Christianity Jesus Key Terms

Apocryphal gospels

Gospels written about Jesus that did not make it into the Bible. This includes the gospels of Thomas and Mary

Atonement

In Christianity, this is the process in which Christians are reconciled to God through the death & resurrection of Jesus.

Birth narratives

Accounts in the gospels of Matthew and Luke of the conception and birth of Jesus of Nazareth.

Chiasm

A literary tool where themes or similar ideas are repeated (ABCBA), with the most important in the middle of the text.

Critical realism

The belief that there is a ‘real world’ which cannot be observed directly. Instead, we only ever know the world through our experiences and perspectives.

Cross cultural anthropology

Dominic Crossan’s approach to understanding Jesus by understanding the world he lived in.

Exegesis

A method of biblical study which looks to extract the ‘objective’ meaning of the text being studied.

Form criticism

An approach to understanding the Bible, which tries to understand the historical background to Biblical texts.

Historical Jesus

A term referring to the ‘real’ Jesus which theologians try to discover through historical, textual & archaeological methods.

Historicity

The historical authenticity or credibility of a text.

Incarnation

The belief in Christian theology that the second person of the Trinity (the son) became human in the man Jesus of Nazareth, through his being born of the Holy Spirit of the woman Mary.

Jewish apocalypticism

The belief that existed in Jewish thinking at the time of Jesus that the end of the world was near. This was closely linked to the belief that a messiah would come to bring in the new era.

Kenosis

The term ####### means "to make empty." It refers to the self-emptying, or the renunciation of Jesus’ divine attributes (such as omniscience and omnipotence) in favour of servanthood (humility and obedience).

Kenotic model

The belief that Christ ‘emptied himself’ of divine qualities when he was incarnated and born into the person of Jesus. This belief comes from Philippians 2

Kerygma

The initial and essential proclamation of the gospel (and/or Christian) message.

Parousia

The second coming of Jesus.

Q

The belief that there was another source ‘Q’ which Matthew and Luke used to help them write their gospels.

Redaction criticism

A way of studying the Bible that views the Biblical authors as editors of their texts, arranging and commenting on them

Resurrection

From the Latin ‘resurrectio’ meaning to rise again. This typically refers to the belief that Jesus was raised back to life.

Sacrficium Intelleuctus

Rudolph Bultmann’s belief that belief in the Bible is incompatible with a modern understanding of the world

Sheol

The place of the dead – where people go to await the afterlife

Substantial presence

The total and complete One Person of God the Son made Man, fully human and fully divine, objectively present in the incarnation.

Synoptic gospels

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which describe events from a similar point of view.

Virgin birth

The religious belief that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin at the time of his conception and birth.