Theo Quiz #4

Beloved Disciple

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.

Christology

Any teaching about the nature of Christ. See also Adoptionism; Docetism.

Farewell Discourse

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 chap. 17 as well); this discourse may have been created by combining two different accounts of Jesus’ last words to his disciples before his arrest.

Genre

A kind 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.

“I Am” Sayings

A group of sayings found only in the Gospel of John in which Jesus identifies himself. In some of the sayings he speaks in metaphor (“I am the bread of life,” “I am the light of the world,” “I am the way, the truth, and the life”) and other times he identifies himself simply by saying “I am”—a possible reference to the name of God from Exodus 3 (“Before Abraham was, I am”; John 8:58).

Johannine Community

The hypothetical community of Christians in which the Gospel of John and the Johannine epistles were written.

Docetists (Docetism)

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

Gnostics (Gnosticism)

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 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. See also Sethians; Valentinians.

Nag Hammadi

Village in upper (southern) Egypt, near the place where a collection of Gnostic writings were discovered in 1945.

Secessionists

Members of the Johannine community who, according to the author of 1 John, had “seceded” (i.e., left) the community to form a community of their own. First John, which calls these people “antichrists,” suggests that they had adopted a docetic Christology, not allowing that Christ was fully human.

Johannine Love Command

Jesus’ command in the Gospel of John that his disciples love one another as he has loved them (John 13:34–35). This love should reflect Jesus’ self-sacrificing love and distinguish his followers.

The Gospel of Thomas

A non-canonical saying Gospel (in Coptic), found in Nag Hammadi in 1945. A Gnostic Gospel.

Saying Gospels

Gospels that consist primarily of sayings attributed to Jesus rather than a continuous narrative of his life and activities.

Apostle

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. Se also Disciple

Historiography (general history)

A genre of ancient literature that traced the significant events in the history of a people to show how their character (as a people) was established. Examples of the genre include Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews and the Acts of the Apostles.

Gentile

A Jewish designation for a non-Jew.

Greco-Roman Biography

A literary genre consisting of narratives of an individual's life, often within a chronological framework, employing numerous subgenres (including 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.

Pagan

A follower of one of the polytheistic religions of the Greco-Roman world.

Pentecost

A Jewish agricultural festival, celebrated fifty days after the feast of Passover, from the Greek word for fifty (pentakosia).

Sanhedrin

(Mostly Sadducees) A council of Jewish leaders headed by the high priest, which played an advisory role in matters of religious and civil policy.

Theophilus

The person to whom “Luke” addressed both of his volumes, the Gospel and the book of Acts. Scholars debate whether Theophilus was a real person—possibly a highly placed Roman administrator—or whether the name was instead symbolic. It literally means “beloved of God” or “lover of God.”

God Fearer

A Gentile sympathizer to Judaism that existed in the Greco-Roman world in the Hellenistic period. They observed certain Jewish rituals and traditions without becoming full converts to Judaism.

Jerusalem Council (Acts 15)

A conference of the Christian Apostles in Jerusalem about 50 CE that decreed that Gentile Christians did not have to observe the Mosaic Law of the Jews (the Apostolic Decree). The Council showed apostolic leaders’ willingness to compromise on certain secondary issues to maintain peace and unity in the church.