Reli104 Final Exam Vocab (copy)

From a Greek word meaning “ruler” or “straight edge.” The term came to designate any recognized collection of texts; the canon of the New Testament is thus the collection of books that Christians accept as authoritative.

A form of Christianity endorsed by some Christians of the second and third centuries (including the Apostolic Fathers) that promoted doctrines declared “orthodox” in the fourth and later centuries by the victorious Christian party-in opposition to such groups as the Ebionites, the Marcionites, and the Gnostics

The original manuscript of a literary text, from a Greek word meaning “the writing itself”

An academic discipline that seeks to establish the original wording of a text based on the surviving manuscripts

The belief that there is only one God (sometimes distinguished from “henotheism,” which acknowledges that other gods exist, but insists that only one of to be worshiped)

A Jewish designation for a non-Jew

An alternative name for the Maccabeans, the family of Jewish priests that began the revolt against Syria in 167 BCE and that ruled Israel prior to the Roman conquest of 63BCE

Hebrew for “anointed one.” In the first century CE, there was a wide range of expectations about whom this anointed one might be, with some Jews anticipating a future warrior-king like David; others a cosmic redeemer from heaven; others an authoritative priest; and still others a powerful spokesperson from God like Moses

refers to a literary genre: a written account of the “good news” brought by Jesus Christ, including episodes involving his words and/or deeds (e.g., the Gospel of Luke or of Peter

refers to a. book but to the proclamation of the “good news” of Christ’s salvation (e.g., the Gospel of Paul in his message, not a book that he used)

an agreement or treaty between two social or political parties that have come to terms; used by ancient Jews in reference to the pact that God made to protect and preserve them as his chosen people in exchange for their devotion and adherence to his Law

Technical term used for one of the intriguing literary features of the Gospel of Mark, is that even though Jesus is shown to be the Messiah, he tries to keep his identity a secret (e.g., by silencing those who recognize him and by hushing up the reports of his miracles)

A king of literature with specific literary features; in the modern world, for example, there are short stories, novels, and limerick poems (each with their own distinctive features); in the ancient world, there were biographies, epic poems, general histories - and many other genres. The major genres of the New Testament are the Gospels (which are most like religious biographies), Acts (most like general histories), epistles, and apocalypses

From a Greek word that means “suffering,” used as a technical term to refer to the traditions of Jesus’ last days, up to and including his crucifixion (hence the “Passion narrative”)

A Latin word meaning “blessings,” used as a technical term for the sayings of Jesus that begin the Sermon on the Mount (e.g., “Blessed are the poor in Spirit…”; Matthew 5:3-12)

A document (or documents, written or oral) that no longer survives, but that evidently provided Luke with traditions that are not found in Matthew or Mark

Document (or documents, written or oral) that no longer survives, but that evidently provided Matthew with traditions that are not found in Mark or Luke

The view that Mark was the first of the Synoptic Gospels to be written and was one of the sources used by Matthew and Luke

The source used by both Matthew and Luke for the stories they share, principally sayings, that are not found in Mark; from the German word Quelle, meaning “source.” The document no longer exists, but can be reconstructed on the basis of Matthew and Luke

The study of how authors modified or edited (i.e., redacted) their sources in view of their own invested interests and concerns

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which narrate so many of the same stories that they can be placed side by side in parallel columns and so “be seen together” (the literal meaning of “synoptic”

The problem of explaining the similarities and differences between the three Synoptic Gospels

Person to whom “Luke” addressed both of his volumes, the Gospel and the book of Acts. Scholars debate whether he was a real person-possibly a highly placed Roman administrator-or whether the name was instead symbolic. It literally means either “beloved of God” or “lover of God.” If symbolic, it would refer to the Christian individuals or communities who were the author’s intended audience

Document, which no longer survives, thought by many scholars to have been used as one of the sources of Jesus’ ministry in the Fourth gospel; it is reputedly narrated a number of miraculous deeds of Jesus

Primary source for Gospel of John

A group of ancient religions, some of them closely related to Christianity, that maintained that elements of the divine had become entrapped in this evil world of matter and could be released only when they who they were and of how they acquired the secret gnosis (Greek for “knowledge”) of who they were and of how they could escape. Gnosis was generally thought to be brought by an emissary of the divine realm.

