Arbeiten zur Kirchengeschichte

The twentieth century saw a transformation in the Catholic Church’s approach to war and peace, as the papacy sought to adopt and propose alternatives to traditional Just War doctrine by developing contemporary policies to peacefully resolve both the symptoms and root causes of war. This book explores the emergence of a new ethical framework, built upon three distinct moral doctrines, coined here as AMP: War Avoidance, for when war is imminent; War Mitigation, for when war is unavoidable; and Preventive Pacification, during periods of relative stability. This book examines the shaping of the AMP paradigm from Leo XIII to John Paul II, analyzing its theological, philosophical, and legal underpinnings. While AMP co-exists alongside Just War doctrine, the latter provides a framework for judging the morality of war, the former addresses the preemption, mitigation, and prevention of conflict. The book argues that AMP gradually became the primary framework for the Holy See’s foreign policy with the potential to further become a crucial ethical guide for the twenty-first century’s pursuit of more just and peaceful international relations.

One of Plato’s best-known ideas is that the sensible world is an image of the intelligible pattern. The book examines the second life of this concept in late antiquity, especially in the Hellenistic Jewish and Christian milieu. It opens with the discussion of the key features of the pattern-image concept in Plato and Plotinus, and then focuses on the adoption of this concept in the works of Philo of Alexandria and the early Christian authors—Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Eusebius, Athanasius, Gregory Nazianzus, Didymus the Blind, Ambrose of Milan, and Pseudo-Athanasius. The collected papers illuminate various aspects of the topic, including the importance of the visible world and art in Platonism, allegorical and Christological interpretations of the biblical account of creation, and relation of the intelligible pattern in the Logos to the world. The authors analyze the Jewish and Christian reinterpretations of the pattern-image structure by looking into the ontological dignity of the image, its similarity and dissimilarity to the pattern, and the mutual chronology of the pattern and the image. Combining theological, philosophical, and philological approaches, the book offers a complex view of the pattern-image relationship in various contexts.

In a day fascinated with questions of historiography and with explicating a distinctive Christian philosophy of time and history, Henri-Charles Puech’s (1950s) work on Gnosis and time found an audience. Studying four second-century texts he marked as Gnostic, he argued for the Gnostic, anti-cosmic, anti-historical pessimism about existence within the tyrannical temporal world of bondage and error. Bliss and truth were otherworldly and atemporal. This book reassesses Puech’s argument by analysis of the writings undergirding his sample and a wide array of second-century Christian and Gnostic-Christian texts that display not the Gnostic view, as if there were one, but a broader second-century theological discussion regarding time, world and knowledge manifesting a spectrum of perspectives. A review of past and present scholarly discourse that evoked discussions of Gnosticism and anti-cosmism, and informed Puech’s thesis begins the volume along with study of his own thesis. A discussion of the academy’s reception of Puech then follows. The close reading of early pertinent texts forms the heart of the work arguing for eight discernible models of history, time, and world that arose within the second-century intellectual debate.

The seventh century is often overlooked by scholarship, yet it was a period in which the institution of the papacy gained considerable power. This volume delves into conflicts with the Emperor and Patriarch in Constantinople, as well as the last significant Christological dispute, to examine the Bishop of Rome’s increasingly influential representation, which also found fertile ground beyond the West.

The book focuses on the threat to free self-development and the effort to ward off a perceived threat of extinction as well as the development of self-preservation forces. The challenges for ethnic and religious minorities in the 19^th–21^st centuries are explained and unfolded against the historical background that serves as a frame of reference. The royal privileges granted in medieval Hungary were abolished in the mid-19^th century. The German-speaking people’s church (Saxones) in Transylvania founded on this had to reorient itself, although a pioneer region of religious freedom had established itself behind the “Ottoman Curtain”. Since the reception of the Reformation, the “Saxones” had been Protestant. At the end of the 19^th century, after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, this minority realised the concept of cultural Protestantism in its purest form: ethnicity and religion were understood to be congruent. Homogeneity of society was the ideal, and affiliation with the German Empire was intensified. Economy, science, culture, language as well as school and church were understood as a unity; segregation and emigration were frowned upon. This concept fell into crisis due to various developments, including economic ones – especially after the annexation of Romania in 1918. National Socialism was widely adopted, along with anti-Semitism. For exponents of the church leadership, the Confessio Augustana only served as a label. On the one hand, external pressure under communist rule brought about a (only conditionally possible) retraditionalisation, on the other hand, it led to the bleeding out of the congregations due to increased emigration. Free development has only started again since the political upheaval in 1989. The church, which has become small, conveys important impulses and serves as a bridge to ecumenism.

How did Origen, one of the major Patristic thinkers, construct his philosophical theology? What are his main innovations in metaphysics, protology, Trinitarian Theology and Christology? How did he view the relation between philosophy and theology? This is a collection of over twenty essays, mostly from world-leading journals and books from outstanding publishers, besides two new ones, from Professor Ilaria L.E. Ramelli’s life-long, and always continuing, research on Origen. This coherent set　of studies is grouped around Origen’s metaphysics, protology, Trinitarian theology and Christology, and the relation between theology and philosophy, with reception aspects.

The essays address Origen’s towering figure in Patristic philosophy, Christian Platonism, and the Platonic tradition, facets of his reception of Platonism, reflections concerning the Christianization of Hellenism (vs. the Hellenization of Christianity) and the relation between philosophy and theology and between ‘pagan’ and Christian Platonism; Origen’s philosophical theology and connections to Platonism; the question of Origen's conversion and his lexicon of　epistrophē; a comparison between the imperial Platonist Atticus’ and Origen’s theories on the soul of God the Creator; Alexander of Aphrodisias as a source of Origen’s philosophy and the birth of the eternity formula in reference to the Son; the problem of Origen’s "subordinationism", which must be nuanced; Origen’s major contribution to Trinitarian theology in the notion of hypostasis and its foundation in Scripture and philosophy; the reciprocal indwelling of the Father in the Son and its implications against Origen’s "subordinationism"; Origen’s influence on Augustine as paradoxical and a Christological case study; the divine as inaccessible object of knowledge in ancient and Patristic Platonism; the reception of Origen’s ideas in the West; the notion of divine power in Origen: sources and aftermath; Platonist exemplarism in Origen and Plotinus; Paul’s notion of nous in Origen and Evagrius; the reception of Origen in Ps.Dionysius, and Origen’s heritage in the concept of matter in the Dialogue of Adamantius. The volume is rounded off by theoretical reflections on philosophy of religion and philosophical theology.

