Term
|
Definition
| public rites; what people do in church |
|
|
Term
| paraliturgies / devotional practices |
|
Definition
| private rites; what people do at home or in a private chapel. Includes the divine office; sacraments; prayers, blessings, rites which protect and sanctify normal human events or activities (cycles of the week, annual feast days, birth, death, marriage, or events such as undertaking new ventures or journeys, planting or harvest etc) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| or classical magic arts: centered around controlled randomization: lot casting, reading of entrails, flights of birds, astrology. Astrology overlapped with natural magic/science. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| practices without a clear meaning. Includes charms for good luck or averting bad luck (eg throwing salt over the left shoulder, avoiding walking under a ladder). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| black magic: anything done with demons, eg calling their images into shiny surfaces (water, mirrors, crystals, bones rubbed with oil); forcing them to do things for you (harm enemies, obtain sex etc). Overlaps with the practice of exorcism |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Practices that involved invoking angels (eg the Ars notoria), usually for purpose of acquiring knowledge. Overlaps with devotion to angels and necromancy. (EG shiny surface divination called up angels as often as it did demons.) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Sunnis believe that no one succeed Muhammad as a prophet, but a caliph could succeed him as a guardian of the prophetic legacy, responsible for the administration of community affairs in accordance to the Qur’an. The caliphs would be chosen by consensus of the community from the Quarish tribe to which Muhammad belonged. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Although Shi’a Muslims believe that Muhammad was the last prophet to ever be, they believe that the imams, their religious authority leaders, have the ability for inspired and infallible interpretations of the Qu’ran. The first imam was Ali, cousin, adopted son, and son-in-law of Muhammad. Further imams also came from direct descendence from Muhammad. The majority of Shi’a believe that the 12th and final imam has withdrawn into occulation since the 3rd century of Islam and his return will have a messianic quality heralding the end of the world. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| mystical order of Islam. They are not a distinct group or sect (Shi’a and Sunnis can also be Sufi), they simply seek intimacy with God through spiritual purification. Their “universalistic”, highly-syncretic doctrines made them very successful in spreading Islam to many regions through conversion |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the Muslim holy book. The first (chronologically) books are about impending end of the world, then there are retellings of stories of Muhammad and then books on how the umma should be formed. Its words are considered the actual words of God, not inspired words like in Christianity. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The leader of Sunni Islam. Responsible for the administration of community affairs and making sure they are in accordance with the Qur’an. Chosen by consensus of the community from the Quarish tribe to which Muhammad belonged. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Comprehensive system of community law developed over time in Sunni Islam. Allows variance for the four main schools of legal thought, the Malikis, Hanafis, Shafi’is, and Hanbalis. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the collection of stories about and sayings of Muhammad, supplementary to the Qu’ran, not a part of it. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Born in 570. Died in 632. The last prophet of God and the man who began Islam. Began receiving messages from Allah in 610. In 622 migrated with followers to Medina (known as the hijrah), where Islam began to take shape. In 630, he and his followers took over Meccas, converting many. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Shia religious authority leaders. Have the ability for inspired and infallible interpretations of the Qu’ran. The first imam was Ali, cousin, adopted son, and son-in-law of Muhammad. Further imams also came from direct descendence from Muhammad. Many believe that the 12th and final imam has withdrawn into occulation since the 3rd century of Islam and his return will have a messianic quality heralding the end of the world |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Many features of Islam are based on the idea that that the majority will never agree on the wrong. Sharia law and the selection of caliphs are supposed to be decided in accordance with whatever the majority of Muslims believe. In terms of Sharia law, however, this consensus is often among legal scholars rather than the general populace |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A Jew born before the death of Herod in 4BCE in a stable in Bethlehem. He was baptized by his cousin John the Baptist around the age of thirty and this begins his ministry. He traveled around for about three years publically preaching on ideas such as the dangers of becoming too attached to material wealth, while also healing and performing miracles. He refused to recognize class distinctions as important, including the distinction between Jew and Samaritan and gentiles, and his followers even included prostitutes. His teachings were opposed to traditional Judaism. He was eventually arrested by Jewish leaders and executed by the Romans. In Christian tradition, he was resurrected three days later to give some last instructions to his apostles, and is considered the son of God. |
|
|
Term
| new testament and the New Testament |
|
Definition
| The New Testament are a collection of 27 books originally written in Greek that tell the story of Jesus’ life, contain letters from Paul to various early churches and other letters of other early Christian religious leaders and the visionary revelation about the apocalypse. Combined with the Old Testament, it makes up the Bible. The New Testament and the teachings of Christ offered a new covenant (testament) with God, seen as replacing that made between God and the Jews. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Examples are: the Q[uelle], [kernal of] Gospel of Thomas. Early Christians, especially within the first decades, had to rely on speech gospels, or oral accounts of Jesus for their practices. There were as yet no written works. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The synoptic (“summary”) gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, all seem to write from one point of view about the same events. (John’s writing is different, and probably was written after these three). These similarities lead to the question of how Mathew, Mark, and Luke have so many similarities. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An early leader of the Christian church. Early sources referred to him as the brother of Jesus, although it is unknown whether this meant a spiritual brother or blood/step brother. Little is known about his life, although he is the probable author of the Epistle of James |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| was an apostle and Jewish rabbi who never met the historical Jesus but composed many of the key ideas that would come to define Christianity after a visionary encounter with a being of light he experienced as the resurrected Christ. The Jerusalem Council taking place sometime between 48 and 50 CE brought up the question as to whether converted Gentiles needed to be circumsized. Paul argued that baptism served as the new circumcision. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| There were many instances of the Roman Empire persecuting Christians. Rome was an orthopraxic religion that valued ‘right practice’ over ‘right belief’. Because Christians refused to participate in the various Roman religious festivals, they represented a danger to the entire state because they might be offending the gods. Furthermore, Christians were often accused of eating children and participating in wild orgies. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| There were three major Jewish rebellions against the Roman Empire. The first was in 66-70 CE, the Kitos War in 115-117, and Bar Kokhba’s Revolt in 132-135. The last war had tremendous outcomes: in some accounts, approximately 600,000 Jews were killed, and hundreds and towns and villages were destroyed. The Torah law and calendar were forbidden and Jewish scholars were executed. Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitolina and Jews were forbidden to enter or live there. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| (*272-337 CE*) the first Christian Roman emperor. He reversed persecutions that took place and allowed Christianity to be openly practiced in Rome. |
|
|
Term
| Battle of the Milvian Bridge |
|
Definition
| a battle that took place between Constantine I and Maxentius, This battle was the starting point for a campaing that eventually allowed Constantine to become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the letter signed by Constantine I that proclaimed religious tolerance for Christians |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| (***325 CE***) a council of Christians that was assembled by Constantine I to settle early consensus issues within the church. They determined calculations for the date of Easter, wrote the first part of the Nicene creed, and discussed the relationship of Jesus to God. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the name given to the second, newer, division of the Christian Bible. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the quality of something being without ownership or authorship |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the quality of something being attributed to an author other than the person who wrote it, or attributed to a pen-named author. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| apocrypha refers to “hidden” texts that are important parts of Christian history, but are not part of the canon. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a collection of Christian Gnostic texts that were discovered near the town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. The Gospel of Thomas is the most famous of the texts found there, providing the only complete copy recovered to date. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| include St. Clement of Rome, St. Ignatius of Antioch, and St. Polycarp of Smyrna. They were early Christian authors (1st and 2nd century CE) who wrote influential texts that were not included in the New Testament. They were direct disciples of the Twelve Apostles. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| refers to the writings of the early fathers of the Church. |
|
|
