The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (472 page)

(1871–1944).
Russian philosopher and Orthodox theologian. He was ordained in 1918, but was then expelled from Russia in 1923, ostensibly for unorthodoxy, but more probably for political reasons. He sought to interpret all doctrine in the light of the divine Sophia, or Wisdom. Of his many works,
The Orthodox Church
(1935) and
The Wisdom of God
(1937) summarize his main ideas.

 
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(Lat.
bulla
, ‘seal’). A papal document or mandate, so-called because sealed officially.

 
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(1504–57).
Swiss Reformer. Biblical and patristic study, the reading of
Luther's
and
Melanchthon's
writings, and
Zwingli's
preaching, led Bullinger to support the
Reformation
movement. He succeeded Zwingli as Chief Minister in Zürich, devoting his energies to educational reform, participation in the eucharistic debate amongst Protestants, and voluminous literary activities including influential correspondence with the English Reformers.

 
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(1884–1976).
Christian interpreter of the New Testament and its environment, associated especially with the programme of
demythologization
. He pioneered the study of
form-criticism
, developing scepticism about the possibility of recovering much, if any, historical detail about Jesus, beyond his summons to decision. His commentary on John argued for dependence on
gnostic
ideas, and in an essay on NT and mythology (circulated from 1941, but published in H. W. Bartsch,
Kerygm and Myth
, Eng. tr. 1953) he claimed that the pre-scientific world view of the Gospels and NT needed to be demythologized (decoded, so that its essential message could be extracted from the accidents of its environment).

 
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Bundahisn
.

‘Creation’ in
Zoroastrianism
, and a text with this title which assumed its final form 9th/10th cents. CE in the Pahlavi language. It starts with the ‘event’ of creation (a Zoroastrian counterpart to Genesis); much of the central section is dedicated to priestly schematic classifications of types of creation (types of mountains, rivers, birds, animals, etc.) and concludes with an account of the end of history (
Frasokereti
).
The Zoroastrian cosmology, as expounded in the
Bundahisn
and other Pahlavi works, encapsulates Zoroastrian belief about God (
Ahura Mazda
), the world, human nature, and destiny.
Zoroastrian ethics are founded on this understanding of cosmogony. By nature men and women are perfect, free of all suffering, and sinless. As evil is in essence destructive, it is humanity's duty to expand the Good Creation both through expanding the world (e.g. in farming), and by having children. It is a religious obligation to enjoy the Good Creation, and to refrain from despoiling or abusing it.

 
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Bungan
.

A revitalization movement among the Kenyah and Kayan peoples of Indonesian Borneo and Sarawak. Though declining by the 1970s, Bungan has still not died out entirely.

 
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