This book is very relevant to the study of Origen, the foundations of Christian thought, and ancient and late antique philosophy, theology and culture.

As a church historian, Hermann Dörries (1895–1977) taught and researched in various political contexts. This volume examines how these upheavals are reflected in his works and how Dörries used his historical research to interpret contemporary events. Biographical and thematic studies paint a differentiated picture of this influential scholar against the backdrop of twentieth-century German history.

The Reception of John Chrysostom in Early Modern Europe explores when, how, why, and by whom one of the most influential Fathers of the Greek Church was translated and read during a particularly significant period in the reception of his works. This was the period between the first Neo-Latin translation of Chrysostom in 1417 and the final volume of Fronton du Duc’s Greek-Latin edition in 1624, years in which readers and translators from Renaissance Italy, the Byzantine Empire, and the Basel, Paris, and Rome of a newly-confessionalised Europe found in Chrysostom everything from a guide to Latin oratory, to a model interpreter of Paul. By drawing on evidence that ranges from Greek manuscripts to conciliar acts, this book contextualises the hundreds of translations and editions of Chrysostom that were produced in Europe between 1417 and 1624, while demonstrating the lasting impact of these works on scholarship about this Church Father today.

This volume is the first to historically categorize and interpret nineteenth-century monuments to Luther. Taking extensive source material as its starting point, it asks how the reformer was remembered in statue form and what events in politics, society, and church history influenced the memory of him. The study makes a contribution to monument research, the reception of Luther, and Protestant memory culture.

Papers collected in this volume try to illuminate various aspects of philosophical theology dealt with by different Jewish and early Christian authors and texts (e.g. the Acts of the Apostles, Philo, Origen, Gregory of Nazianzus), rooted in and influenced by the Hellenistic religious, cultural, and philosophical context, and they also focus on the literary and cultural traditions of Hellenized Judaism and its reception (e.g. Sibylline Oracles, Prayer of Manasseh), including material culture ("Elephant Mosaic Panel" from Huqoq synagogue). By studying the Hellenistic influences on early Christianity, both in response to and in reaction against early Hellenized Judaism, the volume intends not only to better understand Christianity, as a religious and historical phenomenon with a profound impact on the development of European civilization, but also to better comprehend Hellenism and its consequences which have often been relegated to the realm of political history.

Nonnus’ Paraphrasis, an epic rendition of the Fourth Gospel, offers a highly sophisticated interpretation of the Johannine text. An essential means to this end is extensive use of the imagery related to Greek, and especially Dionysiac, mysteries.

Doroszewski successfully challenges the once predominant view that the mystery terminology in the poem is nothing more than rhetorical ornament. He convincingly argues for an important exegetical role Nonnus gives to the mystery terms. On the one hand, they refer to the Mystery of Christ. Jesus introduces his followers into the new dimension of life and worship that enables them to commune with God. This is portrayed as falling into Bacchic frenzy and being initiated into secret rites. On the other hand, the terminology has a polemical function, too, as Nonnus uses it to present the Judaic cult as bearing the hallmarks of pagan mysteries.

As the book discusses the Paraphrasis against the background of the mystery metaphor development in antiquity, it serves as an excellent introduction to this key feature of the ancient mentality and will appeal to all interested in the culture of Imperial times, especially in Early Christianity, Patristics, Neoplatonism and Late Antique poetry.

The role of migration for Christianity as a world religion during the last two centuries has drawn considerable attention from scholars in different fields. The main issue this book seeks to address is the question whether and to what extent migration and diaspora formation should be considered as elements of a new historiography of global Christianity, including the reflection upon earlier epochs.

By focusing on migration and diaspora, the emerging map of Christianity will include the dimension of movement and interaction between actors in different regions, providing a more comprehensive ‘map of agency’ of individuals and groups previously regarded as passive. Furthermore, local histories will become parts of a broader picture and historiography might correlate both local and transregional perspectives in a balanced manner.

Behind this approach lies the desire to broaden the perspective of Ecclesiastical History – and religious history in general – in a more systematic manner by questioning the traditional criteria of selection. This might help us to recover previously lost actors and forgotten dynamics.

This third volume of the author’s "New Texts and Studies" brings together further editions of previously overlooked or unknown Latin and Greek source texts dealing with creeds as well as articles, some of them previously unpublished, on various aspects of creed research from the ancient period to the early Middle Ages. This fundamentally revises our traditional understanding of the formulas of Christian faith.

The late antique and the early medieval periods witnessed the flourishing of bishops in the West as the main articulators of social life. This influential position exposed them to several threats, both political and religious. Researchers have generally addressed violence, rebellions or conflicts to study the dynamics related to secular powers during these periods. They haven’t paid similar attention, however, to those analogous contexts that had bishops as protagonists. This book proposes an approach to bishops as threatened subjects in the late antique and early medieval West. In particular, the volume pursues three main goals. Firstly, it aims to identify the different types of threats that bishops had to deal with. Then it sets out to frame these situations of adversity in their own contexts. Finally, it will address the episcopal strategies deployed to deal with such contexts of adversity. In sum, we aim to underline the impact that these contexts had as a dynamiting factor of episcopal action. Thus the episcopal threats may become a useful approach to study the bishops’ relationships with other agents of power, the motivations behind their actions and – last but not least – for understanding the episcopal rising power

Defending truth was the task that Lutheran orthodoxy set for itself. This monograph is the first to examine one of their most renowned representatives, Leonhard Hutter. It focuses on academic teaching, which Hutter’s disputations shed light on. It also illustrates the mechanisms of the controversial theology of the day.

Elias Hutter was interested in the unity of language and religion, about which he wrote an impressive magnum opus in the late sixteenth century. He believed that Hebrew, as the original divine language, was the answer to his question, and wanted to revolutionize its study. To do so, he developed new methods for language pedagogy in combination with theological concepts, which this publication introduces and places within their historic context.

