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[German Version] a figurative genre that developed from first examples in early 15th century France (abbey church of La Chaise-Dieu, ¶ Auvergne; Franciscan monastery of Aux Saints Innocents, Paris) and gradually spread throughout Europe (Fr. Danse macabre, Ger. Totentanz…

[German Version] I. Philosophy of Religion The term transcendentalism, preceded by earlier terminology (Transcendentals), goes back to the critical transcendental philosophy of I. Kant; following on his definition of the term transcendental, it denotes a method of thinking that “is not so much occupied with objects as with the mode of our cognition of these objects, so far as this mode of cognition is possible a priori” ( KrV, B 25). It implies a methodological program defined by a dual differentiation: in contrast to rationalism, it asserts that our concepts, t…

[German Version] I. Church History According to Ambrose, Sebastian came…

[German Version] is the name given to a collection, originally in Greek, of various longer texts in which existing, exotic, in part also mythical animals, stones, and plants (e.g. lion, unicorn, diamond) are interpreted in terms of ascetic conduct and salvific Christian truths by one who knows nature, the Physiologus. The literature spoke of this scholar’s symbolic, allegorical, or typological view of things, and of a method of symbolism that uses nature only to point to a hidden moral or spiritua…

[German Version] ¶ I. Terminology To an unusual degree, the theology of the Trinity is characterized by a strained combination of narrative biblical language and speculative philosophical language. The word trinitas was first used by Tertullian ( Prax. 2.1–4), as a translation of Greek τριάς/ triás (orig. “threeness”). To denote the divine unity (God: V, 1), the 4th-century debates showed that the term οὐσία/ ousí (“Essence”; see also Divine essence) borrowed from Greek philosophy was theologically legitimate. The term ὑπόστασις/ hypóstasis (Hypostasis) was sometimes used in the sense of substantia (Substance…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies, Systematics – II. Academic Research Disciplines – III. History – IV. Christian Theology I. Religious Studies, Systematics 1. Methodology. In defining the relationship between art and religion from the perspective of religious studies, one cannot speak of a universal concept of art and religion on the phenomenal level. To do comparative work, however, sufficient abstract characteristics must be established as a tertium comparationis to enable a systematic examination of the relationship between art and religion. This is possible through a moderately functional perspective that determines the pertinent function of art and religion as well as their contributions to each another apart from their historically and culturally varying manifestations, without ignoring these entirely (on the functional definition of art and religion cf. Culture: VI). Cultural history can no longer assume a …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies In the 1960s, religious studies began to discuss the continuing decline of religious commitment in Europe intensively. In particular the writings of Bryan Wilson ( Religion in a Secular Society, 1966) and Peter L. Berger ( The Sacred Canopy, 1967), drawing on the ideas of M. Weber, É. Durkheim, and others led to formulation of a so-called theory of secularization, where secularization denotes a natural aspect of the process of modernization, in which the traditional religious legitimation of the world has increasingly lost credibility in the eyes of modern men and women. The theory of secularization was criticized by Thomas Luckmann ( The Invisible Religion, 1967), who called it a “modern myth,” on the grounds that the decline of institutionalized religion did not mean the decline of religion in general. Religion, which he defines functionally and anthropologically, simpl…

[German Version] I. Concept The French term “Renaissance,” which was also borrowed by German and English, belongs to the large group of organic metaphors applied to historical occurrences. Used from the 19th century in sole reference to animal/human life and understood in the sense of “rebirth,” it is assigned in recent research (since Jost Trier) more appropriately to the botanical sphere and explained as “renewed growth,” i.e. as a renewed sprouting of shoots …