Section 13 Flashcards
no contemporary Jewish or Roman account constitutes primary, external evidence of the actual events of Jesus’ life. The closest we come is a brief mention by the Roman historian _________
Tacitus
the Jewish historian and general ________ also notes the existence of early Christians, but he was active several decades after Jesus’ life and thus cannot serve as an eyewitness to the central events lying at the heart of Christianity.
Josephus
the Romans’ general eviction of the Jews from the Holy Lands
Diaspora
Jesus most likely spoke ________, a Semitic tongue used commonly throughout the Holy Lands in his day.
Aramaic
the greatest of Christ’s interpreters in the wake of his crucifixion. Often called the “second founder of the Christian church,” he was a Jew who had Roman citizenship and initially oppressed Christians until he experienced an intense vision of Christ and converted to Christianity
Paul (Saul of Tarsus)
the assumption that all people are fundamentally equal, that slavery is an abomination and that war does less good in the world than peace
Stoicism
late third-century Rome finally found the savior it so desperately needed, not a divine one but a hard-nosed, working-class emperor named _______
Diocletian
In the generation after Diocletian, ________ (ca. 285-337 CE) came to power. He was the first Roman emperor to embrace Christianity
Constantine
he grew up in the Roman West, yet he later preferred the Hellenized East and, in fact, moved the center of Roman government there, where he built a grand new capital named after himself, ____________
Constantinople
With this ensign, conquer
In Hoc Signo Vince
Constantine did not go so far as to declare Rome a Christian state, he did enforce a policy of official neutrality in Christian affairs
Edict of Milan
it seriously alienated the many who refused to join the Church, those traditional __________
Pagans (Paganus)
in Greek, “straight opinion,” meaning those views sanctioned by the officials of the Church
Orthodox(y)
choice,” implying the freedom to follow a doctrine of one’s own desire
Heresy
represented not so much an organized sect as a motley collection of alternative Christians whose views on the nature of Jesus and the lessons of his ministry differed broadly, sometimes directly contradicting each other as much as the Church
Gnostics
a work which has made the world of nascent Christianity accessible to many non-historians today
Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels
in 1945, a fortuitous find of ancient texts later called the _______________ library—_________________ is the site in southern Egypt where these texts were discovered—increased enormously our awareness of the wide range of religious views early Christians embraced
Nag Hammadi
in the words of the Gnostic teacher ________, “each person recognizes the Lord in his own way, not all alike
Theodotus
the Gnostic _____________ envisions her as the foremost of the apostles and calls her the “woman who knew the All
Gospel of Mary
a dynamic and well-educated priest named _______ (ca. 250-336 CE), who championed a more remedial version of Christ than the mystical, enigmatic vision offered by the orthodox Church
Arius
Seeing Jesus as a divine being and the offspring of God but not a god exactly like God—in other words, a very high-level, celestial messenger sent to earth—this __________ later called Arianism endorsed the position that, if Jesus is the Son of God, then he cannot be allowed to assume precedence over his Father in heaven or on earth
Arianism
Leading the opponents of Arianism was none other than Arius’ own superior ___________—his boss, so to speak—the patriarch of Alexandria and a formidable power-broker in the Church.
Athanasius
Like any powerful, under-educated politician confronted with a real brain-teaser of this sort, the emperor called together his advisors, in this case, Christian clergy from all across the Empire to a synod, the famous ____________
Council of Nicaea
After some vigorous debate, the bishops ended up backing Athanasius and forged the famous ___________ in which adherents and converts to Christianity were sworn to uphold the orthodox perception of Christ as “begotten not made” by God and “(who) was made flesh, was made man, suffered and rose again on the third day
Nicene Creed
Doctrine and ritual came to center around what is now known as the seven _____________: baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, penance, marriage, ordination and final unction
Sacraments
each of these oversaw a see
Bishop(s)
a religious “province” of sorts
See
the Bishop of Rome stood out among his peers and hence came to be called the _________ (“Father”). From this evolved the papacy and the office of Pope.
Papa
the transference of power from Jesus to the apostles and then to the bishops came to be called the ____________________
Apostolic Succession
