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[German Version] (Aug 10, 1536, Trier–Mar 15, 1587, Herborn). Olevian came from a Roman Catholic family; c. 1557, during his study of law in France, he became a Protestant and joined the Huguenot community in Bourges. After taking his law examination, he studied in Geneva, Zürich, and Lausanne. His most important teacher was his “father in Christ,” Calvin. In 1559 Olevian became a teacher of philosophy in his home town. However, his private teaching of the catechism and his sermons aroused opposit…

[German Version] (Sep 23, 1894, Utrecht, the Netherlands – Aug 31, 1976, Voorst, the Netherlands), studied theology in Leiden (1914–1920), was pastor from 1921 to 1945 in Kortgene, Meppel, Haarlem, and Amsterdam, and from 1945 to 1959 he taught dogmatics at the University of Leiden. In addition to his theological interests, his studies involved literature, and he was shaped by the so-called ethical theology of Johannes H. Gunning (1829–1905) …

[German Version] The doctrine of Christ as the agent of creation relates God's actions in the con¶ texts of creation and redemption to one another and opposes an understanding of creation that is not associated with Jesus Christ as well as a conception of redemption that bears no relationship…

[German Version] I. Overview In June 2010 the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) disbanded, …

[German Version] …

[German Version] I. New Testament New Testament allusions to Christ as preexistent occur chiefly in material of a hymnic nature, in clear continuity with the Old Testament presentation of divine wisdom (Wisdom literature: II). The transfer to Christ of the protological role (Protology) originally ascribed to hypostasized Wisdom appears in 1 Cor 8:6; also Col 1:15–17; Eph 1:3–4; 1 P…

[German Version] I. The Concept Pre-existence refers to the existence of deities, persons, or objects prior to the world or the earth. All religions in which the deity is not subsumed into time espouse the notion of the deity’s real pre-existence, because entrance into the course of time brings forth only knowledge of the deity without affecting the deity’s being. It is in this context that we also speak of the pre-existence of Christ. In …

[German Version] I. History and Theology 1. Terminology. For programmatic theological reasons, the Reformed churches rejected the exonym Calvinist churches. They referred to themselves as Reformed churches because they did not think of themselves as new churchdoms alongside the one holy church but as a part of that church, albeit as part of it renewed according to God’s Word in Holy Scripture. In speaking of themselves, therefore, they eschewed references to a theological founder or a particular place of origin. The 17th-century formula ecclesia reformata semper reformanda means …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Church History – III. Dogmatics – IV. Practical Theology – V. North America – VI. Missiology I. Religious Studies Generally speaking, the term laity (from Gk λαος/ laós, “people”) denotes adherents of a religious tradition who do not act as religious specialists or function within a defined socio-religious class (Priesthood, Monasticism). The use of the term is therefore inappropriate in religions without religious specialists, for example Islam. In some religions, the laity, who…