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66 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Adiaphora
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[Greek: indifferent things] elements of religious practice that are indifferent for which the Church offers no definitive judgement.
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Antichrist
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false messiah who will battle against Christ at the end of the world.
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Antinomianism
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[Greek: against law] belief that an individual is so possessed of grace that existing laws no longer apply to him or her.
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Apocalypse
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secret events described in the Book of Revelations regarding the second coming of Christ and the end of the world.
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Apologetics
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argumentative defence of a doctrine of Christianity.
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Arianism
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Arius (250-336) was a priest from Alexandria who argued that Christ was 'not one being' (the same) as God. the Council of Nicaea (325) sought a compromise creed, but by the end of the fourth century CE, Arianism was considered a heresy by Catholic Christians. Later Christians, who denied the Trinity, were labelled Arians.
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Baptism
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sacrament of initiation into the Christian community in which the new believer is immersed in water or has water sprinkled or poured over her. The water symbolizes the spiritual purification or regeneration. We do not know when infant baptism began. The earliest references are from the second century. Augustine of Hippo advocated infant baptism because he believe that the 'original sin' of Adam and Eve was passed down to all people through the sexual relations that engendered them and that baptism freed the child from the stain of the inherited sin.
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Benefice
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gift of land and its fruits from a lord to a vassal who owed the lord feudal service or revenues in return. lay patrons granted benefices to monasteries, parish churches and individual churchmen. The term later became associated with the income of a particular ecclesiastical holding.
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Bishop
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[Greek: overseer] by the second century CE, bishops oversaw religious services in urban churches in the Roman Empire. later bishops extended their supervision to the surrounding countryside, forming spiritual administrative districts known as dioceses.
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Blasphemy
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[Greek: slander] profane or impious talk of God or spiritual things.
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Caesaro-papism
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supremacy of civil power over ecclesiastical affairs. In the Byzantine Empire, the emperors sought to guide all ecclesiastical decision-making.
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Catholic
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[Greek: universal] in the second century CE, a group of Christians claimed the title 'catholic' to distinguish themselves from other Christians. Their Catholic Christian Church survived persecution under Diocletian and received support from Emperor Constantine. In the following centuries, the bishops of Rome would claim the title of pope as head of the Roman Catholic Church. In 10544, the Roman Catholic Church broke communion with the Greek Orthodox Church. Despite this schism and the later separation of reformed Protestant churches from allegiance to the pope, the pope retains his claim as the head of the Roman Catholic (universal) Church.
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CE
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refers to the Common Era. English language scholars have substituted BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era) for the traditional and clearly Christian designations of B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini - year of the Lord), marking the years after the birth of Christ.
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Celibate
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unmarried. Began as a voluntary religious commitment among monks of the fourth century CE; it would become a rule for all clergy in Roman Catholic tradition during the Gregorian reforms of the eleventh century.
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Chantry
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[Latin: to sing] endowed private alter where one or more priests would sing masses in plainsong for the soul of the founder and others designated by the founder.
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Christology
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doctrine or theory concerning the divine nature of Jesus Christ.
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Church
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term will have two definitions. I will use lower case when referring to a building for Christian worship (e.g. parish church) or individuals associated with a church (e.g. churchwarden). I will use upper case when referring to the Christian community as a whole (e.g. apostolic Church) or its ecclesistical organisation (e.g. Anglican Church).
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Clergy
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[Greek: assignment by lot, implying special selection by divine will] some early Christians were assigned by lot to perform religious rituals distinct from the community of believers. Over time, members of the clergy underwent rituals of ordination empowering them to perform these rights. By the Reformation, the clergy formed a distinct social order with rights and privileges that separated and alienated them from their fellow non-clerical Christians.
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College of Cardinals
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By the eleventh century, beneficent holders of Rome's parish churches were known as cardinals due to their distinctive red vestments. Following a disputed papal election, and in an effort to ensure ecclesiastical control over future papal elections, Pope Nicholas II issued the papal bull In Nomine (1059), which limited papal electors to the cardinals meeting as a college [Latin: a body of colleagues].
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Concordat
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Formal agreement between the Church, usually the Pope, and secular authorities, usually monarchs.
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Concubinage
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Cohabitation of a man and a woman who are not legally married. Celibacy precluded legal marriage for clergy, though many established monogamous households, fathered families and paid fines to maintain the arrangement.
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Confession
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[Latin: acknowledgement] term will have two definitions. First, it refers to the sacrament in which one acknowledges one's sins to a priest, asks for forgiveness and completes a penance (a set of prayers or devotional acts) to relieve one's souk of spiritual punishment for those sins. Secondly, it refers to the set of beliefs of a particular Christian Church, which a believer must acknowledge as a member. Particular confessions appear in upper case (e.g., the Augsburg Confession).
