bold words from compact guide to the whole bible

prophets

A specialized spokesperson for God. In the Old Testament, various prophets appear in Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. The title is not sufficient, however, since these stories also include the presence of false prophets. Person designated as prophets also appear in the New Testament and, as in the Old Testament, there are false prophets among them.

exile

A stock term usually referring to the Babylonian destruction of Judah in 587 BCE. However, the northern Kingdom of Israel also suffered an exile previously in 722 BCE at the hand of the Assyrians.

parables

A story, saying, or riddle that compares something-- often from nature--with the kingdom of God, in order to illustrate what the kingdom is abut or to point to who God is. As such, Jesus's parables typically chapping standard worldview and shock with the radical logic of God's ways.

wisdom literature

A term referring to OT books of wisdom, principally Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, along with the Wisdom of Solomon and Sirach in the Deuterocanon.

hellenism

A term referring to the larger Greek culture that dominated the Mediterranean and eastward world after the conquest of Alexander the Great. Hellenization made Greek the common tongue of the day and introduced aspects ofGreek culture to the peoples and religions affected.

canaanites

A term that sometimes refer to a particular group and sometime stop the collective inhabitants of the land that Israel was to occupy. When the term refers to the latter, the so-called Seven Nations are often specified.

apocrypha

From a Greek word meaning "hidden"; refers to ancient literature not accepted as fully canonical in the collection of Jewish or Chrisitan Scriptures. Among these text are those designates "deuterocanonical" in the Roman Catholic tradition.

apocryphal

From a Greek word meaning "hidden"; refers to ancient literature not accepted as fully canonical in the collection of Jewish or Chrisitan Scriptures. Among these text are those designates "deuterocanonical" in the Roman Catholic tradition.

canonical, canonization, canon

From a Greek word meaning "measure," "canon" referred initially to a "rule" (as in a ruler with which one measures) but came to also refer to an official, approved list. Authorized persons, doctrines, and books can be designated "canonical." Typically "canon" and "canonical" refer to the collection of Christian Scriptures, and "canonization" refers to the process by which those books we're collected into an authoritative whole

diaspora

From a Greek word meaning "scatter," "diaspora" bears both geographical and theological meanings in the Bible. Geographically, the Diaspora referred to the places outside the land of Palestine to which Jews had been "scattered," but it also functioned theologically in reference to believers scattered way from their true spiritual home and living as aliens and exiles in a foreign land as a result.

Lords' supper

A ritual practiced by Christians, by Jesus's command to memorialize Christ's death, celebrate Christian fellowship, and anticipate the great feast that will take place at Christ's return.

zealots

A sect of first-century Judaism that strove for military victory over Rome and the reestablishment of the Jewish nation

essenes

A sectarian group in first- Century Judaism dedicated to spiritual purity and strict conformity to the Jewish law. The Essenes believed the temple in Jerusalem had been corrupted by Hellenistic influences and thus withdrew form it. Many scholars today associate the Essenes wit the Qumran community

dispersion

From a Greek word meaning "scatter," "diaspora" bears both geographical and theological meanings in the Bible. Geographically, the Diaspora referred to the places outside the land of Palestine to which Jews had been "scattered," but it also functioned theologically in reference to believers scattered way from their true spiritual home and living as aliens and exiles in a foreign land as a result.

gospels

From the Greek term euangelion, meaning "good news," "gospel" referred initially to preaching the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Later it came to function also as a genre of literature focused on the person and teaching of Jesus. The four Gospels make up the first canonical unit of the New Testament.

sanhedrin

Inhabitants of the ancient northern kingdom of Israel who in Jesus's day were rivals of Jews associated with the Jerusalem temple. Pious Jews considered them to be religiously impure and thus had no dealings with them.

promised land

Refers to Canaan, the land specifically promised to the ancestors of Israel as related in Genesis 12-50

transhistorical

Refers to human actions i space and time in which God is also involved. This is the main category for biblical material since the main actor in the Bible is God. Devine action cannot be ascertained by the normal rules of historical research.

herod the great

Roman client king of Judea referred to in Gospel accounts of Jesus' birth. By Jesus's adult years Judea was divided among his sons. The harridans referred to in the Gospels could have been courtiers or soldiers of Herod but were probably a political party of sorts distinguishable form the two major parties of the day, the pharisees and the Sadducees.

yahweh

The personal name of the Creator God of Israel as revealed to Moses. This crucially important name for God occurs around sixty-eight hundred times in the OT and was considered so sacred that ancient scribes replaced it with Adonai, rendered "Lord" in English translations. The name itself appears to be a derivative of the Hebrew verb "to be," so it is typically taken to mean something like "I am"

psalms

songs and liturgies that are a central part of the prayer and worship of Jews and Christians. The Old Testament book of Pslams is a five-part collection including psalms of thanksgiving, praise, lament, and confession.

baptism

the Christian ritual of initiation, practiced according to Jesus's command (Matt. 28:18-20), whereby individuals are plunged in water to signify either repentance (in the case of John the Baptist) or participation in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

passover

the annual Jewish commemoration of their deliverance by God from slavery in Egypt

writings

the third canonical unit of both the Jewish Bible and the Christian old Testament. In Jewish Bibles it is the final collection and contains many more books than the Christian Old Testament, which included only books of wisdom and poetry- Job, Pslams, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs

antiochus iv

215-164 BCE- Seleucid King whose oppression against Jews and desecration of the temple helped bring about the Maccabean Revolt

pharisees

A first-century movement of laymen (non priests) who were focused on preserving the purity of Jewish religious practice against the defilements of Greek and Roman culture. Mad up of teachers and experts int eh law (scribes and rabbis), this is the group most closely associated with Jesus and therefore comprises his primary antagonists in the Gospel narratives

allegory

A form of reading that understands features of texts to symbolize spiritual realities, under the assumption that god seeks to reveal deeper things to the reader that are not obviously present in the "literal sense" of the text

metanarrative

A grand, overarching story that takes a group of smaller, different stories and provides a framework for understanding how they all fit together.

