Intro to Christianity 2

filioque

"And the son" term refers to a phrase which Western Christians centuries later added to the Nicene creed without the approach of Eastern Christians. Orthodox Christians opposed the addition because they believe that they Father is the sole source of being in the Trinity, and because the creed was amended without their consent.

Summa Theologiae

"Summary of compendium of theology" perhaps the most famous Summa was written by Thomas Aquinas.

Gnosticism

"gnosis" meaning "knowledge". Gnostics claimed to have access to a special kind of knowledge known to them alone and by which they could be saved. They believed that there were two Gods. One who was supreme God-Head of the divine realm (Good) and who was unknown until Jesus came to reveal him. The other is the creator of the physical universe (evil) who they equated with the God of the Old Testament. The believed that they belonged to the divine realm and their goal was to return to there unharmed by this physical world.

Studia Humanitatis

"humane studies" or liberal arts, including Latin and Greek Literature, history, ethics. In studying Latin, student learned to read, write, reason and speak well- skills that were especially necessary for civic leaders and scholars.

Iconostasis

"icon screen" a wall bearing icons arranged in a prescribed order which divides sanctuary from nave in Orthodox Christian churches.

Orthodoxy

"right teaching" or "right opinion". The term is often used to describe doctrine or teaching that is declared by the church to be correct and binding for believers, it is contrasted with heresy.

Oxford Movement

19th century groud of teachers in Oxford who rallied against England's interference in the workings of the Irish church. John Henry Newman was its leader.

Cathedral

A Bishops church. It gets its name from the bishops chair, his Cathedra, which is the symbol of his teaching.

Apollinarius of Laodicaea

A Christian theologian who solved the problem of the dual nature of CHrist by saying that Christ had a human body, but not a human souls. His views became regarded as heretical.

Bernard of Clairvaux

A Cistercian monk who wrote and preached extensively on the spiritual life.

Cappadocian Fathers

A Group of Christian priests, including Basil of Caesarea, his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and Basil's friend Gregory of Nazianzus, whose theological advances and appropriation of Greek philosophical thought are reflected in the clarification of the Nicene creed, adopted at the Council of Constantinople.

Cistercians

A Group of monks who, in the 12th century sought religious reform by returning to the primitive Benedictine life in wilderness areas. They are named for their first house at Citeaux in France.

Robert Bellarmine

A Roman Catholic theologian and Jesuit priest who formulated the concept of implicit desire to explain how people who did not know Christ could be saved.

Protestant

A Term used to describe members of the churches that trace their ultimate origin to the Reformation of the 16th century. It derives from an incident in the early period of the reformation in which 6 German princes protested a declaration of the Second Diest of Speyer designed to suppress Lutheranism.

Deism

A View popular during the Enlightenment that God created the world but does not thereafter intervene in its operation. According to this view, the world is like a watch or clock that runs on its own without the help of the watchmaker, God.

Jesus Prayer

A brief meditation prayer usually "Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, have mercy on me a Sinner" which a person repeats again and again in order to enter into a state of deep meditation or stillness.

Catechumen

A candidate for Baptism who is undergoing instruction in the Christian religion.

Implicit Desire

A concept formulated by Robert Bellarmine, that is used to describe how a person who attempts to live a moral life but who has not heard the gospel of Christ might be expressing an implicit desire to join the Church.

Arius

A fourth century priest in Alexandria who taught that only GOd the Father was God in the true sense; the So though also divine, was created by the Father and therefore was less than him. His teaching was rejected in the Nicaea and Constantinople.

Second Vatican Council

A gathering of Catholic Bishops, abbots and theological experts called by Pope John XXIII to renew the religious life of the church and to bring it into the modern world.

Anchorite/Anchoress

A hermit who pledges his or her life to prayer and contemplation. During the middle ages, they lived in small enclosed roomed attached to a church, where they could be spiritual counselors for the people of the area.

Constantinople

A major city in modern day Turkey, formerly the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire founded by Constantine. One of the Patriarchical sees. From which Christianity was governed, today the seat of the foremost of the four patriarchs who govern the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Catherine of Siena

A mystic of the late medieval period, she was a Dominican tertiary and was influential in bringing an end to the Avignon Papacy, only to see it affected by the Great Schism. Catherine's prayer life had led her into a vision of mystical marriage to Christ. Her visions often were of the nourishing and cleansing of blood of the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross.

Icon

A painted image of Christ, his mother, angels, or saints. This religious art form is usually associated with Eastern Christianity.

Penitent

A person who is denied communion because of serious sin such as murder, adultery or apostasy and who is doing penance for that sin.

Breviary

A prayer book containing the Liturgy of the House, the official prayer of the church, regularly prayed by Priests, monks and religious sisters. It is composed of psalms and readings from the Bible and other religious literature.

Canonization

A process by which the church designates certain persons as saints and therefore models of the Christian life also the process by which canon of the Bible took shape.

Discaled Carmelites

A reform branch of the Carmelite order founded by Teresa of Avila, and John of the Cross. It became a separate order in 1593. The term discaled means unshod, referring to the spiritual practice of going barefoot in order to fulfill Jesus' mandate to provide themselves with nothing for the journey not even sandals for their feet.

