Religion 101: Christianity

Kingdom of God

(1) The Kingdom of God was seen by the early church as a future establishment of God's reign on earth, usually with Jesus as king. The first Christians expected this kingdom to come during their lifetime. When this did not happen, the belief was reshaped to point to some unspecified future moment. The Book of Revelation (i.e., the Apocalypse of John), with its notions of the second coming of Christ and themillennium, helped in this process by specifying in symbolic language both the future coming of the Kingdom and the events that would lead up to it. (2) This belief has alternated through Christian history with another concept of the Kingdom of God. This concept makes the kingdom into the institution of the established church. It first came into prominence after Constantine's triumph made Christianity into the religion of the Roman Empire.

Jerusalem

1) It was the place where Jesus completed his ministry. Here he was crucified and then rose from the dead. Thus Jerusalem is the stage on which God's plan of salvation was put into effect. (2) Prior to that, it had been the center of Judaism--the religion of the people Israel--which Christianity claimed to inherit and replace. (3) Jerusalem was one of the five early Patriarchates, being established as such by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. (4) Shortly after Constantine's triumph, his mother Helena took an extended trip to Jerusalem to identify all the holy sites where the Jesus had been active in his last days, that is, where the drama of salvation had been played out. These sites were then all sanctified with the erection of churches, and provided Christianity with a sense of sacred space rooted in sacred history. (5) Jerusalem fell to the Muslims in 638. (6) Western Europe send a series of military expeditions called Crusadesfrom 1095 up to the thirteenth century to try to free Jerusalem from Islamic rule. Christian rulers held Jerusalem from 1099 to 1187.

Baptism

A ritual which a person is immersed in water. This immersion has had several different meanings. (1) The baptism of John the Baptist was developed before Jesus started his ministry. It was for the forgiveness of an individual's sins. (2) Christian baptism is primarily a conversion ceremony that brings a person into the Christian religion, after a confession of faith in Christ. (3) In most churches, baptism has become a sacrament. (4) Some churches have developed a baptism ritual in which a person is spinkled with water rather than immersed. (5) Sprinkling is often done to infants before they are old enough to make a confession of faith. In this case, most churches hold that when the child reaches adulthood they must confirm their beliefs.

Purgatory

A temporary place for people who have died with the expectation of salvation, but who have not worked out punishment due for some of their sins (i.e., most Christians). In purgatory, this punishment is undergone. Entrance into purgatory is determined by Particular Judgment. At the Judgment Day, they will be released an will enter into heaven. There are similar ideas inOrthodoxy, but they are not so well defined.

Calvinist churches

Also called the Reformed Churches, are based on the thought of Calvin and other Reformed theologians. In the English world, these churchs take the form of the Presbyterian and Congregational denominations. Calvinism was a world-wide movement that influenced the growth of Christianity in Holland, Switzerland, Germany, and from those countries it spread across the world. While Calvinism follows all-important Protestant innovations in Christian belief and theology, it adds to them its own emphases. These can be summed in the idea of the majesty of God and his will and purpose. In human terms, this means that individual Christians each have a purpose in life--to fulfill their role in God's plan. Thus members of these churches have historically been activists, working to affect the world around them. Another change instituted in Calvinism was the desacralization of human life; this resulted in the removal of all sacraments from the liturgy except for baptism and communion.

Satan

Also known as the devil, Satan was once a Prince of Angels who rebelled against God along with the angels who followed him. They were caste into hell. This made hell the place for the punishment of the disobediant angels and humans. From hell, Satan also "rules" the earth, thereby tempting Christians to forsake God and to sin.

Justice

As the divine Judge, God the Father acts with Justice. Justice dictates that sinners should be punished. This would thus require the punishment of all human beings. And since all humanity has been born with Original Sin, all humanity would be punished with damnation in hell. However, God also acts with mercy. So he will forgive the sin of anyone who, through faith, believes in the salvation of Jesus.

Athanasius

Bishop of Alexandria from 328 to 373. He attended the Council of Nicea as his predecessor's assistant. He was a strong proponent of Alexandrian theology and a staunch opponent of Arianism. He helped the fledgling monastic movement and one of his letters preserves the earliest list of the books of the New Testament as they were ultimately canonized.

Old Testament

Canonized by the Councils of Hippo in 393 and Carthage in 397 and 419, consisted of the Hebrew books of the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings as well as the Greek books of Tobit, Judith, the Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiaticus, and I and II Maccabees. The Protestant Churches after the Reformation rejected the Greek books--deeming them less holy than those written in Hebrew--and termed them Apocrypha. Thus the Protestant Old Testament is smaller than that of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.

