1.
St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church
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The German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Charleston, South Carolina, was incorporated on December 3,1840. The church was founded by Johann Andreas Wagener and 49 other German-speaking citizens wishing to worship in their language in the port city of Charleston. Wageners first intent was to form a German language, ecumenical, cosmopolitan congregation for all faiths, Lutheran, Reformed, however, when the ecumenical plan failed, it was decided to organize the congregation as an Evangelical Lutheran Church. Wagener was elected the congregations first president and he establish the town of Walhalla, South Carolina in 1849 as a colony for German immigrants. Later he became a Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army, in 1866, he represented the Charleston district in the South Carolina House of Representatives, and in 1871 Wagener was elected mayor of Charleston. The congregations first purchase was a cemetery for the burial of German-speaking citizens during a fever outbreak in 1841. Known as Hampstedt or Gods Acre Cemetery, the ground on Reid Street held 1,048 graves by the mid-1850s. Johns Lutheran Church on Clifford St. Interestingly, the Presbyterian Lecture Room was later purchased by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston in 1861 to form St. Pauls German Catholic Church. The Lutheran congregations first church building was a classical Greek Revival structure on the northwest corner of Hasell, the architect was Edward Brickell White, and it was dedicated on June 22,1842. The cost for the land and construction by John Dawson was $11,000, in 1856 the church purchased Bethany Cemetery because the first cemetery was full. There were several yellow fever outbreaks during the early years of the congregation. According to church records, there were 147 deaths in 1854,308 in 1858 and 130 in 1865 of which 84 were children, during the worst outbreaks, Pastor Ludwig Louis Müller officiated at three funerals every day. During the American Civil War, only the windows and some furnishings were damaged during the Siege of Charleston. By 1860, Germans represented 5% of the Charleston population, the congregation had outgrown the original sanctuary by 1868 when 40 applications for pews could not be filled. In 1878 the sanctuary was sold to a group of 53 Lutherans who formed the German Evangelical Lutheran St. Johannes Church, devereux also designed the Renaissance Revival U. S. The new sanctuary was dedicated in 1872 with elaborate ceremonies and 3000 persons attending, in 1883, the church began to hold services in German and English. In 1901, a clock and set of ten bells from the Meneely Bell Foundry were installed in the steeple at a cost of $7000, a Sunday school building was added in 1909. As the nation entered the Great War in 1917,83 members of the joined the military
2.
Christology
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Christology is the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature and person of Jesus as recorded in the canonical Gospels and the epistles of the New Testament. Primary considerations include the relationship of Jesus nature and person with the nature, as such, Christology is concerned with the details of Jesus ministry, his acts and teachings, to arrive at a clearer understanding of who he is in his person, and his role in salvation. The views of Paul the Apostle provided a major component of the Christology of the Apostolic Age, Pauls central themes included the notion of the pre-existence of Christ and the worship of Christ as Kyrios. The pre-existence of Christ became a theme of Christology. Proponents of Christs deity argue the Old Testament has many cases of Christophany, Christophany is often considered a more accurate term than the term theophany due to the belief that all the visible manifestations of God are in fact the preincarnate Christ. Many argue that the appearances of the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament were the preincarnate Christ, many understand the angel of the Lord as a true theophany. From the time of Justin on, the figure has been regarded as the preincarnate Logos, following the Apostolic Age, the early church engaged in fierce and often politicized debate on many interrelated issues. Christology became a focus of these debates, and every one of the first seven ecumenical councils addressed Christological issues. The second through fourth of these councils are generally entitled Christological councils, the Council of Chalcedon in 451 issued a formulation of the being of Christ — that of two natures, one human and one divine, united with neither confusion nor division. Chalcedonian Christianity - Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and many Protestant Christians - continue to advocate this doctrine of the hypostatic union, due to politically-charged differences in the 4th century, schisms developed, and the first denominations formed. In the 13th century, Saint Thomas Aquinas provided the first systematic Christology that consistently resolved a number of the existing issues, in his Christology from above, Aquinas also championed the principle of perfection of Christs human attributes. The Middle Ages also witnessed the emergence of the image of Jesus as a friend. Over the centuries, a number of terms and concepts have been developed within the framework of Christology to address the seemingly simple questions, a good deal of theological debate has ensued and significant schisms within Christian denominations took place in the process of providing answers to these questions. After the Middle Ages, systematic approaches to Christology were developed, the term Christology from above refers to approaches that begin with the divinity and pre-existence of Christ as the Logos, as expressed in the prologue to the Gospel of John. These approaches interpret the works of Christ in terms of his divinity, Christology from above was emphasized in the ancient Church, beginning with Ignatius of Antioch in the second century. The term Christology from below, on the hand, refers to approaches that begin with the human aspects and the ministry of Jesus and move towards his divinity. The concept of Cosmic Christology, first elaborated by Saint Paul, the terms functional, ontological and soteriological have been used to refer to the perspectives that analyze the works, the being and the salvific standpoints of Christology. Some essential sub-topics within the field of Christology include the incarnation, the resurrection, the term monastic Christology has been used to describe spiritual approaches developed by Anselm of Canterbury, Peter Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux
3.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
4.
Jesus in Christianity
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Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah and believe that through his death and resurrection, humans can be reconciled to God and thereby are offered salvation and the promise of eternal life. The choice Jesus made thus counter-positions him as a new man of morality and obedience, most Christians believe that Jesus was both human and divine—the Son of God. Jesus, having become fully human in all respects, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, as fully God, he defeated death and rose to life again. According to the Bible, God raised him from the dead and he ascended to heaven to sit at the Right Hand of God, and he will return to earth again for the Last Judgment and the establishment of the Kingdom of God in the World to Come. Although Christian views of Jesus vary, it is possible to summarize key elements of the shared beliefs among major denominations based on their catechetical or confessional texts. Christian views of Jesus are derived from biblical sources, particularly from the canonical Gospels. Christians predominantly hold that these works are historically true and those groups or denominations committed to what are considered biblically orthodox Christianity nearly all agree on the following points, Christians believe that the mother of Jesus was a virgin. Christians believe that Jesus was a human being who was also fully God, Christians believe that Jesus came into the world as the son of only one earthly parent, Mary. Christians believe that Jesus never sinned or did anything wrong, Christians believe that Jesus was eventually martyred, was buried in a tomb, and then on the third day came back to life. Christians believe that because he rose from the tomb on the third day, Christians believe that Jesus eventually ascended back to God the Father. Christians believe that Jesus will come back to earth a second time, the five major milestones in the gospel narrative of the life of Jesus are his Baptism, Transfiguration, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension. These are usually bracketed by two episodes, his Nativity at the beginning and the sending of the Paraclete at the end. The gospel accounts of the teachings of Jesus are often presented in terms of specific categories involving his works and words, e. g. his ministry, Christians not only attach theological significance to the works of Jesus, but also to his name. Devotions to the name of Jesus go back to the earliest days of Christianity and these exist today both in Eastern and Western Christianity—both Catholic and Protestant. Christians predominantly profess that through Jesus life, death, and resurrection and his death on a cross is understood as a redemptive sacrifice, the source of humanitys salvation and the atonement for sin which had entered human history through the sin of Adam. But who do you say that I am, only Simon Peter answered him, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God — Matthew 16, 15-16 Jesus is mediator, but…the title means more that someone between God and man. He is not just a third party between God and humanity…, as true God he brings God to mankind. As true man he brings mankind to God, most Christians generally consider Jesus to be the Christ, the long awaited Messiah, as well as the one and only Son of God
5.
Book of Revelation
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Its title is derived from the first word of the text, written in Koine Greek, apokalypsis, meaning unveiling or revelation. The Book of Revelation is the apocalyptic document in the New Testament canon. The author names himself in the text as John, but his identity remains a point of academic debate. Modern scholarship generally takes a different view, and many consider that nothing can be known about the author except that he was a Christian prophet, Some modern scholars characterise Revelations author as a putative figure whom they call John of Patmos. The bulk of traditional sources date the book to the reign of the emperor Domitian, the book spans three literary genres, the epistolary, the apocalyptic, and the prophetic. It begins with John, on the island of Patmos in the Aegean and he then describes a series of prophetic visions, including figures such as the Whore of Babylon and the Beast, culminating in the Second Coming of Jesus. The title is taken from the first word of the book in Koine Greek, ἀποκάλυψις apokalypsis, the author names himself as John, but it is currently considered unlikely that the author of Revelation was also the author of the Gospel of John. All that is known is that this John was a Jewish Christian prophet, probably belonging to a group of such prophets and his precise identity remains unknown, and modern scholarship commonly refers to him as John of Patmos. 70 AD is the date of writing according to Martha Himmelfarb in the recently published Blackwell series. Revelation is an apocalyptic prophecy with an epistolary introduction addressed to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia, Apocalypse means the revealing of divine mysteries, John is to write down what is revealed and send it to the seven churches. The entire book constitutes the letter—the letters to the seven churches are introductions to the rest of the book. While the dominant genre is apocalyptic, the author himself as a Christian prophet, Revelation uses the word in various forms twenty-one times. The predominant view is that Revelation alludes to the Old Testament although it is difficult among scholars to agree on the number of allusions or the allusions themselves. Revelation rarely quotes directly from the Old Testament, almost every verse alludes to or echoes older scriptures. Over half of the stem from Daniel, Ezekiel, Psalms. He very frequently combines multiple references, and again the style makes it impossible to be certain to what extent he did so consciously. Revelation was the last book accepted into the Christian biblical canon and it was considered tainted because the heretical sect of the Montanists relied on it and doubts were raised over its Jewishness and authorship. Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, disciple of Origen wrote that the Book of Revelation could have been written by Cerinthus although he himself did not adopt the view that Cerinthus was the writer and he regarded the Apocalypse as the work of an inspired man but not of an Apostle
6.
