Comprehensive Christology & Eschatology: Key Concepts and Theological Terms

CHRISTOLOGY

The study of the nature or meaning of Jesus Christ.

LOW CHRISTOLOGY

Emphasizes or starts with the humanity of Jesus.

HIGH CHRISTOLOGY

Emphasizes or starts with the Divinity of Jesus.

ESCHATOLOGY

Theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind . . . The End Times!

PAROUSIA

The Second Coming of Christ . . . The future visible return from Heaven of Jesus, to raise the dead, hold the Last Judgment, and set up formally and gloriously the kingdom of God.

SAVIOR

Redeemer of sin and saver of souls.

SON OF MAN

Self-Designation of Jesus . . . Messianic in nature . . . 'Son of Man' can also simply imply 'human,' as in 'mortal'.

MESSIAH

In Hebrew, the 'Anointed One,' the promised deliverer of the Jewish nation prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, the awaited Jewish 'savior' or 'rescuer'.

CHRIST

The Greek translation of 'Messiah,' used by Christians as a title for Jesus to show that He is Messiah/Savior.

INCARNATION

To be made in the flesh a deity, spirit, or abstract quality.

ATONEMENT

The reconciliation of God and humankind through Jesus the Christ.

TRINITY

The Christian God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, though still One God.

TRANSFIGURATION

Event reported in the New Testament when Jesus is transfigured and becomes radiant in glory upon a mountain.

CRUCIFIXION

The common Roman practice of execution. The death of Jesus (and countless others) by nailing or binding to a cross.

RESURRECTION

Christ's rising from the dead.

ASCENSION

The ascent of Christ into Heaven on the fortieth day after the Resurrection.

PARABLE

A simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, as told by Jesus in the Gospels.

ORIGINAL SIN

The tendency to sin innate in all human beings, held to be inherited from Adam in consequence of the Fall . . . The concept of Original Sin was developed in the writings of St. Augustine.

GRACE

The free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.

HYPOSTATIC UNION

The combination of Divine and human natures in the single person of Christ . . . Fully human and also fully Divine.