theology

resident aliens

in the Roman Empire, persons who took up permanent residence in a place that was not their original home and in which they did not enjoy the benefits of citizenship.

apostolic succession

the proto-orthodox claim that leaders of the major churches had been appointed by the successors of the apostles; some of these works were considered Scripture in parts of the early church.

Ignatius of Antioch

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

heretic

a person who differs in opinion from established religious dogma

Judaizer

a Christian who insists that followers of Jesus need to keep (all or parts of) the Jewish Law to have a right standing before God

proto-orthodoxy

a form of Christianity endorsed by some Christians of the second and third centuries 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

super-apostles

In 2 Corinthians, a group of Paul’s opponents who were rhetorically proficient and able to do spectacular deeds and who claimed that their remarkable abilities demonstrates that they, rather than Paul, were the true representatives of Christ.

Apocalypse

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.

Eusebius

Early fourth-century church father known as the “Father of Church History,” as his ten-volume book, History of the Christian Church, was the first to provide an extensive chronicle of Christianity’s early years, from the days of Jesus down to Eusebius’s own time (the early part of the reign of Constantine). Eusebius is the primary source of information for many of the events and writers of the first three centuries of the church.

Son of Man

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