Ch. 9 and Ch. 10

Pentecost

1) a 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. Sinai; 2) a Christian feast celebrated fifty days after Easter, commemorating the day on which then Holy Spirit came down upon Jesus' disciples when they were in hiding after his death and resurrection. According to Acts of the Apostles, this happened during the Jewish feast of Pentecost- in Luke's account the gift of the Spirit is thus intended to parallel and transcend the gift of the Law.

penance

1) actions that show repentance for sin 2) the sacrament of forgiveness of sin, which consists of the penitent's acts of repentance, confession of sin, the intention to make reparation, and the priest's absolution of sin.

patriarch

1) an early father of a people or founder of a group, like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; 2) 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.

Monica

Augustine's mother. He writes about her in his Confessions

Pelagius

a Christian monk who introduced the Pelagic notion that original sin did not seriously damage the human capacity to do good, that human nature remained essentially good, and that human beings could lead hold lives if they exerted sufficient effort; these notions were opposed by Augustine and eventually condemned as heretical by the Catholic Church.

Apollinaris 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 soul. His views came to be regarded as heretical.

cathedral

a bishop's church. It gets its name from the bishop's chair, his cathedra, which is the symbol his teaching authority.

catechumen

a candidate for baptism who is undergoing instruction in the Christian religion.

Nestorius

a fifth-century AD patriarch of Constantinople, who taught that it was inappropriate to call Mary the Mother of God on the grounds that God could not be said to have been born; at best she was only the Mother of Christ, the man.

cenobitic monasticism

a form of monasticism in which monks live together in a community, rather than as hermits.

Arius

a fourth-century priest in Alexandria who taught that only God the Father was God in the true sense; the Son, though the divine, was created by the Father and therefore was less than him. His teaching was rejected at the Council of Nicaea and the Council of Constantinople

Cappadocia Fathers

a group of Christian priests, including Basil of Caesarea, his brother Gregory of Nysa, and Basil's friend Gregory of Nazianzus, whose theological advances and appropriation of Greek philosophical thought are reflected in the clarifications of the Nicene Creed adopted at the Council of Constantinople.

Donatists

a group of Christians that split from the main body of the church in the fourth century AD in a dispute over whether priests or bishops who collaborated with Roman persecutors of Christianity could retain their offices or administer the sacraments. Dentists maintained that clergy needed to be free from any serious sin to administer the sacraments validly. They were vigorously opposed by Augustine.

Lent

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

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.

basilica

a 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.

memoria

a type of church building built to honor the tomb of a saint or martyr, or a holy site.

ecumenical or general council

a universal gathering of Christian bishops called to resolve urgent issues affecting the whole church.

Council of Nicaea

an ecumenical council held in AD 325, which maintained the true divinity of the Son against the teaching of Arius.

Council of Constantinople

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

Council of Ephesus

an ecumenical council held in AD 431 that taught that Mary, the mother of Jesus, should be venerated at Theotokos. This safeguards the unity of Jesus Chrsit as one human-divine person.

Council of Chalcedon

an ecumenical council held in AD 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 in one person.

Manicheism

belief in a dualism of evil matter and good spirit. Teachings that people could liberate spirit from matter through the strict practice of asceticism.

Ambrose of Milan

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

Athanasius of Alexandria

bishop of Alexandria and staunch opponent Arianism

dogma

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

Theodosius I

emperor 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 Christian faith.

Constantinople

formerly the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, founded by Constantine. Historically, on one of the five patriarchal sees from which Christianity was governed; today, the seat of the foremost of the four patriarchs who govern the Eastern Orthodox Church.

monk

from the Greek word monachos, meaning a single or a solitary person, the word monk was coined in the fourth century AD as a name for the many men and women who had begun to withdraw to secluded desert regions to lead lives of prayer and spiritual discipline. Later it would come to refer to above who abandoned life in the everyday world to devote himself or herself completely to religion.

monasticism

from the Greek word monos, meaning "one," "unique," "solitary," or "alone." A 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.

monophysites

from the Greek words for "of one nature"; one who holds that Jesus did not have two natures- one human and one divine- but only one.

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 had a centered design, and the focus was on the baptismal font into which the candidate stepped.

Adeodatus

meaning "Gift of God," the son of Augustine of Hippo; born of Augustine's relationship with a concubine whose name we do not know.

Elect

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

papacy

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

pope

the bishop of the church in Rome and the head of the Roman Catholic Church

Antony of Egypt

the father of Christian monasticism. Antony 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 to follow his example.

Constantine

the first Christian emperor of Rome. He paved the way for the establishment of Christianity 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.

predestination

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

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 Eve. As a result of 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.

Hearers

the 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.

abbot

the spiritual leader who governs an organized community of monks.

asceticism

the training or discipline 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 conversion is described in the autobiographical work Confessions; best known for his opposition to Donates and Plagiarism, his theological doctrines of grace, original sin, and predestination, and his solution to the problem of evil.