Creed

A short summary of belief, the earliest creeds originated as teaching instruments to prepare cathechumens for Baptism, they later became formal instruments by which churches defined themselves.

Augsburg Confession

A statement of faith drafted by Philop Melanchthon, representing the Lutheran position at the Diet of Augsburg. The Diet, which was called to resolve differences between Protestants and Catholics failed but Lutherans signed Melanchthonas statement making it one of the most important documents of Lutheran doctrine today.

Sacrament

A symbolic ritual consisting of words and visible gestures or material substances (bread wine water etc) which when properly performed for a recipient disposed to its action becomes the means of transmitting the grace of God. Traditionally, it has been defined as an outward sign insitituted by Christ to give grace,

Conciliarism

A theory of church authority advanced by certain theologians and bishops of the Roman Catholic Church intended to resolve the Great Schism of the papacy. According to this theory, the bishops when they were gathered in an official council in time of crisis had the right to make binding decisions independent of the pope.

Ecumenical/General Council

A universal or worldwide gathering of Christian bishops called to resolve urgent issues affecting the whole church.

Praxis

Activity that is reflected upon and consciously chose to produce a particular effect, the practical application of a theory.

Episcopal Church

American branch of the Anglican communion, meaning those churches that trace their roots to the Church of England and regard episcopacy as a biblically mandated ministry of the church.

Ibn Batuta

An Arab Scholar and traveler who was partly responsible for the European colonization and missionary efforts in Africa, because he revealed the presence of gold in that region.

Council of Chalcedon

An Ecumenical Council held in 451 which considered the question of Christ's human and divine natures and taught that the incarnate Jesus Christ possessed a complete human nature and a complete divine nature united to one person.

Julian of Norwich

An English mystic of the Late Middle Ages, author of the Showings, which includes a series of visions she received during a brief illness and her theological reflections on those mystical experiences. She also reflects on the motherhood of Christ, the meaning of sin, the question of why God allows sin and evil to exist.

Doctor of the Church

An honor reserved for those who teaching and scholarship have reflected Catholic Christian beliefs and have been important in the lives and faith of others.

Anticlericalism

Antagonism toward priests and clergy

Neo-Thomism

Application of Aquinas' thought to the distinctively modern conditions and problems

Thomas Cranmer

Archbishop of Canterbury for most of the early years of the English Reformation. He is recognized for the contributions of the 39 articles which set out the specific similarities and differences between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church and the 1549 and 1552 versions of the Book of Common Prayer a hugely popular and influential liturgical document.

Quest for the Historical Jesus

Area of Modern scholarly research that seek to uncover what can be know about the actual historical person Jesus of Nazareth, and to reconstruct his story based upon verifiable historical and scientific evidence.

Pieta

Artistic representations of Mary holding the dead body of her son Jesus after he had been taken down from the cross. These were especially popular in the late Medieval period.

Galileo Galilei

Astronomer and scientist who attempted to prove the Copernican theory that the earth revolves around the sun. He was disciplined by the church for advocating view that were contrary to the Bible and the church teaching.

Exclusivism

Attitude of disposition of exclusion in theologies of world religions, the belief that truth resides only in Christianity and that there are no meaningful similarities between Christianity and other religions.

Inclusivism

Attitude of disposition of inclusion, in theologies of world religions, the belief that Christ fulfills the longings and aspirations of other religions and that the good qualities in these religions are included within the scope of Christianity.

Monica

Augustine's mothers. Writes about her in Confessions.

Rationalism

Belief that reason alone can provide us with a knowledge of all reality. It is opposed to the belief that there are some dimension of reality that are beyond reason and that can only be known through revelation.

Nihilism

Belief that there is no objective basis for truth and that human values are worthless.

Athanasius

Bishop of Alexandria and staunch opponent of Arianism

Sacramentary

Book containing the prayers needed by a priest to celebrate the Eucharist and sometimes other sacraments.

Justinian

Byzantine emperor best known for compiling the Codex Juris Civilis, and for rebuilding the great Church of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia)

Double Predestination

Calvinist Idea that God has already chosen some peoople for salvation and others for damnation, a result of emphasizing God's sovereignty an knowledge over human free will.

Thomas Aquinas

Catholic Theologian and saint. Author or Summa Theologiae, a comprehensive overview of Christian theology, best known for his integration of the philosophy of Aristotle into Christian faith and his view of the compatibility of reason and revelation, and his "proofs" for God's existence.

Franciscans

Community founded by Francis of Assisi, or the Friar Minor (the Lesser Brothers). Known for their radical understanding of the vow of poverty, their primary vocations is to preach the gospel and to witness it to action.

Francis Xavier

Companion of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order and the leader of the Catholic Mission to India, Japan and China.

Postmodernism

Cultural and intellectual movement that emerged out of modernism and therefore builds upon or provides a corrective to modernism.

Council of Trent

Declared by Roman Catholics to be an ecumenical council. This church council met over a period of 18 years, to address doctrinal and practical issues of reform, both within the Catholic Church, and in response to the Protestant Reformation.

Spiritual Exercises

Developed by Ignatius of Loyola this month-long spiritual examination allows the individual to participate in the drama of sin and salvation, leading to a turning over of everything, especially the will to obedience to one's religious superior to the teachings of the church and its traditions for the spread of the faith.