This book provides a comprehensive new examination of the origins, adoption, and reception of the creed that ecclesiastical tradition has attributed to the second Ecumenical Council (Constantinople, 381), also referred to as the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. It is the most widely disseminated ecumenical creed in Christianity and probably the most influential non-biblical text within the church.

The last attempt in Christology to reach a theological understanding with opponents of the Council of Chalcedon (451) led to a severe seventh-century crisis, resulting in synodal condemnations, state trials, and schisms. At stake were the impact, will, and intentions of Jesus Christ. Fifteen studies analyze sources in order to identify the causes and provide new answers, providing some important sources in German translation for the first time.

The formation of the European nation states was deeply affected by the Reformation processes during the 16th century. In order to understand today's Europe, it is necessary to come to terms with the historical processes that shaped these emerging nation states. The book discusses such processes with particular attention to how they affected the northernmost parts of Europe. The book consists of three main parts: 1) Church and State, 2) Interaction and Networks, 3) Ideas and Images. In the first part, the authors examine various aspects of the relationship between the church and the state, and how the Reformation processes contributed to reshape this relationship. In the second part, the development of the social and economic networks among the population of Northern Fennoscandia is mapped, taking account of how such networks were affected by different ethnic groups. The role of the church and the mission in the state integration of the Northern borderless areas is also examined, as well as the new Lutheran clergy and their social and material conditions. In the third part, the visual and material expressions of the Reformation period is analyzed, as well as the encounter between the Catholic, the Lutheran and the Sámi religion.

An extensive corpus of 5^th century correspondence has been preserved under the name Isidore of Pelusium. A large part of the letters is comprised by biblical interpretations and statements on exegetic theory. This volume sifts through all of these texts, arranging them according to criteria reflective of the contemporary mindset and exegesis. It also examines Isidor’s use of imagery and the creativity of his engagement with the Bible.

This volume presents a novel and distinct contribution to previous research on the rich Lutheran heritage of music. It builds upon a current surge of interest in the field, which resonates with a wider interest in connections between music and religion, as well as with cultural and aesthetic dimensions of faith at large. The book situates the topic in relation to recent developments within historical and cultural studies that have developed a more nuanced and positive view of the interplay between theologians and other cultural agents in the evolution of Western modernity during post Reformation processes of ‘confessionalization’. It combines conceptual discussions of key terms relevant to the study of the development and significance of an Early Modern Lutheran Music Culture with theological readings of central texts on music, analytic approaches to historical repertoires and material perspectives on its dissemination.

Lange Zeit blieb die frühneuzeitliche Rede vom Jüngsten Gericht weitgehend unbeachtet. Dies gilt sowohl für die Topik des Letzten Gerichts nach den Werken bei Luther und im Luthertum der Frühen Neuzeit, als auch für die Frage nach inter- und transkonfessionellen Phänomenen mit Bezug zur Thematik des Endgerichts.

Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht im breit angelegten Zugriff frühneuzeitliche, hauptsächlich deutschsprachige Texte verschiedener konfessioneller Provenienz, in denen vom Jüngsten Gericht die Rede ist. Dabei werden diverse Gesichtspunkte und Kontexte beleuchtet und vielfältige literarische Gattungen in die Untersuchungen einbezogen.

Es zeigt sich, dass die verschiedenen Aspekte des Theologumenons des Endgerichts (das von Martin Luther und den frühneuzeitlich-lutherischen Theologen durchaus als Gericht nach den Werken verstanden wird) zum einen zur Profilierung konfessioneller Identität bzw. zur Abgrenzung gegenüber anderen Konfessionen oder Nonkonformisten herangezogen werden, zum anderen konfessionsübergreifende Traditionen darstellen, mitunter Gegenstand interkonfessionellen Austausches sind – und als gemeinsame Basis für die Kooperation zwischen Angehörigen verschiedener Konfessionen dienen können.

This anthology discusses different aspects of Protestantism, past and present.

Professor Tarald Rasmussen has written both on medieval and modern theologians, but his primary interest has remained the reformation and 16th century church history. In stead of a traditional «Festschrift» honouring the different fields of research he has contributed to, this will be a focused anthology treating a specific theme related to Rasmussen’s research profile.

One of Professor Rasmussen's most recent publications, a little popularized book in Norwegian titled «What is Protestantism?», reveals a central aspect research interest, namely the Weberian interest for Protestantism’s cultural significance. Despite difficulties, he finds the concept useful as a Weberian «Idealtypus» enabling research on a phenomenon combining theological, historical and sociological dimensions. Thus he employs the Protestantism as an integrative concept to trace the makeup of today’s secular societies.

This profiled approach is a point of departure for this anthology discussing important aspects of historiography in reformation history: Continuity and breaks surrounding the reformation, contemporary significance of reformation history research, traces of the reformation in today’s society.

The book relates to current discussions on Protestantism and is relevant to everyone who want to keep up to date with the latest research in the field.

The study of the growth of early Christian intellectual life is of perennial interest to scholars. This volume advances discussion by exploring ways in which Christian writers in the second century did not so much draw on Hellenistic intellectual traditions and models, as they were inevitably embedded in those traditions.

The volume contains papers from a seminar in Rome in 2016 that explored the nature and activity of the emergent Christian intellectual between the late first century and the early third century. The papers show that Hellenistic scholarly cultures were the milieu within which Christian modes of thinking developed. At the same time the essays show how Christian thinkers made use of the cultures of which they were part in distinctive ways, adapting existing traditions because of Christian beliefs and needs.

The figures studied include Papias from the early part of the second-century, Tatian, Irenaeus, and Clement of Alexandria from the later second century. One paper on Eusebius of Caesarea explores the Christian adaptation of Hellenistic scholarly methods of commentary. Christian figures are studied in the light of debates within Classics and Jewish studies.

This book examines the life and work of the Reverend John Callender (1706-1748) within the context of the emergence of religious toleration in New England in the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, a relatively recent endeavor in light of the well-worn theme of persecution in colonial American religious history.

