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[German Version] (Biblical Scholarship, Hermeneutics, Interpretation) I. Religious Studies – II. History of Religions – III. Greco Roman Antiquity – IV. Bible – V. Church History – VI. Practical Theology – VII. Biblical Scenes in Art – VIII. Judaism – IX. Islam I. Religious Studies Exegesis (for etymology see III below) is the explanation, interpretation, or analysis of sacred or otherwise religiously central documents by experts; it enables and encourages the access of a …

[German Version] (Apr 4, 1718, Totnes – Aug 18, 1783, Oxford) published in 1776–80 an edition of the text of the Hebrew Bible without nekudot (diacritics) based on Eberhard van der Hooght's edition (1705) with a comprehensive critical apparatus of textual variants compiled from important medieval manuscripts throughout Europe. The project was announced in two treatises (1753/1759, Lat. trans. W. Teller, 1756/1765) and supplemented by ten annual bulletins (publ. together, 1770), but remained inferior to B. Walton's Lond…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies From the outset, religions are involved in processes of exchange with their (religious) environment. This structural relationship to the surrounding world finds expression in internal representations of what is “strange/alien/foreign” or “other” and is part of the self-reference of religious systems. Because other religions are often experienced as competing entities, in most traditions they represent a great challenge to the adherents’ own identity. Therefore re…

[German Version] 1. Rudolf (Mar 28, 1853, Eningen unter Achalm, Württemberg – Oct 20, 1929, Leipzig), professor of Old Testament in Breslau (1888–1898) and Leipzig (1898–1923), and the father of 2. In 1905/1906, Kittel published a critical edition of the OT on the basis of the edition by Jacob ben Chayim (1524/1525). The third edition (1929–1937) was based on the Codex Leningradensis (Biblical manuscripts: I, 2.a). Building on his own source studies on Gen to 2 Kgs and 1/2 Chron, Kittel wrote a Geschichte der Hebräer (2 vols., 1888–1892, ET: History of the Hebrews, 1895/1896), which he …

[German Version] (May 16, 1659, Leeuwarden – Mar 31, 1722, Franeker), Reformed theologian. Vitringa began teaching in Franeker in 1680. Following the publication of a theological encyclopedia (1688), he published studies of the Old Testament, early Judaism, and the book of Revelation. His special interest was understanding the Gentile world as represented in the OT and the relation of the prophetic texts to their historical context. His theologically conventional commentary on Isaiah (1714/1720) s…

[German Version] (Nov 27, 1710, Winchester, England – Nov 3, 1787, London), Anglican theologian and the bishop of Oxford (from 1766) and London (from 1777). As professor of literature in Oxford (1741–1750), Lowth gave lectures in which he introduced the Old Testament into the contemporary debate concerning poetic language and the sublime. Through this hermeneutical decision, he was able to take a biblically based position in the controversy concerning Deism, and open up a new literary-critical approach to the OT. His lectures De Sacra Poesi Hebraeorum (1753; Eng. 1787), a pamphl…