Historical Criticism

Development of the Renaissance movement, the use of historical knowledge to evaluate ancient writings as well as existing traditions and institutions. A modern approach to the study of the Bible, whereby the Bible is subjected to scientific scrutiny and the critic attempts to discover the historical circumstances of the biblical text and the intended meaning of the author.

Recapitulation

Doctrine about redemption taught by Iraneus, who said that the redemption effected by Jesus was a "doing over again" of all that had gone wrong in human history.

Dogma

Doctrines or teachings that have been proclaimed authoritatively by a given religion or church.

Syllabus of Errors

Document issued by Pope Pius IX in 1864 consisting of 80 condemned propositions concerning topics like freedom of religion, separation of church and state, and the temporal power of the pope. It provided an overture for the First Vatican Council.

Lay investiture

During the early medieval period, secular rulers took upon themselves the right to appoint bishops, abbots and other church officials, the right of appointment was expressed ritually in the ceremony in which the secular rule "invested" the official with the spiritual symbols of his office.

Origen of Alexandria

Early Christian Theologian, wrote a number of works, Against Celsus a response to a non-Christian critique and On First Principles an exposition of Christian doctrine as it was understood as that time.

Eusebius of Caesarea

Early Christian historian whose Ecclesiastical History preserved for later generation excerpts from a number of ancient Christian documents no longer available to us.

Council of Ephesus

Ecumenical council held in 431 taught that Mary, the mother of Jesus should be venerated as theotokos, (Mother of God/ Godbearer). This safeguards the unity of Jesus Christ as one human-divine person.

Council of Nicaea

Ecumenical council in 325, maintained the true divinity of the Son, against the teaching of Arius.

Theodosius I

Emperpr of Rome who established Christianity as the sole legal religion in the Roman Empire and who affirmed the Nicene Creed as the benchmark of orthodox (correctly taught) Christian faith.

John Wesley

English Theologian and reformer, originally a member of the church of England. He and his followers eventually broke away to form the Methodist church

Charles Darwin

English scientist who developed the theory of evolution and the principal of Natural selection.

First Vatican Council

First Ecumenical council since Trent. Convened to rally the Catholic World around Pope Pius IX, when the Papal States were threatened by Nationalist movement that sought to unify the Italian peninsula. Council declared that the pope had primacy of jurisdiction over the whole church that was universal, ordinary and immediate.

John of the Cross

Follower of Teresa of Avila, the co founder of the Discaled Carmelites, a reform branch of the Carmelite order and a Spanish mystic. His writings include the Ascent of Mount Carmel and the Dark Night of the Soul.

Absolution

Forgiveness for the guilt associated with sin.

Papal Bull

Formal document issued by the Pope

Benedict of Nursia

Founder of the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino and author of the Rule for Monasteries which eventually became the primary rule of monasticism in the West.

Dominic Guzman

Founder of the Dominican Order of Mendicants, also called the order of Preachers.

Francis of Assisi

Founder of the Franciscan Friars

Ignatius of Loyola

Founder of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits. A Spaniard, he was trained as a knight, but he took up a life dedicated to the church after reading devotional books, including a life of Christ and lives of the saints, during a long convalescence.

Rene DesCartes

French Philosopher, known for his skepticism about the value of tradition. He began his philosophical method by doubting everything he had been taught, all tradition and by believing only what could be shown by reason to be absolutely certain.

Jean Danielou

French Theologian and Jesuit priest he is best known for his research and writing on the early church Fathers.

Cathechism

From the Greek Word, "to instruct". A Catechism is a manual of Christian Doctrine used to instruct believers in the Christian faith. They were especially popular in the 16th century among both Protestant and Catholic reformers, because of the emphasis on religious instruction for ministers as well as laity.

Theocentric

God centered

Hagia Sophia

Great Church of Holy Wisdom in Constantinople where the patriarch of Constantinople held services and the Byzantine emperors were crowned until 1453 when the city of Constantinople was conquered by the Muslims and the church became a mosque.

Monasticism

Greek "monos" meaning "one" "unique" "solitary" "alone". Rule and way of life for CHristian men or women dedicated to holiness by separating from existing society, either by withdrawing into unpopulated areas or by living within a cloister.

Aristotle

Greek Philosopher and scientist of the fourth century BCE, his ideas were seen as a challenge to religions like Christianity because without any access to divine revelation he had developed an account of reality that seemed more complete, more sophisticated and more coherent then that of Christianity.

Docestism

Greek, "to seem" or "to appear to be". The belief of some early Christians that Jesus did not really become flesh but only seemed to have a body. In reality he was a spiritual being who could not suffer or die.

Gregory I

Gregory the Great, statesman, theologian and prodigious writer, His wise and pastoral leadership made him a model for subsequent popes. Among his accomplishments was his decision to sponsor a mission to convert the Anglo-Saxons in England.

Donatists

Group of Christians in North Africa, that split from the main body of the church in the fourth century in a dispute over whether priests or bishops who collaborated with Roman Persecutors of Christianity could retain their offices or administer the sacraments. Donatists maintained that clergy needed to be free from an serious sin to administer the sacraments validly. They were vigorously opposed by Augustine.