Judgement Day

Christian theology from the earliest times has believed that a future time will come when there will be a day of judgment for all humanity. Also known as the Last Judgment, God will at that time raise all human beings from the dead and will judge them. Because of the notion of sin and Original Sin, every single human will deserve punishment, that is, eternal damnation in hell. But because of Jesus' death and resurrection, those who believe in him and his act of salvation will receive God's mercy and enter into an eternal life in heaven.

Bible

Consists of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament essentially consists of the Hebrew Bible, while the New Testament contains books which tell about Jesus and the early decades of the Church. After the Reformation, the Protestants removed a number of the books from the Catholic Old Testament which were given the name Apocrypha.

Martin Luther

Credited with beginning the Protestant Reformation by tacking his "95 Theses" to the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral in 1517. The "Theses" asked for changes and modification of the Catholic Church. When this act brought attacks on Luther, he separated from the Catholic Church and became the earliest, major thinker of Protestantism. Although Luther's influence and thought underlies every Protestant denomination, the Lutheran Churches provide the most faithful practice of his theology.

Anglican churches

Founded in England in early sixteenth century (the early Reformation period) when King Henry broke with the Catholic Church in order to divorce his wife. Like the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church is hierarchichal; its leader is the King or Queen of England while its spiritual head is the Archbishop of Canterbury. In the United States, the Episcopal Church is a branch of Anglicanism and is considered one of the largest four or five protestant denominations.

Father

God the Father is one of the three parts of the Trinity. In this character, he is seen as the Creator of the universe (cosmos), the eternal Judge, and the guider of the history of salvation which culminated in the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is the god who is revealed in the Old Testament.

Protestant churches

Had there origins in the Reformation in the sixteenth century, when many european Christians broke away from the Catholic Church. Martin Luther is considered the founder of the Protestant movement, while John Calvin was influential as well. In the beginning, there were few different churches--much of Germany became Lutheran--later on the Protestant churches kept splitting and breaking off. Today there are thousands of different Protestant denominations across the world. The reasons for the revolt against the church were a combination of theological and political rationals. The theological reasons provided the basis for much of early Protestant thought. They were against the authority of the Pope and of the tradition of the Catholic Church. They therefore: (1) argued for a church organized along biblically based ideas and (2) put the Bible in the most authoritative position, thereby rejecting the tradition of the Church and its teaching authority. (3) They also believed in the "priesthood of all believers," which meant that each Christian could communicate directly with God and did not have to approach him through the intermediary of a priest or a saint

Angels

Heavenly beings who serve as God's messangers and helpers. They are made out of spirit and not physical matter and so live forever.

Heaven

In Christian cosmology (belief about the cosmos), heaven has three main meanings. First, it is the abode of God, his angels, and the saints. Second, it is the place where people who have received salvation go after they have been judged to be among the righteous. Third, in the future, God will transform the cosmos and remake it so that there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth. Hell In Christian cosmology (theology about the cosmos), hell is the place of eternal damnation. When a person is judged, if they have not received salvation, they will be considered to be evil and will receive eternal punishment in hell.

Atonement

In Christianity, atonement is necessary because of God's character of Justice; he must act at all times with Justice. This means that when humans sin--or more accurately, since all humanity is born with original sin--they must pay the penalty of sin which is death. Since God cannot act with Mercy to waive punishment without violating his character of Justice, somehow the penalty must be paid. To accomplish this, God himself (in the form of Jesus) died on the cross as the punishment for humanity's sinful nature and was resurrected to bring salvation to effect atonement.

Arianism

It was the focus of the first Church council, the Council of Nicea. Its founder was Arius, who had developed an explanation for the Christian godhead. He did not believe in the Trinity, but instead held that God the Father was the only god and that Jesus and the Holy Spirit were created. Jesus was seen as the Prince of Angels who had come to earth and made himself into a human. (For the purposes of this course, we will ignore the issue of the Holy Spirit.) This explanation allowed Arius to maintain two important Christian ideas, namely, the oneness of God (monotheism) and the idea that Jesus was a historical figure who actually did the things he appeared to do--such as die (how can a god die?). The problem with it was that Arius' explanation also made Jesus into a created being, a "creature," rather than part of God.

Eastern Orthodox Church

One of two churches that were created by the east/west split of Christianity in 1054. (The other was the Catholic Church.) It includes the Orthodox Churches of Russia, Greece, Romania, and other "eastern" countries. The Orthodox Churches have similar beliefs to the Catholic Church: it is hierarchical (at least within each of the national churches), believes in the seven sacraments, holds to the decisions of the early Church Councils (such as Nicea) and the importance of the Church as a teaching authority, and emphasizes the importance of priests and liturgy. They also make extensive use of icons in personal devotion.

