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[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Christianity – III. Judaism – IV. Islam I. Terminology The term orthodoxy derives from Greek ὀρϑός/ orthós, “right, true, straight,” and δόξα/ dóxa, “opinion, teaching.” The word and its derivatives appear in pre-Christian literature (Liddell & Scott, s.v.) but acquired their specifically religious sense only in the context of Christianity, where confession of Jesus as Lord or Christ plays a constitutive role in religious practice (Rom 10:10; Matt 10:32f.) and the need appeared early on to identify a…

[German Version] I. Fundamental Theology – II. Dogmatics and History of Doctrine – III. Ethics – IV. Catholic Understanding I. Fundamental Theology Infallibility, understood as unswerving inerrancy or being held unshakably in the truth, is a theme of both Reformation and Roman Catholic theology. Both traditions of Western theology affirm the NT statement that the Holy Spirit will guide the faithful and the community of believers into all truth (John 14:16; 16:13) and that the church is therefore “the pillar and bulwark of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15). 1. Reformation theology sees he…

[German Version] I. History, Process, Results 1. History. The Ecumenical Council Vatican II (Oct 1, 1962 – Dec 8 1965; St. Peter’s in Rome) was announced by John XXIII on Jan 25, 1959, at the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity; from the second session on, it was headed by his successor ¶ Paul VI. It adopted 16 documents (list at the end of section V of the abbreviations): four constitutions (LG, on the church; GS, on the church in the modern world; SC, on the liturgy; DV, on revelation), nine decrees (IM, on…

[German Version] (Oct 10, 1819, Liège – Jun 19, 1883, Würzburg) studied philosophy and theology in Würzburg and Rome (at the Collegium Germanicum), where he was appointed adjunct professor of New Testament exegesis in 1848 and professor of dogmatics in 1854. In his works, and especially in his Enchiridion symbolorum et definitionum quae de rebus fidei et morum a conciliis oecumenicis et summis pontificibus emanaverunt (1854), Denzinger sought to bind dogmatics more firmly to tradition and to the papal magisterium …