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[German Version] (Joseph Barnabas) was an early Christian missionary of Jewish descent, mentioned four times by Paul: once in Col, but frequently in the first part of Acts. Since Paul always mentions him without any further introduction, he was obviously known to the congregations. According to Gal 2:1, 9, Barnabas was involved, together with Paul, in the process that led to the mission agreement of the “Apostolic Council” (cf. Acts 15:2, 12). The fact that neither of them has to work (1 Cor 9:6) demonstrates the closeness of their mis…

[German Version] I. Definition 1. Initially the term Urchristentum, “primitive Christianity,” first used by J.B. Basedow in 1779 (Alkier, 161–169), meant “original, authentic” Christianity, as distinct from the later church (III). Critical scholarship in the 19th century debated whether “primitive Christianity” constituted an (ideal) monolithic entity or whether a dynamic “history of primitive Christianity” (F.C. Baur) could be written. Since the turn of the 20th century, the expression has denoted the…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. History of Dogma – V. Dogmatics – VI. Ethics – VII. Philosophy of Religion – VIII. Judaism – IX. Islam (cf. Present and Future Eschatology, Consistent Eschatology) I. Religious Studies 1. The Problem of Terminology Eschatology (“discourse” or “doctrine” [Gk λόγος/ lógos] concerning the “last things” [Gk ἔσχατα/ éschata]) is a neologism that was introduced in the late 18th century in the con- text of the definition of the “last things,” i.e. of the novissima of medieval theology (death, …

[German Version] Traditionally attributed to the Apostolic Fathers, this anonymous writing does in fact contain some epistolary elements (1:1–5; 6:5; 21:9). On the whole, however, it is intended as a fundamental instruction in the Christian way of life and in the correct understanding of the Old Testament. First attributed to the “Apostle Barnabas” by Clement of Alexandria, who quotes Barnabas several times, the Epistle of Barnabas is usually thought to have been composed around 130–132, should the statements concerning the rebuilding of the temple (16:3f.) actually refer to such plans in the reign of Hadrian (not so Paget, who dates it to 96–98 [Nerva]); it does yet seem to have any knowledge of the 2nd Jewish uprising (132–135). Exactly which readership the author addressed is as uncertain as the geographical location where he wrote the text, both Egypt (i.e. Alexandria) and Syria being possible. The complete text of the Epistle of Barnabas has come down to us through the biblical Codex Sinaiticus (4th cent.; where the Epistle of Barnabas is inserted between the Book of Revelation and Hermas, thus indicating that it was probably not viewed as canonical), but also through the Codex Hierosolymitanus (1056; it also contains the Didache and both letters of Clement). By means of extensive biblical quotations (mostly following the LXX) and their typological or allegorical interpretation, the Epistle of Barnabas attempts to demonstrate that the Old Testament …

[German Version] The term “Apostolic Fathers” goes back to J.-B. Cotelier, who in 1672 published the works of “the holy fathers who flourished in the apostolic age.” His edition contained the Epistle of Barnabas (Barnabas, Epistle of) and the two letters of Clement (Clement, Letters of), the letters of Ignatius (Ignatian epistles) and the letters of Polycarp of Smyrna along with the account of his martyrdom, and also the Shep…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Philosophy of Religion – V. Dogmatics – VI. Practical Theology – VII. Missiology – VIII. Art – IX. Judaism – X. Islam I. Religious Studies 1. It is fundamentally true that God is not an object of religious studies, since God – as theology teaches – cannot be made an object of empirical scientific study. Religious studies can only address the concepts that human beings have expressed concerning their God (or gods: God, Representations and symbols of) in history and society, along with such phenomena as cultic worship, and the implications of these concepts as they shape human lives individually and collectively. When the study of reli…

[German Version] I. Meaning – II. Old Testament – III. Early Judaism – IV. New Testament – V. Ethics…

[German Version] I. Problems of Terminology – II. Early Judaism – III. New Testament and Primitive Christianity – IV. Early Church – V. Middle Ages to the Present – VI. The Church and Judaism Today I. Problems of Terminology…

[German Version] (Aug 20, 1884, Wiefelstede, Oldenburg – Jul 30, 1976, Marburg). I. Bultmann earned his doctorate in 1910 with a study of Paul's rhetoric ( Der Stil der paulinischen Predigt und die kynisch-stoische Diatribe, repr. 1984); he qualified as professor in 1912 with a thesis on Die Exegese des Theodor von Mopsuestia (unpublished until 1984). In 1916, he became associate professor of NT at Breslau and in 1920 professor at Giessen, moving to Marburg in 1921. His major work on form criticism ( Die Geschichte der synoptischen Tradition) appeared in…

[German Version] I. First Letter of Clement – II. Second Letter of Clement I. First Letter of Clement Counted among the Apostolic Fathers, 1 Clement is an elaborate, Greek written letter from the Roman to the Corinthian church. Despite the constant use of “we,” it seems to have been authored by a single person; the attribution to Clement I (Romanus) is first attested in Dionysius of Corinth (c. 170, cited in Eus. …

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