Visions of Christianity Fall 2023- Final Exam Review

sin offering

animal sacrifice performed in ancient Israel to reconcile a sinner with YHWH

Passover lamb

lamb sacrificed in Exodus 12 to spare Hebrews from the punishment YHWH enacts on the Egyptians

sacrifice to seal covenant

sacrifice of a bull (Exodus 24) to use their blood to "seal" the Mosaic covenant

Redemption

slavery metaphor; to "buy back" or pay a price to secure a slave's freedom

Jesus' resurrection

radically transformed bodily existence, no longer subject to effects of sin

Jesus' ascension

Belief that Jesus is "taken up" and enthroned at God's "right hand"

kyrios

Greek for "Lord;" title Christians use for Jesus after his resurrection and ascension

Holy Spirit

term for "Spirit of YHWH" only used in New Testament; third person of the Trinity

Pentecost

lit. "fiftieth": Jewish harvest festival; event when Jesus breathes Holy Spirit on his disciples

Baptism

lit. "plunge": ritual cleansing and conversion (Judaism); Christian initiation and anointing ritual

Justification

dikaiosune: a judge deciding in your favor; status of having one's covenant obligations fulfilled ("righteousness")

pistis Christou

lit. "faith/faithfulness of the Christ": for Paul, what justifies Christians

"blessing" of Abraham

For Christians, the Holy Spirit; what one receives from justification; being "adopted" "into Christ" (baptized)

Protestant view of justification

by "faith alone" (cf. Paul: faith "apart from works of the Law")

Catholic view of justification

by faith, but works contribute (cf. James: "faith without works is dead")

grace

lit. "favor": God acting in humans to accomplish something we can't; the effect the Holy Spirit has on humans

Pelagius

(360-418 CE): argued good works alone accomplish salvation; no original sin

Augustine of Hippo

(354-430 CE): early Christian bishop; argued against Pelagius' position

Parousia

lit. "presence; arrival": Jesus' second coming to establish Kingdom of God in full

General Resurrection

when all humans will be resurrected and immediately judged

eschata

lit. "last things": death, resurrection & judgment, hell, heaven

Book of Revelation

lit. Apocalypse of John: NT apocalyptic text claiming to give God's-eye view of historical events and history's end

New Jerusalem

Revelation's symbol for humanity existing in God's direct presence

"Bride of the Lamb"

Revelation's symbol for the Church or perfected human community

heaven

lit. "sky": final state of existing in YHWH's direct presence

purgatory

lit. "place of purification": state of the separated soul being purified from venial sins before entering heavenly state (Catholics)

Gehenna

lit. "valley of Hinnom": burning garbage dump outside of Jerusalem; Jesus' preferred name/metaphor for hell

hell

state of self-exclusion from God's direct presence; ultimate consequence of unrepentant sin

Universalism

minority view that hell is a temporary state

"all authority in heaven and on earth"

what Jesus receives from God in Matt 28:17

incarnation

lit. "in flesh": term to describe God becoming human in Jesus

God's Word

God's thought or wisdom; what he creates "through"; identified with Jesus in John 1

Subordinationists

early Christians who believe that the Word of God is less divine than (subordinate to) God the Father

Arius of Alexandria

(256-336 CE): argued that Jesus (the Word) is a creature (not divine)

Council of Nicaea (325 CE)

Church council that decides against Arius; concludes that Jesus is divine

homoousios

lit. "of the same substance": language the Council of Nicaea approves to describe how Jesus is divine like God the Father

Nestorius

(386-450 CE): argued that there are two persons in Jesus: one human and the other divine (working together like a tag-team)

Council of Chalcedon (451 CE)

Church council that decides Jesus is fully God and fully human at the same time

hypostatic union

term used at the Council of Chalcedon to describe Jesus as one person with two natures (a divine nature + a human nature)

Abba

lit. "father": Jesus' preferred term for YHWH

Trinity

lit. "threefold": Christian language used to describe Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as all the same God (YHWH)

5 claims made by the doctrine of the Trinity

1. Father is God; 2. Son (Jesus) is God; 3. Holy Spirit is God; 4. these three are not identical to one another; 5. there is only one God

Sabellius

(active c.215- CE): argued that because God is one, Father, Son, and Spirit cannot be really distinct; they are just modes or "masks" of the one God (Modalism)

Pneumatomachians

lit. "spirit combaters": those who argued that the Holy Spirit is not divine

Council of Constantinople (381 CE)

Church council that affirms the Holy Spirit is divine; full doctrine of the Trinity officially affirmed

nature

term Council of Constantinople uses to describe what there is one of in God (divine nature)

persons

term Council of Constantinople uses to describe what there are three of in God (Father, Son, and Spirit are persons)

Church

ecclesia ("assembly"): term used to describe the Christian community; Jesus' disciples

Body of Christ

Paul's preferred metaphor for the Church and its union with Jesus (the "head")

the 4 "marks" of the Church

one, holy, catholic, apostolic

Apostles

lit. "appointed messengers": Jesus' twelve closest followers authorized to lead the early Christian community

bishop

lit. "guardian": leadership role in the early Church; someone who succeeds an apostle

elder

presbyter: leader of a local Christian community in the early Church; often identified with priest

sacrament

a Christian ritual involving a visible sign of invisible grace; something the Holy Spirit transmits grace through

the sacraments (maximum #)

