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Home , Adoptionism, Christology

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GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Adoptionism: The view that was not divine, but a Christian canons of Scripture. The Jewish Apocrypha flesh-and-blood human being who had been adopted at comprises books found in the but not in the to be ’s son. Hebrew , including 1 and 2 Maccabees and 4 Ezra. Aeons: In Gnostic myth, divine beings who are off- Apollonius of Tyana: A pagan philosopher and spring of the one true, unknowable God. holy man of the first century C.E., reported to do mira- Alexander the Great: The great military leader of Mace- cles and to deliver divinely inspired teachings, a man believed by some of his followers to be a . donia (356–323 B.C.E.) whose armies conquered much of the eastern Mediterranean and who was responsible for Apology: A reasoned explanation and of the spread of Greek culture (Hellenism) throughout the one’s beliefs and/or practices, from a Greek word mean- lands he conquered. ing “defense.” Amanuensis: A personal scribe or secretary, who wrote Apostle: Generally, one who is commissioned to per- (e.g., personal letters) from dictation. form a task, from a Greek word meaning “sent”; in early Antiochus Epiphanes: The Syrian monarch who , the term was used to designate special emis- attempted to force the of Palestine to adopt Greek cul- saries of the faith who were understood to be representa- ture, leading to the Maccabean revolt in 167 B.C.E. tives of . See also . Antitheses: Literally, “contrary statements,” used as a : A collection of noncanonical writ- technical term to designate six sayings of Jesus in the Ser- ings penned by proto-orthodox of the second mon on the Mount (Matt 5:21–48), in which he states a century who were traditionally thought to have been Jewish law (“You have heard it said . . .”) and then sets followers of the apostles; some of these works were con- his own interpretation over it (“But I say to you...”). sidered Scripture in parts of the early . : A literary genre in which an author, usually : The proto-orthodox claim that pseudonymous, reports symbolic dreams or visions, given leaders of the major churches had been appointed by or interpreted through an angelic mediator, which reveal the successors of the apostles themselves, so that their the heavenly mysteries that can make sense of earthly authority could be traced back to Jesus’ hand-chosen realities. followers. : A worldview held by many ancient Asclepius: A popular Greek god known in particular for Jews and Christians that maintained that the present age his ability to heal the sick. is controlled by forces of , but that these will be Associations, Voluntary: In the Greco-Roman world, destroyed at the end of time when God intervenes in his- privately organized small groups of people who shared tory to bring in his kingdom, an event thought to be common interests and met periodically to socialize, imminent. enjoy a common meal, and conduct business; two of the Apocrypha: A Greek term meaning, literally, “hidden best-known types were trade associations (comprised of things,” used of books on the fringe of the Jewish or members of the same profession) and burial societies.

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Athanasius: An influential fourth-century church Biography (ancient): A literary genre consisting of a father and of the large and important church in narrative of an individual’s life, often within a chronolog- Alexandria, Egypt. Athanasius was the first church writer ical framework, employing numerous subgenres (such as to list our twenty-seven books (and only sayings, speeches, anecdotes, and conflict stories) so as to those books) as forming the canon. reflect important aspects of his or her character, princi- pally for purposes of instruction, exhortation, or propa- : The doctrine that indicates how a person ganda. who is condemned by can be placed in a right stand- ing before God by means of a . In traditional Bishop: Translation of a Greek term, episkopos, which Christian teaching, it is Christ’s death that brings literally means “overseer.” Early in the history of the atonement. Christian church, were the leaders who had over- sight of the life of the community. Augurs: A group of pagan in Rome who could interpret the will of the by “taking the auspices.” See Caiaphas: The Jewish high at the time of Jesus’ also Auspicy. death. Augustus, Caesar: See Octavian. Canon: From a Greek word meaning “ruler” or “straight edge.” The term came to designate any recognized col- Auspicy: A form of divination in which specially lection of texts; the canon of the New Testament is thus appointed priests could determine the will of the gods by the collection of books that Christians accept as author- observing the flight patterns or eating habits of birds. See itative. also Divination. : From a Greek word meaning “universal” or Autograph: The original manuscript of a literary text, “general,” used of the New Testament James, 1 from a Greek word meaning “the writing itself.” and 2 Peter, 1, 2, and 3 John, Jude, and sometimes Baptism: From the Greek term baptizo, which means “to Hebrews (the “Catholic” epistles) to differentiate them immerse.” The earliest Christian practice of baptism in from the letters of Paul. water appears to have been an initiation rite (it was a rit- Charismatic communities: Communities of believers ual that one underwent when joining the Christian com- that were led not by appointed leaders but by the Spirit of munity); it probably derived from the practice of John God, which had bestowed a particular gift (Greek: the Baptist, who baptized Jews, including Jesus, in antic- charisma), useful for the functioning of the entire group, ipation of the imminent arrival of the end of this age and upon each member of the community. According to Paul the coming of the Kingdom of God. (Jewish cleansing rit- (see 1 Corinthians 12–14), the gifts (charismata) included uals were repeated as the need arose; John’s baptism, like such abilities as teaching, preaching, healing, prophesying, the Christians’ later, appears to have been a one-time , interpretation of tongues, and so on. occurrence.) Later Christians assigned other meanings to the rite: the apostle Paul, for example, saw it as the mys- Chief priests: The leaders of the priests in the Jewish tical act of dying with Christ to sin. See Participationist Temple in Jerusalem. Many of them would have been Model. actively involved in the Sanhedrin; their ultimate leader was the High Priest. : A Latin word meaning, literally, “blessings,” used as a technical term for the sayings of Jesus that begin Christ: See . the on the Mount (e.g., “Blessed are the poor in : Any teaching about the nature of Christ. spirit . . . ,” Matt 5:3–12). See also ; . B.C.E. / C.E.: Abbreviations for “before the Common Clement of Rome: One of the early leaders (“bishops”) Era” and the “Common Era” respectively, used as exact of the church of Rome, around 95 C.E., who is the tradi- equivalents of the Christian designations “before Christ” tional author of the noncanonical book 1 Clement. (B.C.) and “anno domini” (A.D., a Latin phrase meaning “year of our Lord”). Comparative Method: A method used to study a literary text by noting its similarities to and differences from Beloved Disciple: Nickname for the “disciple whom Jesus other, related, texts, whether or not any of these other loved” in the of John, who plays a prominent role texts was used as a source for the text in question. in the Passion narrative but is never named. Older tradi- tion identified him as John the son of Zebedee and claimed Constantine: Roman emperor in the early fourth century, that it was he who wrote . the first emperor to convert to Christianity. Constantine’s Ehrman_Gloss_509-520hr.qxp 25-05-2011 11:54 Page 511

