Christianity/Judaism

Bethlehem

It is best known as the birthplace of both David and Jesus. It is five miles from Jerusalem. Birth of JC In Bethlehem necessary to link to King David

Money Lenders at the Temple

Showed how far religion had deteriorated when commerce was being practiced in the house of God--thoroughly enraged JC.. ON THE OTHER HAND, sacrifices were to be made and ppeople traveled long distances and it would have been difficult to travel w/ their sacrifices..convenience

Virgin Mary

She was born at Nazareth in Galilee about 16 years before the birth of Christ.she concieved and gave birth to Jesus by the Holy Spirit not a human father

Last Supper

part of the Passion of Christ- both the passover and the eucharist are this - the last supper took place on the jewish feast day of passover

Paganism

any of various religions other than Christianity or Judaism or Islamism --idolatry, heathenism

Garden of Gethsemane

place where Jesus often went with his disciples to pray, rest, and talk; here that he was betrayed by Judas Iscariot

Trinity

the mystery of one God in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

martyr

one who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty for refusing to renounce their religion

Caiaphus

High Priest, present at trial of Jesus

orthopraxy

("right behavior or practice"). Unlike "orthodoxy" (right belief), this term emphasizes conduct, both ethical and liturgical.

Saul

(New Testament) a Christian missionary to the Gentiles

Apostle Paul

(New Testament) a Christian missionary to the GentilesEx. author of several Epistles in the New Testament; even though Paul was not present at the Last Supper he is considered an apostle; "Paul's name was Saul prior to his conversion to Christianity"instrumental gospel-spreader; made journeys to spread Christianity User-contributedhighly educated jewish roman citizen, founded christian communities throughout asia minor and aegean sea coast

parable

(New Testament) any of the stories told by Jesus to convey his religious message "the parable of the prodigal son"

Crucifixion

. the act of executing by a method widespread in the ancient world noun Ex. the victim's hands and feet are bound or nailed to a cross Jesus reportedly said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." The soldiers mocked him. One of the other people being hanging goes saved and Jesus told him that he would be coming with him to heaven., A type of execution in which a person was nailed to the cross; normally died from asphyxiation

Joseph

A descendant of David, He was engaged to Mary at Jesus' conception and birth. An angel warned him of Herod's ploy to kill Jesus, so he took Mary and the baby to Egypt. He was a carpenter in the town of Nazareth.

Perpetua

A martyred Catechumen of noble blood from North Africa who was persecuted by the Romans, kept a prison diary, and cared for her infant son in prison.refused to offer sacrafice to the roman gods

Cities of the Roman Empire

Alexandria, Athens, Carthage, Constantinople, Damascus. Jerusalem, Antioch

Dead Sea Scrolls

Believed to have been written by fanatical purist Jewish sect that died out--the Essenes The Dead Sea Scrolls consist of roughly 800 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves in and around the Wadi Qumran near the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran, on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. The texts are of great religious and historical significance, as they include some of the only known surviving copies of Biblical documents made before 100 AD, and preserve evidence of considerable diversity of belief and practice within late Second Temple Judaism. They are written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, mostly on parchment, but with some written on papyrus. These manuscripts generally date between 150 BC to 70 AD.The Essenes were a Jewish community who lived in the desert near the western shores of the Dead Sea and in the towns of Judaea. We know something about their lifestyle and beliefs from contemporary writers, but our understanding of them was hugely improved by the accidental discovery of the so-called 'Dead Sea Scrolls' in caves at Qumran in 1947. The scrolls include incredibly ancient copies of the Hebrew scriptures, and texts describing the ascetic regime and apocalyptic beliefs of the Essenes. The Dead Sea Scrolls reveal that Christianity was not a unique spiritual and religious phenomenon. Tracking similarities between the Essenes and Christians is not difficult. The Essenes were apparently so devoted to their beliefs that they were prepared to be martyred for them. This was an impressive precursor of the tendency of some early Christians to embrace martyrdom for their faith, under persecution. The Essenes and early Christians also shared apocalyptic beliefs, that is a belief in the imminent end of the world, which influenced the way in which they chose to live. The Essenes and some early Christians espoused a pious, ascetic life, deserting the city and the secular world for a life of solitary or communal prayer and self-denial. But the Essenes were not a Christian group. Their writings make no mention of John the Baptist, Jesus, or Jesus's followers. The Dead Sea Scrolls reveal, if anything, that Christianity was not a unique spiritual and religious phenomenon, but had much in common with the Essenes. Perhaps their shared experience of time and space contributed to the formation of a sense of impending doom and a similar belief in captivity by a sinful world

beatitudes

From Sermon on the Mount Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who huger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Judas

One of the original 12 apostles and the one who allegedly betrayed Jesus by giving him up to the chief priests who then turned Jesus into Pilate. And how did Jesus feel about Judas? Did he forgive his betrayer? Once again, the four Gospels head in different directions. At his arrest in Matthew, Jesus says to Judas, "Friend, do what you are here to do," which certainly has a tone of forgiveness. But Luke reports that Jesus asks Judas, "Is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?"—seemingly a much more damning question. Mark does not report Jesus speaking to Judas or about the fate of Judas. In John, the account is sharply different as Jesus turns himself over to the soldiers without being identified by Judas, depicting Jesus as the master of his own destiny and not a victim of Judas's treachery.

