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27 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Orthodoxy
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Lit. “right opinion;” the quality or state of conforming to established doctrine, especially in religion.
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Heterodoxy
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Contrary to or different from an acknowledged standard. Opposite of Orthodoxy.
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Doctrine
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A principle in a branch of knowledge or system of belief, usually established through past decisions.
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Apocrypha
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Writings or statements of dubious authenticity; 2. Books included in the Septuagint and Vulgate but excluded from the Jewish and Protestant canons. 3. Early Christian writings not included in the New Testament.
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Septuagint (sept from seven + ginta, twenty, referring to the number of its translators, also referred to as LXX)
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A pre-Christian Koine (common) Greek version of the Jewish Scriptures redacted by Jewish scholars and adopted by Greek-speaking Christians.
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Gnosticism
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A second- and third-century Christian belief that special “gnosis” (Greek for “knowledge”) is necessary for salvation. Included polytheists whose true God was not the God of the Old Testament. One of these was a god from the divine realm (Jesus) who entered this world to impart his knowledge on humans, to free imprisoned spirits from the world of matter.
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Logos
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In Greek, lit. “Word.” Related in Greek philosophy to reason, and spirit (versus body).
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Sophia
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Greek word for “wisdom.” In some Gnostic works, she is an aeon who exceeded her bounds by trying to comprehend the entire divine realm.
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Aeons
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In some Gnostic belief, these are offspring produced by the divine spirit, who sometimes formed couples who themselves created offspring, eventually creating a divine realm inhabited by spiritual beings at greater or lesser remove from the true God.
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Essenes
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A Jewish sect, producers of the Dead Sea scrolls, who lived together in a community east of Jerusalem in the wilderness area near the Western shore of the Dead Sea, in a place today called Qumran.
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Nag Hammadi Texts
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A collection of early Christian Gnostic texts discovered in the Upper Egyptian town called Nag Hammadi in 1945. They include the Gospel of Thomas, the Secret Book of James, the Gospel of Truth, and the Apocryphon of John. (Other Gnostic gospels, such as the Gospel of Mary, was not in these codices.)
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Dead Sea Scrolls
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The Dead Sea scrolls were discovered in 1947 by a shepherd boy who tossed a stone into a cave and heard it strike something. Most scrolls are in Hebrew, some in Aramaic. They contain commentaries, songs and hymns, and prophecies and rules.
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Esoterism
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Relating to knowledge that is restricted to a small group.
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Manicheanism (also Manichaeism)
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A religious dualism teaching the release of the spirit from matter through asceticism. Founded by Manes, a Persian 276 CE
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Donatism
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Doctrines holding that sanctity is essential for the administration of sacraments and church membership.
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Pelagianism
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Doctrine that agrees with Pelagius, the Celtic monk who denied original sin and who held that man has perfect freedom to do either right or wrong
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Predestination
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The doctrine that God infallibly guides those who are destined for salvation.
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Double Predestination
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The belief, attributed to Augustine among others, that God predetermines who will go to heaven and who will go to hell
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Original Sin
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The doctrine that all humans are born with sin, resulting from Adam’s fall
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Ousia
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Pure being (Greek)
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Synoptic Gospels
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“to see together;” refers to the gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke
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Q
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A proposed source for synoptic gospel writers; stands for “quelle” (meaning “source”) in German.
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How does the Maccabean revolt set the stage for first-century Christianity?
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Essay
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Compare two of the three synoptic Gospels. What marks them as different? Try to account for these differences.
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Essay
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Choose two non-canonical gospels and describe them. What do we know about where they come from? (Who discovered them? Who wrote them?) How might they contribute to early Christianity? Explain the fundamental differences between a typical Gnostic approach to Christianity and an orthodox approach.
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Essay (skip)
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Use Jerome’s “Life of Antony” to describe one form of early Christian asceticism. Set it in historical context. What does it reflect about early Christian views of the body?
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Essay (skip)
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Augustine presents the story of his life in the Confessions as a model for understanding the creation, fall, and redemption of humanity. On the basis of the Confessions, analyze the fundamentals of Augustine’s view of sin, grace, and freedom of the will. How does it compare to Pelagius’ position as found in his Letter to Demetrias?
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Essay
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