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The imprecise term “bib…

1. NT 1.1. Term The word “congregation” has become established alongside “church” as English translations of the central NT word “ecclesia” (Gk. ekklēsia, originally meaning “assembly, gathering”). In modern theology a distinction is seen that is materially, though not semantically, based on the NT but that raises ecumenical problems. The congregation is the specific local assembly, whereas the church is the people of God as a universal entity and in its extralocal forms of organization. 1.2. Beginnings In its beginnings, emerging Christianity was mostly organized loca…

1. Term The attempt is made here to describe systematic theology by comparing its understanding in Protestant and in Roman Catholic thought. 1.1. The term “systematic” as an attribute of theology is often viewed as unfortunate because it seems to imply that the full truth of the living God can be summarized in a system. The Anglican …

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1. Ideas of God in the Religions Ideas are phenomena. We may interpret them in broader social and intellectual contexts, but they also speak for themselves in images, words, names, and texts. Even when deity is their content, they can display only themselves, not show whether revelation or merely human imagination underlies them, though this observation does not mean that we can rule out divine revelation. To speak of an idea of God tacitly presupposes horizontal comparison between societies and cultures. We set different ideas of God on different levels, thou…

Anxiety is an emotion that functions on different levels. Any adequate definition must therefore take account of these levels, explaining and distinguishing them, and finally weaving them philosophically or theologically into an anthropological whole. Concepts ¶ …

1. Concept No single, comprehensive psychological theory of aggression can encompass the various phenomena covered by the term “aggress…

Overview In the church and its milieu, the word “faith” is used with sometimes irritating generality (the English word perhaps even more crassly than its German equivalent, Glaube). One can dis…

In his epic poem Works and Days (lines 109–201), the Greek poet Hesiod (fl. ca. 800 b.c.) tells the story of a golden age in which humans lived like gods with no cares, illnesses, or wickedness. This period was followed by successive declines into the silver age and then the bronze. A heroic age arrested the decline but was followed finally by the iron age, which was full of plague and evil. To the ancient idea of an ideal primitive age there correspond the myths in different cultures concerning an ideal place, paradise (an Iranian word), a garden (Eden, see Gen. 2:4–3:24), the mountain of Go…

1. Definition In the broader sense, “counseling” refers to almost any oral or written assistance that is given by a qualified counselor to those who seek counsel. The spectrum reaches from educational and vocational counseling to medical consultation, marriage and family counseling, and family or individual psychotherapy. The narrower technical sense relates less to the variety of those that seek counsel, or to the nature of their problems, and more to the actual process and goal of counseling. He…

1. Dogmatics and Ethics 1.1. Historical Data Historical research has never been able to establish the original form of marriage—monogamy or polygamy (polygyny or polyandry)—or whether one form developed into the other. Yet it is striking that in so-called primitive cultures, as well as more civilized ones, we always find a religious or cultural understanding of…

1. Religious History 1.1. Variety of Terms and Views The word “soul” (cf. Ger. Seele) embraces the meanings of many other words with a history of their own. These meanings differ not only in ancient cultures but also among themselves. They stand for various human experiences, of which we no longer know whether they were as numerous as the terms used—but do know that historically they represent basic realities of existence. A common feature of these realities is that they are regarded as essentially different from the materials of which we and nature and our world are composed. We may divide …

Today the term “conflict” denotes a wide variet…

The term “act” figures in the philosophical analysis of becoming, of the phenomenon of change. Parmenides (…

1. Problem Medical ethics (or ethics in medicine) is not a special ethics but the application of ethical theories, principles, and processes of decision (Ethics) to the themes and problems that in the broadest possible sense arise in relation to health and illness, health policy, suffering, healing, research, and the responsibility for the health of future generations. Hence it is not merely “doctors’ ethics,” as it was in ordinary parlance and literature up to a few decades ago. Distinct but over…

Preparing for the world conference on practical Christianity at Oxford in 1937, the ecumenist and social thinker Joseph H. Oldham (1874–1969) described “middle axioms” as guidelines for the action of Christians in specific political situations, guidelines to which non-Christians could also subscribe out of their own moral convictions. Such axioms could not be deduced directly from higher Christian principles (“broad criteria,” e.g., love), but they are in harmony with them and are more concrete, though not so concrete as actual directives for action, or …

Overview One may rightly ask whether Jews and Christians really have an ethics per se. For them the law of the Lord is perfect, “reviving the soul” and “making wise the simple” (Ps. 19:7; see also …

Under the influence of S. Kierkegaard (1813–55), later philosophers and popular authors have often distinguished “fear” from “anxiety.” The former denotes a debilitating emotion in the face of specific dangers and threats; the latter, an emotional reaction to what is unknown and indefinite. The distinction as such makes sense, but it is linguistically artificial and does not stand up to more exact analysis of academic, popular, or poetic usage. Nor do etymological findings help. Fear and anxiety are largely interchangeable. In psychological and psychiatric literature we fin…

1. Biblical Data 1.1. OT and Early Judaism Statements about the rûaḥ (spirit) of Yahweh are of direct pneumatological i…

Overview Overview Christology is systematic reflection on the basis and significance of the apostolic witness to Jesus Christ, along with its expression and application throughout the history of the church. It has long been a classic part of theological teaching. It seeks to fashion explicit statements that can be tested and used in close connection with other central areas of Christian doctrine (…