Constantine

Roman emperor (r. 312-337). After reuniting the Roman Empire, he moved the capital to Constantinople and made Christianity a favored religion. (p.159)stopped the persecution of Christians (280-337)

Pliny

Roman governor who asked the emperor to confirm that he should continue killing Christians Wrote a history into which he threw nearly everything he'd ever read—source of much misinformation

Antioch

The first community that included both Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus was established in this city., a place where the Jewish Christians went to seek refuge and escape Roman persecution, third largest city in the Roman empire the place where the word "Christian" was first used

Pontius Pilate

Who was the Roman Govenor that declared Jesus an enemy of the sate and orders the arrest of him?Jesus was imprisoned, condemned, and executed by crucifixion by the order of what Roman Governor?

10 commandments

YHWH gave Moses on Mount Sinai; tells us how to worship YHWH and how to treat each other moral code of laws, written by god and given to Moses no false gods.2. do not use Gods name in vain . 3. keep holy the Sabbath day 4 obey mother and father. 5. you shall not kill 6. adultery. 7. stealing. 8. do not bear false witness .. 9 do notcovet neighbors wife. 10.do not covet neighbors property,

Nag Hammadi

a collection of 13 ancient papyrus codices translated from Greek into Coptic that were discovered by farmers near the town of Nag Hammadi in 1945 the codices contain 45 distinct works including the chief sources of first-hand knowledge of Gnosticism

Gnostics

a group that believed that all material things including the human body were evil denied Jesus' humanity Originators of the heresy that creatio ex nihilo was written to defend against

Nazareth

a historic town in northern Israel that is mentioned in the Gospels as the home of Joseph and Mary Later it was determined that perhaps Nazareth was not so "removed from civilization b/c nearby town unearthed Sepphoris 1 hrs walk frm Nazareth - houses have ritual baths attached -means was Jewish vs. Greek but trades people w/ all diff languages prob went there and JC and pals prob. communicated in Greek

heretic

a person who holds religious beliefs in conflict with the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church

Bishop Irenaeus

comprised the # of gospels, brought as many christens together as possible (Constantine went towards his ideas)Irenaeus believed • Jesus was utterly unique • born in a unique way and • raised from the dead in a unique way. • about the virginal conception wrote : "In the last times, not by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but by the good pleasure of the Father, his hands formed a living man, in order that Adam might be created [again] after the image and likeness of God." • Nicaean creed stated, believers Jesus was in fact, in the reinterpretation of Isaiah by Matthew, Emmanuel, or "God with us."

Passion of Christ

event in the life of Christ at the last supper, agony in the garden, his arrest, trial--- and executioncontained in all Gospel accounts

Gospel of Thomas

found on Egypt 1945probably 2century some new info and many repetitions danger in accepting this or any newly found historical "fragments" that many teachers attribute and write great things posthumously about ppl they respect

Caesar Augustus

ruler of Rome when Jesus was born, had a census taken Honorific name of Octavian, founder of the Roman Principate, the military dictatorship that replaced the failing rule of the Roman Senate. He established his rule after the death of Julius Caesar and he is considered the first Roman Emperor.

King Herod

son of a powerful king of Judea, Built Judea as miniature Rome. Had no interest in Christianity, persecuted the believers. War between the Jews and Romans broke out after his death and resulted in the second exile or diaspora of the Jews.

synoptic gospels

the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Their authors often seem to have used the same sources of one another's work in writing their accounts

New Testament

the collection of the books of the Bible that were produced by the early Christian church, comprising the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles, and the Revelation of St. John the Divine 27 books composed in the century after Christ's death; the second half of the Christian Bible

Coptic Gospels

the final stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the seventeenth century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the first century. The new writing system became the Coptic script, an adapted Greek alphabet with the addition of six to seven signs from the demotic script to represent Egyptian phonemes absent from Greek. Several distinct Coptic dialects are identified, the most prominent of which are Sahidic and Bohairic.

Sermon on the Mount

the first major discourse delivered by Jesus (Matthew 5-7 and Luke 6:20-49)a part of the Gospel according to Matthew in which Jesus preaches important moral teachings, including the Beatitudes

Sanhedrin

the seventy-one member supreme legislative and judicial body of the Jewish people the supreme council of the Jews; they were threatened by the Way, they Tried to stamp out the growing movement of Jesus' followers, and also began to persecute them

Orthodox

traditional; conservative in beliefs Judaisim

Galilee

• center of Jesus' ministry • rich, fertile land • farmers, shepherds • mainly a poor under educated population Jewish population with several non-Jews • unique Aramaic dialect among Jewish Galileans, • home to Nazareth, other cities: Cana, Bethsaida, Capernaum User-contributed Large region of North District of Israel. Home of Jsus during at least 30 years of his life. In the Roman times, Antipas ruled over this region.