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[German Version] (Jul 29, 1905, Jönköping, Sweden – Sep 17, 19…

[German Version] The expression communio sanctorum, an explanatory addition to “the holy church” in the Apostles' Creed, first appears in the context of pre-baptismal instruction in the catechetical sermon De symbolo of Bishop Nicetas of Remesiana. It soon came into widespread use, especially in Gaul. It may be interpreted as a reference to the sanctorum omnium congr…

[German Version] The sacredness (or holiness) of the church is stated in principle in Eph 5:27: Christ sanctifies the church by cleansing it with the washing of water; it is then “holy” ( hágia, sancta) and without blemish, i.e. sinless. The creeds adopted the predicate of holiness as one of the essential marks of the church (BSLK 24). In the course of time, the sense of the church’s holiness was extended from moral spotlessness to include purity from heretical doctrine (sixth Synod of Toledo, 638; DH 493). For the faithful, mem…

[German Version] I. Territory – II. History – III. Statistics I. Territory The territory of Oldenburg was absorbed in 1946 into the Land of Lower Saxony, but within the structures of the Protestant and Catholic churches, it retains more or less the boundaries of the duchy of Oldenburg determined by the Congress of Vienna (Vienna, Congress of), comprising the administrative districts of Friesland, Wesermarsch, Ammerland, Oldenburg, Cloppenburg, and Vechta, and the independent cities of Wilhelmshaven, Oldenburg, and Delmenhorst. II. History 1. Middle Ages. At the behest of Charlemagne, the Anglo-Saxon priest Willehad began to preach to the Saxons and Frisians around the mouth of the Weser c. 780; he built churches and ordained priests. Around the same time, somewhat further south in Visbek a priest named Gerbert (or Castus), from a family of local nobility, established a monastery, which as abbot he developed into a missionary center. In 787 Willhad was consecrated in Worms as the first bishop for Bremen. Gerbert’s death left a vacuum in Visbek; …

[German Version] (1504, Altmorschen, near Melsungen – Aug 26, 1575, Northeim). After receiving a master’s degree at Erfurt, he became rector of the Latin school in Melsungen, for which ordination was not required. In 1530 the city council of Göttingen appointed him pastor of Sankt Nikolai and commissioned him to introduce the Reformation into the city; in 1535 he became superintendent and pastor of the Johanniskirche. Upon his inquiry, Luther advised him against a belated ordination (letter of Mar 1, 1542). In 1542 Philip of ¶ Hesse called him to introduce the Reformation in Schweinfurt but the Schmalkaldic War forced him to leave. After brief service in Allendorf an der Werra, he returned to Göttingen in 1548 as pastor of Sankt Albani; there he took a conciliatory position in the conflict over the Augsburg Interim. In 1555 he moved to Northeim, where he remained as pastor of Sankt Sixti until his death. Rolf Schäfer Bibliography P. Tschackert, “Magister Johann Sutel,” ZGNKG 2, 1897, 1–140 …

[German Version] I. Dogmatics – II. Liturgy – III. Music – IV. Canon Law I. Dogmatics In the Vulgate, the Latin term communio, along with the more frequent translations communicatio and societas, renders the New Testament word κοινωνία ( koinōnía). It gained ecclesiological content primarily through the Apostles' Creed, which adopted Augustin…

[German Version] I. Concept – II. Religious Studies – III. Early Christianity – IV. Early Church to the Reformation – V. Modern Era – VI. Orthodox Churches – VII. Asia, Africa, Latin America – VIII. Systematic Theology – IX. Ethics – X. Practical Theology – XI. Ecumenical Discussion – XII. Law I. Concept 1. Theology The loan-word, church, which in common parlance can mean both the Christian worship service and the building dedicated to its performance as well as the constituted social configuration of Christian faith in the sense of an institution and its representative organs, apparently stems from an adjectival derivative of the Greek substantive κύριος/ kýrios. While, in accordance with this etymology, the church concept indicates affiliation to the Lord as legal propertyholder, a derivation from the term κηρυγεία/ kērygeía or the stem of the Latin verb circare, etc. has also been considered, which would be a reference to the church's function as herald or to the meeting room of the community. The integration of the traditional semantic content of the term …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Church History – V. Sociology – VI. Systematic Theology – VII. Law – VIII. Practical Theology – IX. Judaism – X. Islam I. Religious Studies The term marriage denotes a relationship entered into between two or more persons of different sex, ritually formalized, intended to be permanent, and recognized by society. In all cultures, definitions of economic and sexual rights and the conveyance of social status to children (Child/Childhood) are part of the socially ¶ defined framework of marriage…