The Concise Dictionary of the Christian Tradition: Doctrine, Liturgy, History

by J. D. Douglas, Peter Toon

Overview

In this single volume you will find nearly three-and-a-half thousand terms and names from the history, teachings, and liturgy of the church.

• Terms and names that are difficult to find in standard dictionaries
• Brief definitions and descriptions for quick reference
• Names and terms from the history of the church in its various expressions
• Concepts and terms related to the teachings of the church
• Terms connected with the Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox liturgies

This indispensable reference work is for anyone who wants quick access to information that is sometimes difficult to find, even in a well-stocked library. The perfect single-volume reference for the layperson, students, pastors, and teachers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310157335
Publisher:	Zondervan
Publication date:	10/10/2023
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

J. D. Douglas was the revising editor of The New International Dictionary of the Bible and editor of The New Bible Dictionary. He was editor-at-large for Christianity Today.

Peter Toon (Ph D., Oxford University) was the rector of Christ Church, Biddulph Moor, Diocese of Lichfield, in the Church of England. He published over thirty books.

Read an Excerpt

The Concise Disctionary of Christian Traditon

Doctrine, Liturgy, History

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By Douglas Elwell Toon

Zondervan

Copyright © 1989 Zondervan
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0-310-23023-3

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Chapter One

A

A CRUCE SALUS (Lat. "salvation comes from the cross"). The salvation God provides is centered in Jesus' death on the cross.

A.D. See Anno Domini.

A PRIORI, A POSTERIORI Latin phrases meaning "from before" and "from after" and used with reference to human experience in the world of observable facts. Thus, a priori statements are made without reference to observation or examination of the world (e.g., "morality cannot exist without God"). Other statements are a posteriori-observation shows them to be true (e.g., "Plants breathe carbon dioxide").

ABBA (Aram. "father"). Used in the NT (Mark 14:36; Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6) as the expression of an intimate relationship with God the Father. It was probably a featured part of a primitive confession of faith and assurance at baptism in the early church. See also Adoption (Theological).

ABBESS Female superior of a nunnery, most commonly of the Benedictine rule. The title was in use by the early 6th century. In the Middle Ages an abbess sometimes ruled a double monastery of monks and nuns. She had to be at least forty years old and had to have professed for at least ten years. She had complete spiritual authority over her nuns but no sacramental jurisdiction.

ABBOT Superior of a monastic community of the Benedictine rule. An abbot (Aram. abba, "father") must be at least thirty years old, of legitimate birth, and an ordained priest. His election (by secret ballot) must be ratified by the pope or other designated authority. Though traditionally a life appointment, the post is sometimes limited to six to ten years.

ABBOT, GEORGE (1562-1633). Archbishop of Canterbury from 1611. Strong Royalist and former bishop of London, his moderate Calvinism was less acceptable after the death of James I, when High Church views were pressed by William Laud. Abbot's accidental shooting of a game-keeper while hunting sparked off a famous controversy.

ABBOTT, LYMAN (1835-1922). Congregationalist minister and writer. Briefly a lawyer, he studied theology and ministered in Indiana and the South before becoming editor of the Illustrated Christian Weekly (1870). In 1876 he transferred to the Christian Union, becoming its chief editor in 1881 and vigorously using it to apply Christianity to social problems. The Theology of an Evolutionist (1897) reflects his Darwinist outlook. He followed H. W. Beecher at Plymouth Congregational Church, Brooklyn (1888-1899).

ABECEDARIANS Followers of Nicholas Storch (d. 1525), a German Anabaptist who saw human knowledge as a barrier to religious understanding and held that even knowing the alphabet was unnecessary.

ABELARD, PETER (1079-1142). French philosopher and theologian. Born in Brittany, he was a popular and original lecturer in Paris until his secret marriage to Heloise (1118), who bore his child. Incensed by his apparently insensitive attitude, Heloise's uncle had him castrated. Abelard retired to a monastery; Heloise became a nun. His theological writings challenged the orthodoxy of his day and led to condemnation by the Councils of Soissons (1121) and Sens (1141). His views on the Atonement and on the Trinity were regarded as defective, notably by Bernard of Clairvaux (whose influence prejudiced Pope Innocent II against Abelard). Nevertheless, his independent mind and profound scholarship had a significant effect on many later Roman Catholic scholars.