Nickname for the “disciple whom Jesus loved” in the Gospel of John, who plays a prominent role in the Passion narrative but is never named. Older tradition identified him as John, the son of Zebedee, and claimed that it was he who wrote the Gospel

The final discourse that Jesus delivers in the Gospel of John (and not found in the Synoptics), chapters 13-16 (sometimes thought to include Jesus’ prayer of chapter 17 as well); this discourse may have been created by combining two different account of Jesus’ last words to his disciples before his arrest

The community of Christians in which the Gospel of John and the Johannine epistles were written. We do not know where the community was located, but we can reconstruct some of its history using the socio-historical method

The view that Jesus was not a human being but only appeared to be; from a Greek word meaning “to seem” or “to appear”

Jewish agricultural festival, celebrated fifty days after the feast of the Passover, from the Greek word for fifty

Literary genre consisting of a narrative of an individual’s life, often within a chronological framework, employing numerous sub-genres (such as sayings, speeches, anecdotes, and conflict stories) so as to reflect important aspects of his or her character, principally for purposes of instruction, exhortation, or propaganda

Ancient genre of literature. These in the Greek and Roman worlds were fictionalized narratives that normally told of the tragic separation of lovers and of the various mishaps they experienced in their attempts to become reunited.

First-century Jewish historian, appointed court historian by the Roman emperor Vespasian, whose works The Jewish War and The Antiquities of the Jews are principal resources for information about life in first-century Palestine

In ancient Israelite religion, this person delivered God’s message to his people; eventually the term came to refer to writers who produced literary accounts of God’s word (such as Isaiah and Jeremiah). In Christian circles, prophets were those who spoke God’s message in the community’s services of worship, possibly, on occasion, in a state of ectasy

Roman aristocrat who served as the governor of Judea from 26 to 36 CE and who was responsible for ordering Jesus’ crucifixion

Council of Jewish leaders headed by the high priest, which played an advisory role in matters of religious and civil policy

Person to whom “Luke” addressed both of his volumes, the Gospel and the book of Acts. Scholars debate whether he was a real person-possibly a highly placed Roman administrator-or whether the name was instead symbolic. It literally means either “beloved of God” or “lover of God.” If symbolic, it would refer to the Christian individuals or communities who were the author’s intended audience

set of four passages in the book of Acts in which the author stops speaking in the third person about what Paul and his companions (“they”) were doing, and speaks instead in the first person about what “we” were doing. Some scholars take these passages as evidence that the author of Luke-Acts was a companion of Paul; others believe that in these passages the author of Luke-Acts has utilized a travel narrative as a source (much as he utilized other sources, such as Mark and Q, for his Gospel)

The letters of Ephesians, Colossians, and 2 Thessalonians, which have a “secondary) standing in the Pauline Corpus because scholars debate whether they were written by Paul

Another designation for a private letter. Some scholars have differentiated between “epistles” as literary writings in the form of a letter, which were meant for general distribution, rather than for an individual recipient; and “letters,” which were a nonliterary form of personal correspondence. This differentiation between epistles and letters is not widely held today, however, so the terms tend to be used synonymously.

New Testament letters that Paul allegedly wrote to two pastors, Timothy (1 and 2 Timothy) and Titus, concerning their pastoral duties

A Jewish sect, which may have originated during the Maccabean period, that emphasized strict adherence to the purity laws set forth in the Torah

A literary genre in which an author, usually pseudonymous, reports symbolic dreams or visions, given or interpreted through an angelic mediator, which reveal the heavenly mysteries that can make sense of earthly realities

genre of literature, often found in religious texts, characterized by visions or revelations about the end times, cosmic conflict, and divine judgment.

From the Greek, literally meaning “false writings” and commonly referring to ancient non-canonical Jewish and Christian literary texts, many of which were written pseudonymously

The practice of writing under a fictitious name, evident in a large number of pagan, Jewish, and Christian writings from antiquity

Jewish party associated with the Temple cult and the Jewish priests who ran it, comprising principally the Jewish aristocracy in Judea. Party leader, the high priest, serves as highest-ranking local official and chief liaison with the Roman governor

Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, so named because of a tradition that seventy Jewish scholars had produced it

Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon - letters that scholars overwhelmingly judge to have been written by Paul.

For centuries, Christian communities did not meet in buildings specially built for the purpose but in private homes. Often it was the owner of the home who was the leader of the church. Such communities-which met for worship, instruction, fellowship. and the celebration of rituals such as baptism and the Eucharist-are known as house churches

Jewish place of worship and prayer, from a Greek word meaning “being brought together”

In Hebrew, Yom Kippur, the one day of the year when the high priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies in the Temple, to sacrifice first an animal to atone for the sins of the people of Israel

One of the two principal ways that Paul understood or conceptualized the relationship between Christ’s death and salvation. According to this mode, salvation is comparable to a legal decision in which God, who is both lawmaker and judge, treats humans as “not guilty” for committing acts of transgression (sings) against the Law - even though they are guilty - because Jesus’ death has been accepted as a payment.