New England Puritanism was the culmination of different shades of transatlantic puritan piety, and it was the Puritan’s pious adherence to the Covenant model that compelled them to punish dissenters such as Quakers and Baptists. Eventually, a number of factors contributed to the decline of persecution, and the subsequent emergence of toleration. For the Baptists, toleration was first realized in 1718, when Elisha Callender was ordained pastor of the First Baptist Church of Boston by Congregationalist Cotton Mather.

John Callender, Elisha Callender’s nephew, benefited from Puritan and Baptist influences, and his life and work serves as one example of the nascent religious understanding between Baptists and Congregationalists during this specific period. Callender’s efforts are demonstrated through his pastoral ministry in Rhode Island and other parts of New England, through his relationships with notable Congregationalists, and through his writings. Callender’s publications contributed to the history of the colony of Rhode Island, and provided source material for the work of notable Baptist historian, Isaac Backus, in his own struggle for religious liberty a generation later.

Recent studies on the development of early Christianity emphasize the fragmentation of the late ancient world while paying less attention to a distinctive feature of the Christianity of this time which is its inter-connectivity. Both local and trans-regional networks of interaction contributed to the expansion of Christianity in this age of fragmentation. This volume investigates a specific aspect of this inter-connectivity in the area of the Mediterranean by focusing on the formation and operation of episcopal networks.

The rise of the bishop as a major figure of authority resulted in an increase in long-distance communication among church elites coming from different geographical areas and belonging to distinct ecclesiastical and theological traditions. Locally, the bishops in their roles as teachers, defenders of faith, patrons etc. were expected to interact with individuals of diverse social background who formed their congregations and with secular authorities. Consequently, this volume explores the nature and quality of various types of episcopal relationships in Late Antiquity attempting to understand how they were established, cultivated and put to use across cultural, linguistic, social and geographical boundaries.

The Imperium Romanum was marked by a diverse and differentiated history of reciprocal interaction with the church and theology. The study examines this ever-changing relationship, encompassing a broad time span from the first to the sixth century. The essays include both the Eastern and Western parts of the Imperium and its successor states, and explore the theme by drawing from a wide range of literary genres.

The printing history of perhaps the most influential tract in the history of irenicism (church reunification), Georgius Cassander's De officio pii viri, in 1561 presented at the Colloquy at Poissy, together with an overview of its afterlife and the numerous reactions it provoked, both by Protestants and Roman Catholics, will contribute to our understanding of the history of erasmian humanist irenicism.

Two contemporary translations, one in German by Georg von Cell and one in French by Jean Hotman, show us how De officio pii viri was adapted to the ongoing struggle for church peace in different parts of Europe, a struggle that was led by jurists and theologians, outstanding members of the Republic of Letters, who were able to spread their ideas by their large epistolary networks.

The life story of De officio pii viri highlights the birth, expansion and failure of ideas; how they profit from the support of the mighty and how they fail when opposed by the uncompromising: those who think they speak in the name of God.

The first part of this volume contains a series of Latin and Greek creeds (symbols) from antiquity and the Early Middle Ages along with contemporary symbolic interpretations. The second part includes studies on the origins and history of creeds as well as their use in different historical contexts (history of piety, liturgy, and law).

This is the first monograph devoted to the widely disseminated 16^th century “Sermons on the Turk.” The work fills a gap in scholarship on the Turkish question in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. The volume includes 299 sermons by 38 authors, with a focus on their liturgical setting, the authors’ level of knowledge, and specific denominational patterns in interpreting the Turks and Islam.

Die orthodoxen Kirchen werden oft als dialogunfähig wahrgenommen. Sie erscheinen als monolithische Gebilde, die sich neueren Entwicklungen verschließen. Der Sammelband zeigt demgegenüber auf, in welch vielfältiger Hinsicht die orthodoxen Kirchen im "Dialog" stehen: mit anderen Konfession (Katholizismus, Protestantismus) und Religionen (Islam), mit heterodoxen Strömungen, mit der Moderne. Auch der innerorthodoxe Dialog in Gestalt von Konzilien wird in den Blick genommen. Eine Reihe von Beiträgen behandelt schließlich das Thema "Orthodoxie und Ökumene", das seine besondere Brisanz vor dem Hintergrund stagnierender Tendenzen in der gegenwärtigen ökumenischen Bewegung gewinnt.
Die Festschrift ist dem evangelischen Theologen Heinz Ohme gewidmet, der an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin die Professur für Kirchen- und Konfessionskunde / Ostkirchenkunde bekleidet hat und mit Arbeiten zur patristischen wie byzantinischen Kirchen- und Theologiegeschichte hervorgetreten ist.

This is the first biography in English of Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522), based upon the new critical edition of his correspondence. Reuchlin became most famous as the Catholic defender of Jewish books at the beginning of the 16th century, clarifying the Catholic Church’s position toward the Jews. The book contributes to the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Declaration on Relations with the Jews of the Second Vatican Council in 1965.

Franz Posset, PhD, Dipl.-Theol., is internationally known as Catholic Luther scholar, specializing in the theology and history of the Renaissance and Reformation, author of Pater Bernhardus: Martin Luther and Bernard of Clairvaux (1999), The Front-Runner of the Catholic Reformation (on Johann von Staupitz) (2003), Renaissance Monks (2005), The Real Luther (2011), Marcus Marulus and the Biblia Latina of 1489 (2013), and a book in German, Unser Martin. Martin Luther aus der Sicht katholischer Sympathisanten (2015).

Origen has been always studied as a theologian and too much credit has been given to Eusebius’ implausible hagiography of him. This book explores who Origen really was, by pondering into his philosophical background, which determines his theological exposition implicitly, yet decisively. For this background to come to light, it took a ground-breaking exposition of Anaxagoras’ philosophy and its legacy to Classical and Late Antiquity (Plato, Aristotle, Stoics, Origen, Neoplatonism), assessing critically Aristotle’s distorted representation of Anaxagoras. Origen, formerly a Greek philosopher of note, whom Proclus styled an anti-Platonist, is placed in the history of philosophy for the first time. By drawing on his Anaxagorean background, and being the first to revive the Anaxagorean Theory of Logoi, he paved the way to Nicaea. He was an anti-Platonist because he was an Anaxagorean philosopher with far-reaching influence, also on Neoplatonists such as Porphyry. His theology made an impact not only on the Cappadocians, but also on later Christian authors. His theory of the soul, now expounded in the light of his philosophical background, turns out more orthodox than that of some Christian stars of the Byzantine imperial orthodoxy.