maccabean revolt

A rebellion agains the Jews' Seleucid overloads that resulted in a brief independence for the Jewish people in 167-160 BCE. Named after Mattathias the Hasmonean's eldest son, Judas Maccabeus, who led the revolution following his father's death. Under Judas's leadership, the Jewish rebels eventually recaptured parts of Jerusalem(164 BCE), rededicating the temple to God and restoring the Jewish community still celebrated this improbable victory at the Festival of lights, called "Hanukkah."

assyria

An ancient Mesopotamian empire existing from ca.2500 to 605 BCE. Assyria was responsible for conquering the northern kingdom or Israel in 722 BCE and dispersing its inhabitants throughout the Assyrian Empire.

dead sea scrolls

Ancient manuscripts discovered in the mid-twentieth centurion caves near the Dead Sea. The text found there were once in the library of the Qumran community, which dwelled nearby for the second century BCE until the Roman conquest during the First Jewish War (66-74CE). The discovery was a major find insofar as the library included manuscripts of the PT as well as the writings of a Jewish messianic sect roughly contemporaneous with earliest Christianity.

moabite

Generally, the term refers to a particular population and nation-state that abutted Israel. More important, the term is derisive in that the story telling of the origins of the Moabites is a sordid account of incest. That is what makes the story of Ruth the Moabite so radical.

hebrew poetry

Known primarily by its parallel members, in which thoughts more than sounds rhyme. All of the Psalter, most of the prophets, and a few other large books are written in poetic form.

judges

Leaders called by God to deliver Israel from oppression, even through the oppression came about by Israel's sin. Israel's judges are major characters in the OT books leading up to the rise of the monarchy

church fathers

Leaders of the ancient Christian church who lived after the time of the apostles and were recognized as great teachers or influential bishops

redeemed

Literally to gin of regain possession of something by offering a payment. Biblically the world is used most frequently in relation to God's deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt and the deliverance of all humanity from the effect of human sin through Jesus' work of reconciliation.

redemption

Literally to gin of regain possession of something by offering a payment. Biblically the world is used most frequently in relation to God's deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt and the deliverance of all humanity from the effect of human sin through Jesus' work of reconciliation.

sadducees

One of the dominant sext of firs-century Judaism, made up of the priestly class and those particularly associated with the temple in Jerusalem. In contrast to the Pharisees, the Sadducees recognized only the Torah as authoritative Scripture.

alexander the great

The Greek conqueror who, in just over a decade, amassed an enormous empire that included the land formerly belonging to Israel

septuagint

The Greek word meaning "gather together" or "assembly," the synagogue developed int the post exilic period as a place where Jews living away from Jerusalem might gather together for prayers and the reading of Scripture.

torah

The Hebrew name for the first five nooks of the old Testament. Meaning "instruction" in Hebrew, the word is also sometimes used to designate the whole instruction of God derived from the times used to designate the whole instruction of God derived form the Scriptures. The Torah includes both narrative and the law of Moses

vulgate

The Latin translation of the Bible produced by Jerome and his school at the end of the fourth century CE. The Vulgate served as the authoritative version of the Bible for the Western church and continues to see as the basis for versions of the Bible considered authoritative of Roman Catholics.

catholic epistles

The NT letter collection including gone letter form jesus' brother James, two from the apostle Peter, three from the apostle John, an done from Jesus's brother Jude-- figures associated with the mission to Jews in Jerusalem and designated "pillars" of that church by Paul. The ancient church called these letters "catholic" in part because most of them bear a "universal" address. Evidence also exists that the letters were included to ensure the "catholicity" of the apostolic message-- that is, to balance out the immense impact of Paul's witness in order to ensure the NT included a "whole" communication from all of the apostles and not just Paul alone.

deuterocanonical

The Roman Catholic title for biblical books frequently called "Apocrypha" by protestants. As the name makes plain, deuterocanonical text hold a "secondary" level of canonical authority

intertestamenral period

The period in Israel's history form the time of the second temple's construction in the sixth century BCE to its destruction in 70 CE.

pentateuch

The first "five books" of the Old Testament, called the "Torah" in Judaism and the Hebrew Scriptures. The Pentateuch is the first canonical unit of the Old Testament, containing both narrative and legal texts.

book of the twelve

The last book of the canonical prophets, so called because the twelve short writings (hoses-malachi) would fit on a single scroll. They are often designated the Minor Prophets to distinguish them from the much longer "major" prophetic books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.

reconciliation

The restoration of right relations. often synonymous with "atonement," an old English word referring to the at-one-ment created when a broken relationship is restored

circumcision

The sign of the covenant with God for Jewish males, performed of on the eight day of life, wherein the foreskin of the penis is removed

eschatological

The theology of las of final things that describes God's goal for creation

ark of the covenant

a religious object that evokes the presence and power of God. Sometimes sacred objects are placed in it (tablets of the covenant) the ark is typically mobile.

messiah

anointed, typically with olive oil. This sacred act indicated divine selection for a certain task, such as prophet or king. the greek term is christ

historical

describing intellectual inquiry into the cause and effects of human action in space and time. While human history may be conceived as the sum total of human experience, that is ultimately a history that only God knows. What human beings regard as historical is limited to human action and reaction as discernible from documentation and made public and subject to review, criticism, and improvement.

discipleship

from a greek word meaning "learner" or "apprentice," "disciple" is used to designate a follower of Jesus.