Glossary

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Abraham

The physical ancestor of Israel and an important figure for Jews, Muslims and Christians alike. His life is described in the book of Genesis, which describes him as a migrant who had God’s blessing. He was originally called Abram, but was renamed Abraham (‘father of many’) by God. God is said to have made a covenant with Abraham that cemented the relationship between God and the Jewish people. He is understood by Christians to be a role model in terms of his faith.

Acts

A shortened name for the biblical book, the Acts of the Apostles. It contains details of what the apostles did after the death and resurrection of Jesus. In the late second century CE, other books were written in a similar style and also given the name of ‘Acts’. These included the Acts of Andrew, John, Paul, Peter and Thomas. None of these works, however, ever made it into the collection of books in the New Testament.

Anagignoskomena

(pronounced ‘annagin-oa-skommenna’)

A term used by Greek Orthodox Christians for what others call the apocryphal or deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament. The word (which means ‘worth reading’ or ‘those which are to be read’) was first used by a bishop called Athanasius in the fourth century CE. The anagignoskomena also include some books not included in the apocrypha or listed as deuterocanonical. Sometimes, the anagignoskomena are referred to by Greek Orthodox Christians as the ‘ecclesiastical books’.

Anthropomorphism

Describing something non-human in human terms. There are lots of examples in the Bible of God being given human characteristics. This includes walking in the garden of Eden (Genesis 3.8), having an arm, an ear and even having nostrils (Isaiah 59.1; Psalm 18.15)! Most Christians, however, understand these references to be metaphorical. They believe that God is a spiritual being, based on other statements in the Bible, such as John 4.24. (As an aside, Mormons, however, do believe that God has a physical body.)

The Bible also contains anthropopathisms, where God is described as having human emotions, such as anger, jealousy, love, compassion etc. (Nahum 1.2; Malachi 1:2–3; Romans 3.5). There has been a long debate within Christianity about how literally these biblical statements were originally meant because on the one hand, the divine Jesus was understood to have suffered death, while on the other, there are texts that seem to say that God does not have mood swings – Philippians 2.6–8; James 1.17.

Anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism refers to a negative attitude towards Jewish people or their culture. Some scholars have made the claim that the New Testament is an Anti-Semitic collection of documents. It’s not hard to see why. Down the centuries, a number of texts have been quoted to support a negative attitude – and even violence towards – the Jewish people. The most notorious of these is Matthew 27.25, where ‘the Jews’ cry that they are willing to be held responsible for shedding the blood of Jesus. This later developed into the idea that ‘the Jews killed Christ’ and led to them being branded as God-killers (this saying was left out of the 2005 CE film The Passion of the Christ for that reason). Others have seen references to ‘the Jews’ in the gospel of John (e.g. 8.44) as highly critical and promoting a ‘them and us’ mentality.

However, following the Nazi Holocaust in particular, many scholars began to wonder if such interpretations were actually valid. The consensus among biblical scholars now is that since the New Testament was largely written by Jews, charges of Anti-Semitism in the Bible are a bit misplaced. As many see it, negative statements in the New Testament about Jews reflect tensions within the Jewish community of the first century CE – not Anti-Semitism from without. The references to bloodshed in the gospel of Matthew, for example, are also found in other Jewish texts of the time. Further, the gospel writer Luke, who wasn’t Jewish, emphasised the equal role that non-Jews played in the murder of Jesus (Acts 2.23). For these reasons, the vast majority of Churches today would strongly oppose Anti-Semitism and reject the idea that the Bible is Anti-Semitic. In fact, some Christians are now very supportive of the state of Israel (see Zionism), because from their perspective the Jewish people have a key role to play in fulfilling Bible prophecy.

Antichrist

The term antichrist comes from the Greek word antichristos, which roughly means ‘opponent of Christ’. It’s only found four times in the Bible, in the letters of John (1 John 2.18, 22; 4.3; 2 John 1.7). However, the concept behind it is understood by many to be found in other books too (e.g. Daniel chapters 7–11; Matthew 24.15–25; 2 Thessalonians 2.3–12 and Revelation 13.1–8). In the letter of John, there are references to more than one antichrist (and to an anti-Christian spirit in general). The other references are understood by some to refer to an individual human who will arise at a given point to marshal the masses against Jesus.

