RELI 114 First Midterm

Agape

"Love feast"; one of the names early sources use for the communal Christian meal (alongside "eucharist" and "communion").

Catechesis

Period of instruction and teaching that adult converts underwent before baptism as a preparatory step.

Chrismation

The anointing or laying-on-of-hands rite that Eastern Christians perform together with baptism, even on infants, or to "complete" baptisms from other communities.

Clericalizing

Ritualizing strategy that restricts the performance of a rite to specially qualified persons (e.g., only bishops or priests).

Confirmation

Western Christian sacrament, originally part of baptism, that arose because bishops needed a separate rite to perform the completing laying-on-of-hands or anointing as communities expanded.

Deipnon

Greek term for an evening banquet or dinner; used by Paul in 1 Corinthians to refer to the early Christian meal.

Didache

Earliest surviving handbook of Christian ritual (~100 CE, Syria), whose baptism instructions mirror the graded preferences of Jewish ritual immersion.

Dura Europos

3rd-century Christian building in Syria that represents the earliest known purpose-adapted Christian meeting space, including a baptistry.

Elevating

Ritualizing strategy of assigning "sacred" meaning to an act rather than treating it as merely practical or cultural.

Eucharist

Greek for "thanksgiving"; the central Christian ritual meal of bread and wine, commemorating Jesus's last meal with his disciples.

Euergetism

Roman cultural norm of wealthy patrons using personal resources to support the community, drawn upon by wealthy Christians to fund and host congregations.

Immersion

Baptism performed by fully dipping the body in water; the method of John's baptism and of some Christian groups today.

Infusion

Baptism performed by pouring water on the head; the majority practice among Christians today and the Didache's fallback option.

Kingdom of God

Jewish and early Christian belief in a coming, God-established reign that would end foreign rule and polytheism, associated with an expected messiah.

Messiah

Hebrew for "anointed one" (king); the expected leader who would establish God's reign, identified by Christians as Jesus.

Mikveh

Jewish ritual bath used for immersion to remove ritual impurity; the likely precursor to John's baptism.

Paedobaptism

The practice of infant baptism; widespread today among Catholics, Orthodox, and many Protestants, though historically undocumented before the 3rd century.

Pagan

Term for polytheists, representing the majority religious orientation of the ancient Mediterranean world.

Prescribing

Ritualizing strategy of making the performance of a rite specific and inflexible.

Priene Synagogue

2nd-century Jewish synagogue used as an architectural comparison point for early Christian meeting spaces.

Repeating

Ritualizing strategy of increasing the frequency of an act so that it becomes central to identity.

Ritual

Embodied, structured symbolic action involving actions, actors, places/spaces, times, objects, languages, and groups.

Ritualizing

The act of cultivating or inventing rites through strategies such as traditionalizing, elevating, repeating, and clericalizing.

Sacrament

A "mystery"; one of the principal sacred rites of Christian life (such as baptism or Eucharist).

Singularizing

Ritualizing strategy of presenting an act as rare or momentous.

Situating

Ritualizing strategy of tying an act to special places or times.

Stational Eucharist

Later, non-meal pattern of celebrating the Eucharist with simple distribution of communion, replacing the house-banquet model as communities grew.

Stibadium

Crescent-shaped dining arrangement used at Roman and early Christian banquets.

Stylizing

Ritualizing strategy of adding flair or elaboration to an act.

Torah

Jewish Law entailing exclusive worship of one God, circumcision, dietary rules, feast observance, and purity rituals.

Traditionalizing

Ritualizing strategy of claiming a practice originated long ago.

Triclinium

C-shaped table arrangement around which diners reclined at Roman and early Christian banquets.