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conversion played a highly significant role in the spread of of apocalyptically minded Essenes who lived in a Christianity, as it moved from being a persecuted minority monastic-like community from Maccabean times religion to becoming the powerful majority religion of the through the Jewish War of 66–70 C.E.. See also Essenes; entire empire. Qumran. Contextual Method: A method used to study a literary Demeter: The Greek and Roman of grain, wor- text first by determining its social and historical context shiped in a prominent mystery cult in Eleusis, Greece. See and then using that context to help explain the text’s also Persephone. meaning. : Literally “Maker,” a term used in Gnostic Contextual Credibility, Criterion of: One of the cri- texts to designate the powerful (but inferior) that teria commonly used by scholars to establish historically created the world. reliable material; with respect to the , the Deutero-Pauline Epistles: The letters of Ephesians, criterion maintains that if a saying or deed of Jesus can- Colossians, and 2 Thessalonians, which have a “sec- not be credibly fit into his own first-century Palestinian ondary” (Deutero) standing in the Pauline corpus because context, then it cannot be regarded as authentic. scholars debate whether they were written by Paul. : The Greek word for “world.” Diaspora: Greek for “dispersion,” a term that refers to Covenant: An agreement or treaty between two social the dispersion of Jews away from Palestine into other or political parties that have come to terms; used by parts of the Mediterranean, beginning with the Babylon- ancient Jews in reference to the pact that God made to ian conquests in the sixth century B.C.E. protect and preserve them as his chosen people in Diatesseron: A “” produced by the mid- exchange for their devotion and adherence to his law. second-century Syrian Christian , who took the Cult: Shortened form of cultus deorum, a Latin phrase Four and combined their stories into one long that literally means “care of the gods,” generally used of narrative (Dia-tesseron literally means “through the four”: any set of religious practices of worship. In pagan reli- this then is the one long narrative told through the four gions, these normally involved acts of sacrifice and accounts). prayer. Diatribe: A rhetorical device used by Greek and Latin Cynics: Greco-Roman philosophers, commonly por- authors, including the apostle Paul, in which an imagi- trayed as street preachers who harangued their audiences nary opponent raises objections to one’s views only to be and urged them to find true freedom by being liberated answered successfully, so as to move an argument forward. from all social conventions. The Cynics’ decision to live (Paul uses the diatribe, for example, in his letter to the “according to nature” with none of the niceties of life led Romans.) their opponents to call them “dogs” (in Greek, cynes). Disciple: A follower, one who is “taught” (as opposed to Daimonia: Category of divine beings in the Greco- an apostle, one who is “sent” as an emissary). Roman world. Daimonia were widely thought to be less powerful than the gods but far more powerful than Dissimilarity, Criterion of: One of the criteria com- humans and capable of influencing human lives. monly used by scholars to establish historically reliable material; the criterion maintains that if a saying or deed Day of Atonement: In Hebrew, Yom Kippur, the one day of Jesus does not coincide with (or works against) the of the year when the high priest was allowed to enter the agenda of the early Christians, it is more likely to be Holy of Holies in the Temple, first to sacrifice an animal to authentic. atone for his own , and then another animal to atone for the sins of the people of Israel. Divination: Any practice used to ascertain the will of the gods. See also Auspicy; Extispicy. Deacon: A Greek word that literally means “one who ministers.” In the early church deacons were Christian Docetism: The view that Jesus was not a human being church leaders given the responsibility of tending to the but only appeared to be, from a Greek word meaning “to physical needs of the community (e.g., through the distri- seem” or “to appear.” bution of alms). Domitian: Roman emperor from 81 to 96 C.E.; most Dead Sea Scrolls: Ancient Jewish writings discovered scholars believe he was the emperor when the book of in several caves near the northwest edge of the Dead , and its attack on the Roman empire, was Sea, widely thought to have been produced by a group composed. Ehrman_Gloss_509-520hr.qxp 25-05-2011 11:54 Page 512