Mystery Religions

In the Greek and Roman religious world, secret cults that conducted ritual initiations into the mysteries of a particular god or goddess. Their celebrations usually involved purification rituals and sacred meals.

Imperial Cult

In the Roman World, a partly political and partly religious ceremony honor of the emperor who was recognized as a superhuman or divine figure.

Baptistery

In the early church, a Christian building used for Baptism, later a place in the church set aside for Baptism. The baptisteries of the early church has a centered design an the focus was on the baptismal font into which the candidates stepped.

Treasury of Merit

In the late medieval period, a treasury of surplus good works of the saints and of Christ. The pope could draw from this treasury and transfer excess merits to a repentant sinner in the form of an indulgence.

Methodism/Methodist Church

Independent protestant church founded by John Wesley, which began as a reform movement with the Church of England. Differed from the Church of England in its greater emphasis on personal spirituality, bible study, evangelistic preaching and lively services.

Matteo Ricci

Italian Jesuit known for his successful missionary work in China, especially his efforts to make Catholic Christianity intelligible in Chinese cultural terms.

Marco Polo

Italian traveler who visited the land of the far East, and returned to Europe to spread the news sparking European interest in exploration for commercial gain and missionary expansion.

Pentecost

Jewish harvest festival that came to mark the fifty days separating the Israelites' escape from Egypt and God's gift of the Law on Mt Sianai. A Christian feast celebrated 50 days after Easter commemorating the day on which the Holy Spirit came down upon Jesus's disciples when they were in hiding after his death and resurrection.

Henry VIII

King of England who led his country through the reformation. At First as a supporter of Catholicism against reformers. He eventually broke with the pope and the Catholic Church and established the Church of England with himself as its head at least in part in a dispute with Rome over Henry's desire to divorce his wife.

John Cassian

Known as the Father of Western Monasticism. Sought to establish a standardized form of monasticism for the Western Roman Empire based upon the ideals of Eastern Monasticism

Vernacular

Language of the common people

Ireaneus of Lyons

Late Second century bishop of the church as Lyon, wrote against heresies primarily in response to gnosticism.

Nominalism

Late medieval philosophical movement that addresses issues of human knowledge. It argues that knowledge can be derived one from experience of individual things. Universals such as humanity or truth do not really exist.

Mendicants

Latin for "begging" a type of religious order that emerged in the High Middle ages. Unlike monks, mendicants lived in towns and cities, begged for their livelihood and performed whatever ministry needed to be done.

Vulgate

Latin translation of the Bible, containing also the books of the apocrypha, widely used in the West at least from the 6th century and declared by the council of Trent to be the only authoritative translation of the Bible.

Friar

Latin word meaning "brother", term refers to a person who belongs to a mendicant order.

Passive of Alien Righteousness

Martin Luther use this phrase to explain that God is the one who justifies people, salvation does not depend on a persons own goodness or righteousness, but on God's righteousness, which is imputed or credited to believers because of the merits of Christ's atoning death.

Apologist

Meaning "Defender". The Apologists of the early church attempted to respond to pagan criticisms of Christianity by explaining what Christians believed and how they lived their lives in terms that made sense to outsiders.

Ressourcement

Meaning "going back to the origin" a french term that was used to describe a common desire of several theological renewal movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries to rejuvenate theology by recovering older sources in scripture and tradition.

Elect

Meaning chosen. Although the term is used widely in Judaism and Christianity, the Manichees used it to refer specifically to their leaders.

Moses Maimonides

Medieval Jewish scholar, author of the Guide of the Perplex, in which he synthesized rabbinic Judaism and the Muslim form of Aristotelian philosophy. He also wrote some influential works on medicine and Jewish Law.

Averroes

Medieval Muslim scholar known for his learned commentaries on the works of Aristotle

Scholasticism

Medieval theology that took the truths uncovered by philosophers like Aristotle an showed how they were compatible with Christianity. In general scholastic theology so called because of its new setting in medieval schools and the new universities tried to harmonize faith with reason.

Dialogue

Mutual discussion between parties who hold differing views on a particular topic. The term or pften used of theological discussions between members of different faith traditions.

Hearers

Name given to the members of the Manichees, who did not have leadership roles. Augustine was a Hearer for a time prior to his conversion to Christianity.

Great Schism

One in 1054 between the pope and the patriarch of Constantinople, or the split within the Roman Catholic Church from 1378-1417 when European Catholicism was evenly divided between the competing claim of two different popes, and eventually a third. The council of Constant resolved the split of the papacy.

John Henry Newman

One of the leader of the Oxford Movement, which fostered a revival of the Catholic elements of English Christianity. He later converted to Roman Catholicism and was eventually named a cardinal.

Iconodule

One who supports the veneration of icons.

Gregory Palamas

Orthodox Christian monk of Mount Athos in Green whose work The Triads defended the hesychast spirituality and used the distinction between God's essence and God's energies to explain how people participate through grace in a union of love with the divine.

Purgatory

Place or state following death in which sinner destined for heaven undergo the punishment still remaining for forgiven sins and thereby are purged or made ready for heaven.

Nicholas Copernicus

Polish astronomer who proposed that they earth and other planets revolved around the sun.

Voluntarist Principle

Popularized by the church of the Radical Reformation. the idea that becoming a christian require an active decision. It never occurs simply because of where people live or because of their parents beliefs.

