history) as a whole, because otherwise the incalculable mass of detail would rule out any interpretation of historical processes. …

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Bible – III. Dogmatics – IV. Philosophy – V. Philosophy of Religion – VI. Ethics – VII. Practical Theology – VIII. Judaism I. History of Religion The concept of love describes a relationship of affection, tenderness, or devotion between human beings and between humans and God (Love of/for God) or the gods. The Old Testament speaks of the love of God for humanity; in Judaism, the commandment of obedience to God is followed by the commandment to love God (Deut 6:5) and one's fe…

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[German Version] I. Definition In the Middle Ages, it was common to call theology practica in contrast to speculativa (e.g. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae I/I q. 4f.; but contrast Luther, ¶ WA.TR, 153). In German Protestantism today, the term practical theology ( Praktische Theologie) denotes a discipline within academic theology that was established in the early 19th century. Introduced encyclopaedically by F.D.E. Schleiermacher for the “proper approach to dealing with all the functions that come under the heading of church leadership” ( Kurze Darstellung des theologischen Studiums, §260; ET: Brief Outline of Theology as a Field of Study), its subject matter der…