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| Adoptionism, sometimes called dynamic monarchianism, is a minority Christian belief that Jesus was adopted as God's Son either at his baptism, his resurrection, or his ascension. According to Epiphanius's account of the Ebionites, the group believed that Jesus was chosen because of his sinless devotion to the will of God. |
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| the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature and person of Jesus Christ as recorded in the canonical Gospels and the epistles of the New Testament. |
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| The Economic Trinity is the doctrine concerning how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit relate to each other and the world. The word economic is used from the Greek oikonomikos, which means relating to arrangement of activities. Each person has different roles within the Godhead and each has different roles in relationship to the world (some roles overlap). |
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| Filioque (Ecclesiastical Latin: [filiˈɔkwe]), Latin for "and (from) the Son", is a phrase found in the form of Nicene Creed in use in most of the Western Christian churches. |
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| Homoousian (Ancient Greek: ὁμοούσιος, from the Ancient Greek: ὁμός, homós, "same" and Ancient Greek: οὐσία, ousía, "essence, being") is a technical theological term used in discussion of the Christian understanding of God as Trinity. The Nicene Creed describes Jesus as being homooúsios with God the Father — that is, they are of the "same substance" and are equally God. |
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| Immanence refers to philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence, in which the divine is seen to be manifested in or encompassing the material world. It is often contrasted with theories of transcendence, in which the divine is seen to be outside the material world. |
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| Impassibility (from Latin in-, "not", passibilis, "able to suffer, experience emotion") describes the theological doctrine that God does not experience pain or pleasure from the actions of another being. It has often been seen as a consequence of divine aseity, the idea that God is absolutely independent of any other being, i.e., in no way causally dependent. |
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| Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. |
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| Ousia (/ˈuːziə, ˈuːsiə, ˈuːʒ(i)ə, ˈuːʃ(i)ə/; οὐσία) is the Ancient Greek noun formed on the feminine present participle of εἶναι (to be); it is analogous to the English participle being, and the modern philosophy adjectival ontic. |
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| Sola scriptura (Latin ablative, "by scripture alone") is the doctrine that the Bible contains all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness. Consequently, sola scriptura demands only those doctrines are to be admitted or confessed that are found directly within or indirectly by using valid logical deduction or valid deductive reasoning from scripture. |
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| In religion, transcendence refers to the aspect of God's nature and power which is wholly independent of (and removed from) the material universe. This is contrasted with immanence where God is fully present in the physical world and thus accessible to creatures in various ways. |
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| Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius (ca. AD 250–336), a Christian presbyter in Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the persons of the Trinity ('God the Father', 'God the Son' (Jesus of Nazareth), and 'God the Holy Spirit') and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father. |
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| A creed is a statement of belief—usually a statement of faith that describes the beliefs shared by a religious community—and is often recited as part of a religious service. |
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Epistemology i/ɨˌpɪstɨˈmɒlədʒi/ (from Greek ἐπιστήμη (epistēmē), meaning "knowledge, understanding", and λόγος (logos), meaning "study of") is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope (limitations) of knowledge.[1][2]
It addresses mainly the following questions:
What is knowledge?
How is knowledge acquired?