Natural Selection

Principle of the theory of Evolution which holds that individuals in a species who have characteristics that are advantageous for survival in their environment will survive, which individuals without these characteristics will perish. Gradually this transformation of the character of individuals in a species will lead to the development of new species.

Karl Barth

Protestant theologian and member of the Confessing Church which was founded in 1933 to oppose the growing Nazi control over the churches in Germany.

Avignon Papacy

Referring to a period in the Late Middle Ages, when the pope moved his court to Avignon, France. Before the papacy returned to Rome, the church leadership would be involved in an even greater struggle for power called the Great Schism.

Papal Primacy

Referring to the pope's status as first among the other bishops. In Roman Catholic teaching the pope's primacy gives him jurisdiction over the universal church. In Eastern Orthodox teaching his primacy is only honorary and not jurisdictional.

Gregory VII

Reform pope, attacked abuses such as simony, alienation of property and lay investiture. He also declared the pope to be the supreme judge under God, holding the absolute powers of absolution and excommunication.

Jan Hus

Reformer of the later medieval period, Like John Wycliffe, he preached against abuses in the church and challenged some of the church's doctrines. He was eventually executed as a heretic.

Humanism

Renaissance humanism was a literary and historical movement to recover the Latin and Greek Classics, and with them to discover a more secular and individualistic view of humanity. Modern humanism is a philosophy that focuses on and exalts humanity.

Neo-Scholasticism

Renewal of Catholic Theology that took place between the First Vatican COuncil and the Second Vatican School. It involved an endorsement of Thomistic Philosophy and theology, and the scholasticism that attended his writing as the way in which Catholic theologians should engage the modern world.

Orthodox

Right praise or right opinion. Orthodox Christians consider themselves to be a single church in the sense that they share a single faith and the same Byzantine liturgical canonical and spiritual heritage.

Karl Rahner

Roman Catholic theologian and Jesuit Priest who authored numerous books and articles on topics of Systematic theology. Although he believed that the fullness of grace was available only within Christianity, he argued that the Holy Spirit carries grace to all people in every time, including those in non-Christian religions.

Desiderius Erasmus

Scholar of the Renaissance period, learned in the writing of both the Later and Greek early church writers. His reconstruction of the New Testament Test became the basis for many subsequent translations into the vernacular.

Polyglot Bible

Single Bible in which the test was presented in several languages. Polyglot Bibles were especially popular in the 16th and 17th centuries ad.

Base Christian Communities

Small groups of poor and disenfranchised people and/or their advocates, who meet together to study the bible, discuss issues of common concern, and strategize about how to remedy or respond to social injustices. These groups are often associated with Liberation Theology.

Contrition

Sorrow for Sin

Teresa of Avila

Spanish Mystic and founder of the Discaled Carmelites. Her writings include the Life, an autobiographical account of her life, and the Interior Castle-a description of her method of prayer.

Mysticism

Spiritual phenomenon that expresses itself in a direct, intense experience of union and oneness with God. Generally the mystical journey consists of three phases: purgation (cleansing from Sin) illumination (attraction to all things of God) and union (state of oneness with God).

Basilica

Style of Christian church architecture, distinguished from other churches by its adaptation of the standard rectangular layout of royal audience halls and public buildings in Roman Cities. The Christian version of a basilica was conceived as an audience hall for Christ, the heavenly king.

Romanesque Architecture

Style of building developed during the Carolingian and Ottonian dynasties of early medieval Europe. The structures featured stone vaulted ceilings, heavy walls, and pier, and small openings for light, creating a fortress-like impression.

Hans Urs Von Balthasar

Swiss theologian and Jesuit priest, he is perhaps best known for his research on the topic of revelation and his theological reflections on beauty.

Transubstantiation

Teaching about how the bread and wine of the Eucharist become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. After consecration by a validly ordained priest, the accidents remain as bread and wine but the substance changes and becomes the body and flood of Jesus Christ.

Caesaro-papism

Term applied by some Western writers to the Byzantine political theory, which held that the civil ruler also served as head of the church. Caesar=Pope.

Catholic Reformation

Term given to the efforts of those Roman Catholics who wanted to bring about the internal rebirth of Catholic sensibility in theology, spirituality, religious piety and morality in the 16th century during the time of the Protestant Reformation.

Counter-Reformation

Term given to the efforts of those who during the Protestant Reformation, were loyal to the pope and supportive of the customary practices of the Roman Catholic Church in order to counter the teachings and practices of the Protestant Reformers.

Christendom

Term that modern historians have given to the thorough merging of Christianity and culture, which took place in Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries, also known as the High Middle Ages.

Allegorical

Term used to describe a method of interpreting scripture. it involves looking for a hidden spiritual meaning beneath the bare literal or historical meaning of the text.

Pope

The Bishop of the church in Rome and the Head of the Roman Catholic Church,

Indigenization

The Church policy that the native people of a country in which missionary work is being done should eventually take charge of the church in that country

John Calvin

The French Reformer and theologian who led Swiss City of Geneva through the reformation. Calvin is known especially for the doctrines of election and double predestination and for grappling with the problem of the church authority after the protestant rejection of the authority of Rome. His teachings are most influential in the Christian reformed Church and the Presbyterian Church.