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Ebionites: A group of second-century Adoptionists who Firstfruits of the : A phrase used by the maintained Jewish practices and Jewish forms of worship. apostle Paul to refer to Jesus as the first one to be raised from the dead. It is an agricultural image referring to Egyptian, The: A Jewish apocalyptic of the the celebration held at the end of the first day of the first century C.E. who predicted the destruction of the harvest, in anticipation of going out to bring in the rest walls of Jerusalem, mentioned by Josephus. of the crops (the next day). If Jesus is the “firstfruits,” Elder: See Presbyter. then the rest of the resurrection (i.e., everyone else’s Epicureans: Ancient group of followers of the Greek resurrection) will happen very soon. philosopher Epicurus, who maintained that the gods were Fourth Philosophy: A group of Jews that Josephus men- removed from the concerns of human life and so were not tions but leaves unnamed, characterized by their insistence to be feared or placated. Happiness came in establishing on violent opposition to the foreign domination of the a peaceful harmony with other like-minded people and Promised Land. See also Sicarii; Zealots. enjoying the simple pleasures of daily existence. Four-Source Hypothesis: A solution to the “Synoptic : Another designation for a private letter. Some Problem” which maintains that there are four sources scholars have differentiated between “epistles” as literary that lie behind the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke: writings in the form of a letter, which were meant for gen- (1) Mark was the source for much of the narrative of eral distribution, rather than for an individual recipient, Matthew and Luke; (2) Q was the source for the sayings and “letters” which were a nonliterary form of personal cor- found in Matthew and Luke but not in Mark; (3) M pro- respondence. This differentiation between epistles and let- vided the material found only in Matthew’s Gospel; and ters is not widely held today, however, so that the terms (4) L provided the material found only in Luke. tend to be used synonymously. Fulfillment Citations: A literary device used by Equestrian: The second-highest socioeconomic class Matthew in which he states that something experienced of ancient Rome (below Senator), comprising wealthy or done by Jesus “fulfilled” what was spoken of by a aristocrats. Hebrew prophet in Scripture.

Eschatology: Literally the “study of (or doctrine of ) the Gamaliel: A famous of first-century C.E. Judaism. end times.” A technical term that is used to describe Gematria: Jewish method of interpreting a word on the notions of what will happen at the “end”—either the end basis of the numerical value of its letters (in both Greek of a person’s life or, more commonly, the end of the world. and Hebrew, the letters of the alphabet also serve as Essenes: An apocalyptic and ascetic Jewish sect started numerals.) during the Maccabean period, members of which are gen- General History: A genre of ancient literature that erally thought to have produced the Dead Sea Scrolls. traced the significant events in the history of a people to : Early-fourth-century church father known as show how their character (as a people) was established. the “Father of Church History,” as his ten-volume book, Examples of the genre include Josephus’s Antiquities of the History of the Christian Church, was the first to provide an Jews and the . extensive chronicle of Christianity’s early years, from the Genius: A man’s guardian spirit (that of a woman was days of Jesus down to Eusebius’s own time (the early part called Iuno). of the reign of Constantine). Eusebius is the primary source of information for many of the events and writers Genre: A “genre” is a kind of literature with specific lit- of the first three centuries of the church. erary features; in the modern world, for example, there are short stories, novels, and limerick poems (each with Extispicy: A form of divination in Greek and Roman their own distinctive features); in the ancient world there religions in which a specially appointed priest (harus- were biographies, epic poems, general histories—and pex) would examine the entrails of a sacrificed animal many other genres. The major genres of the New Testa- to determine whether it had been accepted by the gods. ment are Gospels (which are most like religious biogra- : The final discourse that Jesus deliv- phies), Acts (most like general histories), epistles, and ers in the (and not found in the Synop- . tics), chaps. 13–16 (sometimes thought to include Jesus’ Gentile: A Jewish designation for a non-Jew. prayer of chapter 17 as well); this discourse may have been created by combining two different accounts of : A group of ancient religions, some of them Jesus’ last words to his disciples before his arrest. closely related to Christianity, that maintained that Ehrman_Gloss_509-520hr.qxp 25-05-2011 11:54 Page 513

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elements of the divine had become entrapped in this evil Herod Antipas: Son of Herod the Great, and ruler of world of matter and could be released only when they Galilee from 4 to 39 C.E.; this is the Herod who executed acquired the secret (Greek for “knowledge”) of and who was involved with the trial of who they were and of how they could escape. Gnosis was Jesus according to the (and the Gospel of generally thought to be brought by an emissary of the Peter). divine realm. Herod the Great: Ruler of all of Galilee, Samaria, and Golden Rule: Found in Matthew’s Sermon on the Judea (and so, “King of the Jews”) from 40 to 4 B.C.E.; Mount, this is Jesus’ saying that you should “Do unto oth- this Herod was allegedly ruling when Jesus was born, and ers as you would have them do unto you.” A similar is known in Christian history for killing all the baby boys teaching can be found in a range of pagan and Jewish eth- of Bethlehem in an attempt to destroy the infant Jesus ical teachers both before and after Jesus. (based on the account in Matthew). gospel: When this word is not capitalized, it refers not to Herodians: A group of Jewish leaders, according to the a book but to the proclamation of the “good news” (from , who were allegedly allied closely with the Greek word euaggelion) of Christ’s salvation (e.g., the the family of Herod and were thought, therefore, to be col- gospel of Paul is his message, not a book that he used). laborators with the Romans.

Gospel: When this word is capitalized, it refers to a lit- High Priest: Prior to 70 C.E., the highest-ranking erary genre: a written account of the “good news” authority in Judaism when there was no Jewish king, in brought by Jesus Christ, including episodes involving charge of the operation of the Jerusalem Temple and its his words and/or deeds (e.g., the Gospel of Luke or of priests. See also Sadducees; Sanhedrin. Peter). Historiography: The literary reconstruction of histori- Gospel Harmony: Any literary attempt to take several cal events; the writing of history; and the study and Gospels and combine them into a longer, more complete analysis of historical narrative. Gospel, by incorporating the various accounts into one, Holy of Holies: The innermost part of the Jewish Tem- such as Tatian’s Diatesseron. ple in Jerusalem, which was completely empty, but in Greco-Roman World: The lands (and culture) around which God’s presence on earth was believed to dwell. No the Mediterranean from the time of Alexander the Great one could enter this room except the High Priest on the to the Emperor Constantine, roughly 300 B.C.E. to 300 C.E. Day of Atonement, to make a sacrifice for the sins of the (see also box 3.2). people.

