G L O S S a R Y O F T E R
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Ehrman_Gloss_509-520hr.qxp 25-05-2011 11:54 Page 509 GLOSSARY OF TERMS Adoptionism: The view that Jesus 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 Septuagint but not in the baptism to be God’s son. Hebrew Bible, 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 son of God. donia (356–323 B.C.E.) whose armies conquered much of the eastern Mediterranean and who was responsible for Apology: A reasoned explanation and justification 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 Christianity, the term was used to designate special emis- attempted to force the Jews 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 Christ. See also Disciple. Antitheses: Literally, “contrary statements,” used as a Apostolic Fathers: A collection of noncanonical writ- technical term to designate six sayings of Jesus in the Ser- ings penned by proto-orthodox Christians 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 church. Apocalypse: A literary genre in which an author, usually Apostolic Succession: 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. Apocalypticism: 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 evil, 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. 509 Ehrman_Gloss_509-520hr.qxp 25-05-2011 11:54 Page 510 510 Glossary of Terms Athanasius: An influential fourth-century church Biography (ancient): A literary genre consisting of a father and bishop 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 New Testament 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- Atonement: The doctrine that indicates how a person ganda. who is condemned by sin can be placed in a right stand- ing before God by means of a sacrifice. 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, bishops were the leaders who had over- sight of the life of the community. Augurs: A group of pagan priests in Rome who could interpret the will of the gods by “taking the auspices.” See Caiaphas: The Jewish high priest 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. Catholic: From a Greek word meaning “universal” or Autograph: The original manuscript of a literary text, “general,” used of the New Testament epistles 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 speaking in tongues, 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. Beatitudes: A Latin word meaning, literally, “blessings,” used as a technical term for the sayings of Jesus that begin Christ: See Messiah. the Sermon on the Mount (e.g., “Blessed are the poor in Christology: Any teaching about the nature of Christ. spirit . ,” Matt 5:3–12). See also Adoptionism; Docetism. 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 Gospel 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 Gospel. the first emperor to convert to Christianity. Constantine’s Ehrman_Gloss_509-520hr.qxp 25-05-2011 11:54 Page 511 Glossary of Terms 511 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 goddess 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. Demiurge: Literally “Maker,” a term used in Gnostic Contextual Credibility, Criterion of: One of the cri- texts to designate the powerful (but inferior) deity that teria commonly used by scholars to establish historically created the world. reliable material; with respect to the historical Jesus, 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. Cosmos: 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.