Original Sin

The Idea that human nature is wounded and deprived of original holiness and right relationship with God because of the sin of Adam and Sin. As a result or original sin, human nature is subject to suffering and has an inclination to sin. Western Christianity traditionally holds that all human beings also inherit the guilt as well as the consequences of the sin of Adam and Eve.

Boniface VIII

The Pope who published Unam Sactum, perhaps the most famous medieval statement on church and state which asserts the authority of the papacy over the emerging nation kingdoms of that time.

Henry the Navigator

The Portuguese prince who explore and colonized Africa, spreading Christianity along the way.

Edict of WOrms

The Statement issues by the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation that declared Martin Luther and outlaw and heretic.

Proclamation

The act of publicly declaring or affirming a statement of faith.

Communion of Saints

The ancient belief, enshrined in the creeds that deceased holy ones share a relationship with the living members of the church.

Simony

The buying and selling of spiritual things including church leadership positions.

Scientism

The claim that they only valid method of knowning is science and that what cannot be known by science does not exist.

Marburg Colloquy

The debate between Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli in 1529. They did not resolve their differences but Zwingli convinced Luther to see that reconciliation with the Catholic Church was not really possible.

Anthony of Egypt

The father of Christian monasticism. He felt that Christ's teachings called him to sell all of his possessions and devote himself completely to following the gospel through a life of prayer in isolation from the world. Many Christians, early, medieval and modern have been inspired by his example.

Predestination

The idea that God has chosen in advance, that certain events will come to pass.

Vicarious Satisfaction

The possibility that someone could pay the debt of another person's sin. I.E Jesus.

Roman Rite

The primary form of liturgy for the Roman Catholic CHurch, which was standardized by Charlemagne in the second half of the eighth century. SOme if its prayers are thought to have been composed by Pope Gregory I.

Sanctuary

The principle that all who take refuge from civil authority in a church or on church land cannot be removed without the permission of the abbot or bishop, a holy place within a church or temple.

Asceticism

The training or dicscipline of the passions and the appetites. In the case of hermits and monks, the practice was designed to foster spiritual development.

Augustine

Theologian and Bishop of Hippo, his concersion is described in the autobiographical work Confessions, best known for his opposition to Donatism and Pegalianism his theological doctrines of grace, original sin, and predestination and his solution to the problem of evil.

Evolution

Theory by Charles Darwin, about the development of Species. Which claims that species emerge by natural process alone.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Title given to Mary the Mother of Jesus, based on her miraculous appearance to Juan Diego in Mexico. Painted image of Mary as she appeared to Juan.

Memoria

Type of church building built to honor the tomb of a saint or martyr or a holy site. Memoriae had a centered design, focusing attention on the place of honor.

Supernature

Used by Pope Pius XII in Evangellii Praecones to describe the condition brought about by the grace of Christ whereby humans can comprehend God and become virtuous in ways that exceed the limitations of human nature.

Theology of Fulfillment

Used to explain how human (non-Christian) customs and beliefs that do not explicitly contradict Christ and Christian belief can be brought to a greater level of perfection through Christ.

Nature

Usually referring to human nature and the limitations of the human condition. In traditional Catholic teachings about salvation, human nature is said to be essentially good, though tainted by original sin.

Pelagius

a christian monk who introduced the pelagian notion that original sin did not seriously damage the human capacity to do good, and that human nature remained essentially good, and that human beings could lead holy lives if they exerted sufficient effort; these notions were opposed by augustine and eventually condemned as heretical by the catholic church.

Encomienda-doctrina systerm

a cooperative effort between the ecomondero and the doctrinero to build a sound and economic spiritual base in the Spanish territories of the New World

Interdict

a kind "strike" in which the church shuts down the sacramental system. It was used in the medieval period by popes who wished to discipline civil leaders.

Inquisition

a legal body set up to investigate and punish heretics. Although the inquisition itself was usually under the jurisdiction of church officals, civil leaders were often called upon to execute whatever punishments were assigned.

Ultramontanism

a nineteeth-century tendency to exalt the authority of the papacy "beyond the mountains" referring to rome's location south of the alps.

Indulgences

a practice popular in the medieval church in which the church would cancel all or part of the penance do to an individual who had sinned, when the individual had completed certain devotions, acts of charity or services for the church as substitutes.

Capuchins

a reform branch of the Franciscan movement, this religious order was officially recognized in 1528 during the Catholic Reformation. Members got their name from the unique four pointed hood that they wore with their brown habit.

John Wycliffe

a reformer of the late medieval period. He preached against abuses in the church and challenged some of the church's doctrines. He also avocated the translation of the bible into english, the language of the people.

Seminary

a school of theology especially designed for the training of priests. The council of trent ordered that every roman catholic diocese establish a seminary for the training of its priest candidates. Many dioceses still retain their own seminaries today.

Trinity

a theological term used to describe the relationship of the three "persons" of father, sons, and holy spirit in one godhead; as defined at the fourth century ecumenical councils of Niceaea and Constantinople, the dogma of the Trinity affirms that the three persons are coeternal and share equally in the same divine nature.