In every age, people have identified specific figures as the antichrist, depending on their particular standpoint. This has included Caesar Nero, various Popes, Martin Luther and Hitler. In our own time, the finger of suspicion has been pointed at Vladimir Putin, Osama Bin Laden and even David Hasselhoff. Popular interest in the Antichrist was aroused by the 1974 CE film The Omen, which portrayed the antichrist as a literal child of the Devil called Damian (a concept and name not found in the Bible).

Apocalyptic, apocalypse(s)

A style of crisis writing found in the Bible (and elsewhere) involving doom-laden revelations about major disasters or of the end of the world. The term comes from the Greek word apokalypsis, which means ‘revelation’. Apocalyptic writing was usually understood as involving some kind of heavenly vision, during which secrets would be revealed. The only two examples of apocalypses in the Bible would be the books of Daniel and Revelation, although some would say that there is also apocalyptic material in the books of Zechariah and Ezekiel. Among Catholics the book of Revelation is sometimes known as the Apocalypse.

Apocrypha, New Testament/Christian

This term refers to a range of literature (such as apocalypses, gospels, epistles and acts) that were mostly written after the books that form part of the New Testament (i.e. from the second century CE onwards). They offer interesting insights into how Christianity developed and splintered during the second century CE. Most of the works are attempts to embellish the original New Testament material, providing extra information where there were clear gaps in the market.

The Infancy gospels of James and Thomas are classic examples of this, since they cover the childhoods of Jesus and of the Virgin Mary. Many second century gospels cover the period after the Resurrection of Jesus, especially the Gnostic Texts. Some writers, such as those who produced 3 Corinthians or the Epistle to Laodicea, spotted excuses in the New Testament itself to produce extra material. For example, 1 Corinthians 5.9 refers to another letter of Paul to the Corinthians and Colossians 4.16 mentions a letter to the Laodiceans. The Apocalypse of Peter appears to be a grislier version of the book of Revelation.

However, that’s not to say that this wider field of later Christian literature contained nothing of value. Some of the earlier material may be compared to unauthorised biographies of Jesus and the apostles. In other words, they may contain grains of truth but are generally to be taken with a large pinch of salt. Especially valued were four teaching documents; the Epistle of Barnabas, the Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles), the Shepherd of Hermas and the first letter of Clement. Most biblical scholars believe that these particular documents were written fairly early, in the late first and early second centuries CE. Therefore, these four works were sometimes floated as possible candidates for inclusion in the New Testament canon. Eventually, however, they were left out of the mainstream canon because people didn’t think they were written by the apostles or with their approval. Certain other works, such as the Egerton Gospel and gospel fragments found at a rubbish dump in Oxyrhynchus (Egypt) may be even earlier again. They may even be among the other accounts of the life of Jesus that the gospel writer Luke mentioned (Luke 1.1–3) and therefore be of some historical value.

Apocrypha, Old Testament

The term apocrypha comes from the Greek word apokryphos, which means ‘something hidden’. It means different things in different contexts. Generally, it has a negative meaning and refers to ‘wannabe’ books of the Bible – rather than real ones. Some Christians use the term ‘Old Testament Apocrypha’ to refer to a certain set of books that are sometimes claimed to be part of the Old Testament, but as they see it, don’t really belong in the collection. This includes, with some minor variations, the books of Wisdom, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Baruch, Sirach, Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh.

Catholic and Orthodox Christians take a different view. As they see it, those books are genuinely part of the Bible, so they don’t refer to them by the negative term ‘apocrypha’ (Catholics, however, don’t include 1 and 2 Esdras or the Prayer of Manasseh). They refer to them as the either the deuterocanonical books or sometimes as the anagignoskomena. Other ‘wannabe’ Old Testament material (other than that particular set of books) are usually described by everyone as Old Testament Pseudipigrapha. Most Christians agree in describing ‘wannabe’ Christian texts as ‘New Testament Apocrypha’.

