The Encyclopedia of Christianity: Volume 4

by Erwin Fahlbusch

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2005

Overview

The Encyclopedia of Christianity is the fourth of a five-volume English translation of the third revised edition of Evangelisches Kirchenlexikon. Its German articles have been tailored to suit an English readership, and articles of special interest to English readers have been added. The encyclopedia describes Christianity through its 2000-year history within a global context, taking into account other religions and philosophies. A special feature is the statistical information dispersed throughout the articles on the continents and over 170 countries. Social and cultural coverage is given to such issues as racism, genocide, and armaments, while historical content shows the development of biblical and apostolic traditions. This comprehensive work, while scholarly, is intended for a wide audience and will set the standard for reference works on Christianity.

Contents

Top Highlights

“Sustaining helps individuals to endure and rise above situations in which a restoration to their previous condition is unlikely.” (Volume 4, Page 65)

“The guiding function consists of ‘assisting perplexed persons to make confident choices … when such choices are viewed as affecting the present and future state of the soul.’” (Volume 4, Page 66)

“Healing is the pastoral function that ‘aims to overcome some impairment by restoring a person to wholeness and by leading him to advance beyond his previous condition.” (Volume 4, Page 65)

“The reconciling function seeks to reestablish broken relationships between persons, and between individuals and God.” (Volume 4, Page 66)

“In summary, postmodernism can be defined as a set of discourses, developed within multinational capitalist economies, that share a denial of the possibility of universal or rational principles, fixed meanings, or objective understandings of truth and transhistorical metanarratives such as history and progress. Postmodernism is wary of every truth claim, preferring truths, understood to be both partial and plural, in place of any notion of a single, univocal truth.” (Volume 4, Page 300)

Product Details

• Title: The Encyclopedia of Christianity: Volume 4
• Editor: Erwin Fahlbusch
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2005
• Pages: 952

About Erwin Fahlbusch

Jan Milic Lochman- (1922-2004) Retired as Rector of the University of Basel.

John Mbiti- John A. Mackay Professor of World Christianity at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Jaroslav PelikanThe Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University, he is the author of more than thirty books, including Jesus Through the Centuries. He has received the Jefferson Award of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the highest honor conferred by the U.S. government on a scholar of the humanities.

Lukas Vischer- Professor emeritus of ecumenical theology at Evangelical Reformed Theological Faculty of Berne, Switzerland.

Geoffrey W. Bromiley- Professor emeritus of Church History and Historical Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He is best known as the translator of numerous theological books, including the 9-volume Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.

David B. Barrett- Formerly an Anglican missionary in Africa, he is president of Global Evangelization Movement in Richmond, Virginia, and editor of the World Christian Encyclopedia.

These sample entries from Volume 1 give a sense of the range of topics and quality of scholarship included in each volume.

• James Barr Biblical Theology
• Hans Dieter Betz Epistles to the Corinthians
• Edith L. Blumhofer Assemblies of God
• Geoffrey W. Bromiley Thomas Cranmer
• James H. Cone Black Theology
• Edwin S. Gaustad Baptists, Christian Church; Churches of Christ; Churches of God
• Clifford Green Bonhoeffer, Dietrich
• Paulos Mar Gregorios Coptic Orthodox Church
• Norman A. Hjelm Christian Communication; Christian Publishing
• Anastasios Kallis Anaphora; Christology
• Bruce M. Metzger Bible Manuscripts and Editions
• Ekkehard Mühlenberg Apologists; Christology; Docetism
• Dietrich Ritschl Apostasy; Authority; Christology
• Peter Stuhlmacher Atonement
• Eugene TeSelle Augustine