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[German Version] The Christian doctrine of perseverance (or endurance) addresses the persistence of the relationship between the faithful and God, enabled by the working of the Holy Spirit (Spirit/Holy Spirit) in the midst of the changes and challenges that threaten it in the lives of the faithful. The New Testament itself uses varied language to address the problem (abide – depart, endure – fall away, stand – fall, etc.; John 15:4f.; Matt 24:13; 1 Cor 10:12f.). Augustine ( De correptione et gratia; De praedestinatione sanctorum; De dono perseverantiae) was the first to consider i…

[German Version] The term biblicism does not refer to a chronological period of theology or to a theological orientation, but to an assessment of the Bible (mostly held in Protestantism) in whole or in part. It is essentially characterized by the fact that it takes all biblical statements literally, that it hardly assigns greater or lesser importance to any on…

[German Version] Around 1800, a number of German-speaking congregations came into existence in America on the Methodist model. Known as “Albrechtsleute” [Albrecht's people], they had come into being through the evangelistic activity of the farmer and kilner Jakob Albrecht (1759–1808), who was of German provenience. The first formal “Annual Conference” of the associates – five iti…

[German Version] (WMC). The WMC unites 77 Methodist (Methodists: II) and united churches in 132 countries, a community of over 80 million (2011). Founded as the Ecumenical Methodist Conference in London in 1881 (present name since 1951), it meets every five years for discussion and consultation (2011 Durban, South Africa). It has standing committees for ecumenical relationships (membership in the WCC; since 1967 doctrinal conversations with other churches and church families), education, theologic…

[German Version] I. Dogmatics – II. Ethics I. Dogmatics The focus of the problems addressed by the Protestant doctrine of ordo salutis is the relationship between the action of God’s grace ( gratia dei applicatrix) and the human experience of salvation. Based on the Reformers’ doctrine of justification but also going beyond it, it describes the working of the Holy Spirit or God’s grace in the life of the justified believer in all its unity and diversity. The beginnings of the doctrine are already visible in the Augsburg Confession of 1530 ( CA 6 and 12) and – in greater detail – in the…

[German Version] I. Old Testament Sanctification, the “setting apart” of spaces, times, objects, and persons to make them sacred (cf. Lat. sacer) is represented in the Old Testament by the verb קדשׁ/ qdš piel and niphal, its antonyms חלל/ ḥll I piel and חל/ ḥl, and the antithesis “clean–unclean” טהר–טמא/ ṭhr–ṭmʾ (with reference to holiness: Lev 11:43ff.; 16:19; cf. Deut 14:3ff.; purity and impuraty). Since YHWH represents holiness per se (Isa 5:16, etc.), sanctification means translating the object in question into the immediate divine realm (cf. the regulati…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Philosophy of Religion – III. Christian Theology – IV. Buddhism I. Religious Studies Verbalizing the internal light (Symbols/Symbol theory) of the mysteries and mysticism, enlightenment denotes salvific knowledge that comes through sudden ineffable existential experience. Interreligious contacts (reception of ancient conceptions of enlightenment in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; modern encount…

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. New Testament – III. Dogmatics I. History of Religion Gathering disciples around themselves was part of the work of those who founded, renewed and established religions (Buddha, Jesus, Confucius, Lao Tsu, Mahāvīra, Mani, Muḥammad, Nanak, Zarathustra) as well as of other – if not all – prophets, …

[German Version] I. Religious History 1. Since the dawn of time, human birth has been associated with many religious ideas, rituals, and customs, including the idea of rebirth or regeneration. As a rite of passage (Rites of passage), birth is not merely a natural process; it can repeat a previous birth, view death as a passage to new life, or distinguish within a lifetime between a corporeal and a spiritual birth, separated by a ritual death. The Greek terminology is not uniform, using ἀναγεννᾶν/ anagennán, ἀναβιοῦν/ anabioún, μεταγεννᾶν/ metagennán, πάλιν γίνεσϑαι/ pálingínesthai, an…

[German Version] I. History of Religions – II. Greco-Roman Antiquity – III. Bible – IV. Church History – V. Systematic Theology – VI. Practical Theology – VII. Missiology – VIII. Judaism – IX. Islam I. History of Religions “Conversion” denotes the religiously interpreted process of total reorientation in which individuals or groups reinterpret their past lives, turn their backs on them, and reestablish and reshape their future lives in a new network of social relationships. The phenomenon was initially …

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Church History – V. Dogmatics – VI. Ethics – VII. Practical Theology – VIII. Church Law – IX. Judaism – X. Islam I. History of Religion In the following comments the term community will refer exclusively to a religiously motivated association of people. From the standpoint of the history of religion, the formation of communities is more the exception than the rule. The fact that associations such as tribes, as well, howe…