Protestant Reformation

Reformation began in 1517 when Martin Luther tacked up 95 theses ("ideas") on the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral. Although meant as friendly criticism, these remarks lead to Luther's ouster from the Catholic Church, after which he gave his energy to founding a new church, now known as the Lutheran Church. Luther's writings provided the basis for all later protestant writings, including those of Calvinism, Baptism (actually Anabaptism), and others. Due to political forces, protestantism quickly gained adherents across Europe, with whole countries--or at least large segments of countries--turning protestant. Following the Reformation, the Protestant Churches developed into four main streams: Lutheranism, Calvinism (a.k.a. Reformed), Baptist, and Anglican.

New Testament

The 27 books of the New Testament make up the second part of the Christian Bible. It consists of the four gospels ("gospel" means "good news"), the Acts of the Apostles, 13 letters of Paul, the letters of Hebrew, I-III John, Jude, James, I-II Peter, and Revelation. It took the Church a long time to agree on the canon of the New Testament. Bishop Athanasius officially settled the matter in the fourth century, but it was not until the seventh century that all branches of Christianity accepted his delineation.

Council of Nicea

The First Church Council was the Council of Nicea (or Nicaea) which was called by the Emperor Constantine in 325. It is mainly known for deciding the nature of Jesus. Its participants decisively ruled that Jesus was both human and divine, and that he was equivalent to (literally, "of the same substance as") God the Father. This had the result of making Arianism a heresy. The Nicene Creed encapsulated this theological doctrine.

Faith

The belief in things unseen and unproven. Demonstrated facts, for example, do not require faith. In Protestantism, faith takes on a deeper meaning. It is the acceptance of God with the whole self, that is, with one's mind, emotions, and will.

Jesus

The central figure of Christianity. He was a Jewish peasant whose father was a craftsman (carpenter) in the Galilean village of Nazareth. He was probably born about 4 bce and was killed about 28 ce. The New Testament gospels claim that he had a miraculous birth, his mother Mary being inseminated by God himself. Apparently he had a rather quiet upbringing and did not start his public teaching until his late 20's. He then had a three to four year career of teaching and healing. Most of his teachings were about the coming of the Kingdom of God, and about personal humility before God and other humans. When Jesus was 33, he was crucified in Jerusalem by the Romans. According to Christian belief, Jesus rose from the dead after three days, visited his disciples, and then ascended into heaven.

Son

The designation Jesus receives as part of the Holy Trinity. This is the part of God who became human, was killed, and then resurrected to provide humanity with salvation.

Original Sin

The doctrine that Adam and Eve, the archetypal, first humans, disobeyed God and caused permanent estrangement between him and humanity. From that point on, human beings were born in sin (Original Sin) and, without intervention, would die in sin and go to hell. Jesus, the Second Adam, therefore had to come to earth to provide salvation as liberation from the curse of Original Sin.

Trinity/God

The doctrine that the Christian God is three beings in one. These are the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. The basic character of this doctrine was hammered out at the Council of Nicea in 325. It holds that God is One--he is not multiple--even though the three parts have done different things and function in different ways. The doctrine of the Trinity was developed as part of the condemnation of Arianism.

Lutheran Churches

The first Protestant Churches established. They followed the events set in motion by Martin Luther and essentially followed his theology and thinking about Christianity. They emphasize the authority of the Bible along with the sacraments as a means of achieving salvation.

Second Coming

The idea that Christ will come a second time as the messiah. This time he will bring a Judgment Day, reward all the Christians, and punish evil doers. Different churches and denominations have different understandings how this will happen, some of which are quite elaborate and include cataclismic battles, superhuman warriors, and the intervention of God to end all evil. One of these elaborate theologies is calledpre-millennialism.

Holy Roman Empire

The name given to the Roman Empire after it became Christian under Constantine and his successors.

Alexandria, Egypt

The second most important city in the Roman Empire, was made one of the church's first three Patriarchates, along with Rome and Antioch at the Council of Nicea in 325.

Constantine the Great

The sole Emperor of the Roman Empire from 312 to his death in 337. He started the process that ultimately made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, which transformed it into the Holy Roman Empire. In 325, he called the Council of Nicea to decide the nature of Jesus as Christ.

Rome

The sole capital of the Roman Empire until Constantine founded Constantinople in 330. Then it was known as the western capital. Christians made their way to Rome quite early, with a noticable community there by 50 ad. It is believed that Peter was the first Bishop of Rome, and since Jesus said that he would "build his church" on the "rock" of Peter, the Bishop of Rome (later known as the Pope) claimed precedence over bishops of other cities. Rome was one of the three Patriarchates established by the Council of Nicea in 325. After being sacked by Vandals, Visigoths and other northern tribes starting in the fourth century, Rome essentially led an isolated branch of the church for several centuries. Even after reestablishing contact with the East, relations were never good with Constantinople. In 1054, the Pope excommunicated the Orthodox Patriarch, who returned the favor. This event established the separate Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Church

The term Christianity uses for the entire body of all Christians throughout the world. (2) It also refers to a particular denomation or branch of Christianity, such as the "Catholic Church" or the "Presbyterian Church."