Irenaeus
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Irenaeus, also referred to as Saint Irenaeus, was Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, then a part of the Roman Empire. He was an early Church Father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the development of Christian theology. A resident of Smyrna, he heard the preaching of St. Polycarp, as one of the first great Christian theologians, he emphasized the traditional elements in the Church, especially the episcopate, Scripture, and tradition. His polemical work is credited for laying out the orthodoxies of the Christian church, its faith, its preaching and his writings, with those of Clement and Ignatius, are taken as among the earliest signs of the doctrine of the primacy of the Roman see. Irenaeus is the earliest witness to recognition of the character of all four gospels. Irenaeus is recognized as a saint in both the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Lutheran Church commemorates Irenaeus on that same date for his life of exemplary Christian witness. In the Eastern Catholic Church and Orthodox Church his feast day is 23 August, Irenaeus was born during the first half of the 2nd century, and he is thought to have been a Greek from Polycarps hometown of Smyrna in Asia Minor, now İzmir, Turkey. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he was brought up in a Christian family rather than converting as an adult, during the persecution of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor from 161–180, Irenaeus was a priest of the Church of Lyon. While Irenaeus was in Rome, a massacre took place in Lyon, returning to Gaul, Irenaeus succeeded the martyr Saint Pothinus and became the second Bishop of Lyon. During the religious peace which followed the persecution of Marcus Aurelius, almost all his writings were directed against Gnosticism. The most famous of these writings is Adversus haereses, Irenaeus alludes to coming across Gnostic writings, and holding conversations with Gnostics, and this may have taken place in Asia Minor or in Rome. However, it appears that Gnosticism was present near Lyon. Little is known about the career of Irenaeus after he became bishop, nothing is known of the date of his death, which must have occurred at the end of the 2nd or the beginning of the 3rd century. A few within the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Church celebrate him as a martyr and he was buried under the Church of Saint John in Lyon, which was later renamed St Irenaeus in his honour. The tomb and his remains were destroyed in 1562 by the Huguenots. Irenaeus wrote a number of books, but the most important that survives is the Against Heresies, in Book I, Irenaeus talks about the Valentinian Gnostics and their predecessors, who go as far back as the magician Simon Magus. In Book II he attempts to provide proof that Valentinianism contains no merit in terms of its doctrines, in Book III Irenaeus purports to show that these doctrines are false, by providing counter-evidence gleaned from the Gospels. Book IV consists of Jesus sayings, and here Irenaeus also stresses the unity of the Old Testament, in the final volume, Book V, Irenaeus focuses on more sayings of Jesus plus the letters of Paul the Apostle
7.
Polycarp
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Polycarp was a 2nd-century Christian bishop of Smyrna. According to the Martyrdom of Polycarp he died a martyr, bound and burned at the stake, Polycarp is regarded as a saint and Church Father in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches. His name Polycarp means much fruit in Greek and it is recorded by Irenaeus, who heard him speak in his youth, and by Tertullian, that he had been a disciple of John the Apostle. Saint Jerome wrote that Polycarp was a disciple of John and that John had ordained him bishop of Smyrna, the fragments echo the Martyrology, and diverge from it. With Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp is regarded as one of three chief Apostolic Fathers, the sole surviving work attributed to his authorship is his Letter to the Philippians, it is first recorded by Irenaeus of Lyons. The sole surviving work attributed to him is Polycarps letter to the Philippians, there are two chief sources of information concerning the life of Polycarp, the letter of the Smyrnaeans recounting the martyrdom of Polycarp and the passages in Irenaeus Adversus Haereses. Other sources are the epistles of Ignatius, which one to Polycarp and another to the Smyrnaeans. In 1999, some third to 6th century Coptic fragments about Polycarp were also published, according to Irenaeus, Polycarp was a companion of Papias, another hearer of John as Irenaeus interprets Papias testimony, and a correspondent of Ignatius of Antioch. Ignatius addressed a letter to him, and mentions him in his letters to the Ephesians, Irenaeus regarded the memory of Polycarp as a link to the apostolic past. He relates how and when he became a Christian, and in his letter to Florinus stated that he saw, Irenaeus wrote to Florinus, I could tell you the place where the blessed Polycarp sat to preach the Word of God. I seem to him now relate how he conversed with John and many others who had seen Jesus Christ. In particular, he heard the account of Polycarps discussion with John, Irenaeus also reports that Polycarp was converted to Christianity by apostles, was consecrated a bishop, and communicated with many who had seen Jesus. He repeatedly emphasizes the great age of Polycarp. Polycarp kissed the chains of Ignatius when he passed by Smyrna on the road to Rome for his martyrdom. Irenaeus said that on certain things the two bishops speedily came to an understanding, while as to the time of Easter, each adhered to his own custom, without breaking off communion with the other. Polycarp followed the practice of celebrating the feast on the 14th of Nisan. Anicetus followed the practice of celebrating the feast on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox. Anicetus—the Roman sources offering it as a mark of special honor—allowed Polycarp to celebrate the Eucharist in his own church, Polycarp goes on to say How then can I blaspheme my King and Savior
8.
John the Apostle
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John the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament, which refers to him as Ἰωάννης. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome and his brother was James, who was another of the Twelve Apostles. The traditions of most Christian denominations have held that John the Apostle is the author of books of the New Testament. Church tradition has held that John is the author of the Gospel of John, in the Gospel, authorship is internally credited to the disciple whom Jesus loved in John 20,2. John 21,24 claims that the Gospel of John is based on the testimony of the Beloved Disciple. The authorship of some Johannine literature has been debated since about the year 200, some doubt that the Gospel of John was even written by an individual named John. Nevertheless, the notion of John the Evangelist exists, and is considered by some the same as the Apostle John. In his Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius says that the First Epistle of John, however, Eusebius mentions that the consensus is that the second and third epistles of John are not his but were written by some other John. Eusebius also goes to some length to establish with the reader that there is no consensus regarding the revelation of John. The revelation of John could only be what is now called the book of Revelation, the Gospel according to John differs considerably from the Synoptic Gospels, likely written decades earlier than Johns gospel. The bishops of Asia Minor supposedly requested him to write his gospel to deal with the heresy of the Ebionites, who asserted that Christ did not exist before Mary. John probably knew and undoubtedly approved of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, around 600, however, Sophronius of Jerusalem noted that two epistles bearing his name. Until the 19th century, the authorship of the Gospel of John had been attributed to the Apostle John, however, most modern critical scholars have their doubts. Some scholars place the Gospel of John somewhere between AD65 and 85, John Robinson proposes an initial edition by 50–55 and then a final edition by 65 due to similarities with Paul. Other scholars are of the opinion that the Gospel of John was composed in two or three stages, other scholars think that an even later date, perhaps even the last decade of the first century AD right up to the start of the 2nd century, is applicable. Nonetheless, today many scholars continue to accept the traditional authorship. The Gospel of John was written by an anonymous author, according to Paul N. Anderson, the gospel contains more direct claims to eyewitness origins than any of the other Gospel traditions. F. F. Bruce argues that 19,35 contains an emphatic, bart D. Ehrman, however, does not think the gospel claims to have been written by direct witnesses to the reported events
9.
Christian theology
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Christian theology is the study of Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament, Christian theologians use biblical exegesis, rational analysis and argument. Systematic theology as a discipline of Christian theology formulates an orderly, rational and coherent account of the Christian faith, inherent to a system of theological thought is that a method is developed, one which can be applied both broadly and particularly. Christian theology has permeated much of Western culture, especially in pre-modern Europe, Revelation is the revealing or disclosing, or making something obvious through active or passive communication with God, and can originate directly from God, or through an agent, such as an angel. One who has experienced such contact is called a prophet. Christianity considers the Bible as divinely or supernaturally revealed or inspired, such revelation does not always require the presence of God or an angel. For instance, in the concept called of interior locution by Roman Catholics, thomas Aquinas first described in two types of revelation in Christianity as general revelation and special revelation. General revelation occurs through observation of the created order, such observations can logically lead to important conclusions, such as the existence of God and some of Gods attributes. General revelation is also an element of Christian apologetics, certain specifics, such as the Trinity and the Incarnation, are revealed in the teachings in the Scriptures and can not otherwise be deduced except by special revelation. Christianity regards varied collections of books known as the Bible as authoritative, Biblical inspiration is the doctrine in Christian theology concerned with the divine origin of the Bible and what the Bible teaches about itself. Different groups understand the meaning and details of inspiration in different ways, in many passages of the Bible it claims divine inspiration of itself. In the New Testament, Jesus treats the Old Testament as authoritative and says it cannot be broken in John 10,2 Peter 2 Pet 1, 20–21 says that no prophecy of Scripture. Christians who receive the Bible as authoritative generally think that the Bible is breathed out by God, in English,2 Timothy 3. 16–17 reads, All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correction and training in righteousness. Some argue that Biblical inspiration can be corroborated by examining the weight of the Bibles moral teaching and its prophecies about the future, corroboration of this sort is a form of Christian apologetics. Others maintain that the authority of the Church and its counsels should carry more or less weight in formulating the doctrine of inspiration, Christianity regards the collections of books known as the Bible as authoritative and written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Some Christians believe that the Bible is inerrant or infallible, in addition, for some Christians, it may be inferred that the Bible cannot both refer to itself as being divinely inspired and also be errant or fallible. For if the Bible were divinely inspired, then the source of inspiration being divine, for them, the doctrines of the divine inspiration, infallibility, and inerrancy, are inseparably tied together. Historians note, or claim, that the doctrine of the Bibles infallibility was adopted hundreds of years after those books were written, the Protestant Old Testament is synonymous with the Hebrew Scriptures included in the Jewish canon, but not the Catholic Old Testament, which contains additional texts
10.
God
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In monotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by most theologians includes the attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, divine simplicity, many theologians also describe God as being omnibenevolent and all loving. Furthermore, some religions attribute only a purely grammatical gender to God, incorporeity and corporeity of God are related to conceptions of transcendence and immanence of God, with positions of synthesis such as the immanent transcendence of Chinese theology. God has been conceived as personal or impersonal. In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, in pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, God is not believed to exist, while God is deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism, God has also been conceived as the source of all moral obligation, and the greatest conceivable existent. Many notable philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God, there are many names for God, and different names are attached to different cultural ideas about Gods identity and attributes. In the ancient Egyptian era of Atenism, possibly the earliest recorded monotheistic religion, this deity was called Aten, premised on being the one true Supreme Being and creator of the universe. In the Hebrew Bible and Judaism, He Who Is, I Am that I Am, in the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, God, consubstantial in three persons, is called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Judaism, it is common to refer to God by the titular names Elohim or Adonai, in Islam, the name Allah is used, while Muslims also have a multitude of titular names for God. In Hinduism, Brahman is often considered a concept of God. In Chinese religion, God is conceived as the progenitor of the universe, intrinsic to it, other religions have names for God, for instance, Baha in the Baháí Faith, Waheguru in Sikhism, and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism. The earliest written form of the Germanic word God comes from the 6th-century Christian Codex Argenteus, the English word itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form * ǵhu-tó-m was likely based on the root * ǵhau-, in the English language, the capitalized form of God continues to represent a distinction between monotheistic God and gods in polytheism. The same holds for Hebrew El, but in Judaism, God is also given a proper name, in many translations of the Bible, when the word LORD is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton. Allāh is the Arabic term with no plural used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning The God, Ahura Mazda is the name for God used in Zoroastrianism. Mazda, or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå and it is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhā, means intelligence or wisdom. Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European mn̩sdʰeh1, literally meaning placing ones mind, Waheguru is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God
11.
