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1. History and meaning of the wordThe German noun  Innerlichkeit (roughly “inwardness”) is a word specific to the late early modern period, even though  innerkeit was already used by Meister Eckhart in the early 14th century for the “inner self” [3. 419]. Klopstock used the word for the first time in 1779 for a poetic technique (Poetics) that brings out the authentic, innermost nature of an object. After 1787 Goethe also used it to denote the inner nature of an individual or nation [12]. Later it was used especially by G.W.F. Hegel in connection with mediation between the …

1. Western variants 1.1. Terminological historyThe term “philosophy of religion” is first attested in the title of a 1770 treatise by the German theologian Abraham Friedrich Rückersfelder [11]. Sigismund von Storchenau then used it in 1772 in his work  Die Philosophie der Religion (“The Philosophy of Religion”) [15], before Karl Leonhard Reinhold introduced the term into the discussion of Immanuel Kant’s moral theology [10]. It began to be used frequently in the 1790s, and soon also in the sense of defining a philosophical discipline [19]; [20]. To begin with, the Germa…

1. BackgroundThe Indo-European word behind  Latin  veritas, French  vérité, German  Wahrheit (English “truth”) meant “respect,” “assent,” “fidelity”; Greek  alḗtheia (literally “unconcealment”) was also important for the history of the term. The pragmatic questions concerning whether an assertion or message is true and what criteria we should use to assess and recognize its truth have been answered implicitly or explicity in every culture. The question of what truth is arises whenever a culture reflects on its…

1. Definition and originChiliasm, from Greek  chília (“thousand”) - also called millenialism (from Latin  millenium) - refers to the notion of a thousand years of bliss under the rule of Christ, who returns at the end of time (Messiah). According to Rev 20:1-7, before the general resurrection, the Last Judgment, and eternal salvation, the previously resurrected martyrs and confessors will reign on earth with Christ for a thousand years in a kingdom of peace (a Golden Age).Hans-Peter Großhans2. Historical and literary backgroundChiliasm is associated with apocalypticism a…