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Consubstantination
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[Latin: shared substance] the doctrine advocated by Martin Luther that the substances both of the body and blood of Christ and the bread and wine coexist in the Eucharist after consecration.
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Deacon
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[Greek: servant] member of the clergy just below a priest who is not yet ordained to perform the liturgy of the Eucharist.
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Diocese
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Originally an administrative district of the late Roman Empire, it became the district of pastoral care under a bishop's jurisdiction.
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Donation of Constantine
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Eighth-century forgery, probably first used to support the Carolingian usurpation of the Frankish crown, by which Emperor Constantine reputedly in gratitude for his baptism and miraculous cure from leprosy granted Pope Sylvester I (r. 314-35) authority over the four patriarchs and all bishops. It also granted the popes a variety of imperial rights. Medieval popes used it to justify claims to authority in religious and secular matters in Christendom. The humanist and papal archivist, Lorenzo Valla, proved its forgery in 1518.
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Dualism
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Belief in two Gods representing opposite and complementary forces (e.g. Good/evil or spirit/flesh). Dualism had roots in Persian Zoroastrianism and came to influence early Christian thought through the followers of the Persian prophet Mani, known as Manichaeans.
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Ecclesiology
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Ecclesiastical is an adjective derived from the Greek word, ekklēsia (assemblies). Early Christian communities called themselves ekklēsia. Ecclesiology refers to the doctrine or theory regarding the proper structure of the Church.
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Eucharist
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[Geek: thanksgiving] rite that commemorates the 'last supper' Jesus shared with his disciples before his death. During the meal Jesus broke bread and gave it to them claiming that 'this is my body'. He then distributed a cup of wine and said 'this is my blood'. Whatever the intent of those statements, disputes over their meaning have Christians since apostolic times. The ritual re-enactment of the last supper became a Christian sacrament, a solemn rite through which a believer received God's grace. The ceremony also brings believers together for a spiritual meal and is referred to as communion or the 'Lord's Supper'. The Eucharist also applies to the consecrated bread itself.
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Evangelical
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[Greek: good news] good news of redemption in the gospels. Early in the Reformation, the term became associated with reformers seeking to redefine the Church and remodel faith based on scripture alone.
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Extreme Unction
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[Latin: last anointing] one of the seven Catholic sacraments. Ideally, the dying Christian would confess his or her sins to a priest, receive the Eucharist and be anointed with holy oil. If the recipient were unconscious, the priest simply anointed him or her and prayed for the soul.
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Gospels
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[Old English: good news] writings containing amounts of Jesus's ministry. By the late second century CE, Catholic Christian leaders had isolated four books among many available that they believed presented Jesus's true teachings. The reputed authors are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; but, as sanctioned scripture, Christians believe the texts are God's Word.
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Heretic
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[Greek: one who chooses] applied early aim Christian history to individuals who chose not to follow the authoritative, orthodox doctrines of the Catholic Christian Church.
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Holy Spirit
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God in the form of the 'third person' of the Trinity, comprised of God the Father, God the Son in the person of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit (sometimes referred to as the Holy Ghost). The Holy Spirit has been the 'person' of the Trinity most active in the world following the death of Jesus.
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Iconoclasm
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[Greek: image breaking] destruction of images (icons) set up for veneration.
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Indulgence
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[Latin: remission] remission of the punishment, which is still owed for sin after sacramental absolution through confession. An indulgence may be partial or plenary [Latin: complete]. Medieval popes claimed the right to grant indulgences based on their claim to control the keys to the kingdom of heaven given by Jesus to the presumed first pope, Peter.
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Inquisition
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[Latin: examination] in 1231 Pope Gregory IX supplanted episcopal courts that prosecuted heretics with a papal court known as the Inquisition. Following Roman legal tradition, inquisitors questioned suspected heretics and passed judgement on them, thus serving as both judge and prosecutor, Inquisitors also could apply torture to uncover hidden crimes.
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Interdict
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[Latin: prohibit] censure by the pope denying all ecclesiastical functions to a particular place. It was collective excommunication.
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Laity
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[Greek: people] are believers who have not received ordination into clergy and thus are not empowered to perform most Christian religious rituals.
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Liturgy
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[Greek: public worship] collective worship according to prescribed forms as opposed to private devotions. It can also be specifically applied to the Eucharist.
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Margraviate
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A medieval border territory in the Holy Roman Empire ruled by Margrave, a military governor appointed by the emperor. The title endured long after the district had lost its border status.
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Martyrology
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Account commemorating Christian martyrs, who died bearing witness to their faith.
