Part II Historical Theology
Terms
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- The Five Ways
- five philosophical arguments propounded by Thomas Aquinas as logical proofs of God's exsistence. aka theistic proofs. variously assessed as being logically valid or invalid
- Flagellants
- those who flagellate or harm themselves to inmitate the wounds suffered by Christ before cruxifiction. used in the Middle Ages as a form of penance
- Flagellation
- Punishment of ones body through whipping scourging
- Followers of the Way
- a self designation used by Christians in the early period of the faith when it was known as "the Way"
- forensic act
- A legal act or delcaration, used in relation to "righteousness" and "justification" in Protestant theology. It indicates that God "delcares" a sinner righteous or justified (not "makes) through Jesus
- Platonic forms
- the unchanging essence of things that exist independently of any specific instances, such as "humanness," "love," "justice"
- Rule of St. Francis
- A rule for the religious life composed by Francis of Assisi. It was rooted in a life of poverty, peacefulness, and gentle care for all God's creation and all people, particularly the poor
- Franciscan order
- the Order of Friars Minor. The order follows the rule of life from Fancis of Assisi and was approved by Pope Honorius II. It sought a return to primitive Chrisitanity, following the example of Jesus. It has emphasized ministry to the poor
- Greek Church
- In contrast to the Latin or Roman Catholic. A term for the Eastern Orthodox Church
- Greek dualism
- A characteristic of ancient Greek philosophy distingusihing sharphly between the material and the nonmaterial as comprehending all reality. The principle is carried through the system as in the contrast between body and soul
- Greek fathers
- Early Christian theologians from the Eastern regions including John Chrysostom and Basil the Great
- Gregorian reform
- A movement in the church initiated by Pope Gregory VII. It sought to free the church from secular involvement in religious affairs. Reforms focused specifically on eliminating simony (buying and selling of church offices) and on urging celibacy for clergy
- Hellenization of Christianity
- the Greek influences on the development of early Christian thought and practice, seen particularly by some in the language and conceptual categories used by Christian theologians and ni various proncouncements of church councils such as Chalceodon (451)
- heresy
- a view chosen instead of the offical teachings of a church. Such a view is thus regarded as wrong and potentially dangerous for faith
- christological heresy
- a view that is not consistent with official church teachings or doctrines about the person of Christ
- heretic
- One who espouses a view that is not consistent with an official church teaching or doctrine
- baptism of heretics
- a theological issue in the 3rd century, when questions were raised as to whether those who were converted to the Christian faith from hereitcal sects and had already been baptized by the sect should be bapitzed as Christians. Church synods ruled that if the Trinitarian formulas had been used, rebaptism was not necessary
- heterodox/heterodoxy
- that which is counter to the accepted orthodoxy teaching of the Church
- historical theology
- the study of the views of theologians, the Christian church in their historical context
- homoios
- term in homoiousios to say that Jesus was of "like" substance of the Father instead of "same"
- homoiousios
- "of like substance" a term used by Arians
- homoousios
- "of the same substance" a term used to describe the relationship of Christ and the Father adopted by Nicaea 325 and Constantinople 381
- divine hypostases
- the members of the Trinty of Godhead
- hypostasis
- the objective essence of something. Biblically, the term is used for confidence or assurance. Theologically, it was used in the early church for the three "Persons" of the Godhead, each as an individual reality.
- hypostatic union
- Theological term denoting the union of the two natures, divine and human , in the one person Jesus. It was defined at the Council of Chalcedon (451) It seeks to affirm the personal unity as will as the two natures. This reality is a divine mystery.
- iconoclasm
- The breaking of physical images in churches, Notably it occurred during the 8th century in the Eastern church and during the Reformation period, with the approval of some Protestant reformers
- iconoclast
- One who breaks images that depict God or Christ, usually as a protest against a perceived idolatry
- iconoclastic controversy
- Prolonged controversy over the veneration of icons in the Eastern Orthodox Church
- iconography
- the study or practic of representation through the use of images or pictures
- imago Trinitatis
- A term associated with the discussion by Augustine of analogies from human experience that point to the divine Trinity, such as the human's experience of being, knowing and willing three dimensions of the one person
- initiation
- A term used in the comparative study of religion to indicate an introduction, usually by a ceremony or rite, whereby one is received into a community. In the Christian context baptism and confirmation have been seen as initiatory rites
- Christian initiation
- The means by which one enters into the Christian church, often referring to rites, ceremonies, teachings and sacraments such as baptism and the Eucharist
- just war theory
- a way of morally justifying war by the theory that, despite its evils, war may be necessary and justifiable under certain conditions and within certain limitations. Conditions for entering and conducting wars are constructed. It differs from pacifism and the holy war theory
- Logos
- In Greek and Stoic philosophy, the universal power or mind that gave coherence to the universe. In Christian theology it refers to the second Person of the Trinity who as the creative power of God embodied truth and was God incarnate
- Council of Lyons
- 13th & 14th ecumenical church councils, held in Lyons, France. Lyons considered immoralty, the Greek schism and Emperor Frederick II's break with the church . Lyons II defined the double procession of the Holy Spirit and gained a short union with the Greek Church
- Manichaeism
- A Persian religious movement founded by Mani that featured a dualism of good and evil expressed in a perpetual struggle between kingdoms of light and darkness. It exalted asceticism and advocated celibacy as means for salvation and became a major religious force
- Marcionism/Marcionites
- The teachings of Maricion which featured a sharp disjucntion between the "God of wrath" of the OT and the "God of love" of the NT and the view that Christ never became flesh. In Marcionism, Christianity replaces Judaism. Its canon was Luke's Gospel and ten Pauline letters.
