christology terms and definitions

CHRISTOLOGY:  The study of the nature or meaning of Jesus Christ.

LOW CHRISTOLOGY:  Emphasizes or starts with the humanity of Jesus.

HIGH CHRISTOLOGY:  Emphasizes or starts with the Divinity of Jesus.

ESCHATOLOGY:  Theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind . . . The End Times!

PAROUSIA:  The Second Coming of Christ . . . The future visible return from Heaven of Jesus, to raise the dead, hold the Last Judgment, and set up formally and gloriously the kingdom of God.

SAVIOR:  Redeemer of sin and saver of souls.

SON OF MAN:  Self-Designation of Jesus . . . Messianic in nature . . . "Son of Man" can also simply imply "human," as in "mortal".

MESSIAH:  In Hebrew, the “Anointed One,” the promised deliverer of the Jewish nation prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, the awaited Jewish “savior” or “rescuer”.

CHRIST:  The Greek translation of “Messiah,” used by Christians as a title for Jesus to show that He is Messiah/Savior.

INCARNATION:  To be made in the flesh a deity, spirit, or abstract quality.

ATONEMENT:  The reconciliation of God and humankind through Jesus the Christ.

TRINITY:  The Christian God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, though still One God.

TRANSFIGURATION:  Event reported in the New Testament when Jesus is transfigured and becomes radiant in glory upon a mountain.

CRUCIFIXION:  The common Roman practice of execution. The death of Jesus (and countless others) by nailing or binding to a cross.

RESURRECTION:  Christ's rising from the dead.

ASCENSION:  The ascent of Christ into Heaven on the fortieth day after the Resurrection.

PARABLE:  A simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, as told by Jesus in the Gospels.

ORIGINAL SIN:  The tendency to sin innate in all human beings, held to be inherited from Adam in consequence of the Fall . . . The concept of Original Sin was developed in the writings of St. Augustine.

GRACE:  The free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.

HYPOSTATIC UNION:  The combination of Divine and human natures in the single person of Christ . . . Fully human and also fully Divine.