RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Kingdom of God Kingro
rality. At the same time it becomes possible to harmonize the divergent incentives to morality presented in the New Testament, and to blend in the concept of a single moral highest good the two previous varieties of Christian ethics, the theory of duty and the theory of virtue. It likewise obviates the danger of quietism in case there is no end to stimulate the will, and, finally, it affords a basis of uniting early Christian and pre-Christian ethics. Eitschl followed Schleiermacher, but deepened his thoughts by a closer approach to the New Testament and to Luther. He took his stand in the historical life of the body of believers, which is assured that it is established through the revelation of the free grace of God in Christ which 13. Ritschl's brings forgiveness of sins. Like Schlei- Theory ermacher, he united the recognition of the of a moral development which cul- Kingdom. minates in Christ with the concept of sin, but to him sin was more than imperfect development, it was the contradiction of good, and its judgment as our own action and guilt was not phenomenological, as it was with Schleiermacher, but inherent, and according to the judgment of God. The spiritual movement of believers proceeds in two directions, in the specifically religious function of the consciousness of reconciliation with God, and in the moral function of activity for the kingdom of God. This kingdom Ritschl understood after the analogy of a people that heartily obeys its ruler; the will of God, however, he regarded not as a sum of norms, but as a uniform purpose. For both Schleiermacher and Ritschl, the kingdom of God is the highest good, not only as a problem to be solved progressively by the activity of all mankind, but also as a religious good, as a gift and work of God, and as something that makes life and blessedness. Although Ritschl was rightly led by Kaftan to emphasize not only the divinely fixed purpose of the kingdom of God, but also the divine blessings to be enjoyed, he justly refused to speak with Kaftan of two sides of the kingdom of God, of an ethical side by which man faces the world, and a mystical side by which he retires from the world; for not only does the supermundane kingdom of God in the New Testament include the ethical side, but Kaftan's idea leads to quietism.
The ethical results of Schleiermacher's concept of the kingdom of God were fully accepted by Ritschl, and he was thus enabled to obviate a dualism between the moral requirements of holiness and justice on the one hand, and love on the other, by recognizing love, as directed toward the ends of the kingdom of God, to be itself the moral will. He likewise removed Luther's and Schleiermacher's lack of clearness in defining the relation of the kingdom of God to the Church by distin- 14. The guishing between the religious, ethical, Kingdom and legal concepts of the Church. In of God so far as both are regarded as the workand the ing of God, the Church and the king- Church, dom of God coincide; they are both the sum total of persons who have been transposed by the Gospel of Christ into the life of an ethically active faith, independently of
any legal organization. The Church has the special duty of worship, acknowledgment, and education; the kingdom of God that of the organization of humanity through love. The legal organization of the Church is only a means for the solution of her ethical problems. If systematic theology retains the concept of the kingdom of God, it must always be in objective continuity not only with theology since Origen, but also with primitive Christianity although its formulas must be amended by modern historical knowledge. (J. GoTTSCHicK-f.)
Bibliography: A review of the subject is given in J. Weiss, Die Idee des Reiches Gottes in der Theologie, Giessen, 1901. Much of the literature under Messiah; Parables; and Biblical Theology treats the subject (especially the discussions by Weiss, Holtzmann, and Beyschlag) as do many of the treatises on the life of Christ. Consult further: Schurer, Geschichte, ii. 496-556, Eng. transl., II., ii. 126 sqq.; F. Theremin, Lehre vom gbttlichen Reich, Berlin, 1823; K. Wittichen, Die Idee des Reiches Gottes, Gottingen, 1872; J. S. Candlish, The Kingdom of God Biblically and Historically Considered, Edinburgh, 1884; G. Wilson, The Kingdom of God . . According to the Inspired Records, Bloomington, 111., 1888; A. B. Bruce, The Kingdom of God; or Christ's Teachings according to the Synoptical Gospels, Edinburgh, 1889; E. Issel, Die Lehre vom Reich Gottes, Leyden, 1891; O. Schmoller, Die Lehre vom Reich Gottes, ib. 1891; E. Haupt, in TSK, lxv (1892); Hering, in Zeitschrift fiir Theologie und Kirche, 1892; O. Holtzmann, Neutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte, new ed., Tubingen, 1906; G. Schnedermann, Jesu Verkundigung und Lehre vom Reich Gottes, 2 parts, Leipsic, 1893-95; H. Holland, God's City and the Coming of the Kingdom, London, 1894; L. Tolstoi, The Kingdom of God is within you, New York, 1894, and often; L. Paul, Die V orstellunger. vom Messias und vom Gottesreich bei den Synoptikern, Bonn, 1895; A. Titius, Jesu Lehre vom Reiche Gottes, Freiburg, 1895; R. Belaney, Kingdom of God on Earth, London, 1896; Klopper, in ZWT, 1897; F. Krop, La Pensee de JSsus sur le royaume de Dieu, Paris, 1897; J. Schafer, Das Reich Gottes im Licht der Parabeln, Mainz, 1897; R. Wegener, Ritschls Idee des Reiches Gottes, Leipsic, 1897; G. Dalmann, Die Worte Jesu, pp. 75-113, Leipsic, 1898; A. Julicher, Die Gleichnisreden Jesu, vol. ii., Freiburg, 1899; W. Baldensperger, Das Selbstbewusstsein Jesu, Strasburg, 1900; J. Weiss, Die Predigt Jesu vom Reich Gottes, Gottingen, 1900; W. Bousset, Die Religion des Judenthums im neutestamentlichen Zeitalter, pp. 199-276, Berlin, 1903; P. Volz, Judische Eschatologie von Daniel bis Akiba, §§ 27, 42-48, Tubingen, 1903; P. Wernle, Die Reichgotteshoffnung in den altesten christlichen Dokumenten und bei Jesus, ib. 1903; W. Bousset, Jesus, pp. 71- 98, New York, 1906; J. Bohmer, Der religionsgeschichtliche Rahmen des Reiches Gottes, Leipsic, 1909.
KINGO, THOMAS HANSEN: Danish bishop and hymn-writer; b. at Slangerup (15 m. n.n.w. of Copenhagen) 1634; d. at Odense, island of Funen, Oct. 14, 1703. He studied at the University of Copenhagen, being graduated in 1654, and for some time acted as tutor in private families. In 1661 he was appointed vicar to the pastor at Kirke Helsinge (50 m. s.w. of Copenhagen), and in 1668 he was ordained minister at his native town, where his poetic activity began. At first he essayed patriotic poems, but later devoted himself almost entirely to the writing of hymns, and in 1674 the first part of his Aandelige Sjunge Chor (" Spiritual Song Choir ") appeared; followed in 1681 by part ii. This work consists of a collection of beautiful hymns several of which are still popular in the Danish Church. In 1677 Kingo was appointed bishop of Zealand. Charged by the government with the compilation of a new hymn-book, he edited (1699) the so-called Kingo's Psalmebog which contains
King's, Books of King-ship in Israel