Apostle

The term apostle comes from the Greek word apostolos, which roughly means ‘someone sent’. There are 80 references to apostles in the New Testament, but some scholars would argue that there appear to be two different types (although the distinctions aren’t all that clear). Many of those references are to the 12 men who were sent out by Christ to preach during his lifetime and who were later witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 10.1–4; Acts 1.21–22). As such, they were viewed in some sense as authority figures within the early Christian community.

Later, Matthias and Paul were also understood as apostles in this way (Acts 1.26; 1 Corinthians 9.1). However, there were also a wider group of people called ‘apostles’ who were sent out as messengers to/from churches or as missionaries (Acts 13.1–3; 14.4; 1 Corinthians 12.27–29; 2 Corinthians 8.23; Philippians 2.25). It is in this second sense that some later Christian writers described Mary Magdalene as the ‘apostle to the apostles’. This was because she was sent by Jesus with a message to the 12 apostles.

Armageddon

The word only occurs once in the Bible – at Revelation 16.14–17 – to describe the ‘battle of the great day of God the Almighty’. The Greek word used is harmagedon, which many scholars think is itself a translation of the Hebrew phrase har megiddon (‘mountain of Megiddo’). The city of Megiddo held a strategic position in the ancient world. It was built on a mound and enabled those who held it to control the area. It was therefore the scene of many bloody battles.

Based on this, many interpreters believe that the description of evil forces ‘gathering at Megiddo’ is symbolic (somewhat like ABBA singing that they were finally ‘facing their Waterloo’). They think it means a final defeat of evil, rather than a physical gathering for battle. Others, however, understand Armageddon as a literal bloody battle that will take place among the nations in Israel, which will end when Christ returns to put a stop to it. The word Armageddon has now entered popular usage to refer to disasters that could spell the end of planet earth (e.g. a nuclear war or an asteroid on collision course with earth as in the 1998 CE film Armageddon).

Atonement

A ritual action that repairs a damaged relationship between humans and God. The Old Testament contains elaborate laws about atonement. Rather than pay the penalty in person, sinners arranged for animals to be sacrificed on their behalf. These ‘sin offerings’ were understood to make amends when people broke the law of Moses. The Day of Atonement described in the Old Testament is a yearly day of fasting that is still kept by Jews. The New Testament draws on language from the Old Testament to describe the crucifixion of Jesus as an act of atonement for sins. The death of Jesus on the cross was understood as a sacrifice to God on behalf of sinners. The crucifixion is also described in the Bible as a ‘ransom’ price and as a victory over the devil. These ideas were later developed into various theories of what the death of Jesus on the cross meant.

Christian writers throughout the centuries have emphasised different aspects of the atonement. The dominant view has been that Jesus was punished for the sins of others while dying on the cross. However, other theologians thought that Jesus was paying a ransom price to the devil on the cross, who had been holding humanity hostage. A smaller number emphasised how the death of Jesus was an act of love and in this sense an example to follow. Current debates focus on the language used in the New Testament for the atonement (e.g. was it literal or symbolic?) or the problem of sacred violence which it seems to involve.

Authorised Version (AV)

See the entry on King James Version (KJV).

Baptism

A water-based initiation ceremony or sacrament that is understood in different ways across the Churches. The term is linked to the Greek word baptizein, which originally meant ‘to plunge’ or sometimes ‘to submerge’. The Greek term baptismos referred to a range of washing rituals. In the New Testament, both John the Baptist and Jesus are said to have baptised (John 3.22, 23). The actual method of baptising is not set out clearly in the Bible. Some insist that the ‘coming up out of the water’ of Mark 1.10 shows that total immersion underwater is involved. Others argue that this shows no more than the ceremony took place standing in a river. Different Christian groups therefore use different methods – total immersion underwater, pouring over the head or sprinkling of drops of water.

Many Christians understand water baptism to be a ceremony that publicly symbolises someone’s repentance for sin, faith in Jesus and entry into the community of the Church. As such, some Christians would want to insist that only those who are mature and capable of both feeling sorry for their sins and of believing, should be baptised. This idea, also involving total immersion underwater, is sometimes known as ‘believer’s baptism’.