Hanina ben Dosa: A well-known Galilean rabbi of the Honi the “Circle-Drawer”: A first-century B.C.E. first century, who was reputed to have done miracles Galilean who was reputed to have done miracles and had comparable to those of Jesus. experiences similar to those of Jesus. Haruspex: In Roman religion, a specially trained priest House Churches: For centuries Christian communities skilled in the practice of extispicy. did not meet in buildings specially built for the purpose, but in private homes. Often it was the owner of the home Hasmoneans: An alternative name for the Maccabeans, who was the leader of the church. Such communities, the family of Jewish priests that began the revolt against which met for worship, instruction, fellowship, and the Syria in 167 B.C.E. and that ruled Israel prior to the celebration of rituals such as baptism and , are Roman conquest of 63 B.C.E. known as house churches. Hellenization: The spread of and cul- “” Sayings: A group of sayings found only in the ture (Hellenism) throughout the Mediterranean, starting Gospel of John, in which Jesus identifies himself. In some with the conquests of Alexander the Great. of the sayings he speaks in metaphor (“I am the bread of : Gnostic living around 170 C.E. who wrote a life,” “I am the ,” “I am the way, the commentary on the Gospel of John, the first known to truth, and the life”), and other times he identifies him- have been written by a Christian on any part of the Bible. self simply by saying “I am”—a possible reference to the name of God from Exodus 3 (“Before Abraham was, I : Any worldview or set of beliefs deemed by those am”; John 8:58). in power to be deviant, from a Greek word meaning “choice” (because “heretics” have “chosen” to deviate Ialdabaoth: In , the name of the creator from the “truth”). See also . God (i.e., the “Demiurge”). Ehrman_Gloss_509-520hr.qxp 25-05-2011 11:54 Page 514

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Ignatius: Ignatius was the bishop of Antioch, Syria in Judicial Model: One of the two principal ways that Paul the early second century. He was arrested by the Roman understood or conceptualized the relationship between authorities for Christian activities and sent to Rome in Christ’s death and salvation. According to this model, order to be thrown to the wild beasts in the arena. On his salvation is comparable to a legal decision, in which God, journey to martrydom, he wrote seven letters, which still who is both lawmaker and judge, treats humans as “not survive. These letters are included among the writings of guilty” for committing acts of transgression (sins) against the Apostolic Fathers. his law—even though they are guilty—because Jesus’ death has been accepted as a payment. See also Participa- Independent Attestation, Criterion of: One of the cri- tionist Model. teria commonly used by scholars to establish historically reliable material; with respect to the historical Jesus, the Justification by Faith: The doctrine found in Paul’s let- criterion maintains that if a saying or deed of Jesus is ters (see Judicial Model), that a person is “made right” attested independently by more than one source, it is (justified) with God by trusting in the effects of Christ’s more likely to be authentic. death, rather than by doing the works prescribed by the Insula: Ancient apartment buildings in which the Jewish Law. ground floor was used for shops and businesses, and the Martyr: One of the earliest “apologists,” Justin upper floors for residences. The apostle Paul evidently lived in Rome in the mid-second century. set up his (leather goods?) business and stayed, then, in Kingdom of God: In the teachings of Jesus, the Kingdom insula in the various towns he evangelized. of God (or God’s Reign) appears to refer to an actual King- : Famous proto-orthodox church father and dom that will come to earth to replace the wicked kingdoms “heresiologist” (i.e., “heresy-hunter”) of the second cen- that are now in control of affairs, and of God’s people, here. tury, whose five-volume work, Against , written This would be a utopian kingdom where truth, peace, and around 180 C.E., is a major source of information for justice were restored; it would be ruled by God’s anointed Gnostic and other “heretical” groups. one (i.e., the messiah). Isis: Egyptian goddess worshiped in mystery cults through- L: A document (or documents, written or oral) that no out the Roman world. longer survives, but that evidently provided Luke with Jesus, Son of Ananias: A Palestinian Jew (discussed by traditions that are not found in Matthew or Mark. See Josephus) who, like , was an apocalyptic also Four-Source Hypothesis. preacher of the coming end of the age; like Jesus he was Lares: Household commonly worshiped in homes arrested and prosecuted for his revolutionary proclamation, throughout the Roman world, thought to protect the although he was not executed for his crimes. He was inad- home and its inhabitants, and often identified with the vertently killed during the siege of Jerusalem in the first spirits of the family’s ancestors. Jewish Revolt of 66–70 C.E. Law: See Torah. Johannine Community: The community of Christians in which the Gospel of John and the Johannine epistles were Letter: See Epistle. written. We do not know where the community was Literary-Historical Method: A method used to study a located, but we can reconstruct some of its history using literary text by asking how its genre text functioned in its the socio-historical method. historical context and by exploring, then, its historical Josephus: First-century Jewish historian, appointed court meaning (i.e., seeing how its meaning would have been historian by the Roman emperor Vespasian, whose works understood to its earliest readers) in light of its literary The Jewish War and The Antiquities of the Jews are princi- characteristics. pal resources for information about life in first-century M: A document (or documents, written or oral) that no Palestine. longer survives, but that evidently provided Matthew Judaizer: A Christian who insists that followers of Jesus with traditions that are not found in Mark or Luke. See need to keep (all or parts of ) the Jewish Law in order to also Four-Source Hypothesis. have a right standing before God (a view held, for exam- Maccabean Revolt: The Jewish uprising against the Syr- ple, by Paul’s opponents in Galatia). ians and their king, Antiochus Epiphanes, starting in 167 Judas Maccabeus: Jewish patriot who led the family B.C.E., in protest against the forced imposition of Hellenis- responsible for spearheading the Maccabean revolt. See tic culture and the proscription of Jewish practices such as also Hasmoneans. circumcision. See also Hasmoneans. Ehrman_Gloss_509-520hr.qxp 25-05-2011 11:54 Page 515

