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[German Version] I. Ethics – II. Practical Theology I. Ethics The Greek noun κρίσις/ krísis originally denoted the action derived from the verb κρίνειν/ krínein: (a) “sepa¶ ration, quarrel”; (b) “selection”; (c) “decision, judgment, verdict”; (d) “turning point (in a battle or disease)” (cf. also criticism, kairology). The adoption of the forensic sense in the LXX added a theological dimension to the term. In the NT, krísis stands for the verdict of the judge, the court of judgment, and especially the eschatological Divine Judgment, the ultimate separ…

[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Philosophy of Religion – III. Fundamental Theology – IV. Ethics – V. Practical Theology I. Philosophy To speak of the meaning of a linguistic utterance is ambiguous from a systematic point of view. The various ¶ semantic concepts correspond to various levels of understanding (comprehension of meaning). The first three levels belong to the field of semantics: (1) If the spoken sentence P is free of lexical and grammatical ambiguities in the language of the speaker, then the interpreter understand…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Judaism – III. New Testament – IV. History of Dogma – V. Dogmatics – VI. Ethics – VII. Ecumenics I. Religious Studies In European Christian theology the doctrine of merit (Lat. meritum) became a controversial subject, by which (at least on the Protestant side) it was thought possible to demonstrate with particular clarity the basic difference between Catholicism and Lutheranism (see IV below). Discussion in religious studies has shown that the use of such a theologically loaded conc…

[German Version] I. Philosophy The term self (ἑαυτοῦ/ heautoú; αὑτοῦ/ hautoú) appears as a noun (“the self”) but more often in compounds such as self-consciousness, self-relation, self-assertion, self-actualization, self-determination, self-assurance, and self-realization. Its basic meaning has to do with autonomy: self is something that can be by itself and stand by virtue of itself alone. Greek philosophy already emphasized this meaning: what something is of itself (καϑ᾿ αὑτά/ kath’ hautá; Arist. Metaph. 1017a 27) is what is independent of accidentals. What is self-moving (α…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies A sense of shame is a fundamental element of being human. It is a social feeling that ensues when one becomes aware of a shortcoming that might offend others. Unlike a sense of guilt, it does not presuppose an actual transgression. Shame is therefore not just a concomitant of behavior subject to social condemnation, such as violation of a sexual taboo, dishonesty, cowardice, or disloyalty; it is also a reaction to situations for which the individual has no respon…

[German Version] 1. Anthony Ashley Cooper (Feb 26, 1671, London – Feb 4, 1713, Naples), third Earl of Shaftesbury, major Enlightenment philosopher, moralist, and pioneer of aesthetics. His grandfather of the same name, a renowned politician, entrusted Shaftesbury’s education to J. Locke; through his governess Elizabeth Birch, he received thorough training in the classical languages along with ancient and modern literature. After a period at Winchester College (1683–1686), travels through Europe (1686–…

[German Version] (Feb 20, 1866, Guilford Township, IN – Nov 18, 1947, Los Angeles, CA), American pioneer of the psychology of religion and educational theory as an empirical science based on developmental psychology. After a happy childhood with his Quaker parents, he studied at Harvard under W. James and at Clark University under G.S. Hall. His dissertation on conversion and adolescent development, based on questionnaires, was published in 1899; it is considered the first book on the empirical ps…

[German Version] As an ethical and legal term, imputability denotes (in a person who has reached the age of discretion) the normally assumed capacity to recognize the morality (Morality and immorality) or legality of an action in a given situation and to act on this recognition by voluntarily choosing whether or not to act, thus becoming legally and morally responsible for any consequences. The concept is a product of the theory of imputation (see also Justification) as developed in 17th- and 18th-centu…

[German Version] I. Philosophy of Religion The word theonomy is a neologism modeled on Greek ϑεο-νομία/ theo-nomía. It means that reality and its order, especially human morality and immorality, are subject to God’s law. The term became popular in the 19th century in the context of reaction against I. Kant’s reformulation of the concept of autonomy. The issue raised by the two terms autonomy and theonomy can be summed up in the question whether they are opposites or correlates. The substantial meaning of theonomy is dependent on the conception of God that it …

[German Version] I. Cultural History The Dutch cultural historian Johan Huizinga identified play as a fundamental cultural phenomenon and thus a defining feature of human life. His thesis of homo ludens supplements the anthropological theories of homo sapiens and homo faber and other explanations of culture grounded in reason and fabrication (Labor). Huizinga posits the following definition: “Play is a voluntary activity or occupation executed within certain fixed limits of time and place, according to rules that are freely accepted …

[German Version] Maintenance of tradition means responsible concern for the authentic preservation of a significant traditional body of insights, norms, ways of life, or institutions that shape the identity of an ordered community along with the individuals within it and their formational history. Maintenance of tradition means more than fixing a tradition in oral or written form and rigid perpetuation of its existing state; precisely in order to preserve a tradition’s original meaning, it include…