- Dynamic Monarchianism
- 2nd/3rd century heresy teaching that Jesus was only God in the sense of having a power of influence resting on his human person
- treasury of merit
- In Roman Catholic theology, the extra merit accumulated by Jesus and the saints, upon which all who may need merit for eternal life may draw
- merit of Christ
- A theolgoical term used to indicate that worthiness of Christ's death on the cross to be the satisfaction before God for human sin
- Edict of Milan (313)
- An agreement between the emperors Constantine and Licinius that established equal toleration for all relions within the Roman Empire. It thus made Christianity a legal religion
- misogyny
- The hatred of women, particularly by men. This is an ethical issue. It is also noted by feminist writers as a source of oppression for women
- modalism
- A view of the Trinity considered by the early church as heretical. It was believed that the one God was revealed at different times in different ways and thus has three manners of apperearnce rather than being one God in three Persons
- Modalistic Monarchianism
- A form of modalism that focused on the unity of God by seeing God as a divine monad with no distinctions within the divine Being. Thus God "appears" as Father, Son and Holy Spirit
- modernity
- A term often used to designate the post-Enlightenment period in Europe and North America in which people turned to a scientific culture and its promises in order to fill a void left by a decline in religion. The values of the secular culture and rejection of religous authority are primary, as well as a belief in knowledge as certain objective and good.
- monarchical
- In Trinitarian theology, the term refers to the Fathers as the source of the Son and Spirit and is sometimes hereitcally interpreted to mean that Jesus was not divine
- monenergism
- A christological hersy in the in 7th century which taught that there was only one divine energy or action in Jesus. It was developed by Sergius patriach of Constantinople, in seeking reconciliation with Monophysitism. It was condemned with Monothelitism in 681
- monergism
- the view that the Holy Spirit is the only agent who effects regeneration of Christians. It is in contrast with synergism, the view that there is a cooperation between the divine and the human in the regeneration process
- Monophysitism
- A christological view, regarded by the early church as heretical, which taught that Jesus had only one nature rather than a divine and a human nature that were united in one person
- monotheism
- Belief in one God
- Monothelitism
- Monothelites held that Jesus had only one will. This was rejected by the Third Council of Constantinople (680) which asserted that Christ had two wills since he had two natures but that they always acted in mutual accord
- Montanism
- The views, associated with Montanus in the 2nd century, that stressed that outpouring of the Holy Spirit to Montanus through trances that led to his prophetic utterances about the return of Christ and the establishment of the new Jerusalem, together with an emphasis on asceticism. It was condemned by the church
- Mother of God
- A term sanctioned by the Council of Ephesus (431) for the Virgin Mary. It is used particularly in the Roman Catholic tradtion to express Marian devotion
- Mystagogy
- "to teach a doctrine" a term from the early church for a time of instruciton on the Christian life after one's baptism and entrance into the church. Mystagogia were homilies on the sacraments by bishops
- mystery religions
- Religions of the Greco-Roman world into which people were initiated, receiving special mysterious truths that they were to keep secret. The mystery religions sought to lift adherents from the mundane to divine harmony and immortality
- mystic
- One who experiences direct apprehensions of the divine by immediate intuition as well as a sense of spiritual ecstasy.
- mystical experience
- the religious experience of union with God, often associated with ecstasy and an overshelming feeling of awe or blessedness
- mysticism
- the direct apprehension of the divine or the numinous in an unmediated awareness
- Christian mysticism
- The experience of union with God by the bond of love that is beyond human power to attain and that brings a sense of drect knowledge of and fellowship with God centered in Christ
- myth
- A story that is used to explain a belief practice, or natural phenomenon and that has a religious or spiritual significance. The story can relate many truths that may seem potentially contradictory or unrelated. Mythology is the study of myths