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Magic: A term that is notoriously hard to define, “magic” Mishnah: A collection of oral traditions passed on by usually refers to religious practices that are not sanctioned generations of Jewish who saw themselves as the by society at large or by the community in which they are descendants of the Pharisees, finally put into writing found. Sometimes magic is referred to as the “dark side” of around 200 C.E. See also Talmud. religion, involving sacred activities and words that are Mithras: A Persian deity worshiped in a mystery cult socially marginalized. spread throughout the Roman world. Manuscript: Any handwritten copy of a literary text. : The belief that there is only one God Marcion: A second-century Christian scholar and evange- (sometimes distinguished from “,” which list, later labeled a heretic for his docetic Christology and acknowledges that other gods exist, but insists that only his belief in two Gods—the harsh legalistic God of the Jews one is to be worshiped). and the merciful loving God of Jesus—views that he Muratorian Fragment: A fragmentary text discovered in claimed to have found in the writings of Paul. the eighteenth century, named after its Italian discoverer, Aurelius: Roman emperor from 161 to 80 C.E., Muratori, which contains, in Latin, a list of Christian best known for his writings of Stoic philosophy, but known books that its author considered canonical; the canon is in Christian sources for ruling when some of the most vio- usually considered to have been produced in the late sec- lent persecutions against Christians occurred. ond century, in or around Rome. Mystery Cults: A group of Greco-Roman religions that Markan Priority: The view that Mark was the first of focused on the devotees’ individual needs both in this life the to be written and was one of the and in life after death, so named because their initiation sources used by Matthew and Luke. rituals and cultic practices involved the disclosure of hid- Martyr: From the Greek word martus which literally den things that were to be kept secret from outsiders. means “witness.” Christian martyrs are those who “bear Nag Hammadi: Village in upper (southern) Egypt, near witness” to Christ even to the point of death. the place where a collection of Gnostic writings, including : A shadowy figure first mentioned in Gen- the , were discovered in 1945. esis 14, as a king to whom Abraham, the father of the Nero: Roman emperor from 54 to 68 C.E. It was under Jews, paid tithes from his spoils of battle. Later Chris- his reign that both Peter and Paul were allegedly mar- , such as the author of Hebrews, understood tyred in Rome, as part of his persecution of Christians for Melchizedek to be a prefiguration of Christ, who was the fire that destroyed much of the city (the Roman his- greater than all things Jewish (and hence worshiped by torian Tacitus indicates that Nero himself was responsi- the father of the Jews). ble for the fire). : Second-century Christian leader from Novel: Ancient genre of literature. Novels in the Greek Asia Minor, whose eloquent sermon on the Old and Roman worlds were fictionalized narratives that nor- Testament story of Exodus casts vitriolic aspersions on mally told of the tragic separation of lovers and of the the Jews. various mishaps they experienced in their attempts to Messiah: From a Hebrew word that literally means become reunited. Novels typically included stories of “anointed one,” translated into Greek as Christos, from travels, shipwrecks, piracy, banditry, enslavement, and which derives our English word Christ. In the first cen- persecution; they typically contained dialogues, speeches, and private letters. Some scholars have argued that the tury C.E., there was a wide range of expectations about whom this anointed one might be, some Jews anticipat- book of Acts is very much like an ancient novel. ing a future warrior king like , others a cosmic Octavian: The first Roman emperor, 27 B.C.E.–14 C.E. from , others an authoritative priest, and Octavian was the great-nephew and adopted son of Julius still others a powerful spokesperson from God like Moses. Caesar, and a great general who brought unity to Rome after it had experienced prolonged and bloody civil wars. Messianic Secret: This is a technical term used for one Early in his reign Octavian assumed the name “Caesar of the intriguing literary features of the Gospel of Mark, Augustus,” which means something like “most revered which is that even though Jesus is shown to be the Mes- emperor.” siah, he tries to keep his identity a secret (e.g., by silenc- ing those who recognize him and by hushing up the Oracle: A sacred place where the gods answered questions reports of his miracles). brought by their worshipers to the resident holy person— Ehrman_Gloss_509-520hr.qxp 25-05-2011 11:54 Page 516