Council of Ephesus

The third Church Council which was held in Ephesus in 431. It condemned the Nestorian idea that Jesus was two separate persons, one divine and the other human. It instead reaffirmed that both always existed at the same time in the single person of Jesus.

Antioch, Syria

The third largest and third most important city in the Roman Empire (after Rome and Alexandria). It was one of the first three Patriarchates established at the Council of Nicea in 325. The Antiochene Church was one of the earliest established outside Palestine. Antioch became part of the Muslim Empire in 638.

Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost

The third part of the Trinity. This is the power that came from God to the disciples after Jesus' resurrection and ascention into heaven. It is seen as the power that guides and strengthens Christians as they strive to do God's will.

Apostle(s)

The twelve disciples that Jesus chose during his earthly ministry were given the title "Apostle" by the Church after Jesus' death and resurrection. The missionary Paul was also given this title.

Roman Catholic Church

The western-most of two churches that were created by the east/west split of Christianity in 1054. (The other was theEastern Orthodox Church.) Its headquarters is in Rome, in the Vatican. Its leader is the Pope, who occupies the top point of a heirarchy which begins with the laity and the priests and climbs up through bishops, archbishops, and cardinals. Catholics emphasize the importance of the church's teaching authority and the sacraments. The central act of worship is the Mass or Holy Communion. It is from the Catholic Church that the Protestant Churches broke off during the Reformation.

Resurrection

This is Jesus' act by which he conquered death and sin. After being crucified, Jesus lay dead over the Sabbath and the Passover holiday. He then became alive again (without any decomposition). This is known as the resurrection. It is this power, by which he overcame death, that also conquered the sin of humanity. Thus Jesus' resurrection provides salvation for all christians.

Soul, Spirit

This is the part of human beings that gives them life. During life, it dwells within the body, but after death is freed from it. It is the soul that is eternal and receives the punishment of sin or the rewards of salvation. The substance of the soul is thus spirit--an eternal character--rather than physical--a natural, temporary character like that of the body.

Crucifixation

This is the term for Jesus' death on the cross. In Roman times, the cross was an instrument of punishment for criminals, with death taking many hours--sometimes even days--to come upon the criminal so condemned. The New Testament relates that Jesus' crucifixion was followed by his resurrection. This was part of the drama of salvation.

Palestine

This is the territory at the southern end of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, between Syria in the north and Egypt in the south. This is the land where most of the events mentioned in the Old Testament took place and where Jesus carried out his ministry. Its religious center was Jerusalem in Judea. Jesus carried out his ministry in the northern part of Palestine called Galilee.

Council of Constantinople

This second Church Council (a gathering of bishops) was held in 381 to put an end to the Arian controvery which the Council of Nicea had supposedly done. It reaffirmed the orthodox position with regard to the nature of God and condemned Arianism, instituting a revised and more explicit Nicene Creed. It affirmed the position of Athanasius.

Council of Chalcedon

This was the fourth ecumenical ("worldwide") council of the church as was held in 451. It was called to debate the nature of God. The outcome was that it reaffirmed the statements of faith from the Councils of Nicea and Constantinople. In particular, it declared that Jesus had two natures from birth, one divine and one human. These were combined in equal portions within the single being of Jesus. This reemphasized the decision of the Council of Ephesus.

John Calvin

an early reformer who lived from 1509-1564. He was probably the most influential writer, thinker and theologian of the Calvinist (or Reformed) wing of the Protestant Reformation. Calvin held that the Christian Church should be organized on biblical principals, that is, along the lines explicitly stated in the Bible.

Christ/ Messiah

comes from the Greek word "Xristos," which means "the anointed one." It has the same meaning as "meshiach"--that is "messiah"--in Hebrew. It is applied to Jesus as a title, indicating his status as the one messiah. It is not Jesus' last name (i.e., surname).

Constantinople

founded by Constantine in 330 as the eastern capital of the Roman Empire. Although placed on the early town of Byzantium, this city was created as a Christian city without a pagan past (unlike Rome). At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, it was made one of the first five Patriarchates of the church. After Rome was "lost" to the barbarians and the Patriarchates to the Muslims, Constaninople and its Patriarch and Emperor remained the center of Christianity. It lead the Orthodox Church after the split with Rome and the Pope in 1054. From 1204-1261, it was captured and ruled by the Crusaders. Thus weakened, it fell to the Turks in 1453, who renamed it Istanbul.

Easter

his is the day Christians celebrate Jesus' resurrection from the dead and his triumph over sin. It is on a Sunday in the Spring, and follows "Holy Week" during which Christianity commemorates the events leading up to Jesus' death. The resurrection is the event by which Jesus provides human beings with salvation.