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[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Systematic Theology – V. Practical Theology – VI. Judaism – VII. Islam I. Terminology 1. Religious Studies a. As an emic linguistic term, “faith” is found not only in the context of the Christian West (cf. fides, foi, Glaube, etc.), but also in other religious traditions. The Sanskrit term śraddhā (cf. Pāli saddhā; Avestan zrazdā-) seems to represent an Indo-European etymological pendant to Lat. credo, as demonstrated by the possible reconstruction of Indo-Germanic * k'red-dhē-, “set one's heart o…

[German Version] I. General Rabbinic literature comprises the majority of Jewish materials written in the millennium following the destruction of the temple in 70 ce: Mishnah, Tosefta, Talmud, and Midrash. The rabbis were not the only authors of these works and their traditions, but they are constantly cited as oral sources and tradents. They are also held up as models of an ideal life based on the Torah, as illustrated by numerous episodes from their lives. In a broader sense, rabbinic literature also includes the Ar…

[German Version] (Jun 5, 1878, Frankfurt am Main – Jul 28, 1957, Jerusalem). After studying classical philology, Isaak Heinemann taught at grammar schools, at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Wrocław (Breslau; 1919–1938), where he was editor of the Monatsschrift ( MGWJ) from 1919 onward, and at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (from 1938). During the Breslau years, the ties between Hellenistic and Jewish philosophy were the main focus of his work, which soon concentrated on Philo, whose writings he copublished in German translation (6 vols., 1909–1938; 7 vols. 21962–1964). Philo…

[German Version] I. Resurrection of the Dead 1. History of religions a. Resurrection as a religious category. The concept of resurrection has been shaped extensively by connotations drawn from the tradition of Christian theology. In this sense, it is understood as a unique event that takes the body and soul of a human being, separated at death, and reunites them for a new, eternal life in the next world. Here it serves to mark a distinction from other notions of a postmortal existence (e.g. reincarnation, metempsyc…

[German Version] I. Clarification of the Concept Talmud (derived from למד/ lamad, “to learn,” or limmad, “to teach”) signifies “study, instruction, teaching” (as first attested in Qumran: 4QpNah II 8), and more specifically the commentary on the Mishnah in the Talmud Bavli ( b; see below II) and the Talmud Yerushalmi ( y; see below III). The Talmud is made up of the Mishnah and the Gemara (Aram. גמר/ gemar, “to complete, to learn”), the “traditional teaching” or “completion” of the Mishnah in the interpretation of the Amoraim. II. Talmud Bavli Soon after the compiling of the Mishnah, …

[German Version] (May 28, 1898, Motol, near Pinsk – Mar 23, 1983, during a flight to Israel). After being educated at various yeshivas, Liebermann studied medicine in Paris. He went to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1928 to study the Talmud and classical philology. In 1931 he began teaching the Talmud in Jerusalem and from 1940 at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. One of the leading talmudic scholars of his age, he made seminal contributions to the study of the Palestinian Talmud ( Al ha-Yerushalmi, 1929; The Talmud of Caesarea [Heb.], 1931; Ha-Yerushalmi kifshuto, 1934) …

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. New Testament – III. Fundamental Theology – IV. Philosophy of Religion – V. Religious Education and Preaching – VI. Judaism I. Old Testament A similitude (from Lat. similis, “like”; Ger. Gleichnis, “simile”) differs from a concise simile in its textological extent. A situation or event is visualized by comparison to an analogous situation or event in a different, more concrete area of everyday life. Unlike a fable, a similitude presents only one essential point ( tertium comparationis) common to the objects of comparison. The concrete an…