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a priest or, more commonly, a priestess—who would often Perpetua: An upper-class Christian woman of Carthage, deliver the divine response out of a trance-like state; the North Africa, who along with her slave Felicitas was mar- term can also refer to the divine answer itself. tyred by being thrown to the wild beasts in 203 C.E.; we have an account of their martyrdom that includes a diary : A Christian philosopher and theologian from allegedly from Perpetua’s own hand. early-third-century Alexandria, Egypt, who wrote one of the best known Christian apologies. Persephone: Daughter of the Greek goddess Demeter, reported to have been abducted to the underworld by Orthodoxy: From the Greek, literally meaning “right Hades but allowed to return to life every year to be opinion”; a term used to designate a worldview or set of reunited temporarily with her grieving mother; also beliefs acknowledged to be true by the majority of those known as Kore. in power. See also Heresy. Pesher: An ancient Jewish way of interpreting Scrip- Paganism: Any of the polytheistic religions of the Greco– ture, used commonly in the commentaries from the Dead Roman world, an umbrella term for ancient Mediter- Sea Scrolls, in which a text was explained as having its ranean religions other than Judaism and Christianity. fulfillment in persons or events of the present day. Papyrus: A reed-like plant that grows principally Pharisees: A Jewish sect, which may have originated around the Nile, whose stalk was used for the manufac- during the Maccabean period, that emphasized strict ture of a paper-like writing surface in antiquity. adherence to the purity laws set forth in the Torah. See Parousia: A Greek word meaning “presence” or “com- also Mishnah. ing,” used as a technical term to refer to the Second Philo: A famous Jewish philosopher who lived in Coming of Jesus in judgment at the end of time. Alexandria Egypt in the first century, who saw the Jew- Participationist Model: One of the two principal ways ish Scriptures as completely compatible with the insights that Paul understood or conceptualized the relationship of Greek philosophy and worked to interpret them between Christ’s death and salvation. This model under- accordingly. stood sin to be a cosmic force that enslaved people; salva- Philosophy: In the Roman world of the New Testament, tion (liberation from bondage) came by participating in philosophy (which literally means “love of wisdom”) Christ’s death through baptism. See also Judicial Model. involved trying to understand the world and humans’ Passion: From a Greek word that means “suffering,” place in it, so as to promote individual happiness through used as a technical term to refer to the traditions of Jesus’ proper behavior and right thinking. Leading philosophi- last days, up to and including his crucifixion (hence the cal schools at the time were the Epicureans, Platonists, “Passion narrative”). Stoics, and Cynics. Passover: The most important and widely celebrated Plato: Famous Greek philosopher from fourth-century annual festival of Jews in Roman times, commemorating B.C.E. , many of whose ideas—including the ten- the exodus from Egypt. sion between the realms of matters and spirit—influ- Pastoral Epistles: New Testament letters that Paul enced Christian thinkers in the early centuries of the allegedly wrote to two , Timothy (1 and 2 Timo- church. thy) and Titus, concerning their pastoral duties. Pliny the Younger: Roman aristocrat who ruled the Pauline Corpus: All of the letters of the New Testament province of Bithynia-Pontus in the early second century that claim to be written by Paul, including the Deutero- C.E., and whose correspondence with the emperor Trajan Pauline and Pastoral Epistles. contains the earliest reference to Christ in a pagan Penates: Household deities commonly worshiped source. throughout the Roman world, thought to protect the Plutarch: Famous philosopher, historian, and biographer pantry and foodstuffs in the home. of the second century (46–120 C.E.), known particularly Pentateuch: Literally, the “five scrolls” in Greek, a term for his essays on moral philosophy and the biographies he used to designate the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, wrote of famous Greek and Roman men. also known as the Torah or the Law of Moses. : Bishop of Smyma in the first half of the sec- : A Jewish agricultural festival, celebrated fifty ond century, and one of the best known of the early days after the feast of the Passover, from the Greek word proto-orthodox leaders. In addition to a letter written for fifty (pentakosia). to him by Ignatius, we have a letter written by him to Ehrman_Gloss_509-520hr.qxp 25-05-2011 11:54 Page 517