ABJURATION A solemn act of renouncing (in set forms of words to be read) what is recognized as a false doctrine or opinion, including (throughout church history) apostasy, heresy, schism, public sins, Judaism, Islam, and unacceptable persons. It still exists legally in both the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox churches but is not used as much today as in earlier times.

ABLUTIONS (Lat. ablutio, "cleaning"). In the Eucharist, the ritual cleansing of the paten, the chalice, and the priest's fingers and mouth before the consecration of the bread and wine. Also the washing of the fingers and the chalice after Holy Communion has been given and received.

ABOLITIONISM Nineteenth-century reform movement in the U.S. that sought for the abolition of slave trade and the emancipation of slaves. Leaders of the movement such as James Birney; Theodora Weld; and Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, stung the conscience of a nation into action, even if stridently at times. The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States in 1865 following the Civil War achieved the abolitionists' ultimate goals.

ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION A biblical phrase (Dan 9:27; 11:31; 12:11; Matt 24:15; Mark 13:14) indicating idolatrous, desolating sacrilege. Antiochus Epiphanes' placing of an idol in the temple of Jerusalem in 168 B.C. was known as a desolating sacrilege (1 Macc 1:54; 6:7; 2 Macc 6:2). In Matthew and Mark it may refer to the profanation of the temple in the Jewish War in A.D. 68.

ABORTION The removal of a living fetus from the womb so that it cannot survive. A miscarriage is a natural abortion and raises no special moral problems. An abortion induced by taking drugs or by direct surgical interference raises moral problems for the Christian because the fetus is recognized as being the beginning of a human life. However, many would condone induced abortion if the life of the mother is in danger or if it is known that the baby will have serious physical and/or mental deficiencies.

ABSALON (1128-1201). Archbishop of Lund. Born into a prominent Danish family, he studied in Paris and was ordained there. He led military campaigns against the Slavs, was responsible for the construction of a stronghold that developed into Copenhagen, and was a lifelong battler for his country's independence from the Holy Roman Empire. He became bishop of Roskilde in 1158, archbishop of Lund in 1178. A builder of many churches and an encourager of monasticism, he introduced Western church customs into Denmark.

ABSOLUTE, THE A general description of God as being totally free from limitations of any kind. A more common use is in idealist philosophy since Kant (1724-1804) and in writers such as Hegel (1770-1831). For Hegel the absolute was the totality of what really exists, which is spiritual reality.

ABSOLUTION The act of setting a person free from sin and its penalties. Jesus claimed to do this in granting forgiveness (e.g., Mark 2:5-11). He also gave the apostles authority to pronounce others forgiven (John 20:23). In some worship services, after the congregation has confessed its sins and expressed repentance, presiding ministers normally pronounce a declaration of forgiveness. Absolution also follows private confession to a priest, as in the Roman Catholic sacrament of penance.

ABSTINENCE The refusal, for religious purposes, to satisfy one's natural appetites-i.e., sexual intercourse, all or a part of normal food, alcoholic drinks, and worldly pleasures generally. Traditionally there have been special days or periods each year when the church has required its members' abstinence-normally from food. The best example is Lent, particularly the week before Easter Sunday. Some religious orders maintain high levels of abstinence (e.g., the Trappists). The purpose of abstinence is to develop control over the body in order to give oneself more completely to God.

ABSURD Used in existentialism to express the nonrationality and meaninglessness of life and of human activity. Realizing this can lead to angst (a feeling of anxiety and dread), which, if rightly directed, can lead (e.g., Christian existentialists) to authentic existence.

ABUNA Meaning "our father," this is the title given to the patriarch of the Ethiopian church.

ACACIAN SCHISM (484-519). A rift between Eastern and Western churches caused after Emperor Zeno and Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople issued an edict that Pope Felix III held to be against the canons of the Council of Chalcedon. The latter had condemned the Monophysite heresy (which denied that Christ was wholly human and wholly divine). When Acacius refused to justify or withdraw the edict, Felix pronounced him excommunicate. The schism came to an end when the accession of a pro-Chalcedonian emperor, Justin I, favored the conditions laid down by Pope Hormisdas.

ACADEMIES, DISSENTING See Dissenting Academies.