While concentrated on the famous Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis, this book focuses on an area that has so far been somewhat marginalized or even overlooked by modern interpreters: the recontextualizing of the Passio Perpetuae in the subsequent reception of this text in the literature of the early Church. Since its composition in the early decades of the 3rd century, the Passio Perpetuae was enjoying an extraordinary authority and popularity. However, it contained a number of revolutionary and innovative features that were in conflict with existing social and theological conventions. This book analyses all relevant texts from the 3rd to 5th centuries in which Perpetua and her comrades are mentioned, and demonstrates the ways in which these texts strive to normalize the innovative aspects of the Passio Perpetuae. These efforts, visible as they are already on careful examination of the passages of the editor of the passio, continue from Tertullian to Augustine and his followers. The normalization of the narrative reaches its peak in the so-called Acta Perpetuae which represent a radical rewriting of the original and an attempt to replace it by a purified text, more compliant with the changed socio-theological hierarchies.

Around 1900, numerous conversions from Judaism to Christianity took place in Vienna. Most notable for predominantly Catholic Vienna was the number of individuals who found their way to the Protestant Church. What was their motivation in taking this step? The study examines the religious biographies of major figures in fin-de-siècle Vienna, illuminating their religious and ideological beliefs.

At long last, this book provides a comprehensive study of the life and work of the 7th century monk and theologian Anastasius Sinaïta (Anastasios of Sinai). It analyzes his principal work, the Hodegos (or Viae Dux) and his other Christological writings, and also presents his sermons and his role as an apologist toward the Jews and Moslems and an exegetist of Genesis 1–3.

This work examines public discourse during the America Revolutionary era and offers new insights into faith communication and public theology in America. The analysis is focused on the basic synthesis of faith and freedom and the religious elements in this synthesis. These elements are not tied back to Church teachings, but instead, interpreted as faith communications within the discourse of revolution.

This volume offers a novel perspective on games as part of the living world of medieval monasteries and convents, the vita religiosa, as well as on the concept of order during the Middle Ages. It undertakes a multidisciplinary discussion of the creative force shown by the members of religious orders in inventing, adapting, and transmitting games, along with the ethical, social, and theological meanings these games had in pre-modern society.

Conflict has been an inescapable facet of religion from its very beginnings. This volume offers insight into the mechanisms at play in the centuries from the Jesus-movement’s first attempts to define itself over and against Judaism to the beginnings of Islam. Profiling research by scholars of the Centre for Early Christian Studies at Australian Catholic University, the essays document inter- and intra-religious conflict from a variety of angles. Topics relevant to the early centuries range from religious conflict between different parts of the Christian canon, types of conflict, the origins of conflict, strategies for winning, for conflict resolution, and the emergence of a language of conflict. For the fourth to seventh centuries case studies from Asia Minor, Syria, Constantinople, Gaul, Arabia and Egypt are presented. The volume closes with examinations of the Christian and Jewish response to Islam, and of Islam’s response to Christianity. Given the political and religious tensions in the world today, this volume is well positioned to find relevance and meaning in societies still grappling with the monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

This book rewrites the history of Christian peace ethics. Christian reflection on reducing violence or overcoming war has roots in ancient Roman philosophy and eventually grew to influence modern international law. This historical overview begins with Cicero, the source of Christian authors like Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. It is highly debatable whether Augustine had a systematic interest in just war or whether his writings were used to develop a systematic just war teaching only by the later tradition. May Christians justifiably use force to overcome disorder and achieve peace? The book traces the classical debate from Thomas Aquinas to early modern-age thinkers like Vitoria, Suarez, Martin Luther, Hugo Grotius and Immanuel Kant. It highlights the diversity of the approaches of theologians, philosophers and lawyers. Modern cosmopolitianism and international law-thinking, it shows, are rooted in the Spanish Scholastics, where Grotius and Kant each found the inspiration to inaugurate a modern peace ethic. In the 20th century the tradition has taken aim not only at reducing violence and overcoming war but at developing a constructive ethic of peace building, as is reflected in Pope John Paul II’s teaching.

The present volume contributes to a reassessment of the phenomenon of episcopal elections from the broadest possible perspective, examining the varied combination of factors, personalities, rules and habits that played a role in the process that eventually resulted in one specific candidate becoming the new bishop, and not another. The importance of episcopal elections hardly needs stating: With the bishop emerging as one of the key figures of late antique society, his election was a defining moment for the local community, and an occasion when local, ecclesiastical, and secular tensions were played out. Building on the state of the art regarding late antique bishops and episcopal election, this volume of collected studies by leading scholars offers fresh perspectives by focussing on specific case-studies and opening up new approaches. Covering much of the Later Roman Empire between 250–600 AD, the contributions will be of interest to scholars interested in Late Antique Christianity across disciplines as diverse as patristics, ancient history, canon law and oriental studies.

The Old Testament Book of Jonah has attracted considerable attention ever since ancient Christian times and has stimulated the production of numerous commentaries, sermons, poetical compositions and visual depictions. Indeed, the story of Jonah has provoked heterogeneous adaptions even in the realm of contemporary literature. This volume contains studies featuring interdisciplinary exploration of the story's intermedial interpretation from ancient times through to the 20th century. In the process it considers multifaceted aspects of theology, exegesis, literature, culture and art history.

This study analyzes the attitude of the state church in Schleswig and Holstein to the issue of revolution in the historical context of the period 1789 to 1848. Taking a regional historical perspective, the accounts examine church functionaries in their development from critics of revolution to revolutionary activists. The conditions and aims of sermons and spiritual care in both post-revolutionary times and prior to the revolutions of 1848 are illuminated through many, often unpublished sources dating from the pre-March era.