God the Father
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God the Father is a title given to God in various religions, most prominently in Christianity. In mainstream trinitarian Christianity, God the Father is regarded as the first person of the Trinity, followed by the second person God the Son and the third person God the Holy Spirit. Since the second century, Christian creeds included affirmation of belief in God the Father, primarily as his capacity as Father and creator of the universe. While a religious teacher in one faith may be able to explain the concepts to his own audience with ease, many believe they can communicate with God and come closer to him through prayer – a key element of achieving communion with God. For instance, after completing his monumental work Summa Theologica, Catholic St. Thomas Aquinas concluded that he had not yet begun to understand ‘God the Father’. Although God is never addressed as Mother, at times motherly attributes may be interpreted in Old Testament references such as Isa 42,14, Isa 49, 14–15 or Isa 66. This passage clearly acknowledges the Jewish teachings on the uniqueness of God, over time, the Christian doctrine began to fully diverge from Judaism through the teachings of the Church Fathers in the second century and by the fourth century belief in the Trinity was formalized. Judaism In Judaism, God is described as Father as he is seen as the one, indivisible and incomparable, transcendent, immanent. The God in Judaism is the giver of the shabbath and the torahs—written, oral, mystical—to his chosen people. In Judaism, the use of the Father title is generally a metaphor, referring to the role as Life-giver and Law-giver, and is one of many titles by which Jews speak of and to God. The Jewish concept of God is similar to the Christian view, being that Christianity has Jewish roots, though there are some differences, and also the concept of God the Father in Biblical Judaism is generally more metaphorical. Islam The Islamic concept of God differs from the Christian and Jewish views, the father is not formally applied to God by Muslims. Also Muslims believe God is Wali, Wali means custodian, protector and helper. In Quran 9,23, Allah is more preferred to Father, also, Allah is called as Rahim. Rahim means both Merciful, Compassionate and Womb, Uterus Baháí Faith In the Baháí faith God is also addressed as father. Since the second century, creeds in the Western Church have included affirmation of belief in God the Father, the primary reference being to God in his capacity as Father and creator of the universe. This did not exclude either the fact the father of the universe was also the Father of Jesus the Christ or that he had even vouchsafed to adopt as his son by grace. Tertullian also discussed how the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, while the expression from the Father through the Son is also found among them
12.
God the Son
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God the Son is the second person of the Trinity in Christian theology. The doctrine of the Trinity identifies Jesus as the embodiment of God the Son, united in essence but distinct in person with regard to God the Father. In these teachings, God the Son pre-existed before incarnation, is co-eternal with God the Father, Son of God for some draws attention to his humanity, whereas God the Son refers more generally to his divinity, including his pre-incarnate existence. The term God the Son is not found in the Bible, by scribal error the term is in one medieval manuscript, MS No.1985, where Galatians 2,20 has Son of God changed to God the Son. The term in English follows Latin usage as found in the Athanasian Creed and other texts of the church, In Greek God the Son is Theos o Iios. In Latin God the Son is Deus Filius, the term deus filius is found in the Athanasian Creed, Et tamen non tres omnipotentes, sed unus omnipotens. Ita Deus Pater, Deus Filius, Deus Spiritus Sanctus, but this phrase is also translated So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. The distinction holds true in modern languages apart from English, for example. As distinct from the son of God as found in the Hebrew New Testament. The term deus filius is used in the Athanasian Creed and formulas such as Deus Pater, Deus Filius, Deus Spiritus Sanctus, Et non tres Dii, sed unus est Deus. The term is used by Saint Augustine in his On the Trinity, for example in discussion of the Sons obedience to God the Father, deo patri deus filius obediens. Jacques Forget in the Catholic Encyclopedia article Holy Ghost notes that Among the apologists, Athenagoras mentions the Holy Ghost along with, and on the plane as, the Father. Who would not be astonished, says he, to hear us called atheists, us who confess God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Ghost, Saint Augustine in Sermon 90 on the New Testament says,2. For hold this fast as a firm and settled truth, if you would continue Catholics, that God the Father begot God the Son without time, the Augsburg Confession adopted the phrase as Gott der Sohn. A manuscript variant in John 1,18 has led to translations including God the One and Only referring to the Son. But the term Son of God is used to refer to Jesus in the first gospel of Mark at the beginning in verse 1,1 and at its end in chapter 15 verse 39. Max Botner wrote, Indeed, if Mark 1,1 presents the normative understanding of Jesus identity, as such, the title is associated more with the development of the doctrine of the Trinity
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Holy Spirit
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Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is a term found in English translations of the Bible that is understood differently among the Abrahamic religions. Holy Spirit is stated to be a realm beyond the ability of words to properly convey and it must be experienced, realized, kindled within like a holy fire. The term is used to describe aspects of other religions. The word Spirit appears as either alone or with words, in the Hebrew Bible. Combinations include expressions such as the Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, the word Spirit is rendered as רוּחַ in Hebrew-language parts of the Old Testament. In its Aramaic parts, the term is rûacḥ, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, translates the word as πνεῦμα. This is the word that is used throughout the New Testament. The English term Spirit comes from its Latin origin, spiritus, the alternative term, Holy Ghost, comes from Old English translations of spiritus. The Hebrew Bible contains the term Spirit of God in the sense of the might of a unitary God and this meaning is different from the Christian concept of Holy Spirit as one personality of God in the Trinity. According to theologian Rudolf Bultmann, there are two ways to think about the Holy Spirit, animistic and dynamistic, both kinds of thought appear in Jewish and Christian scripture, but animistic is more typical of the Old Testament whereas dynamistic is more common in the New Testament. The distinction coincides with the Holy Spirit as either a temporary or permanent gift, in the Old Testament and Jewish thought, it is primarily temporary with a specific situation or task in mind, whereas in the Christian concept the gift resides in man permanently. The Holy Spirit also has an equivalent in non-Abrahamic Hellenistic mystery religions and they included a distinction of the Spirit and psyche, which Paul the Apostle later incorporated into his epistles. According to proponents of the History of religions school, the Christian concept of the Holy Spirit cannot be explained from Jewish ideas alone without reference to the Hellenistic religions. However, according to theologian Erik Konsmo, the views are so dissimilar that the only legitimate connection one can make is with the term πνεῦμα itself, Another link with ancient Greek thought is the Stoic idea of the Spirit as anima mundi—or world soul—that unites all people. In his Introduction to the 1964 book Meditations, the Anglican priest Maxwell Staniforth wrote, cleanthes, wishing to give more explicit meaning to Zenos creative fire, had been the first to hit upon the term pneuma, or spirit, to describe it. The Hebrew language phrase ruach ha-kodesh is a used in the Hebrew Bible. It literally means spirit of the holiness or spirit of the holy place, the Hebrew terms ruacḥ qodshəka, thy holy spirit, and ruacḥ qodshō, his holy spirit also occur. The Holy Spirit in Judaism generally refers to the aspect of prophecy
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Philo
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Philo of Alexandria, also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. Philo used philosophical allegory to attempt to fuse and harmonize Greek philosophy with Jewish philosophy and his method followed the practices of both Jewish exegesis and Stoic philosophy. His allegorical exegesis was important for several Christian Church Fathers, and he believed that literal interpretations of the Hebrew Bible would stifle humanitys view and perception of a God too complex and marvelous to be understood in literal human terms. Some scholars hold that his concept of the Logos as Gods creative principle influenced early Christology, other scholars, however, deny direct influence but say both Philo and Early Christianity borrow from a common source. The few biographical details known about Philo are found in his own works, the only event in his life that can be decisively dated is his participation in the embassy to Rome in 40 CE. He represented the Alexandrian Jews before Roman Emperor Caligula because of civil strife between the Alexandrian Jewish and Greek communities, Philo was probably born with the name Julius Philo. His ancestors and family were contemporaries to the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty, although the names of his parents are unknown, Philo came from a family which was noble, honourable and wealthy. It was either his father or paternal grandfather who was granted Roman citizenship from Roman dictator Gaius Julius Caesar, Philo had two brothers, Alexander the Alabarch and Lysimachus. His ancestors and family had social ties and connections to the priesthood in Judea, the Hasmonean Dynasty, the Herodian Dynasty, Philo visited the Temple in Jerusalem at least once in his lifetime. Philo would have been a contemporary to Jesus of Nazareth and his Apostles, Philo along with his brothers received a thorough education. Philo, through his brother Alexander, had two nephews Tiberius Julius Alexander and Marcus Julius Alexander, Marcus Julius Alexander was the first husband of the Herodian Princess Berenice. We find a reference to Philo by the 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus. In Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus tells of Philos selection by the Alexandrian Jewish community as their principal representative before the Roman emperor Gaius Caligula. He says that Philo agreed to represent the Alexandrian Jews in regard to civil disorder that had developed between the Jews and the Greeks in Alexandria, Egypt. Josephus also tells us that Philo was skilled in philosophy, according to Josephus, Philo and the larger Jewish community refused to treat the emperor as a god, to erect statues in honor of the emperor, and to build altars and temples to the emperor. Josephus says Philo believed that God actively supported this refusal, many of these severe things were said by Apion, by which he hoped to provoke Gaius to anger at the Jews, as he was likely to be. Our remaining information about Philo is based upon his own writings, Philo himself claims in his Embassy to Gaius to have been part of an embassy sent by the Alexandrian Jews to the Roman Emperor Caligula. Philo says he was carrying a petition which described the sufferings of the Alexandrian Jews, Philo says he was regarded by his people as having unusual prudence, due to his age, education, and knowledge
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Torah
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The Torah is the central reference of Judaism. It has a range of meanings and it can most specifically mean the first five books of the twenty-four books of the Tanakh, and it usually includes the rabbinic commentaries. In rabbinic literature the word Torah denotes both the five books and the Oral Torah, the Oral Torah consists of interpretations and amplifications which according to rabbinic tradition have been handed down from generation to generation and are now embodied in the Talmud and Midrash. According to the Midrash, the Torah was created prior to the creation of the world, traditionally, the words of the Torah are written on a scroll by a scribe in Hebrew. A Torah portion is read publicly at least once every three days in the presence of a congregation, reading the Torah publicly is one of the bases for Jewish communal life. The word Torah in Hebrew is derived from the root ירה, the meaning of the word is therefore teaching, doctrine, or instruction, the commonly accepted law gives a wrong impression. Other translational contexts in the English language include custom, theory, guidance, the earliest name for the first part of the Bible seems to have been The Torah of Moses. This title, however, is neither in the Torah itself. It appears in Joshua and Kings, but it cannot be said to refer there to the entire corpus, in contrast, there is every likelihood that its use in the post-Exilic works was intended to be comprehensive. Other early titles were The Book of Moses and The Book of the Torah, Christian scholars usually refer to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible as the Pentateuch, a term first used in the Hellenistic Judaism of Alexandria, meaning five books, or as the Law. The Torah starts from the beginning of Gods creating the world, through the beginnings of the people of Israel, their descent into Egypt, and it ends with the death of Moses, just before the people of Israel cross to the promised land of Canaan. Interspersed in the narrative are the teachings given explicitly or implicitly embedded in the narrative. This is followed by the story of the three patriarchs, Joseph and the four matriarchs, God gives to the patriarchs a promise of the land of Canaan, but at the end of Genesis the sons of Jacob end up leaving Canaan for Egypt due to a regional famine. They had heard there was a grain storage and distribution facility in Egypt. Exodus begins the story of Gods revelation to his people of Israel through Moses, Moses receives the Torah from God, and teaches His laws and Covenant to the people of Israel. It also talks about the first violation of the covenant when the Golden Calf was constructed, Exodus includes the instructions on building the Tabernacle and concludes with its actual construction. Leviticus begins with instructions to the Israelites on how to use the Tabernacle, leviticus 26 provides a detailed list of rewards for following Gods commandments and a detailed list of punishments for not following them. Numbers tells how Israel consolidated itself as a community at Sinai, set out from Sinai to move towards Canaan, even Moses sins and is told he would not live to enter the land
