heilsgeschichte

H4E1I1L1S1G2E1S1C3H4I1C3H4T1E1

noun

History seen as the work of God's salvation. (Especially, in Christianity, the history of the Old Testament, seen as a preparation for the coming of Christ.)

OriginGerman Heilsgeschichte →
Scrabble 29
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Meanings

heilsgeschichte1

nounheilsgeschichte (uncountable)
  1. alternativeuncountableAlternative form of Heilsgeschichte.

Heilsgeschichte2

nounHeilsgeschichte (uncountable)
  1. uncountablelifestyleHistory seen as the work of God's salvation. (Especially, in Christianity, the history of the Old Testament, seen as a preparation for the coming of Christ.)

    Without a divine Heilsgeschichte it would not make sense to speak of Jesus' ‘deity’. He would then simply be one of the heroes of history—nothing more.

    1959, Guthrie/Hall, translating Oscar Cullman, The Christology of the New Testament, p. 306
    2 more examples

    He was not a Leninist because he would have had no conception of historical self-determination. The only kind of history that mattered was Heilsgeschichte, or salvation history.

    2007 December 4, Terry Eagleton, The Guardian

    The much greater iconographic programmes of the other three Bibles mean that a sort of pictorial Heilsgeschichte can be given spread throughout the work: in the Bamberg it has to be compressed.

    2008, Jill Bradley, You Shall Surely Not Die, volume 1, page 71
  2. broadlyuncountableAny interpretation of history as leading to eventual well-being, as e.g. in Marxism.

Origin

  1. GermanHeilsgeschichte
  2. EnglishHeilsgeschichte

From German Heilsgeschichte.

More words from German

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Dutch heilsgeschiedenis, heilshistorie
  • heilsgeschiedenishistory seen as the work of God's salvation
  • heilshistoriehistory seen as the work of God's salvation
German Heilsgeschichte
  • Heilsgeschichtehistory seen as the work of God's salvation
Norwegian Bokmål frelseshistorie
  • frelseshistoriehistory seen as the work of God's salvation
Cite this entry
APA

heilsgeschichte. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heilsgeschichte

MLA

“heilsgeschichte.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heilsgeschichte. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “heilsgeschichte,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heilsgeschichte.

Source: heilsgeschichte on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.