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Mass
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Liturgical celebration of the Eucharist.
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Millennium
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Thousand-year reign of Christ on earth begun at his second coming, which initiates the end of time according to the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Christian Bible.
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Monk
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[Greek: solitary] refers to individuals who devote themselves to contemplation and performance of religious duties. Beginning in the third century CE, some Christian men and women left the Roman cities to live alone in the wilderness in religious contemplation. In later centuries, communities of monks separated themselves from the world in enclosed houses in which each occupied a solitary cell.
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Monotheism
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The belief that there is only one God, and therefore, other gods do not exist.
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Nicodemite
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Nicodemus was a Pharisee noted in John's Gospel who kept his support of Jesus secret for fear of censure from his colleagues. Calvin applied the term to Reformed Protestants who hid their faith by continuing to attend Catholic Mass.
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Ordination
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[Latin: appointment] one of the seven Catholic sacraments through which the male recipient received the sacerdotal powers of the priesthood from a bishop.
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Orthodox
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[Greek: right opinion] refers in general to conformity with authoritative doctrine within a particular religion. Later the term would be associated with Eastern European Christian churches that do not recognise papal spiritual authority (e.g. Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox and Serbian Orthodox).
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Pontiff
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[Latin: priest] a member of a college of priests in classical Rome. The pontifex maximus was the ancient city's high priest. Fifth century popes assumed this title.
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Predestination
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Belief that God has Pre-ordained some souls (the Elect) to salvation as part of his divine purpose and others (the Reprobate) to eternal damnation.
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Presbytery
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[Greek: priest/elder] assembly of priests in which ecclesiastic administration and moral discipline are normally adjudicated.
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Priest
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[Greek: elder] a member of clergy who is ordained through the sacrament of Holy Orders to perform the liturgy of the Eucharist and other sacraments.
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Protestant
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Originated in reference to the German princes and cities who 'protested' the renewal of the Imperial ban against Martin Luther issued at the Imperial Diet at Speyer in 1529. The name later more generally applied to Western Christians who repudiated the authority of the pope.
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Purgatory
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[Latin: to purify] place or state where the souls of those who die in a state of grace undergo such punishment as is still due to forgiven sins and expiate their unforgiven venial [Latin: pardonable (in this sense lesser)] sins. Much of late medieval spirituality was built around prayers to assist souls in purgatory and efforts by living Christians to avoid or lesson their anticipated punishment in purgatory.
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Reformed
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When used in the upper case, this term refers to any Church with roots in Calvinist tradition. Early modern members of Reformed churches avoided the term Calvinist, and recently many scholars have employed the term 'Reformed' in place of Calvinist.
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Sacrament
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Outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace. Since the forth Lateran Council in 1215, the Catholic Church has recognised seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation, matrimony, ordination, extreme unction, confession and the Eucharist. Sacraments involved a ritual ceremony (the outward sign) with roots in the scriptures (instituted by Christ). Grace came to the Christian from the correct performance of the rite and was not dependant on the spiritual state of the person, normally a priest or bishop, administering the sacrament.
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Sacramentarian
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Name applied by their opponents to those that denied that grace came from the performance of sacramental rites, especially those who denied the bodily presence of Christ via transubstanatiation or consubstantiation in the Eucharist.
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Sect
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[Latin: cutting] body of religious followers who have cut themselves off from the official faith. The term is usually applied by their mainstream opponents.
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Sin
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[Old English: misdeed] act regarded as a transgression of divine law, an offence against God. Such acts could deprive a Christian of salvation and required his repentance and ritual reconciliation with God through the sacrament of Confession.
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Synod
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[Greek: assembly] a duly convened assembly of clergy, normally headed by a bishop, to discuss and decide on doctrine and ecclesiastical administration.
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Testament
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[Greek: covenant (arrangement)] refers to the two covenants described in the Bible: the Old Testament was the covenant of the Jews with the God of Moses, and the New Testament was the covenant between Christians and Christ.
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Theology
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[Greek: reasoning about God] doctrine and theory on the nature and being of God.
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Transubstanatiation
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[Latin: to cross from one substance to another] in Catholic tradition in the ritual of the Mass, the substance (underlying reality) of the bread and wine is changed in the substance of the body and blood of Christ without changing their outward appearances: shape, taste and colour.
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Trinity
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Concept central to Christian faith but extremely difficult to explain. Nearly all of the Christians covered in this book believed in the Trinity. Trinitarian Christians are monotheists who believe in one unified 'godhead'; that is, one God comprised of three distinct persons or personalities: Father, Son (Christ), and Holy Spirit.
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Ultra quits
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[Latin: both] refers to the reception by the laity of communion of both kinds, bread and wine.
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