Others, however, would be more open to the baptism of babies and children on the understanding that the practice is an initiation ceremony into the Church. Catholic Christians believe that baptism is not only a symbolic initiation ceremony, but that it actually saves souls from original sin. Therefore, they believe that it is important to baptise children. Some charismatic Christians speak of ‘baptism of the Spirit’ (cf. Acts 1.5) as a post-conversion dose of the Holy Spirit, accompanied by special gifts (often speaking in tongues). Other Christians understand this gift of the Spirit to take place in some form at the moment of conversion.

Bible Code

A hidden code, allegedly found in the Hebrew text of the Bible, which is said to have accurately predicted a series of world events. These include Hitler’s role in the Nazi Holocaust, Einstein’s role in developing a revolutionary scientific theory and President Kennedy’s assassination. The code was ‘discovered’ by an Israeli mathematician called Eli Rips in the 1980s and 1990s. The code works by using a computer program to count letters at regular intervals in the Hebrew Bible. This analysis reveals intersecting words hidden in the Bible text, much like in a crossword puzzle. These words relate to significant events (e.g. ‘Kennedy’ ‘assassin’ and ‘Dallas’).

The mathematical code was publicised by an American journalist called Michael Drosnin. His 1997 CE book The Bible Code became an international sensation. He claimed that there was a ‘Bible beneath the Bible’ and that the prophecy of Daniel 12.4,9 referred to the Bible Code. However, sceptics have argued that hidden codes such as this can be found in any lengthy book. The absence of vowels within Hebrew texts of the Bible also makes it more likely that coincidences can be found. Criticisms notwithstanding, the idea that there is coded meaning within the text of the Bible persists and has spawned a series of follow-up literature in the same vein.

Biblical criticism

‘Biblical criticism’ (also known as the historical-critical method) is a catch-all phrase which generally means looking at biblical documents from a scholarly, rather than a necessarily religious viewpoint. It includes specialist fields such as investigating what sources were used by the biblical writers (source criticism), the situation for which material was originally written to be used (form criticism), how it was finally edited together (redaction criticism) and how faithful later biblical texts are/were to the originals (textual criticism).

Christians had studied their sacred texts critically for centuries, but biblical criticism took a new twist during the eighteenth century CE. Scholars who weren’t Christians began to take God out of the equation and investigate the biblical texts as purely human documents. During this process, cherished ideas sometimes went out of the window (e.g. that Moses had written the Pentateuch, that the story of Jonah was historical and that chapter 16 of Mark’s gospel was part of the original). Others attempted to ‘demythologise’ (take the myth out of) biblical stories. For example, they explained the miracles in terms they thought people would find more believable (e.g. that those Jesus ‘healed’ were schizophrenic, not demon-possessed).

Many modern biblical scholars have rejected certain positions held by the first modern biblical critics as unfounded (e.g. that King David was a fictional character, that the gospels were written as late as the mid second century CE etc). However, other ideas, such as the ‘quest for the historical Jesus’ (based on a perceived distinction between the ‘Jesus of history’ and the ‘Christ of faith’) remain. For their part, biblical scholars within Christian communities have taken on board much – but not all – of the fruits of modern biblical criticism (e.g. accepting that the Gospels were written in common Greek). Sometimes they reject positions that are viewed almost as facts by some scholars (e.g. the existence of a gospels source document called ‘Q’, the idea that the book of Isaiah had several authors etc.).

Christian scholars often raise questions about the assumptions certain biblical critics make that colour their studies (e.g. that miracles are impossible, that the Jesus of Gnosticism is the real one etc.). Others argue that the historical-critical approach to the Bible is a bit dated. As far as they are concerned, the discussion has now moved on from questions about the DNA of the biblical texts. Of much greater interest is what the texts meant to later generations or what they mean to people now. Yet the biblical criticism movement has spawned an entire industry of academics literally selling their ideas about the Bible to the public through books, seminars, speaking engagements and media appearances. This has been mockingly described in some circles as ‘the Jesus business’.

Brothers and sisters of Jesus

A group of people often mentioned in the New Testament (e.g. Matthew 12.46; 13.55; Acts 1.14; 1 Corinthians 9.5). There are several schools of thought as to who they were and the issue has been a subject of open debate among Christians for centuries. Some believe them to be the literal younger brothers and sisters of Jesus. In their view, Mary went on to have other children after Jesus was born. Others, mostly Catholic and Orthodox Christians, believe them to be close relatives of Jesus (either cousins or stepbrothers/ stepsisters). This is linked to their belief that Mary was a virgin her whole life.