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Septuagint
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The Septuagint is a Koine Greek translation of an Hebraic textual tradition that included certain texts which were later included in the canonical Hebrew Bible and other related texts which were not. As the primary Greek translation of the Old Testament, it is called the Greek Old Testament. This translation is quoted a number of times in the New Testament, particularly in Pauline epistles, the title and its Roman numeral LXX refer to the legendary seventy Jewish scholars who solely translated the Five Books of Moses into Koine Greek as early as the 3rd century BCE. Separated from the Hebrew canon of the Jewish Bible in Rabbinic Judaism, the traditional story is that Ptolemy II sponsored the translation of the Torah. The Septuagint should not be confused with the seven or more other Greek versions of the Old Testament, of these, the most important are those by Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion. However, it was not until the time of Augustine of Hippo that the Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures came to be called by the Latin term Septuaginta. This narrative is found in the pseudepigraphic Letter of Aristeas to his brother Philocrates, the story is also found in the Tractate Megillah of the Babylonian Talmud, King Ptolemy once gathered 72 Elders. He placed them in 72 chambers, each of them in a separate one and he entered each ones room and said, Write for me the Torah of Moshe, your teacher. God put it in the heart of one to translate identically as all the others did. Philo of Alexandria, who relied extensively on the Septuagint, says that the number of scholars was chosen by selecting six scholars from each of the tribes of Israel. After the Torah, other books were translated over the two to three centuries. It is not altogether clear which was translated when, or where, some may even have been translated twice, into different versions, the quality and style of the different translators also varied considerably from book to book, from the literal to paraphrasing to interpretative. The translation of the Septuagint itself began in the 3rd century BCE and was completed by 132 BCE, initially in Alexandria, the Septuagint is the basis for the Old Latin, Slavonic, Syriac, Old Armenian, Old Georgian and Coptic versions of the Christian Old Testament. Some sections of the Septuagint may show Semiticisms, or idioms and phrases based on Semitic languages like Hebrew, other books, such as Daniel and Proverbs, show Greek influence more strongly. The Septuagint may also elucidate pronunciation of pre-Masoretic Hebrew, many nouns are spelled out with Greek vowels in the LXX. However, it is unlikely that all ancient Hebrew sounds had precise Greek equivalents. As the work of translation progressed, the canon of the Greek Bible expanded, the Torah always maintained its pre-eminence as the basis of the canon, but the collection of prophetic writings, based on the Jewish Neviim, had various hagiographical works incorporated into it. In addition, some books were included in the Septuagint
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New Testament
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The New Testament is the second major part of the Christian biblical canon, the first part being the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity, Christians regard both the Old and New Testaments together as sacred scripture. The New Testament has frequently accompanied the spread of Christianity around the world and it reflects and serves as a source for Christian theology and morality. Both extended readings and phrases directly from the New Testament are also incorporated into the various Christian liturgies, the New Testament has influenced religious, philosophical, and political movements in Christendom and left an indelible mark on literature, art, and music. In almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books, John A. T. Robinson, Dan Wallace, and William F. Albright dated all the books of the New Testament before 70 AD. Others give a date of 80 AD, or at 96 AD. Over time, some disputed books, such as the Book of Revelation, other works earlier held to be Scripture, such as 1 Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Diatessaron, were excluded from the New Testament. However, the canon of the New Testament, at least since Late Antiquity, has been almost universally recognized within Christianity. The term new testament, or new covenant first occurs in Jeremiah 31,31, the same Greek phrase for new covenant is found elsewhere in the New Testament. Modern English, like Latin, distinguishes testament and covenant as alternative translations, John Wycliffes 1395 version is a translation of the Latin Vulgate and so follows different terms in Jeremiah and Hebrews, Lo. Days shall come, saith the Lord, and I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel, for he reproving him saith, Lo. Days come, saith the Lord, when I shall establish a new testament on the house of Israel, use of the term New Testament to describe a collection of first and second-century Christian Greek Scriptures can be traced back to Tertullian. In Against Marcion, written circa 208 AD, he writes of the Divine Word, by the 4th century, the existence—even if not the exact contents—of both an Old and New Testament had been established. Lactantius, a 3rd–4th century Christian author wrote in his early-4th-century Latin Institutiones Divinae and that which preceded the advent and passion of Christ—that is, the law and the prophets—is called the Old, but those things which were written after His resurrection are named the New Testament. The canon of the New Testament is the collection of books that most Christians regard as divinely inspired, several of these writings sought to extend, interpret, and apply apostolic teaching to meet the needs of Christians in a given locality. The book order is the same in the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, the Slavonic, Armenian and Ethiopian traditions have different New Testament book orders. Each of the four gospels in the New Testament narrates the life, death, the word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell, meaning good news or glad tidings. The gospel was considered the good news of the coming Kingdom of Messiah, and the redemption through the life and death of Jesus, Gospel is a calque of the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον, euangelion
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Psalms
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The Book of Psalms, commonly referred to simply as Psalms or the Psalms, is the first book of the Ketuvim, the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. The title is derived from the Greek translation, ψαλμοί psalmoi, meaning instrumental music and, by extension, the book is an anthology of individual psalms, with 150 in the Jewish and Western Christian tradition and more in the Eastern Christian churches. Many of the psalms are linked to the name of David, over a third appear to be musical directions, addressed to the leader or choirmaster, including such statements as with stringed instruments and according to lilies. Others appear to be references to types of composition, such as A psalm and Song. Many superscriptions carry the names of individuals, the most common being of David, others named include Moses, Asaph, the Sons of Korah and Solomon. A natural way of understanding these attributions is as a claim to authorship, Psalms are usually identified by a sequence number, often preceded by the abbreviation Ps. Numbering of the Psalms differs—mostly by one digit, see table—between the Hebrew and it is generally admitted that Pss.9 and 10 were originally a single acrostic poem, they have been wrongly separated by Massorah, rightly united by the Septuagint and Vulgate. On the other hand, Ps.144 is made up of two songs — verses 1–11 and 12–15, Pss.42 and 43 are shown by identity of subject, of metrical structure and of refrain, to be three strophes of one and the same poem. The Hebrew text is correct in counting as one Ps.146, later liturgical usage would seem to have split up these and not a few other psalms. Zenner combines into what he deems were the original choral odes,1,2,3,4,6 +13,9 +10,19,20,21,56 +57,69 +70,114 +115,148,149,150. A choral ode would seem to have been the form of Pss.14 +70. The two strophes and the epode are Ps,14, the two antistrophes are Ps.70. It is noteworthy that, on the breaking up of the ode, each portion crept twice into the Psalter, Ps.14 =53, Ps.70 =40. Other such duplicated psalms are Ps and this loss of the original form of some of the psalms is allowed by the Biblical Commission to have been due to liturgical uses, neglect of copyists, or other causes. The Septuagint bible, present in Eastern Orthodox churches, includes a Psalm 151, Some versions of the Peshitta include Psalms 152–155. There are also the Psalms of Solomon, which are a further 18 psalms of Jewish origin, likely written in Hebrew. These and other indications suggest that the current Western Christian and Jewish collection of 150 psalms were selected from a wider set, gunkel divided the psalms into five primary types, Hymns, songs of praise for Gods work in creation or in history. They typically open with a call to praise, describe the motivation for praise, two sub-categories are enthronement psalms, celebrating the enthronement of Yahweh as king, and Zion psalms, glorifying Mount Zion, Gods dwelling-place in Jerusalem
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Book of Genesis
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The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. The basic narrative expresses the theme, God creates the world and appoints man as his regent. The new post-Flood world is also corrupt, God does not destroy it, instead calling one man, Abraham, to be the seed of its salvation. At Gods command Abraham descends from his home into the land of Canaan, given to him by God, Genesis ends with Israel in Egypt, ready for the coming of Moses and the Exodus. The narrative is punctuated by a series of covenants with God, the books author or authors appear to have structured it around ten toledot sections, but modern commentators see it in terms of a primeval history followed by the cycle of Patriarchal stories. In Judaism, the importance of Genesis centers on the covenants linking God to his chosen people. It is not clear, however, what this meant to the original authors, while the first is far shorter than the second, it sets out the basic themes and provides an interpretive key for understanding the entire book. The primeval history has a symmetrical structure hinging on chapters 6–9, God creates the world in six days and consecrates the seventh as a day of rest. God creates the first humans Adam and Eve and all the animals in the Garden of Eden but instructs them not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. A talking serpent portrayed as a creature or trickster, entices Eve into eating it anyway. Eve bears two sons, Cain and Abel, Cain kills Abel after God accepts Abels offering but not Cains. Eve bears another son, Seth, to take Abels place, after many generations of Adam have passed from the lines of Cain and Seth, the world becomes corrupted by the sin of man and Nephilim, and God determines to wipe out mankind. First, he instructs the righteous Noah and his family to build a huge boat, then God sends a great flood to wipe out the rest of the world. When the waters recede, God promises that he not destroy the world a second time with water with the rainbow as the symbol of his promise. But upon seeing mankind cooperating to build a great tower city, God instructs Abram to travel from his home in Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan. Abrams name is changed to Abraham and that of his wife Sarai to Sarah, because Sarah is old, she tells Abraham to take her Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar, as a second wife. God resolves to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for the sins of their people, Abraham protests and gets God to agree not to destroy the cities if 10 righteous men can be found. Angels save Abrahams nephew Lot and his family, but his wife back on the destruction against their command and is turned into a pillar of salt
20.
