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1. Term The term Kulturprotestantismus, or “culture Protestantism,” common since at least 1870, has obscure origins. Seldom used in self-designation, it is often equated in popular parlance with liberal theology or neo-Protestantism (Protestantism). Early dialectical theology seems to have introduced this equation. Although the term was little used before 1930 and has taken on many different senses, it has been useful for bringing into relief the consciousness of a postliberal epoch that, especially under the impact of World War I, no l…

1. Definition In general, the term “theology of history” denotes an express theory of history (beginning, end, course, unity, subject) in relation to God’s activity, or the theological interpretation of history (its totality, meaning, epochs, and present state). More broadly, it denotes the various efforts to relate history to religious themes. Specifically, it involves relating history to God’s own being and history (Trinity). Since concepts of its nature and validity are themselves historical, the borders are fluid. 2. Modern Theology of History Today the presupposition tha…

[German Version] The concept of God’s self-realization answers the unfathomable question I. Kant had God ask himself: “But whence do I come, then?” ¶ ( KrV, B 645) – answers it by showing why it does not even arise. Only an existence of God construed as facticity must face that question. But God does not, as it were, just finds himself there; all that he is is also through him. His existence is only his own performance of this existence. God’s self-realization grasps his selfhood as such: as constituted absolutely by God himself. The supreme being is only per seipsam quid est (Anselm of Canterb…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Philosophy – III. Philosophy of Religion – IV. Practical Theology I. Religious Studies Anxiety (Angst) or fear (anxiety is the deeper but less harmful form of the feeling) – S. Freud scarcely differentiates between the terms – is an alteration in feeling and behavior triggered by pain, actual or expected, loss, or expected punishment. Somatic responses triggered by a perceived threat – perspiration, increased pulse rate, a sense of confinement (cf. Lat. angustus, “narrow, constricted”) – are associated…

[German Version] I. Bible – II. Dogmatics – III. Ethics I. Bible 1. Old Testament and Gospels. The word “body” rarely appears in the Hebrew OT, because human beings are usually referred to as flesh and soul (cf. Flesh and spirit: I). The LXX often uses σῶμα/ sṓma (“body”) to translate בָּשָׂר/ bāśār (“flesh”). Although the term “body” does not occur in creation passages, it is still true that human beings were created by God as physical creatures …

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. New Testament – III. Early Judaism – IV. Church History – V. Philosophy – VI. Philosophy of Religion – VII. Dogmatics – VIII. Ethics – IX. Sociology, Politics, and Law I. Old Testament 1. The concept of political freedom, which originated in the Greek polis (City cult), first appeared in Hellenistic Jewish historiography. The Stoics' concept of freedom, which contrasts inner freedom and outward constraint, has no counterpart in the OT. The OT is rooted in an internal mythological cultur…

[German Version] (CC) is a religious community with close ties to anthroposophy, which understands itself as Christian. The former Protestant pastor F. Rittelmeyer, who was also the first “archsupervisor,” founded it in 1922. The stimulus was three cycles of religious lectures by Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), which motivated a series of theologians who were disappointed with the abstract theology of the early K. Barth and historical-critical exegesis to a religious renewa…

[German Version] I. Philosophy of Religion – II. Theology I. Philosophy of Religion Aseity (Lat. aseitas) means God's existence of and from himself ( esse a se). The artificial term was coined by Baroque scholasticism, but the notion behind it has ancient roots in speculative theology. The first in-depth examination of the question is that of Anselm of Canterbury, who concluded that the supreme entity must be whatever it is through itself and from itself alone ( per seipsam et ex seipsa est quidquid est: Monologion VI). The logic of this determination assumes that …