1. baptism, 2. Eucharist/communion, 3. confirmation/chrismation, 4. confession, 5. matrimony, 6. anointing of the sick, 7. holy orders/ordination

liturgy

lit. "work" or "service of the people": Christian public worship; celebrated weekly on Sunday

Eastern Orthodox Church

lit. "right opinion": branch of Christianity derived from the churches established in Eastern Roman empire

The Great Schism (1054 CE)

official separation of Eastern and Western Churches over authority of the pope, rituals, cultural identity, filioque

filioque

lit. "and [from] the Son": language added to the Nicaean creed about the Holy Spirit; rejected by the Eastern Orthodox

divine liturgy

Eastern Orthodox term for Sunday worship

patriarchates

the self-governed jurisdictions that the Eastern Orthodox Church is divided into

saints

holy Christians held up by the Church for leading exemplary lives

Theotokos

lit. "God-bearer;" "Mother of God": title used by Eastern Orthodox (and Catholic) Christians to honor Mary, the mother of Jesus

Council of Ephesus (431 CE)

Church council that decided "Mother of God" was an acceptable title for Mary

Dormition of Mary

Eastern Orthodox belief that Mary was bodily resurrected and taken up into heavenly state

icon

2-dimensional sacred image used by Eastern Orthodox Christians in prayer & worship

Iconoclast Controversies (726-787; 814-842 CE)

lit. "war on icons": periods where icons were destroyed as idols before the Orthodox Church officially approved of them

John of Damascus

(675-749 CE): major figure in early Orthodox Christianity; argued that Jesus' incarnation justifies the use of icons

Second Council of Nicaea (787 CE)

Church council that decided the veneration (honoring) of icons in prayer is appropriate

deification (theosis)

lit. "god-ification": Orthodox term for process of becoming holy or more God-like; made possible by Jesus becoming human

Catholic Church

lit. "of the whole"/universal: branch of Christianity in communion with the Bishop of Rome (pope)

Mass

lit. "go": Catholic term for Sunday worship

venerate

lit. "to honor": term Orthodox and Catholics use for honoring saints

Apostolic succession

belief that Church leaders (bishops) can trace their line of succession back to the twelve Apostles

the pope

lit. "pappa": Catholic term for the office of the bishop of Rome; successor of the apostle Peter

papal primacy

belief that the apostle Peter received special authority from Jesus; passed onto his successor (the pope)

Magisterium

from "teaching": the authority to teach and interpret the bible that Catholics believe the pope and bishops exercise

papal infallibility

belief that the pope is preserved from error by the Holy Spirit when he makes a declaration ex cathedra ("from the chair") on matters of faith and morals; rare

communion of saints

belief that baptized Christians maintain their connection with other Christians, even after death

intercession

a prayer on behalf of someone else; for Orthodox and Catholics, how saints and Mary pray for Christians

transubstantiation

lit. "change of substance": term Catholics use to describe how Jesus becomes really present in the Eucharist

Assumption of Mary

Catholic belief that Mary experienced bodily resurrection and was taken up into heavenly state (same as Dormition of Mary for the Orthodox)

Immaculate Conception

Catholic belief that Mary was conceived without original sin

indulgences

a kind of "receipt" verifying that the pope has applied the merits of the saints to someone else; esp. souls in purgatory

Protestant Churches

lit. protest/ "public witness": branch of Christianity including those denominations that emerge during the Reformation; contrasted with Catholicism

Examples of Mainline Protestant denominations

Lutherans, Calvinists (Reformed/Presbyterians), Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists, Church of Christ

Non-Mainline forms of Protestantism

Adventists, Anabaptists, Non-Denominational, Evangelical and Pentecostal movements

Martin Luther

(1483-1546 CE): Protestant Reformer and founder of the Lutheran tradition; credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation

Sola fide

"faith alone:" Protestant belief that only faith, and not good works, justifies

Sola scriptura

"scripture alone": Protestant belief that only the Bible, and not Tradition, counts as an authority for what Christians believe

Sola gratia

"grace alone": Protestant belief that only God's action (grace), and not human merits, is responsible for salvation

"priesthood of all believers"

Protestant belief that all baptized Christians share in Jesus' priesthood; so can't designate a distinct leadership role in the Church

John Calvin

(1509-1564 CE): French Protestant Reformer; major influence on Reformed and Presbyterian denominations

double predestination

Calvin's belief that God eternally knows and elects some to be saved and others to damnation

Anglican Church

Church of England: becomes distinct denomination with the reforms of King Henry VIII; often seen as a "third way" between Catholicism and Protestantism

Evangelicalism

trans-denominational movement in Protestantism; emphasizes affective experience, personal conversion, and spreading Gospel (evangelism)

The "Great Awakenings"

series of 18th and 19th century religious revivals that give rise to modern Evangelicalism and Methodist tradition

Non-Denominational churches

forms of Christianity that reject "denomination" as an appropriate identity marker; often reject or de-emphasize creeds & doctrines