To what extent is it possible for a given subject or entity to be known? |
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| General revelation is a term used by theologians which refers to a universal aspect of God, of God's knowledge and of spiritual matters, discovered through natural means, such as observation of nature (the physical universe), philosophy and reasoning, human conscience or providence or providential history. |
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| Used by Eusebius of Caesarea, homoiousios means "of a similar substance". This is in contrast to the Nicene affirmation that Jesus and God the Father are homoousios, "of the same substance." |
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| Ontological (or essential or immanent) Trinity: This speaks of the interior life of the Trinity[John 1:1–2]—the reciprocal relationships of Father, Son, and Spirit to each other without reference to God's relationship with creation. |
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| Biblical inerrancy is the doctrine that the Bible is accurate and totally free of error, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact."[1] |
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| In Christianity, Sabellianism, (also known as modalism, modalistic monarchianism, or modal monarchism) is the nontrinitarian belief that the Heavenly Father, Resurrected Son and Holy Spirit are different modes or aspects of one God, as perceived by the believer, rather than three distinct persons in God Himself. |
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| In Christian theology, patripassianism is the view that God the Father suffers (from Latin patri- "father" and passio "suffering"). Its adherents believe that God the Father was incarnate and suffered on the cross and that whatever happened to the Son happened to the Father and so the Father co-suffered with the human Jesus on the cross. |
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| Special revelation is a theological term used mainly by evangelical scientists and Christian theologians which refers to the belief that knowledge of God and of spiritual matters can be discovered through supernatural means, such as miracles or the scriptures, a disclosure of God's truth through means other than through man's reason. |
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| Aseity (from Latin a "from" and se "self", plus -ity) refers to the property by which a being exists in and of itself, from itself, or exists as so-and-such of and from itself.[1] The word is often used to refer to the Christian belief that God contains within himself the cause of himself, is the first cause, though many Jewish and Muslim theologians have also believed God to be independent in this way. |
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| In Christian terminology, docetism (from the Greek δοκεἲν/δόκησις dokein (to seem) /dókēsis (apparition, phantom),[1][2] according to Norbert Brox, is defined narrowly as "the doctrine according to which the phenomenon of Christ, his historical and bodily existence, and thus above all the human form of Jesus, was altogether mere semblance without any true reality." |
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| fides quaerens intellectum |
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| Credo ut intelligam (alternatively spelled Credo ut intellegam) is Latin for "I believe so that I may understand" and is a maxim of Anselm of Canterbury (Proslogion, 1), which is based on a saying of Augustine of Hippo (crede, ut intelligas, "believe so that you may understand"; Tract. Ev. Jo., 29.6) to relate faith and reason. It is often accompanied by its corollary, intellego ut credam ("I think so that I may believe"), and by Anselm's other famous phrase fides quaerens intellectum ("faith seeking understanding"). |
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| A heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs. In certain historical Christian, Jewish, and some modern cultures, espousing ideas deemed heretical could be, and were, punishable by law. |
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| In Christian theology, a hypostasis or person is one of the three elements of the Holy Trinity. |
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| The Immutability of God is an attribute where “God is unchanging in his character, will, and covenant promises." |
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| Biblical infallibility is the belief that what the Bible says regarding matters of faith and Christian practice is wholly useful and true. It is the "belief that the Bible is completely trustworthy as a guide to salvation and the life of faith and will not fail to accomplish its purpose. |
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| The word orthodox, from Greek orthos ("right", "true", "straight") + doxa ("opinion" or "belief", related to dokein, "to think"),[1] is generally used to mean the adherence to accepted norms, more specifically to creeds, especially in religion.[2] In the narrow sense the term means "conforming to the Christian faith as represented in the creeds of the early Church". |
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| Perichoresis refers to the mutual inter-penetration and indwelling within the threefold nature of the Trinity, God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. |
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| Subordinationism is a doctrine in Christian theology which holds that the Son and the Holy Spirit are subordinate to God the Father in nature and being. |
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| The argument that there is sufficient similarity between God and creation so that observation of the universe will yield a limited understanding of God's nature. |
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| A group of theologians that responded to the Arian heresy and formulated the orthodox doctrine of the trinity (three persons in one essence) |
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| A late-Reformation view of the biblical inspiration that holds that God is the ultimate author of the Bible in its entirety |
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| Literally, "breathing", the term used to describe the way the Spirit proceeds from the Father (and the Son) |
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| Commonly used referring the the Second Vatican Council which sought to bring all aspects of Roman Catholic faith and life into harmony with contemporary concern or modern age. |
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| Items of faith not essential to salvation |
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| the way that we understand the attributes of God is first through Christ |
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| the view that matters of religious and theological truth must be accepted by faith apart from the exercise of reason |
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| the branch of metaphysics concerned with the nature of being |
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| a distorted belief in three different gods rather than one God with three persons |
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| "vestiges of God" the view that there are evidences of God in nature and that God reveals himself analogously in creation |
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| the belief that both the ideas of God existing and not existing seem irrelevant and unprovable |
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| any kind of theology that believes that positive description of God is impossible because God does not fit into the normal categories of human thought and language. it assumes that all we can know is what God is not. God is positively known through spiritual experience rather than rational expression |
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| doctrine/theological teachings |
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| a term is equivocal when it has a completely different meaning when used with God as opposed to with humans or something else in creation |
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| discipline that studies how texts should be interpreted |
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| the main events for God's plan for salvation such as the incarnation and sending of the Spirit ("economy", "administration") |
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| "God-breathed" describing Scripture as divinely inspired documents or divinely inspired authors |
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| the idea that a word carries the same meaning whether it is being used to describe God or a human being or object |
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| the drawing of analogies to the Trinity from the threefold related structure of certain created things |
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