The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2537 page)

(1865–1923).
Christian historian of culture and religion. He became professor of systematic theology at Heidelberg in 1894, and professor of ‘religious, social and historical philosophy and the history of the Christian religion’ at Berlin in 1915. The latter title points effectively to Troeltsch's general position. Historical relativism (or ‘historicism’) suggests that cultural values are embedded in history and change over time. No religions (including Christianity) express absolute values which are exempt from this process; and the recognition that this is so is the consequence of the modern historical consciousness—and that is why Troeltsch maintained that the modern age began with the Enlightenment, not with the Reformation, which he regarded as a medieval phenomenon. But in that case, is there anything about religion which persists and endures through the vicissitudes of time? Here, Troeltsch, like R.
Otto
, took a Kantian line, and argued that there is an
a priori
religious mode of consciousness, which brings religions, in all their variety and relativity, into being. In
Die Absolutheit des Christentums
… (1902; The Absoluteness of Christianity …) he claimed that Christianity is ‘relatively absolute’ (
relativer absolutismus
) as a religion because it, more than any other religion, affirms the value of personal and ethical beings, locating this character in God and exhibiting it in Christ. His development of the
Church
–Sect (and mysticism) typology has remained influential. In his major work,
Die Soziallehren der christlichen Kirchen und Gruppen
(1912; The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches), he argued that underprivileged and less educated populations are the driving force in religious creativity, since they feel more and ask less.

 
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(Skt., ‘thirst’).
1
In Hinduism, t
a is the longing for life which keeps one bound to
sa
s
ra
(continuing rebirth); it must be contested by deliberate exercise (
s
dhana
).
2
In Buddhism, it is more closely analysed. See under its P
li form,
ta
h
.