Origen
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Origen, or Origen Adamantius, was a Greek scholar, ascetic, and early Christian theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Alexandria. He was a writer in multiple branches of theology, including textual criticism, biblical exegesis and hermeneutics, philosophical theology, preaching. He was anathematised at the Second Council of Constantinople and he was one of the most influential figures in early Christian asceticism. Origens Greek name Ōrigénēs probably means child of Horus and his nickname or cognomen Adamantios derives from Greek adámas, which means adamant, unalterable, unbreakable, unconquerable, diamond. He acquired it because of his ascetical practices. Origen was born in Alexandria to Christian parents and he was educated by his father, Leonides of Alexandria, who gave him a standard Hellenistic education, but also had him study the Christian scriptures. The name of his mother is unknown, in 202, Origens father was martyred in the outbreak of the persecution during the reign of Septimius Severus. A story reported by Eusebius has it that Origen wished to follow him in martyrdom, the death of Leonides left the family of nine impoverished when their property was confiscated. Many modern scholars, however, doubt that Clements school had been an ecclesiastical institution as Origens was. His fame and the number of his pupils increased rapidly, so that Bishop Demetrius of Alexandria, Origen, to be entirely independent, sold his library for a sum which netted him a daily income of 4 obols, on which he lived by exercising the utmost frugality. Teaching throughout the day, he devoted the greater part of the night to the study of the Bible, Eusebius reported that Origen, following Matthew 19,12 literally, castrated himself. The later church historian Philostorgius of Apamea, on the other hand, Eusebius story was accepted during the Middle Ages and was cited by Peter Abelard in his letters to Heloise. Edward Gibbon, in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, during the past century, scholars have often questioned this, surmising that this may have been a rumor circulated by his detractors. Henry Chadwick points out that, while the story may be true, it seems unlikely, however, many noted historians, such as Peter Brown and William Placher, continue to find no reason to deny the truth of Eusebius claims. But the school had far outgrown the strength of a man, the catechumens pressed eagerly for elementary instruction. Under these circumstances, Origen entrusted the teaching of the catechumens to Heraclas and his own interests became more and more centered in exegesis, and he accordingly studied Hebrew, though there is no certain knowledge concerning his instructor in that language. From about this period dates Origens acquaintance with Ambrose of Alexandria, later Ambrose, a man of wealth, made a formal agreement with Origen to promulgate his writings, and all the subsequent works of Origen were dedicated to Ambrose. In the following year, an uprising at Alexandria caused Caracalla to let his soldiers plunder the city, shut the schools
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Trinity
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The Christian doctrine of the Trinity holds that God is three consubstantial persons or hypostases—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—as one God in three Divine Persons. The three persons are distinct, yet are one substance, essence or nature, in this context, a nature is what one is, whereas a person is who one is. Reflection, proclamation, and dialogue led to the formulation of the doctrine that was felt to correspond to the data in the Bible. The simplest outline of the doctrine was formulated in the 4th century, further elaboration continued in the succeeding centuries. Scripture contains neither the word Trinity, nor an expressly formulated doctrine of the Trinity, rather, according to the Christian theology, it bears witness to the activity of a God who can only be understood in Trinitarian terms. The doctrine did not take its shape until late in the fourth century. During the intervening period, various solutions, some more. Trinitarianism contrasts with nontrinitarian positions which include Binitarianism, Unitarianism, Oneness Pentecostalism or Modalism, the word trinity is derived from Latin trinitas, meaning the number three, a triad. This abstract noun is formed from the adjective trinus, as the word unitas is the noun formed from unus. The corresponding word in Greek is tριάς, meaning a set of three or the number three, the first recorded use of this Greek word in Christian theology was by Theophilus of Antioch in about 170. He wrote, In like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom. And the fourth is the type of man, who needs light, that so there may be God, the Word, wisdom, man. The Ante-Nicene Fathers asserted Christs deity and spoke of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Trinitarians view these as elements of the codified doctrine. Ignatius of Antioch provides early support for the Trinity around 110, exhorting obedience to Christ, and to the Father, and to the Spirit. Justin Martyr also writes, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, the first of the early church fathers to be recorded using the word Trinity was Theophilus of Antioch writing in the late 2nd century. He defines the Trinity as God, His Word and His Wisdom in the context of a discussion of the first three days of creation, the first defence of the doctrine of the Trinity was in the early 3rd century by the early church father Tertullian. He explicitly defined the Trinity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, St. Justin and Clement of Alexandra used the Trinity in their doxologies and St. Basil likewise, in the evening lighting of lamps. The highly allegorical exegesis of the Valentinian school inclined it to interpret the relevant scriptural passages as affirming a Divinity that, the Valentinian Gospel of Phillip, which dates to approximately the time of Tertullian, upholds the Trinitarian formula
22.
Augustine of Hippo
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Augustine of Hippo was an early Christian theologian and philosopher whose writings influenced the development of Western Christianity and Western philosophy. He was the bishop of Hippo Regius, located in Numidia, Augustine is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers in Western Christianity for his writings in the Patristic Era. Among his most important works are The City of God and Confessions, according to his contemporary, Jerome, Augustine established anew the ancient Faith. In his early years, he was influenced by Manichaeism. After his baptism and conversion to Christianity in 386, Augustine developed his own approach to philosophy and theology, accommodating a variety of methods and perspectives. Believing that the grace of Christ was indispensable to human freedom, he helped formulate the doctrine of original sin, when the Western Roman Empire began to disintegrate, Augustine developed the concept of the Church as a spiritual City of God, distinct from the material Earthly City. His thoughts profoundly influenced the medieval worldview, the segment of the Church that adhered to the concept of the Trinity as defined by the Council of Nicaea and the Council of Constantinople closely identified with Augustines On the Trinity. Augustine is recognized as a saint in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Christian Church, and he is also the patron of the Augustinians. His memorial is celebrated on 28 August, the day of his death, Augustine is the patron saint of brewers, printers, theologians, the alleviation of sore eyes, and a number of cities and dioceses. Many Protestants, especially Calvinists and Lutherans, consider him to be one of the fathers of the Protestant Reformation due to his teachings on salvation. Lutherans, and Martin Luther in particular, have held Augustine in preeminence, Luther himself was a member of the Order of the Augustinian Eremites. In the East, some of his teachings are disputed and have in the 20th century in particular come under attack by such theologians as John Romanides, but other theologians and figures of the Eastern Orthodox Church have shown significant appropriation of his writings, chiefly Georges Florovsky. The most controversial doctrine surrounding his name is the filioque, which has been rejected by the Orthodox Church, other disputed teachings include his views on original sin, the doctrine of grace, and predestination. Nevertheless, though considered to be mistaken on some points, he is considered a saint. In the Orthodox Church his feast day is celebrated on 28 August and he was an early Christian theologian and philosopher whose writings influenced the development of Western Christianity and Western philosophy. Augustine was the bishop of Hippo Regius, located in Numidia and he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers in Western Christianity for his writings in the Patristic Era. Among his most important works are The City of God and Confessions, Augustine was born in the year 354 AD in the municipium of Thagaste in Roman Africa. His mother, Monica or Monnica, was a devout Christian, in his writings, Augustine leaves some information as to the consciousness of his African heritage
23.
