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Christianity
Barton Text
23
Religious Studies
Undergraduate 3
09/23/2009

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Term
amanuensis
Definition
A secretary who takes down a writer's words from dictation, sometimes using shorthand
Term
Apocrypha
Definition
apocryphal- Protestant designation for the books which are in the Greek Old Testament but not in the Hebrew scriptures-- Protestant Bibles collect them together into a supplement called the Apocrypha
Term
canon
Definition
The official list of the books accepted as Scripture in a particular church.
Term
codex
Definition
A book bound between covers, read by turning the pages. Used in antiquity only for notebooks, the form became normal for scriptural books through (unexplained) Christian use.
Term
Diatessaron
Definition
A harmony of the Gospels made by Tatian in the third century AD, and popular well into the Middle Ages in many languages.
Term
epistle
Definition
Older name for 'letter,' still commonly used in biblical studies.
Term
evangelion
Definition
Greek for 'gospel.'
Term
Mishnah
Definition
An ordered collection of rulings on matters of Torah, assembled in the second century AD by Rabbi Judah the Prince.
Term
Pentateuch
Definition
The five 'books of Moses:' Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
Term
Q
Definition
A hypothetical document which many explain the material common to Matthew and Luke but not in Mark (from German Quelle, 'source').
Term
Qoheleth
Definition
The Hebrew name of the book of Ecclesiastes, where it is either the name or the title of the author.
Term
scribe
Definition
Like 'secretary' in English, a very wide term covering royal officials, administrators and professional writers. Sometimes used in the Gospels for those who taught the Torah, but in the Old Testament it usually implies someone who made a living by writing, not necessarily in the religious sphere.
Term
Septuagint
Definition
The main Greek translation of the Old Testament, produced primarily in Egypt between about the fourth and first centuries BC.
Term
Synoptic Gospels
Definition
The Gospels according to Matthew, Mark and Luke, which tell much the same story and share a common perspective on the life of Jesus, by contrast with John.
Term
Athanasius (c. 296-373)
Definition
Bishop of Alexandria, in Egypt. His Festal Letter of 367 is notable as the first complete listing of the New Testament books which corresponds exactly with our own.
Term
Clement of Alexandria
Definition
A Christian teacher in Alexandria, Egypt, who wrote extensively on all aspects of Christian faith. He commented on the Gospels, and is responsible for calling John the 'spiritual' Gospel, implying that its true difference from the Synoptics is in its style of teaching rather than in detailed factual discrepancies.
Term
Eusebius of Casesarea
Definition
The first Church historian, who played a critical role in many controversies about details of the Christian faith. Many quotations of early Christian writers have survived only as part of his 'Ecclesiastical History.' He records a number of opinions about the origins of the Gospels and other scriptural books.
Term
Irenaeus
Definition
Bishop of Lyons but probably a native of Aia Minor (now Turkey). He wrote a detailed attack on gnosticism, a popular religious system of the day, in his work 'Adversus haereses' (Against Heresies). Importance for the canon of Scripture: he defended the need for the Church to have all four Gospels, and attested to the authority of most other books of the New Testament, while stressing that the Old Testament remained authoritative for Christians.
Term
Jerome
Definition
Christian hermit who translated the entire Bible into Latin, having learnt Hebrew for the purpose (and already knowing Greek). He had a dispute with Augustine about the deuterocanonical books.
Term
Justin Martyr
Definition
A native of Palestine, who taught in Ephesus and Rome, where he was martyred. His 'Dialogue with Trypho' is a detailed attempt to persuade a Jewish rabbi that the Old Testament Scriptures point to Jesus Christ. He is one of the first to attest to the use of the Gospels in Christian worship, but shows no knowledge of John, which may mean that he did not know this Gospel.
Term
Marcion
Definition
Developed a heterodox form of Christianity while teaching in Rome, became the subject of pwoerful attacks from Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria and Origen. Produced a 'canonical' list of the New Testament books, which he limited to Luke and certain Pauline epistles, all expurgated to remove references to Old Testament, which he rejected. Christian allegiance to the Old Testament probably owes much to the perceived need to combat his system. Some think that his New Testament became the model for the later; orthodox canon of 27 books.
Term
Origen
Definition
Probably the most outstanding scholar in the early Church, who taught in Alexandria, and wrote commentaries on many biblical books as well as philosophical and theological works. He collated manuscripts of biblical texts, in Greek and also in Hebrew. His writings show that he accepted more or less the New Testament as we now have it, and the Old Testament in its longer Greek form.
Term
Marcion
Definition
Developed a heterodox form of Christianity while teaching in Rome, became the subject of pwoerful attacks from Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria and Origen. Produced a 'canonical' list of the New Testament books, which he limited to Luke and certain Pauline epistles, all expurgated to remove references to Old Testament, which he rejected. Christian allegiance to the Old Testament probably owes much to the perceived need to combat his system. Some think that his New Testament became the model for the later; orthodox canon of 27 books.
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