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the church in Philippi, and an allegedly eyewitness Redaction criticism: The study of how authors modified account of his martyrdom in the arena at Smyrna or edited (i.e., redacted) their sources in view of their around 155 C.E. own vested interests and concerns. : The belief that there are many gods, a belief Resident Aliens: In the Roman empire, persons who that lies at the heart of all of the ancient pagan religions. took up permanent residence in a place that was not their Pontius Pilate: Roman aristocrat who served as the gov- original home and in which they did not enjoy the ben- efits of citizenship. ernor of Judea from 26 to 36 C.E., and who was responsi- ble for ordering Jesus’ crucifixion. Resurrection: The doctrine originally devised within cir- Presbyter: From a Greek word that literally means cles of apocalyptic Judaism which maintained that at the “elder.” The term came to apply not only to older men, end of the present age those who had died would be brought but in particular to the leaders of the Christian churches back to life in order to face judgment: either torment for who were principally in charge of spiritual (as opposed to those opposed to God or reward for those who sided with material) affairs (contrast “deacon”); eventually the lead God. The earliest Christians believed that Jesus had been presbyter came to be known as the “overseer” (i.e., the raised, and concluded therefore that the end of the age had bishop). already begun (see “First Fruits of the Resurrection”). In Christian apocalyptic thought it was believed that the Prescript: The formal beginning of an epistle, nor- rewards and punishments in the future resurrection would mally including the names of the sender and addressees, hinge on one’s relationship to Christ, as either a believer or a greeting, and often a prayer or wish for good health. nonbeliever. Prophet: In ancient Israelite religion, a prophet was a Rhetoric: The art of persuasion; in the Greco-Roman person who delivered God’s message to his people; even- world, this involved training in the construction and tually the term came to refer to writers who produced lit- analysis of argumentation and was the principal subject erary accounts of God’s word ( such as Isaiah and of higher education. Jeremiah). In Christian circles prophets were those who spoke God’s message in the community’s services of wor- Roman Empire: All of the lands conquered by Rome ship, possibly, on occasion, in a state of ecstasy. and ruled, ultimately, by the Roman emperor, starting with Caesar Augustus in 27 B.C.E.; prior to that, Rome was Proto-orthodox Christianity: A form of Christianity a republic ruled by the Senate (see also box 3.3). endorsed by some Christians of the second and third cen- turies (including the Apostolic Fathers), which promoted Sadducees: A Jewish party associated with the Temple cult doctrines that were declared “orthodox” in the fourth and the Jewish priests who ran it, comprising principally the and later centuries by the victorious Christian party, in Jewish aristocracy in Judea. The party leader, the High opposition to such groups as the , the Mar- Priest, served as the highest ranking local official and chief cionites, and the Gnostics. liaison with the Roman governor. Pseudepigrapha: From the Greek, literally meaning Samaritans: Inhabitants of Samaria, located between “false writings” and commonly referring to ancient non- Galilee and Judea, considered by some Jews to be apos- canonical Jewish and Christian literary texts, many of tates and half-breeds, since their lineage could be traced which were written pseudonymously. back to intermarriages between Jews and pagan peoples Pseudonymity: The practice of writing under a fictitious several centuries before the New Testament period. name, evident in a large number of pagan, Jewish, and Sanhedrin: A council of Jewish leaders headed by the Christian writings from antiquity. High Priest, which played an advisory role in matters of Q: The source used by both Matthew and Luke for the religious and civil policy. stories they share, principally sayings, that are not found Scribes, Christian: Literate Christians responsible for in Mark; from the German word Quelle, “source.” The copying sacred scripture. document no longer exists, but can be reconstructed on the basis of Matthew and Luke. Scribes, Jewish: Highly educated experts in Jewish Law (and possibly its copyists) during the Greco-Roman Qumran: Place near the northwest shore of the Dead period. Sea, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1946, evidently home to the group of Essenes who had used the Scriptua Continuo: The ancient practice of writing Scrolls as part of their library. without using spaces to separate words. Ehrman_Gloss_509-520hr.qxp 25-05-2011 11:54 Page 518

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Secessionists: Members of the Johannine community Magus (Peter, of course, wins). Starting in the second who, according to the author of 1 John, had “seceded” (i.e., century, Christian heresy-hunters claimed that Simon left) the community to form a community of their own. 1 Magus was the first Gnostic. John, which calls these people “,” suggests that Socio-Historical Method: A method used to study a lit- they had adopted a docetic Christology, not allowing that erary text that seeks to reconstruct the social history of Christ was fully human. the community that lay behind it. Self-definition: Term used in the social sciences to indi- Songs of the Suffering Servant: A set of four poems cate the ways a social group understands itself in terms of or songs found in Isaiah 40–55, in which the prophet the beliefs, rituals, practices, worldviews, shared experi- speaks of a “Servant of ” who suffers for the ences, and so on that bind it together as a group and that sake of the . Jewish interpreters typically differentiate it from those who are not in the group. understood this to refer to the Jews who were sent into Senators: The highest-ranking members of the Roman exile to Babylon; later Christians claimed that the pas- aristocracy, comprising the wealthiest men of Rome, sages referred to a suffering messiah, Jesus. (The term responsible for governing the vast Roman bureaucracy “messiah” is not used in these passages.) during the republic and still active and highly visible dur- Son of God: In most Greco-Roman circles, the designa- ing the time of the empire. tion of a person born to a god, able to perform miraculous Seneca: Probably the greatest Roman philosopher of the deeds and/or to convey superhuman teachings; in Jewish second half of the first century C.E. and tutor to the young circles, the designation of persons chosen to stand in a Nero, later thought to have entered into a prolonged cor- special relationship with the God of Israel, including the respondence with the apostle Paul. ancient Jewish Kings. Sepphoris: One of the two major Greek cities in Galilee, Son of Man: A term whose meaning is much disputed just four miles from Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. Schol- among modern scholars, used in some ancient apocalyp- ars debate whether Jesus was influenced by the culture of tic texts to refer to a cosmic judge sent from heaven at the Sepphoris or if, indeed, he ever went there. end of time. Septuagint: The translation of the Hebrew Scriptures : In Gnostic mythology, the final (female) into Greek, so named because of a tradition that seventy who fell from the divine realm, leading to the birth of the (Latin: septuaginta) Jewish scholars had produced it. Demiurge (Ialdabaoth), who then created the material world as a place to imprison her. : The sermon found only in Matthew 5–7, which preserves many of the best-known Stoics: Greco-Roman philosophers who urged people to sayings of Jesus (including Matthew’s form of the Beati- understand the way the world worked and to live in tudes, the antitheses, and the Lord’s Prayer). accordance with it, letting nothing outside of themselves affect their internal state of well-being. Sicarii: A Latin term meaning, literally, “daggermen,” a Suetonius: designation for a group of first-century Jews responsible for A Roman historian of the early second cen- the assassination of Jewish aristocrats thought to have col- tury C.E., best known for a multivolume work giving laborated with the Romans. See also Fourth Philosophy. biographies of the Roman emperors, The Lives of the Caesars. Signs Source: A document, which no longer survives, Superapostles: thought by many scholars to have been used as one of the In 2 Corinthians, a group of Paul’s oppo- sources of Jesus’ ministry in the Fourth Gospel; it reput- nents who were rhetorically proficient and able to do edly narrated a number of the miraculous deeds of Jesus. spectacular deeds, who claimed that their remarkable abilities demonstrated that they, rather than Paul, were : Mysterious figure first named in Acts 8 the true representatives of Christ. (called there simply “Simon”) who was able to perform Superstition: In the ancient world, superstition was under- magical deeds (hence the sobriquet “Magus”) and who stood by the highly educated upper classes as an excessive was thought to be in competition with the apostles for fear of the gods that drove a person to be excessively scrupu- followers. Later Christians insisted that Simon Magus lous in trying to avoid their displeasure. tried to wrest converts from the apostles by doing magi- cal deeds to convince them of his own power. One later Synagogue: Jewish place of worship and prayer, from a noncanonical text, the Acts of Peter, narrates a series of Greek word that literally means “being brought miracle-working contests between Peter and Simon together.” Ehrman_Gloss_509-520hr.qxp 25-05-2011 11:54 Page 519