The present volume’s focus lies on the formation of a multifaccetted discourse on Christian martyrdom in Late Antiquity. While martyrdom accounts remain a central means of defining Christian identity, new literary genres emerge, e.g., the Lives of Saints (Athanasius on Antony), sermons (the Cappadocians), hynms (Prudentius) and more. Authors like Eusebius of Caesarea and Augustine employ martyrological language and motifs in their apologetical and polemic writings, while the Gesta Martyrum Romanorum represent a new type of veneration of the martyrs of a single site. Beyond the borders of the Roman Empire, new martyrs’ narratives can be found. Additionally, two essays deal with methodological questions of research of such sources, thereby highlighting the hitherto understudied innovations of martyrology in Late Antiquity, that is, after the end of the persecutions of Christianity by Roman Emperors. Since then, martyrology gained new importance for the formation of Christian identity within the context of a Christianized imperium. The volume thus enlarges and specifies our knowledge of this fundamental Christian discourse.

This volume illuminates the work and influences of three leading antique theologians from a different perspective than the usual history of Christian dogma. With his anthropology of freedom, Origen founded scientific Biblical exegesis and theology in line with the standards of his day and laid the foundations for a Christian culture. Jerome was the greatest philologist of the Early Church. Thanks to his knowledge of Hebrew, he transmitted not only Greek but also Jewish Biblical knowledge to the Latin West through his translations and commentaries. Augustine was influenced by both these figures, but in a critical dialogue with them he developed an independent and highly influential Latin theology.

Friedrich Loofs was professor of church history at the University of Halle from 1888 to 1927. Alongside his work as a scholar and teacher, he was very active as a pastor and in the political and social arena during these years. This book contains ten essays which illuminate the work of Loofs in the field of the history of dogma, his scholarly friendship with Harnack, his contributions to anniversary celebrations of the Reformation, his political commitment to Armenia, his work as university preacher and his honorary office as guardian of the poor in Halle. At the same time, using a prominent professor as example, the book illustrates the importance of a university and its members not only for the different disciplines but for the success and flourishing of a city and the surrounding region as a whole.

This volume contains studies on the interdisciplinary exploration of the intermedial interpretation of the New Testament narrative material concerning Golgotha in the Early Modern Age. Special consideration has been given to multifaceted aspects of the history of theology, exegesis, art, literature and music.

Carl Andresen (1909–1985) posed questions of continuing relevance: what was the attitude of early Christianity to the intellectual history of antiquity, how did it categorize theology and philosophy with respect to each other, how did it defend the Bible’s claim to truth against concurrent systems of thought? This study provides an extensive and detailed reconstruction of the meeting of the world of antiquity and Christianity, including the history of their influences. Christianity proves to be an integral part of its world, whilst also influencing and transfiguring this environment.

In this work, the printed Greek confession books are subjected to extensive analysis for the very first time. These books, which appeared at the beginning of the 17th century in the orthodox East, enjoyed unprecedented popularity in their time. Examining the history of the confession books, this work provides new and very interesting insights into both the significant conflict between the patriarch of Constantinople, Kyrillos Loukaris, and the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, and the role of the protestant powers in this conflict. In addition, it also examines the role played by the confession books in the ambitions of influential Greeks in the Venetian occupied regions, to manipulate the development of church policies in the Orthodox East, in collaboration with Venice; for the most part, these ambitions, climaxing in an attempted union at the end of the 17th century unknown to research until now, are reconstructed here for the first time. Finally, this work demonstrates that, with one exception, the confession books printed in the 18th century were also printed for political purposes; in this case by the princes of Walachia and the emerging Kollyvades' reform movement.
Through new findings, which radically revise the knowledge accrued through previous research, this work makes an essential contribution to research on the history of Orthodoxy under Ottoman rule.

This collected volume contains 25 essays by the Church historian Ekkehard Mühlenberg. They focus on the Age of Late Antiquity. The substantive focus is provided by discussions between philosophy and theology in the struggle for a comprehensive understanding of reality. A significant contribution to research is also provided by reflections on the methodology of Church history. The essays are presented under categories such as “What is Church History?”, “The Notion of God in Philosophy and Theology”, “The Language of Religious Experience and Leading a Christian Life”.

The papers collected in this volume view important moments of decision for the German Evangelical Church in the 19th and 20th centuries and illuminate their consequences for the formation of a popular church independent of the state. A main focus is on the period of the National Socialist dictatorship from 1933 to 1945 and the struggle between Church and State. A regional focus is placed on Hesse.

Protestant theologians played a significant role in the modernisation of academic scholarship at 19th century German universities. This comparative study of four important German faculties shows how publication, teaching and academic careers became professionalised. Although conflicts between church hierarchies and academic theology reached a climax in the years between 1850 and 1870, and massive pressure was brought to bear from outside on university appointments, Protestant Theology developed into a modern academic discipline during the period under review.

The volume is devoted to the question of the pictoriality of world views. Representatives from a variety of disciplines (theology, art history, astrophysics, history of science, philosophy) come together to resume the study of world pictures as a historico-cultural phenomenon against the horizon of current discussions on the visuality of perceptions of the world.

With his letter to the Persian Mari, Ibas of Edessa († 457) got caught up between the millstones of the different dogmatic positions in the 5th century Christological conflict. This monograph on the Bishop of Edessa creates a vivid picture of a neglected chapter in church history and the history of dogma. In a unique manner, it combines regional aspects with the history of ideas in the Eastern Mediterranean. The resultant picture of Ibas invites a reassessment of traditional prejudices in the ecumenical discussion.

The Church Father John Chrysostom died 1600 years ago. Hardly any Christian from Antiquity has done more to form the identity of the most varied church traditions right up to the present day. While Protestants honour him as a preacher (hence the honorific Chrysostomos ‑ “Golden-mouthed”), the Orthodox Churches know him as the progenitor of their Sunday liturgy (Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom). The volume provides an insight into the many facets of the history of this figure's influence.

The volume addresses the question of the effect the Reformation had on everyday culture, how the people of the 16th century reacted to this revolutionary event and how it shaped their environment – in both the profane and the sacred spheres – to meet the new demands placed on them. This is the first time that German researchers on the Reformation have exploited objects from material culture as a source in their own right for work on the history and after-effects of the Reformation.

This thesis presented to the University of Munich uses early theological, legal and political writings by Hugo Grotius to determine his political position and the argumentative strategies he deployed in the Arminianic controversy and the political conflicts at the beginning of the 17th century. Particular value is attached to a reading of Grotius’ statements in the context of contemporary politics. As a Christian humanist, he moderated the various points at issue and appealed to the warring factions to exercise tolerance and seek reconciliation.

