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[German Version] I. Origin and Spread – II. Doctrine – III. Islamic Philosophy – IV. Islamic Art (Architecture and Book Art) – V. Islamic Studies – VI. Christianity and Islam – VII. Judaism and Islam – VIII. Islam in Europe – IX. Islam in North America – X. Political Islamism I. Origin and Spread 1. Muḥammad and his message In 569 ce, Muḥammad was born in Mecca, a city with the shrine of the Kaʿba at its center. Mecca enjoyed good relations with the Sasanian Empire and its Arab vassal princes in Ḥīra, but considered itself politically independen…

[German Version] (Apr 11, 1902, Potsdam – Jan 20, 1984, Göttingen), theologian and religious educator. He was lecturer at various colleges of education (1929–1936, Altona, Danzig, etc.) and took the chair of New Testament in Münster in 1937. He served in the war. He became professor in the colleges of education in Celle in 1946 and in Osnabrück in 1953, and held the chair of religious education in Münster (1962–1970). A representative of “Protestant instruction,” he took up (following Gerhard Bohn…

[German Version] I. History and Sociology of Religion Under the term “new religious movements” (NRM), scholars class together a wide variety of religious groups of recent origin that presumably share a “new religious consciousness,” which draws in part upon old occult-theosophical teachings. Some definitions emphasize groups developed after World War II and especially after the 1960s, whereas other definitions include religions founded within the last 200 years. Some definitions include Eastern religion…

[German Version] I. History – II. Religious Doctrine – III. Society – IV. Hinduism and Christianity I. History 1. Historical outline Hinduism, from Persian hindu (“one who lives by the Indus River”), is a collective term for those religious communities and their systems that formed on the south Asian subcontinent (India: I) or spread there, whose social organization is characterized by particular rules of lineage and marriage (the so-called caste system, see III, 2 below; Caste: I), who primarily uphold Vedic-Brahm…

[German Version] The adjective “interreligious” has acquired increased significance since the 1960s. With the emergence of multicultural societies (Multiculturalism) and of global mobility, the points of contact between the religions have multiplied and given rise to a theological and socio-scientific reflection on their mutual relationships, but also to numerous practical initiatives. “Interreligious” stands here for the entire spectrum of relationships between the religions, i.e. on the politica…