[German Version] The expression judgmentforming denotes the more or less methodical process of arriving at a judgment – logical, moral, aesthetic, legal, etc. It comprises an ordered sequence of steps, beginning with the appearance of a particular constellation of problems and ending with a temporary or final solution. Objectively, it presupposes that the constellation of problems in question can be clearly identified and defined and is also amenable to solution under the conditions of finite reason…

[German Version] In the ethics of ancient philosophy, self-sufficiency (Gk αὐτάρκεια/ autárkeia, Lat. sufficientia sui) denotes the basic ethical stance through which individuals seek to attain the goal of their lives, true eudaimonia, by aspiring to happiness in the inward constitution of their soul (III, 3) independently of outward goods and the vicissitudes of fate; in this context, self-sufficiency resembles the virtue of prudence (Democritus). Xenophon sketches the figure of Socrates as the ideal of the …

[English Version] I. Dogmatisch »Z.« (Imputation, lat. imputare, griech. λογι´ζεσϑαι/logízesthai) präzisiert die Rechtfertigung der sündigen Person durch das wirksame Urteil Gottes: Gott spricht dem Sünder die Gerechtigkeit Christi durch den Glauben zu. Die menschliche Selbstgerechtigkeit trifft auf die ganz andere Gerechtigkeit Gottes, der in Jesus Christus die menschliche Sünde auf sich zieht und hinwegschafft. Die Konfrontation zielt auf eine neue Gottesbeziehung der einzelnen Person, die sich ohne s…

[English Version] I. Phänomenologisch und sozialwissenschaftlich Der Begriff S. meint relativ verbindliche, von der Tradition vorgegebene Regelformen gemeinsamen Lebens. Ein an der S. ausgerichtetes Verhalten orientiert sich an Kulturmustern, die »seit langem« gelten, oft von den Elterngenerationen bereits praktiziert worden sind. Max Weber spricht deshalb von »Eingelebtheit«. In der dt. Sprache konkurriert mit dem Begriff der S. der des Brauchs. Eine völlige Trennschärfe läßt sich nicht feststellen.…

[English Version] Starbuck, Edwin Diller (20.2.1866 Guiltford Township, IN – 18.11.1947 Los Angeles, CA), amer. Pionier der Religionspsychologie und Päd. als entwicklungspsychologisch fundierter Erfahrungswiss. Nach glücklicher Kindheit in quäkerischem Elternhaus studierte S. in Harvard unter W. James und an der Clark Universität unter S. Hall. Seine mit der Fragebogenmethode arbeitende Diss. zur Bekehrung und Adoleszenzentwicklung gilt als die erste Buchveröff. (1899) der empirischen Religionspsyc…

[English Version] (franz. tact, lat. tactus, »Berührung, Tastsinn, Gefühl, Einfluß«) bez. erstens das praktische Urteilsvermögen, das die treffsichere Anwendung von Regeln im konkreten Einzelfall ermöglicht, indem es aus der Gesamtheit der Bestimmungsgründe schöpft, wie sie im Gemüt als allg. Regeln des gesunden Menschenverstandes bzw. der Erfahrung vorliegen, ohne zum Bewußtsein wiss. Klarheit erhoben zu sein (I. Kant). In sittlicher Hinsicht meint T. das feinfühlige Gespür für das Richtige und S…

[English Version] bez. den mehr oder weniger methodisch reflektierten Prozeß zur Findung eines logischen, moralischen, ästhetischen, juristischen etc. Urteils, der den geordneten Zusammenhang diverser Arbeitsschritte umfaßt, zeitlich strukturiert durch das Auftreten einer bestimmten Problemkonstellation als Anfangs- und deren vorläufiger oder abschließender Lösung als Zielpunkt. Voraussetzung hierfür ist in objektiver Hinsicht, daß die betreffende Problemkonstellation hinreichend klar identifizie…

[English Version] . Der Mitte des 18.Jh. in Übers. für engl. selfishness geprägte Begriff bez. die heillose Gestalt der Bezugnahme endlicher Personen auf ihr Selbst, die Perversion ihrer geschöpflichen Selbstliebe durch Verkehrung des rechten Dominanzverhältnisses zw. Gottes-, Welt- und Selbstbeziehung. 1. S. wird gewöhnlich als Gegenbegriff zur legitimen vernünftigen Selbstliebe bzw. natürlichen Selbsterhaltung einerseits (A.A. C. Shaftesbury, D. Hume, J.-J. Rousseau) sowie zur Selbstverachtung andererseits verstanden (Augustin). Zuw…

[English Version] I. Religionswissenschaftlich, religionsgeschichtlich 1.  PhänomenologischDie christl.-abendländischen Konnotationen des durch die Forschung von außen an religionsgesch. Befunde herangetragenen Seelenbegriffs sind am weitesten auszuschließen, wenn man S. als Prinzip wahrnehmbarer oder kulturell für wahrnehmbar gehaltener Lebensäußerungen versteht, die allerdings selten unter einem gemeinsamen Oberbegriff zusammengefaßt werden. Deshalb ist es sinnvoll, von einer Vielzahl von S. zu spr…