In 2006, these relatives of Jesus were linked in with a conspiracy theory called the ‘Jesus Dynasty’. It was suggested that two of these brothers of Jesus (James and Jude) were originally leaders in the early Christian community. James and Jude allegedly opposed the apostles Peter and Paul, who were set on taking the original teaching of Jesus in a new direction. However, this controversial idea is not held by the majority of New Testament scholars.

Canon, canons, canonical

From the Greek word kanon (which means ‘measuring stick’), the canon refers to the set list of books understood to belong in the Bible. Therefore a ‘canonical’ book is a term often used for a book that is considered to genuinely be part of the Bible. As the Bible developed, books were only believed to be part of the authoritative collection if they ‘measured up’ to certain criteria (e.g. they were somehow linked to the apostles, or to Moses).

Catholic epistles

An old-fashioned term for a group of letters in the New Testament that were understood to be written for Christians in general, rather than just for individuals or for specific churches. They include James, 1 and 2 Peter, the three letters of John and the letter of Jude. The word ‘catholic’ in this sense means ‘universal’.

Charism, charismatic

A charism (from the Greek word charisma) is a ‘gift from God’. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 refers to the range of charisms or skills given to Christians by the Holy Spirit. Christians who emphasise the importance of these gifts, especially the ability to ‘speak in tongues’, often refer to themselves as ‘Charismatic’.

Christ

See the entry on messiah.

Christmas

The Date
The annual Christian festival held on 25 December (or 6/7 January within some Orthodox traditions), to celebrate Christ’s birth. No one really knows for sure the day or year when Jesus was actually born. The tradition of the early Church held the date to be either 6 January or 25 December, depending on the calendar used. A potential problem with this, often stated, is that Jesus could not have been born in midwinter because the Bible says that the shepherds were in the fields at the time with their sheep (Luke 2.8). However, the Mishnah, a collection of ancient Jewish legal documents, shows that shepherds and their flocks were sometimes in the fields during the wintertime (Mishnah Seqal. 7.4). So a winter date is not necessarily out of the question.

Nevertheless, many argue that the selection of 25 December was more symbolic. They view the choice of this date as a snub to the pagan beliefs common in the Roman Empire at the time. On that date, people used to celebrate the birth of the sun god Mithras. Some people believe that replacing the Mithras festival with the birth of Christ was a way of edging paganism off the scene. However, there is little evidence that this is what happened and this idea only became popular in the twelfth century CE. In any case, there is another good reason for the choice of 25 December. The gospel of Luke (1.5–11, 23–24) seems to suggest that a relative of Mary (the mother of Jesus) called Elizabeth fell pregnant soon after her husband had seen a vision during the festival of Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur takes place on the tenth of the Jewish month of Tishri (September/October). Mary is said to have fallen pregnant six months after Elizabeth (1.26–45), which would be the Jewish month of Nisan (March/April). Nine months of pregnancy would therefore mean that Jesus was born some time during the Jewish month of Tebeth (December/January). There are some rough edges to this chronology, but we know from the Christian writer Augustine that it did influence the choice of 25 December in the early Church (On the Trinity, Sermon 202).

As to pinpointing the year, there are an even more complex series of factors to take into account, including the date of King Herod’s death, the census of Quirinius (see below) and the age when Jesus started his career (understood from Luke 3.23 to be aged 30). Most scholars think that Jesus was born between 4–6 BCE.

The Story
The census of Quirinius is sometimes mentioned as a mistake in the Christmas story. Luke 2.1–3 describes how Jesus was born during a census (in Greek, apographe) of the Roman world. This is said to have taken place when Caesar Augustus was reigning and when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Some scholars argue that there is no evidence of such a large-scale census across the Roman Empire. They also maintain that the Romans would never make people return to their ancestral homes just to be taxed.