Leon Morris
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Leon Lamb Morris was an Australian New Testament scholar. Born in Lithgow, New South Wales, Morris was ordained to the Anglican ministry in 1938 and he received his PhD at the University of Cambridge in England on the subject which became his first major book, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross. He served as warden of Tyndale House, Cambridge, principal of Ridley College in Melbourne, Australia, in 1974, a festschrift was published in his honour. Robinson, G. R. Beasley-Murray and George Eldon Ladd, the Apostolic Preaching of the Cross. The Epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians, an introduction and commentary, New International Commentary on the New Testament. The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, an introduction, the First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians, the English text with introduction, exposition, and notes. The Cross in the New Testament, OCLC384566. ———, Cundall, Arthur E. Judges and Ruth, An Introduction and Survey, the Gospel according to John, the English text with introduction, exposition and notes. New International Commentary on the New Testament, testaments of Love, a study of love in the Bible. Jesus is the Christ, Studies in the Theology of John, OCLC19267493. ———, Carson, D. A. Moo, Douglas J. An Introduction to the New Testament, galatians Pauls Charter of Christian Freedom. Justification by Faith, The Old Testament and Rabbinic Anticipation, the Biblical Use of the Term Blood. The Idea of Redemption in the Old Testament, Tyndale House, Cambridge The Dead Sea Scrolls and St. Johns Gospel Obituary Obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald A bibliography of Leon Morriss works Ridley Melbourne - Mission & Ministry College
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Gospel of John
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The Gospel According to John is one of the four canonical gospels in the New Testament. It traditionally appears fourth, after the gospels of Matthew, Mark. John begins with the witness and affirmation of John the Baptist and concludes with the death, burial, resurrection, although the Gospel of John is anonymous, Christian tradition historically has attributed it to John the Apostle, son of Zebedee and one of Jesus Twelve Apostles. C. K. Barrett, and later Raymond E. Brown, suggested that a tradition developed around the Johannine Community, and that this tradition gave rise to the gospel. The discovery of a number of papyrus fragments of manuscripts with Johannine themes has led more scholars to recognize that the texts were among the most influential in the early Church. The discourses contained with this gospel seem to be concerned with issues of the debate at the time of composition. It is notable that in John, the community appears to define itself primarily in contrast to Judaism, though Christianity started as a movement within Judaism, it gradually separated from Judaism because of mutual opposition between the two religions. The Gospel of John can be divided into four sections, a prologue, a Book of Signs, a Book of Glory, the narrative of Jesus public ministry, beginning with the introduction of the first disciples of Jesus. It consists of seven miracles, or signs, interspersed with long dialogues, discourses, Amen, amen sayings, in John it is this, and not the cleansing of the Temple, that prompts the authorities to have Jesus executed. The narrative of Jesus Passion, Resurrection, and post-Resurrection appearances and this is followed by Jesus Farewell Discourse, an account of his betrayal, arrest, trial, death, burial, post-Resurrection appearances, and final commission for his followers. Jesus mocking and crowning with thorns, the Ecce homo, the discovery of the empty tomb, the noli me tangere, the Great Commission, and the incredulity of Thomas. The section ends with a conclusion on the purpose of the gospel, that may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, a large majority of scholars believes this chapter to be an addition to the gospel. The Gospel of John is anonymous, traditionally, Christians have identified the author as the Disciple whom Jesus loved mentioned in John 21,24, who is understood to be John son of Zebedee, one of Jesus Twelve Apostles. These identifications, however, are rejected by the majority of biblical scholars. Nevertheless, the author of the fourth Gospel is sometimes called John the Evangelist, a significant minority consider the traditional account of John the Apostles authorship to be genuine. In addition, the ancient external attestation for Johannine authorship is strong, John is usually dated to AD 90–110. It arose in a Jewish Christian community in the process of breaking from the Jewish synagogue, scholars believe that the text went through two to three redactions, or editions, before reaching its current form. John, which regularly describes Jesus opponents simply as the Jews, is more hostile to the Jews than any other body of New Testament writing
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Johannine epistles
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The Johannine epistles, the Epistles of John, or the Letters of John are three of the catholic epistles of the New Testament, thought to have been written AD 85–100. The author of letters is alternatively believed to be John of Patmos, John the Evangelist, John the Apostle. This Epistle is written as a letter from the Apostle to an unnamed elect lady whom he loves. Within the letter John warns about opening home to false teachers, the third epistle, also a short letter, is addressed to a man named Gaius and mentioned as a dear friend. It talks about a man named Diotrephes whom Gaius excommunicated from the church and had gone on to create an anti-missionary sentiment and it is believed that the letter was delivered by a third person, Demetrius
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First Epistle of John
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The First Epistle of John, often referred to as First John and written 1 John, is the first of the Johannine epistles of the New Testament, and the fourth of the catholic epistles. It is attributed to John the Evangelist, traditionally thought to be the author of the Gospel of John and this epistle was probably written in Ephesus in AD 95–110. The work was written to counter docetism, which is the belief that Jesus did not come in the flesh and it also defined how Christians are to discern true teachers, by their ethics, their proclamation of Jesus in the flesh, and by their love. The main themes of the epistle are love and fellowship with God and it also distinguishes between the world and the children of God. The main themes of the epistle are discernible in the writers sectional organisation of his contents, there are four sections,1, 1–2,14,2, 15–3,10,3, 11–4,13,4, 14–5,20. The first, A, speaks of the witness, given and received, to God who is light, the second, B, is an exhortation to love not the world, with earthly motives, in earthly ways. The third, B, a balance to B, emphasizes love one another, the fourth, A, again begins with the witness, but this time it is to God who is love, life eternal is theirs who live a life of loving God. The key requirements of Ancient Rhetoric, Purpose and Structure are clearly evidenced in this letter, so too are the other requirements of Style and Memory. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and it was included in the King James Bible, something Isaac Newton commented on in An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture. This is sometimes used as evidence to counter the King-James-Only Movement, the majority of modern translations do not include this text, or include it as a footnote. The epistle is not written in the form as the other biblical epistles. The epistle is written in a style, without syntactical flourishes, and makes frequent use of asyndeton. In contrast to the style used in the Pauline epistles. In summary, the epistle may be said to exhibit a style which is marked by personal appeal, contrasts of right and wrong, true and false. Some scholars have proposed the idea that the epistle is really Johns commentary on a selection of traditional parallel couplets, the epistle is traditionally held to have been composed by John the Evangelist, at Ephesus, when the writer was in advanced age. The epistles content, language and conceptual style are similar to the Gospel of John,2 John. However, other scholars have challenged this position. There are at least two principal arguments for this view, the second is that the author of the epistle uses the conditional sentence in a variety of rhetorical figures which are unknown to the gospel
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Second Epistle of John
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The language of this epistle is remarkably similar to 3 John. It is therefore suggested by a few that a single author composed both of these letters, the traditional view contends that all the letters are by the hand of John the Apostle, and the linguistic structure, special vocabulary, and polemical issues all lend toward this theory. This establishes that, from the time the epistle was first written, there were those who had docetic Christologies, alternatively, the letters acknowledgment and rejection of gnostic theology may reveal a later date of authorship than orthodox Christianity claims. This can not be assured by a study of the context. Gnosticisms beginnings and its relationship to Christianity are poorly dated, due to an insufficient corpus of literature relating the first interactions between the two religions, adherents of gnosticism were most numerous during the second and third centuries. A late date of the composition, I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father. But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, and this is love, that we walk according to his commandments, this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning—you must walk in it. Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, any person is the deceiver. Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God, whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. Do not receive into the house or welcome anyone who comes to you and does not bring this teaching, for to welcome is to participate in the evil deeds of such a person. Although I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink, instead I hope to come to you and talk with you face to face, the children of your elect sister send you their greetings. The doctrines of Doceticm and Gnosticism had made inroads among the followers of Jesus in the half of the First Century. Some said that Jesus never assumed human flesh, but only had the appearance of flesh, others said that Christ was raised as a spirit only, and did not experience a bodily resurrection. In this epistle John condemns such doctrines in no uncertain terms with the statement that such persons were antichrist, the text is addressed to the elect lady and her children, and closes with the words, The children of thy elect sister greet thee. However, some prefer to transliterate the Greek word for lady with the proper name Kyria. The person addressed is commended for her piety, and is warned against false teachers, the lady has traditionally been seen as a metaphor for the church, the church being the body of believers as a whole and as local congregations. The children would be members of local congregation. He also includes a greeting from another church in the last verse, the term the elect was a fairly common term for those who believe in the gospel and follow Christ
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Third Epistle of John
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The purpose of the letter is to encourage and strengthen Gaius, and to warn him against Diotrephes, who refuses to cooperate with the author of the letter. Early church literature contains no mention of the epistle, with the first reference to it appearing in the middle of the third century. The language of 3 John echoes that of the Gospel of John, others contest this view, such as the scholar John A. T. Robinson, who dates 3 John to c. The location of writing is unknown, but tradition places it in Ephesus, the epistle is found in many of the oldest New Testament manuscripts, and its text is free of major discrepancies or textual variants. Third John is the shortest book of the Bible by word count and it is the only New Testament book which does not contain the names Jesus or Christ. The letter is written to a man named Gaius, the Elder may have converted Gaius, since he calls Gaius his child in the faith. The Apostolic Constitutions VII.46.9 records that Gaius was made bishop of Pergamon, the name Gaius occurs three other times in the New Testament. First, a Christian Gaius is mentioned in Macedonia as a companion of Paul. One chapter later, a Gaius from Derbe is named as one of Pauls seven traveling companions who waited for him at Troas. Next, a Gaius is mentioned residing in Corinth as being one of only a few there who were baptised by Paul. Lastly, a Gaius is referred to in a final greeting portion of the Epistle to the Romans as Pauls host and also host of the whole church, however, there is no reason to suppose that any of these men were the Gaius of 3 John. The Elder continues the letter by commending Gaius for his loyalty, the brothers are brothers in the faith or missionaries, who in accordance with Jesus command in Mark 6, 8–9 have set out on a journey without any money. The Elder then goes on to request that Gaius provide for the brothers to continue their journey, the Elder next describes his conflict with Diotrephes, who does not acknowledge the Elders authority and is excommunicating those, like Gaius, who welcome missionaries sent by the Elder. The Elder mentions a letter which he has written to the church which was suppressed by Diotrephes. The church is known to Gaius, but he is likely not a member of it. The dispute between Diotrephes and the Elder seems to be based on leadership and authority rather than doctrine. John Painter, however, argues the Elder is in referring to 2 John. The Elder closes this section with an entreaty to Gaius, Beloved, do not imitate evil, whoever does good is from God, whoever does evil has not seen God
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Events of Revelation
