Module 1 Key Terms Flashcards
Metaphysics
The study of the most fundamental and essential properties of reality, including existence, objects, space, time, and the relationship between matter and mind. It is an inquiry into the essence of all things.
Literally means “after physics,” from the Greek
Ideas or a posited reality outside the realm of human comprehension.
Branch of philosophy, ultimate reality, very important metaphysician for the history of Christianity is Plato (420s BC to 348 BC)
Cosmological Argument
An argument for the existence of God based upon observed facts of the universe.
This is a type of argument that uses logos, the general pattern of argumentation, to make inferences from alleged facts about the universe
Ontological Argument
A deductive philosophical argument for the existence of God, the premises of which are derived from reason alone. These are analytical arguments, based on sources other than observations of the world.
Marcion of Sinope
Early Christian theologian. Born in 85 AD in Turkiye, died in 160 AD in Rome
Sometimes thought to be Gnostic, but he wasn’t, not really, because he believed that the Heavenly Father (Jesus’s God) had no part in the making of the world and was utterly alien, and because he did not believe that humans are born with a piece of God lodged in their soul.
Believed the teachings of Jesus were incompatible with Yahweh, and developed a ditheistic system in response.
Declared that the nascent Christian Church was completely discontinuous to Judaism and that the Judaic scriptures should be read 100% literally.
Believed the Old Testament god was the Demiurge of the material universe and was a jealous, vengeful being. In contrast, the god Jesus professed was a different being, a god of universal compassion who looks upon humanity with benevolence.
Denied Jesus’s physical existence (birth, death, resurrection), as he thought that Jesus’s body was merely an imitation of a physical body.
Believed that Paul was the only true apostle of Christ.
Was central to the development of the New Testament. He was the first to develop and publish a canon of sacred scriptures, and after being denounced as a heretic the proto-orthodox church needed to develop its own canon in response.
The Battle of Milvian Bridge
Battle between Roman emperors Constantine I and Maxentius in 312 AD. Caused by rivalries in the Roman Diocletian’s Tetrarchy. Constantine won, and marked the beginning of his conversion to Christianity (this is the sign of the Chi Rho battle). This gave him control over the Western Roman Empire and paved the way for Christianity to become the dominant religion in the Roman empire and eventually Europe. The following year Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which officially recognized and gave legal status to Christianity.
Asceticism
From Greek - training, or exercise
Severe self-discipline and avoidance of all worldly pleasures for the pursuit of spiritual and religious goals.
Was founded by St. Anthony, the first ascetic and eremitic monk, in the 270s-280s AD when he first set out into the desert.
Eremitic Monasticism
Oldest form of monasticism, founded by St. Anthony of the Desert around 270s-280s AD. Stresses the solitary nature of the monk, characterized by complete withdrawal from society.
Anchorite
A person who has withdrawn from secular life to live in a cell, usually adjacent to a monastery or church, to practice asceticism and monasticism.
Different from a hermit, which withdraw to the wilderness.
Stylites
A Christian ascetic who lives on a pillar or tower.
The first known stylite was Simeon the Elder, who in 423 climbed a pillar in Syria and remained there until his death 36 years later.
Holy Fool
A type of monasticism in which individuals flout societal conventions for the sake of religious devotion.
Cenobitic Monasticism
Communal monasticism. Founded by those who found eremitic monasticism to physically difficult, and needed the order and accountability of a community to survive.
Lavra Monasticism
A monastery containing clusters of cells for hermits and occasionally a church or refectory in the center.
Cave Monasticism
A monastery built in caves
Mt. Athos
All male monastery in Greece
Pentarchy
A model of church organization put forth by Emporer Justinian I around 550. In this model, the church of the Roman Empire is governed by five heads: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem
Development of the authoritative body of the church. The orthodoxy needed to define itself against gnosticism, and one of ways in which the church leaders did so was by defining an apostolic tradition. They built a hierarchy of church organization to preserve the apostolic tradition, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Eventually in their creation of the church hierarchy they determined that some cities were more important scholastic and theologic hubs than others, which thus warranted specific denotation of which cities contained central heads of church government.
Because Constantinople didn’t exist when Jesus was alive, there was a bit of controversy about its inclusion into the pentarchy. But by the 5th century, it was the most powerful of the five cities, so it pretty much had to be included. Constantinople was formally accepted into the pentarchy in the Council of Chalcedon. It was effectively agreed upon in the third ecumenical council (381), but formally canonized in 431.
Athanasius
Born around 296 AD in Alexandria, died in 373 in Alexandria
Patriarch of Alexandria. Exiled 5 times because the changing political and theological landscape couldn’t stick with a decision on whether he was a heretic or not. Wrote in Coptic and Greek.
Believed that the Son is part of the Father, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are a singular hypostasis, they are a single person with a single mind. They are consubstantial.
Defender of homoousios and the Nicene Creed during the Arian Controversy
Career was shaped by his conflict with Eusebianist and Arianist theologians.
Wrote the biography of St. Anthony of the Desert
Arius
Born in 256 in Libya, died in 336 in Constantinople.
The guy who got his lights punched out by St. Nick.
Founder of Arianism. Denied the divinity of Christ; believed that Jesus was created by God and was therefore neither coeternal nor consubstantial.
Was a prominent topic at the First Council of Nicaea, where his beliefs were rejected, with the Nicene Creed becoming a very anti-Arianism document.
Homoousia
From Greek - same in being, same in essence
Translated into Latin as consubstantial
Distinct but identical in substance
Used in the Nicene Creed to denote Jesus as being the same in essence as the Father, later applied to the Holy Spirit as well
Nicea
City in the ancient Greek empire, now in Turkey
The Nicene Creed
The defining statement of belief and profession of faith for Christianity.
Regards Jesus as divine and begotten of the Father, not made. The Son is not a creature, but shares the same nature as the Father.
Dyophysites
The idea that Jesus is one person of one substance but with two distinct, inseparable natures: divine and human. One person, two natures.
Broad term, includes Chalcedonian and Nestorianist teachings.
Was articulated in the Chalcedonian Definition set forth by the Council of Chalcedon in 451.
Accepted by Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, and others. Rejected by Oriental Orthodox churches.
Monophysitism
Belief that Jesus has only one nature: the divine.
Rejected in the Council of Chalcedon (451) by the inclusion and definition of dyophysitism. Has been rejected by all denominations as heresy ever since.
Monothelitism
From Greek - “mono” (one) “thelema” (will)
The doctrine of Christ having only one divine will under which his human will is subsumed
Ecclesiastical and political powers promoted it in the 7th century in the Eastern Roman Empire to try and reconcile divided Christian factions. Ultimately rejected by the 6th Ecumenical Council