However, other scholars point out that apographe would be better translated ‘registration’. A registered oath of loyalty to Caesar Augustus was required throughout the Roman Empire (including Judaea) in 3 BCE to mark his silver jubilee. The problem with this is that Quintilus Varus, not Quirinius (as recorded in the Bible), was the Roman legate (governor) of Syria at this time. However, the Roman historian Tacitus indicates that sometimes, provinces were ruled by both a legate and a procurator (Tacitus, Agricola 15). So it would be entirely possible for Quirinius to have been the procurator, but not the legate, when Jesus was born. The early Christian writer Justin Martyr says this was in fact the case (Apology 1.34).

At Christmas, the subject of whether Jesus really was born in a stable sometimes comes up. Many Bibles says that the baby Jesus was laid ‘in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn’ (Luke 2.7). This can conjure up images of a wooden stable at the back of a hotel, as in so many nativity plays. A number of biblical scholars have pointed out, however, that this verse would be better translated as ‘no space in the upper room’ of a house. Lower rooms were often used as stables, which is why there was a manger available.

These wise men are described in the gospel of Matthew as travelling to worship Jesus, guided by a star. The Bible doesn’t say that there were three of them (some traditions say there were as many as 12), but many assume that from the fact that there are three kinds of gift named (one per visitor). The visitors are described in Greek as magoi, a word which refers to priests/wise men from Persia who were both stargazers and dream interpreters. Later Christian thought linked the visitors with the kings riding camels of Psalm 72. The wise men are not named in the Bible; later tradition named them Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar.

Church, Churches

These common terms are understood differently among Christians. The word Church comes from the Greek word ekklesia (roughly meaning ‘called out’ and usually translated ‘church’ in English). In the New Testament, ‘the Church’ can refer to either individual Christian communities (Romans 16.1; 1 Thessalonians 2.14) or the universal Christian community in general (Galatians 1.13; Philippians 3.6). The Bible never uses the word to refer to church buildings. Many Christians understand ‘the Church’ to refer to the wider community of believers rather than a particular denomination. Those not tending to equate ‘the Church’ with any one particular denomination often emphasise the teaching of Paul about diversity within the Christian community (e.g. 1 Corinthians 12).

Officially, Catholics understand ‘the Church’ to be the Roman Catholic Church alone, while also acknowledging that other genuine Christians might well be found outside its hierarchy. As they see it, the gospel of Matthew has Peter (understood as the first Pope) being handed leadership of the entire Christian community by Jesus. (Matthew 16.13–20). There are different views on this issue among Orthodox Christians, mirroring both these inclusive and exclusive positions.

However, some New Testament scholars have questioned whether Jesus even intended to found a Church organisation in the first place. They believe that Jesus simply encouraged people to follow Him, rather then become members of an in-group. Others scholars, however, have emphasised the use by Jesus of structured community language to refer to His following (e.g. ‘family’, ‘household’, ‘flock’). With this in mind, they believe that it is plausible that Jesus meant to found a Church.

Codex

(pronounced ‘coad-ex’; the plural Codices is pronounced ‘coad-uh-sees’)

A codex is an early type of book, containing papyrus or vellum pages that were sewn together. They were originally used in Roman times only for important legal documents, as most writing was still done on large papyrus rolls. The early Christians, however, quickly adopted the more travel-size codex as their own. Many of the oldest and most important copies of the Bible are contained in codices, including Codex Bezae (written in Greek and Latin during the fourth or fifth century CE), Codex Sinaiticus (written in Greek during the fourth century CE) and Codex Vaticanus (written in Greek during the fourth century and now kept in the Vatican library).

Covenant

(pronounced ‘cuvver-nant’)

A sacred contract made between two partners, which creates a permanent relationship between them. In the Bible, God made a series of covenants with people, each with specific terms. This includes one with Noah after the flood, another with Abraham, two through Moses with Israel (one at Sinai and another at Moab), one with King David and a final ‘new covenant’ through Jesus. Some Christians believe that the new covenant introduced by Jesus completely replaced the previous covenants made through Moses. Others believe that the previous covenant remains, just that Jesus changed the terms. Some scholars argue that the new covenant introduced by Jesus was also a testament (as in ‘last will and testament’), because the Greek word translated ‘covenant’ (diatheke) usually referred to a testament rather than a covenant.