This study in church history examines Herder’s ecclesiastical ministry in Saxon-Weimar (1776-1803). Thematically it follows on from Haym’s biography (1880/85), but instead of subordinating Herder’s official activities to the history of his life and work it presents the first comprehensive account of his official functions on the basis of their institutional and structural constants. Apart from staffing decisions and draft concepts for his three central fields of activity (church, school and university), his ministry is outlined using new archive material.

This study was awarded the Hans Lilje Prize by the Göttingen Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006.

“The sacrificing of Isaac” (Genesis 22) was subjected to intensive interpretation by the various religious denominations in the early modern age. The contributors to this volume are historians from the fields of exegesis, art, literature and music; they focus on the wide variety of texts and media genres in which the story is represented (commentary, disputation, sermon, theatrical play, devotional guide, meditation landscape, altar tableau, sacred poem inter alia) and demonstrate what part the stage, painting, sculpture and sacred music played in the interpretation of the biblical text.

This collected volume contains thirteen papers by Hanns Christof Brennecke demonstrating how Christianity in the Imperial Age and Late Antiquity is embedded in the context of the Imperium Romanum. The topics range from the early conflicts between Christianity and the pagan world to questions of Trinitarian theology and Christology and on to analyses of Syrian monasticism. With their detailed analyses of the sources, these papers have had a lasting influence on research in the field.

This first published edition of his lectures on ethics reflects the theology of Albrecht Ritschl (1822-1889) at a time when he advanced to become the most significant Protestant theologian in Germany with his major work "Rechtfertigung und Versöhnung" (Justification and Reconciliation) (1870 - 74). It demonstrates the impulses emanating from Ritschl's work which influenced and continue to influence systematic theology, church history and the 20th century ecumenical movement.

At the centre of John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost (1667) is a radical commitment to divine and human freedom. This study situates Paradise Lost within the context of post-Reformation theological controversy, and pursues the theological portrayal of freedom as it unfolds throughout the poem. The study identifies and explores the ways in which Milton is both continuous and discontinuous with the major post-Reformation traditions in his depiction of predestination, creation, free will, sin, and conversion. Milton’s deep commitment to freedom is shown to underlie his appropriation and creative transformation of a wide range of existing theological concepts.

“Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart” (RGG) (Religion in Past and Present ), and its first edition in particular, achieved a significant position in the history of theology like no other encyclopaedia. On the one hand, it lent expression to the dominant theological trends of its time, while on the other it provided theological impulses of its own. This study recreates the importance of the RGG for the history and politics of theology in the context of the publishing history of Protestant lexicography. Lexico-political issues are discussed with regard to aspects of academic, theological, educational and publishing policies. The study closes a gap in the research, as theological encyclopaedias have hitherto been seen as a neglected field of research.

This monograph takes the example of the German Franciscans to examine the role of mendicant friars in social change in the late Middle Ages.

In the later Middle Ages, the mendicant friars strove to regulate a society in a process of radical change. This happened through a combination of apparently contradictory developments – the Christianisation of individual liberties on the one hand, and the simultaneous establishment of new control mechanisms on the other. The work of the early German Franciscans presented here exemplifies the dialectics of social diversification processes that shaped Europe in the Middle Ages and later.

This essay collection presents a multi-facetted overview of five centuries of cultural history and the history of Christianity in Hamburg; at the same time, it places local historical aspects in the wider context of overall developments in the history of ideas.

This specialist work in historical theology deals with the doctrine of salvation in the early theology of Richard Hooker (1554-1600) from the perspective of the concept of faith and with Hooker’s connections to the early English Reformers (W. Tyndale, J. Frith, R. Barnes, T. Cranmer, J. Bradford and J. Foxe) in crucial teachings such as justification, sanctification, glorification, election, reprobation, the sovereignty of God, and salvation of Catholics. The study proves that Hooker’s theology is firstly Protestant (to counter the views which picture it as Catholic) and secondly Calvinist.

This volume of essays identifies Christology, cosmography and diatribe as three important topics in the "Early Church", i.e. the Roman Church as it developed after the Council of Nicea (325 AD).

An interdisciplinary collection of papers (from German Studies, History, Education, Philosophy, Romance Studies, Theology) concentrating on Herder’s theological works. The topics covered range from Herder’s exegetical work to the issue of pantheism and his activities in the church and school life of Weimar.

Only recently three notebooks by Hans von Soden (1881-1945) were found in which he recorded four seminars Adolf Harnack taught between the summer of 1904 and early 1906. The seminars were devoted to the following subjects: Justin's Apologies, Gnosticism, Augustin's Confessions (Books 1 to 6), and the Works of Sulpicius Severus. These records with their detailed accounts provide a precise insight not only into patristic research a hundred years ago, but also into the teaching in a department of the Berlin University at that time. Harnack's scholarly interests in the very varied patristic topics from the 1st to 5th centuries are clearly expressed, as too is his strong theological interest in education, which becomes apparent through his polemics.

In theological literature, the colloquial Greek term oikonomia has several meanings, and only becomes a theological concept through its context. In the New Testament, it signifies God’s rule, but it is not originally connected with the notion of salvation. The internal relationship of the Trinity can be signified with oikonomia, as can the union of two natures in Christ. In the Eastern Church, oikonomia is part of the features of ecclesiastical praxis and finds its way into the Byzantine notion of law. It is also of significance for ecumenical efforts.

Working from the thesis that the essence of Christianity cannot be understood without its historical and cultural manifestations, the author proceeds to examine the interrelationships between Protestant theology and aesthetics in their threefold significance as theories of the sensory perception, of beauty and art. Using Herder, Wackenroder and De Wette as exemplars, he sketches a modernisation programme for the theory of culture and of religion that places culture within an embracing world of meaning and the Christian religion within a concrete horizon of experience.

The author presents with this intellectual biography of the Lutheran alchemist Count Michael Maier an academic study of western esotericism in general and to the study of alchemy and rosicrucianism in particular.