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The events of Revelation are the events that occur in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament. An outline follows below, by Chapter, in linear format, the Revelation of Jesus Christ is communicated, through an angel, to John the Apostle when he was on the island of Patmos. John records the vision, in written text, and is instructed to send the document to the seven churches of Asia. John addresses the church of Ephesus to repent from the ways of the Nicolaitans, John addresses the church of Smyrna to warn them of ten days of tribulation that may cost them their lives or imprisonment. John addresses the church of Pergamum to repent from the doctrines of Balaam, John addresses the church of Thyatira to repent from the teachings of the prophetess Jezebel. John addresses the church of Sardis for being dead or unaware of things to come, John addresses the church of Philadelphia to persevere with what little strength they have, to hold fast so that no one takes their crown. John addresses the church of Laodicea to repent from investing in material riches that make them miserable, rather, the heavenly throne with a rainbow around it, having the One seated in it, is revealed. Twenty-four surrounding thrones seated with twenty-four crowned elders appear, the four living creatures present themselves, each having six wings full of eyes, one having the face of a lion, another as a calf, the third as a man, and the last as an eagle. The first vision that the experiences is that of entering Heaven. In Revelation, God is described as having the appearance like that of jasper, around Gods throne are twenty four other thrones, on which sit elders in white robes. From the throne come thunder and lightning and, in front of the throne, the author sees seven torches, the author then sees four creatures which have six wings and are covered in eyes. The creatures are giving eternal thanks to God and, whenever one of them bows down to worship God, a book secured by seven seals is revealed in the right hand of Him who sits on the throne. It is made known only the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah is worthy to open this book. The Lamb, with seven horns and seven eyes, takes the book from Him who sits on the throne, all heavenly beings sing praise and honor the Lamb. The first seal is broken and the first of the four living creatures introduces a white horse whose crowned rider, equipped with a bow, the second seal is broken and the second of the four living creatures introduces a red horse, whose rider wields a great sword. The third seal is broken and the third of the four living creatures introduces a black horse, whose rider carries a pair of scales, goes out. The fourth seal is broken and the fourth of the four living creatures introduces an ashen horse comes out, whose rider has the name Death, the fifth seal is broken revealing the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God. Mankind hides themselves in the caves and mountains acknowledging the presence of Him who sits on the throne, the servants of God are revealed, those who are to be sealed before the destruction of the Earth
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Authorship of the Johannine works
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The authorship of the Johannine works has been debated by scholars since at least the 2nd century AD. The main debate centers on who authored the writings, and which of the writings, if any, there may have been a single author for the gospel and the three epistles. Orthodox tradition attributes all the books to John the Apostle, however, in the 6th century, the Decretum Gelasianum argued that Second and Third John have a separate author known as John, a priest. 90-110, but perhaps, according to scholars, from Syria. Some scholars, however, argue that the apostle John wrote none of these works, although others, Robinson, F. F. Bruce, Leon Morris, and Martin Hengel hold the apostle to be behind at least some, in particular the gospel. In the case of Revelation, many scholars agree that it was written by a separate author, John of Patmos. While evidence regarding the author is slight, some believe this gospel developed from a school or Johannine circle working at the end of the 1st century. Some 19th-century scholars, however, agreed with the traditional authorship view, in favor of the historical and eyewitness character of the Gospel, a few passages are cited. Fredriksen sees the Fourth Gospels unique explanation for Jesus arrest and crucifixion as the most historically plausible, The priests motivation is clear and commonsensical, the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation. Caiaphas continues, It is expedient that one man should die for the people and these three epistles are similar in terminology, style, and general situation. They are loosely associated with the Gospel of John and may result from that gospels theology and these epistles are commonly accepted as deriving from the Johannine community in Asia Minor. Early references to the epistles, the organization of the church apparent in the text, and the lack of reference to persecution suggests that they were written early in the 2nd century. The phraseology of the first letter of John is very similar to that of the fourth gospel, so the question of its authorship is often connected to the question of authorship of the gospel. The two works use many of the characteristic words and phrases, such as light, darkness, life, truth. In both works, the basic concepts are explored, the Word, the incarnation, the passing from death to life. The two works also bear many stylistic affinities to one another, given the similarity with the Gospel, the great majority of critical scholars assign the same authorship to the epistle that they assign to the Gospel. Starting with Heinrich Julius Holtzmann, however, and continuing with C. H. Dodd, some scholars have maintained that the epistle, there are at least two principal arguments for this view. The second is that the author of the epistle, uses the sentence in a variety of rhetorical figures which are unknown to the gospel
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Disciple whom Jesus loved
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The phrase the disciple whom Jesus loved or, in John 20,2, the disciple beloved of Jesus is used six times in the Gospel of John, but in no other New Testament accounts of Jesus. John 21,24 states that the Gospel of John is based on the testimony of this disciple. Since the end of the 1st century, the Beloved Disciple has been identified with John the Evangelist. Scholars have debated the authorship of Johannine literature since at least the third century, according to Stephen L. Harris, this view is rejected by modern scholars. Later at the crucifixion, Jesus tells his mother, Woman, here is your son, when Mary Magdalene discovers the empty tomb, she runs to tell the Beloved Disciple and Peter. The two men rush to the empty tomb and the Beloved Disciple is the first to reach the empty tomb, however, Peter is the first to enter. In John 21, the last chapter of the Gospel of John, also in the books final chapter, after Jesus implies the manner in which Peter will die, Peter sees the Beloved Disciple following them and asks, What about him. Jesus answers, If I want him to remain until I come, again in the gospels last chapter, it states that the very book itself is based on the written testimony of the disciple whom Jesus loved. The other Gospels do not mention anyone in parallel circumstances who could be linked to the Beloved Disciple. For example, in Luke 24,12, Peter runs alone to the tomb, Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not mention any one of the twelve disciples having witnessed the crucifixion. There are also two references to an unnamed other disciple in John 1, 35-40 and John 18, 15-16, which may be to the same person based on the wording in John 20,2. The closing words of Johns Gospel state explicitly concerning the Beloved Disciple that It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. Eusebius writing in the 4th century recorded in his Church History a letter which he believed to have been written by Polycrates of Ephesus in the 2nd century. The assumption that the Beloved Disciple was one of the Twelve Apostles is that he was present at the Last Supper which Matthew. Thus the most frequent identification is with John the Apostle, who would then be the same as John the Evangelist, merril F. Unger presents a case for this by a process of elimination. Some scholars have suggested a homoerotic interpretation of Christs relationship with the Beloved Disciple. Tilborg suggests that the portrait in the Gospel of John is positively attuned to the development of homosexual behaviour. However, he cautions that in the code, such imaginary homosexual behaviour is not an expression of homosexuality
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John the Evangelist
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John the Evangelist is the name traditionally given to the author of the Gospel of John. Christians have traditionally identified him with John the Apostle, John of Patmos, the Gospel of John refers to an otherwise unnamed disciple whom Jesus loved, who bore witness to and wrote the Gospels message. Christian tradition says that John the Evangelist was John the Apostle, the Apostle John was a historical figure, one of the pillars of the Jerusalem church after Jesus death. He was one of the twelve apostles and is thought to be the only one to have lived into old age. John is associated with the city of Ephesus, where he is said to have lived, some believe that he was exiled to the Aegean island of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of Revelation. However, this is a matter of debate, with some attributing the authorship of Revelation to another man, the authorship of the Johannine works has been debated by scholars since at least the 2nd century AD. The main debate centers on who authored the writings, and which of the writings, if any, orthodox tradition attributes all the books to John the Apostle. In the 6th century, the Decretum Gelasianum argued that Second and Third John have an author known as John. Historical criticism rejects the view that John the Apostle authored any of these works, many modern scholars conclude that the apostle John wrote none of these works, although others, notably J. A. T. Robinson, F. F. Bruce, Leon Morris, and Martin Hengel hold the apostle to be behind at least some, there may have been a single author for the gospel and the three epistles. Some scholars conclude the author of the epistles was different from that of the gospel, the gospel and epistles traditionally and plausibly came from Ephesus, c. 90-110, although some argue for an origin in Syria. In the case of Revelation, many scholars agree that it was written by a separate author, John of Patmos. In the Tridentine Calendar he was commemorated also on each of the days up to and including 3 January. This Octave was abolished by Pope Pius XII in 1955, the traditional liturgical color is white. John the Evangelist is usually depicted as a young man, in Christian art, John is symbolically represented by an eagle, one of the creatures envisioned by Ezekiel and in the Revelation to John. The use of the chalice as a symbol for John is sometimes interpreted with reference to the Last Supper, another explanation is to be found in the words of Christ to John and James, My chalice indeed you shall drink. According to some authorities, this symbol was not adopted until the 13th century, the painting Saint John the Evangelist by Domenico Zampieri was auctioned in London in December 2009, for an estimated US$16.5 million
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John of Patmos
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John of Patmos is the name given to the author of the Book of Revelation, the apocalyptic text forming the final chapter of the New Testament. Traditionally, the writer of Revelation is widely considered to be John the Apostle, however, others identify the author as John the Elder and many modern scholars believe it was written by an otherwise unknown author, to whom they have given the name John of Patmos. The author of the Book of Revelation identifies himself only as John, traditionally, this was often believed to be the same person as John, son of Zebedee, one of the apostles of Jesus, to whom the Gospel of John was also attributed. The early 2nd century writer, Justin Martyr, was the first to equate the author of Revelation with John the Evangelist, the assumption that the apostle John was also author of the Book of Revelation is now widely rejected in modern critical scholarship. John is considered to be exiled to Patmos, undergoing a time of persecution under the Roman rule of Domitian. Revelation 1,9 states, I, John, both brother and companion in tribulation. was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God. Adela Yarbro Collins, a scholar at Yale Divinity School, writes. This tradition is credible because banishment was a punishment used during the Imperial period for a number of offenses. Among such offenses were the practices of magic and astrology, prophecy was viewed by the Romans as belonging to the same category, whether Pagan, Jewish, or Christian. Prophecy with political implications, like that expressed by John in the book of Revelation, three of the islands in the Sporades were places where political offenders were banished
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Acts of John
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The Acts of John is a collection of narratives and traditions ascribed to John the Apostle, who was the author of the Gospel of John. It is long known in fragmentary form, together with the Acts of Paul it is considered one of the most significant of the apostolic Acts in the New Testament apocrypha. It was condemned as a Gnostic heresy by the Church, the traditional author was said to be one Leucius Charinus, a companion of John, who was associated with several 2nd century Acts. Conventionally, the Acts of John was ascribed to Prochorus, one of the Seven Deacons discussed in Acts of the Apostles and it is difficult to know when the Acts of John was composed, but many scholars locate it to the second half of the second century. It may have originated as a Christianized wonder tale, designed for an urban Hellenic audience accustomed to things as having ones portrait painted. The Acts of John was eventually rejected by the church for its docetic overtones. However, although the Acts of John was condemned as heretical, the surviving Latin fragments, by contrast, seem to have been purged of unorthodox content, according to their translator M. R. James, the Latin fragments contain episodes now missing in the Greek. The Stichometry of Nicephorus gives its length as 2500 lines, an on-line translation presents the confrontation of John and Domitian during Domitians persecution of Christians, described as instigated by a letter of complaint from the Jews. Specifically, the account narrates two journeys of John, son of Zebedee, to Ephesus, filled with events, miracles. Lycomedes recounts a vision he received from the God of John, telling him that a man from Miletus was coming to heal his wife, Cleopatra, who had died seven days before from illness. Upon arrival, Lycomedes curses his situation and, despite Johns pleas to have faith that his wife will be back to life by the power of God. The entire city of Ephesus is stirred by his death and comes to his house to see his body, John then asks Christ to raise the two of them from the dead in order to prove Christs own might, quoting Matthew 7,7 in his request. Both Cleopatra and Lycomedes are resurrected, leaving the people of Ephesus in awe of the miracle that was performed before them. Later, during a festival celebrating the birthday of the Greek goddess Artemis, John rebukes them, threatening to have his God kill them if they are unable to convince their goddess to make him die on the spot with her divine power. Knowing that John has performed many miracles in their city, the people at the temple beg John not to destroy them, upon seeing this destruction, the people immediately see the error of their ways and acknowledge the God of John as the only true God. In a more comical account mentioned in the narrative, John, the author, and their companions stay overnight at an inn plagued with a bedbug infestation. The next morning, the author, joined by two of his companions, Verus and Andronicus, awakes to find the bugs gathered in the doorway. The three men wake John, who allows the creatures to return to the bed because of their obedience to the will of God, immediately following Johns encounter with the bedbugs, the traveling party journeys to the house of Andronicus in Ephesus in section 62