One of the two principal ways that Paul understood or conceptualized the relationship between Christ’s death and salvation. This model understood sin to be a cosmic force that enslaved people; salvation (liberation from bondage) came by participating in Christ’s death through baptism

Means “to immerse.” Earliest Christian practice of this in water appears to have been an initiation rite (a ritual that one underwent when joining the Christian community); it probably derived from the practice of John the Baptist, who baptized Jews, including Jesus, in anticipation of the imminent arrival of the end of this age and the coming of the Kingdom of God. Later Christians assigned other meanings to the rite: the apostle Paul, for example, saw it as a mystical act of dying with Christ to sin

One of the early leaders (“bishops” of the church of Rome, around 95 C.E., who is the traditional author of the non canonical book 1 Clement

Roman emperor from 54 to 68 C.E. It was under his reign that both Peter and Paul were allegedly martyred in Rome as part of his persecution of Christians for the fire that destroyed much of the city (the Roman historian Tacitus indicates that he himself was responsible for the fire)

A second-century Christian scholar and evangelist, later labeled a heretic for his docetic Christology and his belief in two gods - the harsh legalistic God of the Jews and the merciful loving God of Jesus - views that he claimed to have found in the writings of Paul

A term whose meaning is much disputed among modern scholars, used in some ancient apocalyptic texts to refer to a cosmic judge sent from heaven at the end of time

In the teachings of Jesus, the Kingdom of God (or God’s reign) appears to refer to an actual Kingdom that will come to earth to replace the wicked kingdoms that are now in control of affairs, and of God’s people, here. This would be a utopian Kingdom where truth, peace, and justice were restored; it would be ruled by God’s anointed one (i.e., the messiah)

Communities of believers that were led not by appointed leaders but by the Spirit of God, which had bestowed a particular gift, useful for functioning of the entire group, on each member of the community. According to Paul, the gifts included such abilities as teaching, preaching, healing, prophesying, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, and so on.

Literally means “elder.” Term came to apply not only to older men but in particular to the leaders of the Christian churches who were principally in charge of spiritual (as opposed to material) affairs (contrast “deacon”); eventually, the lead presbyter came to be known as the “overseer” (i.e., the bishop)

Generally, one who is commissioned to perform a task, from a Greek word meaning “sent”; in early Christianity, the term was used to designate special emissaries of the faith who were understood to be representatives of Christ

Literally means “one who ministers.” In the early church, they were Christian leaders given the responsibility of tending to the physical needs of the community (e.g., through the distribution of alms.)

A group of ancient religions, some of them closely related to Christianity, that maintained that elements of the divine had become entrapped in this evil world of matter and could be released only when they who they were and of how they acquired the secret gnosis (Greek for “knowledge”) of who they were and of how they could escape. Gnosis was generally thought to be brought by an emissary of the divine realm.

Any worldview or set of beliefs deemed by those in power to be deviant, from a Greek word meaning “choice” (because “heretics” have “chosen” to deviate from the “truth”)

Was the bishop of Antioch, Syria, in the early second century. He was arrested by the Roman authorities for Christian actives and sent to Rome to be thrown to the wild beasts in the area. On his journey to martyrdom, he wrote seven letters, which still survive. These letters are included among the writings of the Apostolic Fathers.

Famous proto-orthodox Church Father and “heresiologist” (i.e., “heresy-hunter) of the second century, whose five-volume work “Against Heresies”, written around 180 c.e., is a major source of information for Gnostic and other “heretical” groups

A Greek word meaning “presence” or “coming,” used as a technical term to refer to the second coming of Jesus in judgment at the end of time

One of the criteria commonly used by scholars to establish historically reliable; with respect to the historical Jesus, the criterion maintains that if a saying or deed of Jesus cannot be credibly fit into his own first-century Palestinian context, then it cannot be regarded as authentic

One of the criteria commonly used by scholars to establish historically reliable material; the criterion maintains that if a saying or deed of Jesus does not coincide with (or works against) the agenda of the early Christians, it is more likely to be authentic

One of the criteria commonly used by scholars to establish historically reliable material; with respect to the historical Jesus, the criterion maintains that if a saying or deed of Jesus is attested independently by more than one source, it is more likely to be authentic

Most important and widely celebrated annual festival of Jews in Roman times, commemorating the Exodus from Egypt

A group of second-century adoptionists who maintained Jewish practices and Jewish forms of worship.

Roman emperor in the early fourth century; the first emperor to convert to Christianity. His conversion played a highly significant role in the spread of Christianity, as it moved from being a persecuted minority religion to becoming the powerful majority religion of the entire empire.

A fragmentary text discovered in the 18th century, named after its Italian discoverer Muratori, which contains, in Latin, a list of Christian books that its author considered canonical; the canon is usually considered to have been produced in the late 2nd century, in or around Rome

Literally the “study of (or doctrine of) the end times.” A technical term that is used to describe notions of what will happen at the “end” - either the end of a person’s life or, more commonly, the end of the world