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Synoptic Gospels: The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Theophilus: The person to whom “Luke” addressed and Luke, which narrate so many of the same stories both of his volumes, the Gospel and the book of Acts. that they can be placed side by side in parallel columns Scholars debate whether Theophilus was a real per- and so “be seen together” (the literal meaning of son—possibly a highly placed Roman administrator— “synoptic”). or whether the name was instead symbolic. It literally means either “beloved of God” or “lover of God.” Synoptic Problem: The problem of explaining the sim- If symbolic, it would refer to the Christian individuals ilarities and differences between the three Synoptic or communities who were the author’s intended Gospels. See also Markan Priority; Q. audience. Tacitus: Roman historian of the early second century Theudas: (1) A first-century Jewish apocalyptic C.E., whose multivolume work The Annals of Rome pro- prophet (mentioned by Josephus) who predicted the vides substantial information about Roman history from parting of the Jordan River and, evidently, the recon- the beginning down to his own time. quest of the Promised Land by the chosen people. (2) Talmud: The great collection of ancient Jewish traditions An early Gnostic Christian, allegedly the disciple of that comprises the Mishnah and the later commentaries Paul and the teacher of . on the Mishnah, called the Gemarah. There are two col- Thucydides: Famous historian of Athens in the fifth lections of the Talmud, one made in Palestine during the century B.C.E., best known for his account of the twenty- early fifth century C.E. and the other in Babylon perhaps a seven-year Peloponnesian War between Athens and century later. The Babylonian Talmud is generally consid- Sparta. Thucydides’ account, like those of other Greek ered the more authoritative. historians after him, contained a large number of Tarsus: City in southeast Asia Minor (modern Turkey) speeches, which he frankly admitted to have composed that, according to Acts, was home to the Apostle Paul. himself as appropriate for the occasion (cf. the speeches The city was known as one of the great philosophical in Acts in the New Testament). centers in the Roman empire, leading some scholars to Tiberius: The second Roman emperor, succeeding Cae- suspect that Luke located Paul there in order to further sar Augustus, and ruling 14–37 C.E. It was under his rule his credentials (Paul never mentions his hometown in his that Jesus was crucified by Pontius Pilate. letters). Torah: A Hebrew word that means “guidance” or Temple: In pagan circles, a temple was any holy place “direction,” but that is usually translated “law.” As a devoted to one or more divine beings where technical term it designates either the Law of God given could be made in accordance with established religious to Moses or the first five books of the Jewish Bible that principles. For Judaism there was only one legitimate Moses was traditionally thought to have written— Temple, the one in Jerusalem, an enormous complex Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. that contained the holy sanctuary and, within it, the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence on earth was Tradition: Any doctrine, idea, practice, or custom that believed to dwell. has been handed down from one person to another.

Tertullian: A brilliant and acerbic Christian author from Trajan: Roman emperor from 98 to 117 C.E., known, in the late second and early third century. , who was part, through his correspondence with Pliny the Younger. from North Africa and wrote in Latin, is one of the best- Two Ways: The doctrine found in the and the known early Christian apologists. Epistle of Barnabas that people must choose between two Textual Criticism: An academic discipline that seeks ways of living, the way of life (or light) and the way of to establish the original wording of a text based on the death (or darkness). surviving manuscripts. Undisputed Pauline Epistles: Romans, 1 and 2 Cori- Thecla: A (legendary) female disciple of Paul whose nthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and adventures are narrated in the novel-like work of the sec- Philemon—letters that scholars overwhelmingly judge to ond century, The Acts of Paul and Thecla. be have been written by Paul. See also Deutero-Pauline Epistles; Pastoral Epistles. Thematic Method: A method used to study a literary text by isolating its leading ideas, or themes, and explor- Valentinus: Second-century Gnostic Christian who ing them, seeing how they are developed in the text, so traced his intellectual lineage through his teacher as to understand the author’s overarching emphases. Theudas back to the apostle Paul. Ehrman_Gloss_509-520hr.qxp 25-05-2011 11:54 Page 520

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Vicarious Suffering: The notion that one person’s suf- Luke-Acts was a companion of Paul; others believe that fering occurs in the place of or for the sake of in these passages the author of Luke-Acts has utilized a another. travel narrative as a source (much as he utilized other “We” passages: Term used to describe a set of four pas- sources, such as Mark and Q, for his Gospel). sages in the book of Acts in which the author stops Zealots: A group of Galilean Jews who fled to speaking in the third person about what Paul and his Jerusalem during the uprising against Rome in 66–70 companions (“they”) were doing, and speaks instead in C.E., who overthrew the reigning aristocracy in the city the first person about what “we” were doing. Some schol- and urged violent resistance to the bitter end. See also ars take these passages as evidence that the author of Fourth Philosophy.