ACATHISTUS (Gk. "not sitting"). A hymn sung in honor of the Virgin Mary at the end of the fifth week of Lent in the Greek Orthodox church. It has twenty-four stanzas of varying length, and each begins with one of the twenty-four letters of the Greek alphabet.

ACCIDENT(S) A term much used in medieval and traditional Roman Catholic theology. Taken from Aristotle, it cannot be understood except in relation to substance. "Accidents" accede to a "substance"-e.g., the substance of a door is wood, but its accidents are its size, shape, etc. Accidents are more than the paint and label on a door, for they actually determine the way in which the wood of the door is experienced by us. See also Transubstantiation.

ACCIDIE (Gk. "negligence"). A word used primarily by writers on the spiritual life of monks and nuns, this refers to a state of mind in which it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to pray or to work. Thus it is the neglecting of duties to God or man.

ACCOMMODATION When used of God's self-disclosure to humankind this refers to the way in which he uses familiar terms, images, and pictures to convey knowledge-e.g., God calling himself "King" in the image of the absolute monarchy of Egypt and Assyria. Some theologians also say accommodation occurs if a meaning given to an OT passage was not the original meaning of the author or speaker (e.g., if it was addressed to Israel and is now applied to the church) or if, in preaching, careful attention is paid to the intellectual world and culture of the hearers.

ACOLYTE Sometimes also called an altar boy. A boy or man who assists the deacon and priest in the Eucharist. He is not ordained, and his usual tasks are to carry the cross, light the candles, ring the bells, and carry the Bible. He may also assist in the distribution of Holy Communion.

ACOSMISM An exaggerated form of pantheism. It claims that the world we know (the physical world) does not really exist, for the only true reality is the absolute spirit of which the world is the expression or the phantom. It is often associated with the name of Bernard de Spinoza (1632-1677).

ACROSTIC An arrangement (of words, lines, or verses) on which letters or syllables (occurring in the key position of first or last) together make up a word, phrase, or alphabetic sequence. Examples of this in the Bible occur where there are alphabetic sequences in Hebrew (e.g., Pss 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 119). A famous Christian example is the Greek word for fish (ichthus).

ACT Act, action, and agent are all derived from Latin agere, "to do." Thus in human behavior the "agent" is the person, the "act" is the deed done, and the "action" is the doing of the deed. To separate "act" and "action" is always difficult. A distinction is made between actus hominis, someone's act that is not specifically human (e.g., eating an apple when hungry), and actus humanus, a human act that involves the exercise of the conscience and will (e.g., spending money on a new car). See also Actus Purus.

ACTON, JOHN EMERICH EDWARD DALBERG (LORD ACTON) (1834-1902). Roman Catholic English historian. He was educated in Germany, where he became closely associated with J. J. 1. von Döllinger. Acton, at Vatican Council I, organized resistance against the proposed definition of papal infallibility but stopped short of rebellion such as led to Döllinger's excommunication. A close friend of W. E. Gladstone, Acton was made a peer after a brief parliamentary career as a liberal; in 1895 he became regius professor of history at Cambridge, where he organized the Cambridge Modern History project. He held that a country's freedom would be judged by the amount of security enjoyed by minorities. To him also is attributed the aphorism "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely."

ACTS OF UNIFORMITY See Uniformity, Acts of.

ACTUAL SIN A sin that results from the act of the person's will (e.g., telling a half-truth). It is contrasted with original sin, which, as the result of being a descendant of Adam, is not related to personal choice.

ACTUS PURUS (Lat. "pure act"). A medieval, philosophical definition of God. Since God does not have unrealized potential within himself, he is pure act, or pure actuality. God is unchangeable, for he is always perfect, holy love. If he could improve his being, he would not be perfect.

AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM (Lat. "for the greater glory of God"). The motto of the Jesuits (Society of Jesus) but used by many other Christians also.

ADALBERT (956-997). Bishop of Prague. A man of high principle who urged moral reformation on an uncaring country, he evangelized also in other lands. Twice he left Prague (of which, at the age of twenty-six, he had become the first Czech bishop) because of dissatisfaction with contemporary attitudes to Christianity. Finally, in 995, with papal permission, he went as a missionary to Prussia, where he was martyred.

(Continues...)

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