Sociology: History of the Catholic Church Study Guide

Vocabulary flashcards covering the History of the Catholic Church from divine origins through the modern world, based on the provided sociology study guide.

Magisterium

The bishops, in communion with the pope, who are the living and teaching office of the Church.

Deposit of Faith

The heritage of faith contained in both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, handed down from the time of the Apostles.

Kingdom of God

The reign or rule of God.

Apostle

From the Greek meaning “to send forth”.

Parousia

Greek name for the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Pagan

A person holding religious beliefs other than those of one of the major world religions or being polytheistic.

Diaspora

The name for the dispersion of Jews outside of Jerusalem.

Pax Romana

The “Roman Peace,” a prosperous time in human history featuring relative peace beginning twenty-five years after Jesus’ birth.

Didache

An early catechetical “teaching” document that mentions the Trinitarian formula, lists moral teachings, and explains the rites of Baptism and Eucharist.

Relics

The physical remains or personal effects of a saint that are approved by the Church for veneration.

Orthodox

Means “correct or right opinion”.

Desert Fathers

Christians of about the fourth century who withdrew into the desert to live an ascetic life of prayer, fasting, and abstinence.

Patriarchs

Bishops of one of the five episcopal sees: Jerusalem, Antioch, Constantinople, Alexandria and Rome.

Caesaropapism

The political theory often practiced when Christianity was legalized that held that a secular ruler could also have authority over the Church, including in matters of doctrine.

Filioque

Latin for “and from the Son”.

Muhammad

The founder of Islam.

Thomism

The teachings that follow the theology and philosophy of the important medieval theologian St. Thomas Aquinas.

Boniface

A British monk who evangelized the European continent and developed an effective relationship with the Frankish kings.

Patrick

A bishop who traveled throughout Ireland converting local Celtic kings and establishing monasteries to continue the work of evangelization.

Catherine of Siena

Pleaded with Pope Gregory XI to return the papacy to Rome from France.

Michelangelo

Nicknamed “the divine one” by his contemporaries.

Medici

A prominent Florentine family who were important patrons of the arts and education during the Renaissance.

Erasmus

Offered critiques of corrupt leaders and errant mindsets within society, such as superstition and a focus on worldly concerns.

Thomas More

A prominent lawyer, philosopher, statesman, and writer who fell out of favor with King Henry VIII.

Juan Diego

Had an apparition of the Virgin Mary in Mexico.

Frederick of Saxony

Guaranteed Luther safe passage from the meeting at Worms and agreed to hide him.

Martin Luther

Posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg to protest the selling of indulgences.

John Calvin

Wrote his famous Institutes of the Christian Religion, the most important systematic theology of the Reformation.

Ulrich Zwingli

Set up a reform Protestantism in Zurich, Switzerland.

Henry VIII

Split from the Church primarily over his desire for a divorce from his wife, Catherine of Aragon.

Rationalism

A philosophy of the Enlightenment that taught that only human reason, separated from religious belief, can bring people into the light of knowledge.

Jacobians

A political alliance in France which entered into outright persecution of the Catholic Church.

Bourgeoisie

A term for the middle class, often used to denote the rising French middle class particularly in the centuries following the Middle Ages.

Pantheism

A false belief that identifies the universe as God or God as the universe.

Syllabus of Errors

A scathing attack by Pope Pius IX on eighty propositions held by the liberals.

Universal destination of goods

The principle that the goods of the earth should be divided to ensure that all people have their basic human needs met.

Americanism

The belief that Catholics should adapt themselves to the best of American culture rather than isolate themselves.

Materialist

Holds that the only reality is what can be revealed by the senses.

Common good

The collective well-being of society as a whole, particularly in matters related to social justice.

Founding fathers

Philosophers, politicians, and writers who bridged the colonial and Revolutionary eras, whose ideas shaped the structure of early American government.

Laissez-faire

So-called “hands-off” economics, or liberal capitalism.

Mandatum

An acknowledgment by church authority that a Catholic professor of a theological discipline is teaching within the full communion of the Catholic Church.

WASPs

“Native-born Americans” who are “white Anglo-Saxon Protestants”.

Socialism

An economic and sociopolitical theory that advocates for the government or society as a whole to own and administer the production and distribution of goods.

Strike

A work stoppage.

Edict of Milan

A political agreement between Constantine and Licinius; it did not make Christianity the official religion but legalized it.

Sacred Scripture

Part of the Deposit of Faith; the process of collecting its books did not take place within the first century alone.

St. Augustine

Author of the famous book Confessions.

Council of Jerusalem

The council that determined that Gentiles could be accepted into the Church.

St. Justin Martyr

Author of the Apology which showed Roman authorities that the Christian moral life is reinforced on philosophical grounds of basic ethics.

St. Irenaeus of Lyon

Author of Against Heresies, which condemned Gnosticism for denying Jesus’ divinity.

St. Polycarp of Smyrna

Bishop who refused to blaspheme the King who saved him after serving Him for eighty-six years.

Donation of Pepin

A grant of a wide strip of land in the middle of the Italian peninsula to the pope.

Scholasticism

The theological system arising in the Middle Ages, notably by St. Thomas Aquinas, balancing faith and reason using classical philosophy.

Fourth Lateran Council

Council that established reforms including use of the vernacular, clerical life reforms, secrecy of the confessional, and fixing sacraments at seven.

Unam Sanctm

A papal bull by Pope Boniface asserting the pope had authority over kings in both spiritual and temporal affairs.

Augsburg Confession

The creed of Martin Luther’s new religion.

Cuius Regio, Eius Religio

Policy decreeing the leader of each region could choose either the Catholic or Lutheran faith as the official one for his area.

Anglicanism

The state religion of England established by Queen Elizabeth I, synthesizing Calvinist, Lutheran, and Catholic elements.

Social Darwinism

Concept embraced by many capitalists based on the theory of the “survival of the fittest.”