Penance

actions that show repentance for sin (e.g praying,fasting); the sacrament of forgiveness of sin, which consists of the penitent's acts of repentance, confession of sin, the intentionto make reparation, and the priest's absolution of sin.

Patristic

an adjective describing a peroid in christian history, roughly the second century to the fifth or sixth century a.d in the west, though the east traditionally extends it as far as the ninth century. The period is so named because the major writers of the time are known as the father of the church.

William Tyndale

an admirer of martin luther, he was the first to publish an english translation of major parts of the bible.

Patriarch

an early father of a people or (male) founder of a group, like abraham, issac, and jacob; bishop of one of the leading seats of early christianity: Rome, constantinople, alexandria, antioch, and jerusalem, though the title has since been extended to bishops of other important churches as well.

Baroque

an ornate style of art and architecture that was especially popular in Roman Catholic artists during the Catholic Reformation. The baroque style was designed to dramatically illustrate the truths of Catholic orthodoxy but also to involve the viewer in the experience of faith by appealing to their emotions and overwhelming them with a sense of awe.

Deconstruction

applied first to philosophical texts and later to other literature, including relisious writings, this approach to reading reveals how the text might not mean what it appears to mean and ultimately how its central message will always elude the reader.

Election

biblical idea, emphasized most strongly by John Calvin, that God mysteriously choose to enter into special relationships with some persons and groups but not with others.

Ambrose of Milan

bishop and former provincial governor whose sermons inspired the young Augustine to take Christianity seriously.

Concubinage

during the early medieval period, the practice among some clergy of maintaining concubines in a relationship something like marriage.

Council of Constantinople

ecumenical council held in 381, that affirmed the Nicene creed and added clauses about the co-equal divinity of the Holy Spirit.

Apostacy

falling away from the faith or renunciation of the faith under threat of persecution.

Monk

from the Geek word monachos, meaning a single or a solitary person, the word monk was coined in the fourth centuy A.D as a name for the many men and women who had begun to withdraw to secluded desert regions to lead lives of prayers and spirital discipline. Later it would come to refer to anyone who abandoned life in the everyday world to devote himself or herself completely to religion.

Monophysite

from the greek words for "of one natue; one who holds that jesus did not have two natures—one hman and one divine—but only one. Euychs, fr example, beleved that the humanity of christ had been absorbed into his single divine nature. Dissenters against the two-natures definition of the council of chalcedon went into schism as separate christian churches in armenia, syria, egypt, and ethiopia; though unfairly stigmatized as monophysite they held and still hold that jesus was fuly human while rejecting chalecedon's two-natures terminology.

Episcopacy

government of bishops. The adjectival form of the word is episcopal.

Anthropocentric

human centered

Iconoclasm

image breaking. Hostility to images derives from the biblical condemnation of idolatry. There were two major iconoclast periods, the efforts of Eastern Orthodox opponents of images to abolish devotion to icons thrust the Byzantine Empire into constant turmoil from 725-843 and during the Protestant reformation, some reformers forcibly entered churches and removed or destroyed statue, stained glass and paintings containing images.

Confessors

in Early Christianity, those who were arrested during persecution and stood firm in their faith but who were not put to death. Confessors enjoyed great prestige in the churches, and some claimed the right to forgive sins.

Beguines

independent communities of laywomen that first emerged in Europe in the High Middle Ages. They had no rule or permanent religious vows, but they shared a form of common life and engaged in contemplative prayer or ministries of caring for the sick and the poor.

Society of Jesus

known as the Jesuits, this religious order was founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1540. Dedicated to the service of the pope, they played an important role in the Catholic Reformation both as missionaries and teachers. Today they are the largest Catholic religious order with a large and respected system of high schools colleges and universities.

Isaac Newton

mathematician and scientist who was able to explain the motion of the planets by means of natural laws rather than the will of God and was a major contributor in the development of the mechanistic view of the universe.

Adeotatus

meaning "Gift of God" the son of Augustine of Hippo, from his relationship with a concubine whose name we do not know.

Aggriornamento

meaning "a bringing up to date". This term describes the Spirit of the Second Vatican Council as it attempted to reinterpret the church's doctrine and reform its practice in a way that was suitable for the present.

Bishop

meaning "overseer". In Early Christianity bishops were overseers of local churches, chiefly responsible for teaching a presiding at the Eucharist. Later, the bishop is an overseer of a group of Churches known as a diocese.

Cathars

meaning "pure ones" this anticlerical Christian reform movement emerged in the twelfth century AD, teaching that the world and the flesh were work of an evil God. Thus they practiced severe asceticism. Catharism was wide-spread in Southern France, where they came to be known as the Abigensians.

Renaissance

meaning "rebirth" a cultural movement that began in Italy approx 1350 and spread to other European countries by the time it came to a close in 1600. It involved a renewed interest in the Latin and Greek classics a focus on the individual person and the natural world and a more scientific approach to history and literature. It was accompanied by a burst of creative activity in art and architecture.

Martyr

meaning "witness" someone who, under persecution dies rather than give up their faith.

Didache

meaning teaching, the term refers to the title of an early church document. The teaching of the 12 apostles. It is a church order, that is a document describing how the Christian ought to live and how the sacraments ought to be celebrated.