The author charts the development of Maier's Hermetic worldview in the context of his service at the courts of Emperor Rudolf II and Moritz of Hessen-Kassel. The problem of the nature of early Rosicrucianism is addressed in detail with reference to Maier's role in the promotion of this "serious jest" in the years immediately prior to the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War. The work is set in the context of ongoing debates concerning the nature of early modern alchemy and its role in the history of Western esotericism.

The volume Church as Politeia comprises fifteen papers which were presented at a German-British Research Colloquium of the Becket Institute in Oxford. In these papers the political self-understanding of Christianity is analyzed in its historical development from various denominational perspectives. The authors of these contributions are theologians, lawyers, philosophers and historians from Germany and Great Britain.

With this comprehensive study, the author presents an important contribution to research into the theological enlightenment in Germany, with particular reference to neology. He examines the biographies and theology of the two Court Preachers Sack against the background of the controversies surrounding Christianity (vs. La Mettrie), the Eucharist (vs. E. C. Koch; controversy about C. A. Heumann), tolerance (vs. J. M. Goeze), heterodoxy (vs. C. F. Bahrdt), orthodoxy (vs. J. C. Wöllner), Spinozism (vs. Schleiermacher) and the union of Lutherans and Reformed Protestants.

This study deals with Schleiermacher’s political activity during all phases of his life and work. Using a broad range of sources, some of them new, it examines his political sermons, his activity in educational and university politics, his theoretical notions of the state, his collaboration in political journalistic activity within the Prussian Reform Party (Der Preußische Correspondent) and his judgement on Judaism and Jewish culture. Schleiermacher presents himself as a programmatic supporter of a liberal civil society formed by citizens.

Pierre Bayle (1647–1706) was considered an unbeliever and a skeptic during his own lifetime. However, the work of this Rotterdam philosopher reveals a theologian who saw the retreat of theology from philosophy that had failed at the metaphysical realm as a strength of theology, not a defeat. This basic idea occupies a hitherto unrecognized position in Bayle's work, and it provides the background for this study's exploration of Bayle's theological and ethical thinking.

Savonarola (1452-1498) saw it as his highest priority to substantiate Christianity's claim to truth, an aspect that has hitherto found scant attention. Although in his youth he had himself been tempted to exchange Catholic Christianity for a neo-Epicurean view of the world, he spent his whole life seeking arguments for the truth of the faith. Following from Aristotelian empiricism and the lines of scientific enquiry, he attempts at an inductive proof for the truth of Christianity with the argument that the observation of Christians' ethical conduct and the causal analysis of these perceptual data allows one to conclude that the faith motivating such behaviour is true.

The hotly debated ecumenical and theological issue of whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone or from the Son as well as the Father (ex patre filioque) is analyzed in light of ecclesiastical history and the history of Christian doctrine. Starting from the varied reception of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed in the Latin-speaking area, the author inquires into the origins of the filioque controversy between the eighth and the twelfth centuries. The pneumatological and confessional differences and the basic political and ecclesiastical framework involved are described. The dispute over the filioque clause proves to be a key to a theological divergence between the Greek East and the Latin West, a movement whose origins lay in the fundamental theological decisions about the Trinity in the fourth century. The filioque issue thus cannot be "solved" by deleting a word but only by ensuring dialogue between two irreducible manifestations of the Trinitarian dogma.

This study in the history of concepts is dedicated to the discussion in late Classical Antiquity between Christians and their contemporaries on Divine Providence (Pronoia).

The conviction that God was concerned for the world was generally current at the time. Controversy in the philosophical discussions of the 2nd and 3rd centuries revolved around the question of how God's activity should be seen - as a general pattern of sense, as good order or as individual care.

Among the works of Johann Arndt, the well-known Vier Bücher vom wahren Christentum had the most impact among readers. Following the history of tradition and the history of motifs, this interpretation focuses on the context of early modern spiritualist and hermetical thought. Arndt´s distinctive theological demand in the sense of a mystical spiritualism as a specific type of early modern "theologia mystica" is depicted in part I, his program of an imagery of books, which is rooted in early modern spiritualism and Hermetic scriptures in part II. In part III the author connects Arndt's "theologia naturalis" (in liber naturae, book IV), which is influenced by theosophical thought, with his "theology of heart" (books I-III).

Three appendixes on Arndt's controversial "esoteric" writings, on traces of his reception in the history of alchemy as well as on numerous representatives of the "magia naturalis" complete the volume.

An edition of the Treaty of Passau (1552) as well as of important protocols of negotiations, together with an extensive introduction.

Events from the history of redemption as reflected in baptism and the Lord’s Supper in the early church. A systematic investigation of the Traditio Apostolica, the Euchologion of Serapion of Thmuis, the catecheses of Cyrill and John of Jerusalem, Ambrosius, John Chrysostom, Theodor of Mopsuestia and others.

In the Vita Corbiniani Bishop Arbeo of Freising (ca. 763-764 to 783-784 CE) wrote a description of the life of Saint Corbinian. This early medieval life of a saint is the object of the present historical analysis. The author describes the changes in the perception of Corbinian from the beginning of his being revered up to the history of research on him. Afterwards he develops from the Vita Corbiniani with the aid of the form-critical method, a modified view of the historical figure Corbinian and his development into a saint. Connected to this is the opening-up of a new perspective on Bavarian church history in the early 8th century.

The author here examines the memoriae, the monuments in memory, of the “apostolic princes” Peter and Paul as they are found in Rome in archaeological monuments and in literary tradition. In this connection various archaeological excavation reports are presented and critically analyzed. At the center lie the excavations under S. Sebastiano which have proceeded since 1915, and those under S. Pietro since 1939, which have been of worldwide interest yet at the same time have left many unclarities.

The object analyzed here is the custom of the festival of relics (ostensio reliquiarum), at which the relics of a church were publicly displayed. On the basis of an examination of 24 late medieval relic festivals in the Roman-German regnum, the liturgical-ceremonial patterns of these festivals and their functions are presented, especially in the area of the system of indulgences and the representation of governing (especially the formation of residences).

This title from the De Gruyter Book Archive has been digitized in order to make it available for academic research. It was originally published under National Socialism and has to be viewed in this historical context. Learn more here.

This title from the De Gruyter Book Archive has been digitized in order to make it available for academic research. It was originally published under National Socialism and has to be viewed in this historical context. Learn more here.