Religion Past And Present. Encyclopedia Of Theology And Religion, Volume 1 (a-bhu)

Religion Past & Present VOLUME A − Bhu I Religion Past & Present Encyclopedia of Theology and Religion EDITED BY Hans Dieter Betz Don S. Browning Bernd Janowski Eberhard Jüngel VOLUME A − Bhu I LEIDEN • BOSTON 2007 © Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Bill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands Koninklijke Bill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishres, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. Originally published in German as Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Handwörterbuch für Theologie und Religionswissenschaft. Vierte, völlig neu bearbeitete Auflage. Herausgegeben von Hans Dieter Betz, Don S. Browning, Bernd Janowski und Eberhard Jüngel. Copyright © Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, Germany. 1998–2005. Despite our efforts we have not been able to trace all rights holders to some copyrighted material. The publisher welcomes communications from copyright holders, so that the appropriate acknowledgements can be made in future editions, and to settle other permission matters. ISBN 10 (volume) 9004 13980 X ISBN 13 (volume) 978 90 04 13980 0 ISBN 10 (set) 9004 14666 0 ISBN 13 (set) 978 90 04 14666 2 printed in the netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Cover design: Coördesign, Leiden (André van der Waal) Data structuring and typesetting: Asiatype, Inc. Suite 114 Columbia Tower Ortigas Avenue, Greenhills Mandaluyong City Phillippines Preface to the Fourth Edition As the fourth edition is published, the RGG has almost reached the century mark in its history. Both in their entirety and as individual articles, the four editions together reflect the 19th and 20th centuries in a way unmatched by virtually any other document in the history of religious and theological scholarship. Alongside the evident differences between the editions, it is not difficult to see the points of agreement. The planning for the first edition (1909–1913) in 1904–1906 already linked its intent to summarize the state of research of the 19th century with an extension of perspective beyond the traditional primary disciplines, listed as the history of extra-Christian religion, art and music, education, the social sciences, church law and church politics, as well as contemporary Christianity. This basic concept continued to apply in the subsequent editions, though the overall perspective and the attention given to individual subject areas were necessarily subject to change as appropriate. The preparations for the second edition (1927–1932), which began shortly after the end of the First World War, amounted almost to a complete revision. The 1927 Preface lists its aims as consideration of the new general situation in theology, an increased emphasis on non-Christian religions and the interplay between religion and culture (art, literature, philosophy, the social sciences) as well as an account of the results of scholarly endeavor thus far,