Catholic or Catholicity

meaning universal. The term Catholic is also used in a restrictive sense to refer to a tradition within Christianity, namely the Roman Catholic Church or to describe those churches that claim a continuity of leadership that goes back to the early Christian churches.

Avicenna

medieval Muslim scholar noted for the medical commentaries on the classical Greek physician-scholars Galen and Hippocrates, mathematical commentaries on the classical Greek Mathematician Euclid and philosophical commentaries on Aristotle.

Waldensians

named for their founded Valders, these 12th century poor men of Lyons sought to return to the apostolic life of the early church. Their hostility toward clergy (due to clerical abuses) eventually led to their condemnation by the Council of Verona in 1184.

Basil of Caearea

one of the Cappadocian Fathers, known as the Father of Eastern Monasticism

Nestorian

one who accepts the Christology promoted by Nestorius who held that Jesus had two separate natures (one the perfect man without sin who is son of Mary in the Flesh, the other the divine word of God, or Logos settled within him) a term sometimes applied to the Ancient Assyrian Church of the East.

Iconoclast

one who is opposed to veneration of icons

Feudal System

organization of society on the basis of bonds of personal loyalty between a lord and his vassal, based on Mutual duties and benefits. Feudal=treaty or agreement. Feudalism provided security and protection at a time when central political authority was weak. Wealthy landlords deeded large tracts of lang to vassals who, in return agreed to provide certain services like military assistance for the landlords. The vassals in turn required serfs or peasants to work the land.

University

originally the "guild" or association of teachers and students united in the "craft" of teaching and learning. By the thirteenth century, universities began to develop into institutions of higher learning with permanent faculties and offered basic degrees in the "arts" and more advanced degrees in various fields of specialization.

College of Cardinals

originally the cardinals were local Roman clergy who assisted the pope in his work as Bishop of Rome in the Middle Ages they gained exclusive responsibility for electing a pope and for advising him on matters pertaining to the operation of the Roman Catholic Church. Today they come from all over the world and represent along with the college of bishops the university of the Church.

Lent

period of forty weekdays in which Christians fast, and do penance in anticipation of the feast of Easter, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Innocent III

pope of the roman catholic church, perhaps best known for his political involvements. The Fourth Lateran Council took place during his reign.

Works of Satisfaction

prayers, fasting, pilgrimages or works of piety assigned to a person in the sacrament of penance to remove the penalties or consequences of sin.

Inculturarion

process by which a religion learned to live and act within a culture different from one in which it began, so that the religion gradually comes to act naturally within that culture's pattern of actions and thought.

Papacy

referring to the reign of a pope or the office of popes in general

Gregorian Chant

repertoire of music consisting of chants used in the city of Rome together with the native chants of the Frankish churches, mandated by Charlemange to be used as church music throughout the empire.

Mortal Sin

sin that is committed willfully and deliberately and with the understanding that it is serious wrongdoing.

Manichees

strongly dualistic religion deriving its name from Many, a third century prophet and visionary. Like the gnostics before them, the believed in a dualism of evil matter and good spirit. They taught that people could liberate spirit from matter through the strict practice of asceticism,

Ulrich Zwingli

swiss reformer and theologian, known especially for his emphasis on justification by grace alone, his "spiritual" understanding of the eucharist, his exclusive relience on the bible rather than church traditions and proclamations, and his opposition to priestly celibacy and the use of images in worship. Zwingli was killed defending zurich, the city he led through the reformation, against attack by catholics.

Pagan

term used to describe those persons who are neither Christian nor Jew.

Constantine

the First Christian Emperor of Rome. He paved the way for the establishment of Christaintiy as the sole legal religion in the Roman Empire and began the practice of calling ecumenical councils to resolve urgent issues affecting the whole church.

Article

the basic unit of many medieval theological works such as Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas. Each article considers one question and contains the following elements: a statement of the question, a review of the arguments for and against the proposition, the authors own view on the question, and finally a reply to the arguments with which the author ultimately disagreed.

Relics

the bodily remains of martyrs or other saints.

Restorationism

the idea that the way to reform and renew Christianity was to restore the church to the original structures, beliefs and practices that prevailed during the time of Jesus and the apostles. The radical reformers of the 16th century held this belief. In the 19th century America, the Second Great Awakening (religious revival) inspired new restorationist churches that called themselves simply the "Christian Church" and also the "Disciples of Christ".

Believer's Baptism

the idea, popularized by the church of the Radical Reformation, that since Baptism involves entering into a covenant with God, it requires an act of conscious active belief on the part of the person being baptized. SInce only adults are old enough to formulate such belief and make such a decision, infant baptism is ruled out.

Curia

the pope's court staffed by the college of cardinal, a papal advisory team of bishops and clergy.

Nepotism

the practice of allowing dispensations from church law for the advancement of ones relatives

Enculuration

the process by which an individual learns to live and act within a particular culture in such a way that the culture's particular pattern of actions and thought becomes second nature to the person.

Abbot

the spiritual leader who governs an organized community of monks.

Cosmology

the study of the nature and structure of the universe, a particular model of the structure of the universe.

Relativism

the view that all theological positions are equally valid and that truth or moral goodness is not absolute but is relative to individuals experiences.

Fourth Lateran Council

urged reform of the clergy and defined the dogma of transubstantiation, concerning the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.