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Signs Gospel
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The Signs Gospel or the semeia source is a hypothetical gospel account of the life of Jesus Christ which some scholars have suggested could have been a primary source document for the Gospel of John. This theory has its basis in source criticism, since the commentary of Rudolf Bultmann was published in 1941, the hypothesis of a semeia source has gained some acceptance. One possible construction of the internal states that the Beloved Disciple wrote an account of the life of Jesus. However, this disciple died unexpectedly, necessitating that a revised gospel be written, in other words, it may be that John “is the source of the Johannine tradition but not the final writer of the tradition. The hypothesis of the Gospel of John being composed in layers over a period of time originated in the work of Rudolf Bultmann in 1941, Bultmann suggested that the author of John depended in part on an author who wrote an earlier account. This hypothetical Signs Gospel listing Christs miracles was independent of, and not used by and it was believed to have been circulating before the year 70 AD. Bultmanns conclusion was so controversial that heresy proceedings were instituted against him, nevertheless, this hypothesis has not disappeared. Scholars such as Raymond E. Brown believe that the author of the Signs Gospel to be the Beloved Disciple. They argue that the disciple who formed this community was both a person and a companion of Jesus Christ. Brown also suggests that the Beloved Disciple had been a follower of John the Baptist before joining Jesus and it is now widely agreed that the Gospel of John draws upon a tradition of Miracles of Jesus which is substantially independent of the three synoptic gospels. The Jesus Seminar has detected at least two distinct writing styles contained in the Gospel of John, the later style contains midrash and theological essays placed in the mouth of Jesus. The other - earlier - style is the original Signs Gospel and it is simple, direct and historical in style and can be reconstructed as follows, Text of the Signs Gospel
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Holy Spirit in Johannine literature
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Three separate terms, namely Holy Spirit, Spirit of Truth and Paraclete are used in Johannine literature. The Spirit of Truth is used in John 14,17,15,26 and 16,13, the First Epistle of John then contrasts this with the spirit of error in 1 John 4,6. 1 John 4, 1-6 provides the separation between spirits that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God and those who in error refuse it - an indication of their being evil spirits. In John 14,26 Jesus states, But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the identity of the Comforter has been the subject of debate among theologians, who have proposed multiple theories on the matter. Paraclete considered as the Spirit of Truth is used three times in the Gospel of John, in 14, 15-17,14,26 and 15, 26-27, where it is viewed as the Spirit which communicates Truth
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John's vision of the Son of Man
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Johns vision of the Son of Man is described in the scriptural Revelation 1, 9-20. John sees a vision of the risen, ascended and glorified Jesus Christ, Jesus is portrayed in this vision as having a robe with a golden sash, white hair, eyes like blazing fire, feet like bronze and a voice like rushing waters. He holds seven stars in his hand and has a double-edged sword coming out of his mouth. John, the author of Revelation, was exiled to the island of Patmos and he says that on the Lords Day he was in the Spirit, and heard a loud voice like a trumpet. When he turned around, he saw this Son of Man figure, in 1,18, the figure whom John sees identifies himself as the First and the Last, who was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever — a reference to Jesus resurrection. Some of the used in Revelation 1 is also used in Revelation 19 to describe the Rider on the White Horse. In both places he has a coming out of his mouth and has eyes like blazing fire. The Son of Man in this passage is portrayed as walking among seven lampstands, chapters 2 and 3 report letters written to the seven churches by John as it was revealed to him by the Son of Man. William Hendriksen suggests that the whole of the vision is symbolical of Christ, the Holy One, coming to purge His churches, One aspect of the vision is the portrayal of Jesus holding seven stars in his right hand. Such a motif is found on coins of the emperor Domitian. Sometime between 77 and 81, Domitians infant son died and he was subsequently deified, and is portrayed on coins of Domitian, with seven stars. Austin Farrer, on the hand, takes them to be the seven classical planets. Although Domitians son cannot be said to be holding the stars, frederick Murphy notes that Revelations image of Jesus with seven stars in his hand may be an allusion to that coin and an implicit critique of it. It is not the Roman imperial family that has cosmic significance, John tells us in Revelation 1,20 that the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches In commenting on this verse, C. I. Scofield states, The natural explanation of the messengers is that they were men sent by the seven churches to ascertain the state of the aged apostle, but they figure any who bear Gods messages to a church. In the New Testament, the Greek word for angels is not only used for heavenly angels, merrill Unger is of the opinion that human messengers is the meaning of the stars. Chronology of Revelation Resurrection appearances of Jesus
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New Testament people named John
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The name John is prominent in the New Testament and occurs numerous times. Among Palestinian Jews of this period, the name was one of the most popular, thus, it has long been debated which Johns are to be identified with which. Simon Peter is at times called “Simon, son of John”, the latter appears to be untranslated Aramaic, with bar meaning “son of” and Iona being Jonah, or according to Bauckham, Jôhana‘, an Aramaized form of John. John the Baptist, son of Zechariah, figures prominently in the beginning of each of the four Gospels, the Synoptic Gospels distinguish him as “the Baptist”, but the Gospel of John omits this epithet, as no other John is therein mentioned by name. John the Baptist was beheaded during the ministry of Jesus, so in most cases he is distinguished from other Johns. Ford proposes that Revelation originated as prophecy of John the Baptist, expanded by his followers to produce the book in its current form, John, son of Zebedee was one of the Twelve Apostles, along with his brother James. This John is mentioned frequently in the Synoptic Gospels, but always in company with his brother James or with Peter or often with both, but after the execution of his brother James in 44, this John is never again mentioned. There are many indications that James and John were killed together. Indeed, Papias records that James and John “were killed by the Jews”, nevertheless, many ancient sources and many modern scholars identify John the Apostle as the author of some or all of the Johannine books, thereby claiming apostolic authority for them. Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, John, Alexander, Polycrates of Ephesus writes that John the Evangelist “was a priest, wearing the petalon”—i. e. specifically that he had served as High Priest. In this, he seems to identify the Evangelist with this high-priestly John mentioned in Acts, “John, called Mark” is mentioned several times in Acts. Such use of one Semitic name and another Greek name was a practice among Jews of the time. He is usually identified with the Mark mentioned in various epistles and this John is occasionally proposed as author of some of the Johannine works as well. Tarazi even goes so far as to attribute to him the Gospels of both Mark and John and all the other Johannine books. Since antiquity, many have considered the entire Johannine corpus to be the work of an author, a certain John of Ephesus. On the other hand, this identification and the authorship of works have also been disputed since antiquity. Thus, the authors of the Johannine works are conventionally called more explicitly—without prejudice to the issues of actual authorship. The author of the Gospel is termed John the Evangelist, in the Gospel, the name John occurs exclusively in reference to John the Baptist, and without that epithet, though “the sons of Zebedee” are also mentioned once
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Jehovah's Witnesses
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Jehovahs Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a membership of more than 8.3 million adherents involved in evangelism. Jehovahs Witnesses are directed by the Governing Body of Jehovahs Witnesses, a group of elders in Warwick, New York and they prefer to use their own translation, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, although their literature occasionally quotes and cites other Bible translations. The name Jehovahs witnesses was adopted in 1931 to distinguish themselves from other Bible Student groups, Jehovahs Witnesses are best known for their door-to-door preaching, distributing literature such as The Watchtower and Awake. and refusing military service and blood transfusions. They consider use of the name Jehovah vital for proper worship and they reject Trinitarianism, inherent immortality of the soul, and hellfire, which they consider to be unscriptural doctrines. They do not observe Christmas, Easter, birthdays or other holidays, adherents commonly refer to their body of beliefs as the truth and consider themselves to be in the truth. They consider secular society to be corrupt and under the influence of Satan. Congregational disciplinary actions include disfellowshipping, their term for formal expulsion, baptized individuals who formally leave are considered disassociated and are also shunned. Disfellowshipped and disassociated individuals may eventually be reinstated if deemed repentant, the religions position regarding conscientious objection to military service and refusal to salute national flags has brought it into conflict with some governments. Consequently, some Jehovahs Witnesses have been persecuted and their activities are banned or restricted in some countries, persistent legal challenges by Jehovahs Witnesses have influenced legislation related to civil rights in several countries. The organization has received criticism over issues surrounding biblical translation, doctrines, handling of abuse cases. The claims are rejected by the leaders, and some have been disputed by courts. In 1870, Charles Taze Russell and others formed a group in Pittsburgh, in 1876, Russell met Nelson H. Barbour, later that year they jointly produced the book Three Worlds, which combined restitutionist views with end time prophecy. Beginning in 1878 Russell and Barbour jointly edited a religious journal, from 1879, Watch Tower supporters gathered as autonomous congregations to study the Bible topically. Thirty congregations were founded, and during 1879 and 1880, Russell visited each to provide the format he recommended for conducting meetings, as congregations continued to form during Russells ministry, they each remained self-administrative, functioning under the congregationalist style of church governance. In 1881, Zions Watch Tower Tract Society was presided over by William Henry Conley, by about 1900, Russell had organized thousands of part- and full-time colporteurs, and was appointing foreign missionaries and establishing branch offices. By the 1910s, Russells organization maintained nearly a hundred pilgrims, Russell engaged in significant global publishing efforts during his ministry, and by 1912, he was the most distributed Christian author in the United States. He identified the movement as Bible Students, and more formally as the International Bible Students Association
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New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures
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The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures is a translation of the Bible published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Though it is not the first Bible to be published by the group, it is their first original translation of ancient Classical Hebrew, Koine Greek, and Old Aramaic biblical texts. As of January 2017, the Watch Tower Society has published 217 million copies of the New World Translation in whole or in part in more than 140 languages, until the release of the NWT, Jehovahs Witnesses in English-speaking countries primarily used the King James Version. According to the publishers, one of the reasons for producing a new translation was that most Bible versions in common use, including the Authorized Version. The stated intention was to produce a translation, free of archaisms. Additionally, over the centuries since the King James Version was produced, more copies of manuscripts of the original texts in the Hebrew. According to the publishers, better manuscript evidence had made it possible to determine with greater accuracy what the writers intended. They said linguists better understood certain aspects of the original Hebrew, work began on December 2,1947 when the New World Bible Translation Committee was formed, composed of Jehovahs Witnesses who professed to be anointed. The Watch Tower Society is said to have become aware of the existence a year later. Several chapters of the translation were read to the directors, who voted to accept it as a gift. The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures was released at a convention of Jehovahs Witnesses at Yankee Stadium, New York, on August 2,1950. The translation of the Old Testament, which Jehovahs Witnesses refer to as the Hebrew Scriptures, was released in five volumes in 1953,1955,1957,1958, and 1960. The complete New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures was released as a volume in 1961. Cross references which had appeared in the six volumes were updated and included in the complete volume in the 1984 revision. By 1989 the New World Translation was translated into eleven languages, the New World Translation was produced by the New World Bible Translation Committee, formed in 1947. This committee is said to have comprised unnamed members of multinational background, the publishers believe that the particulars of university or other educational training are not the important thing and that the translation testifies to their qualification. Former high ranking Watch Tower staff have claimed knowledge of the translators identities, evangelical minister Walter Ralston Martin identified Nathan H. Knorr, Fredrick W. Franz, Albert D. None of these men had any university education except Franz, who left school two years, never completing even an undergraduate degree
