Apocryphal Not strictly canonical. Popularly used to mean ‘partially or completely legendary’ (as in, ‘an apocryphal story’). In the context of Biblical studies this term is applied to those books which, though widely respected and used in the early church, were not included in the offical ‘Canon’. The Apocrypha of the Old Testament are books written between c.300 and perhaps 50 B.C., which were never included in the Hebrew Bible (many because they were originally written in Greek, or only exist in Greek). These are normally included in Catholic Bibles as ‘Deuterocanonical’, but not included in Protestant ones. Examples include the books of 1 & 2 Maccabees. The Apocrypha of the New Testament are various ‘Gospels’, ‘Acts’ and other works which for various reasons were not included within the early Christian ‘Canon’, though many Christians esteemed them highly. They come mostly from the second century A.D. and later. Examples include the ‘Gospel of Peter’ (which may perhaps be dated c. 90 A.D.) and the ‘Acts of Pilate’. These works are available in translation in the library in the edition of Hennecke / Schneemelcher, New Testament Apocrypha, 2 vols.
Apologetic literature ‘Apologetic’ literature is literature which defends a point of view or a person, from the Greek, Apologia, a speech of defence. An Apologist is, then, a speaker or writer with a point of view to defend. Hence the early Christian Apologists, writers of the second and third centuries A.D., who wrote to defend and vindicate their Christianity to the intellectuals and authorities of their day.
Apostolic Fathers Various (mainly second century) early Christian writers whose works survive, which while considered ‘orthodox’ by later Christians, were never considered for ‘Canonical’ status. They include Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna and others. They are available in various translations.
Ascetic Noun: a person who adopts a strict lifestyle denying themselves otherwise normal pleasures or comforts. From the Greek term Askesis, normally meaning (strict) athletic training. An ascetic trains him or herself for some ‘higher cause’. The term is also used as an adjective, viz. ‘ascetic behaviour’, whether in terms of food (strict diet), sexuality (celibacy?) or other forms of ‘self-denial’ for the sake of a ‘higher cause’. Asceticism often takes the form of strictness about ‘bodily pleasures’ (of whatever kind) in favour of ‘spiritual good’. As such it is often related to a dualistic view of human nature (See “Dualism”). Bernard Shaw once remarked that an Ascetic is a person who thinks they are moral, when in fact they are merely uncomfortable.
Canon /ical The ‘Canon’ is the collection of works recognised by the early Christian churches as authoritative; from the Greek term kanon, a measuring rod. See also “apocrypha/l”.
Catechumen A person undertaking instruction in religious beliefs, usually before Christian baptism, though the term can be used metaphorically in other contexts as well. A Catechumen is a person being catechised by a Catechist.
Criteria of Authenticity Rules of thumb by which scholars hope to isolate historically authentic material from within the Gospel tradition. See particular cases of criteria below.
Criterion of Coherence The rule of thumb which suggests that a saying or action of Jesus can be accepted as authentic if it ‘coheres’ (shares themes or features) with other material of high authenticity.
Criterion of Dissimilarity The rule of thumb which suggests that a saying or action of Jesus can be accepted as authentic if it is dissimilar from (a) Jewish culture of his time (and therefore cannot have come from there) and (b) likewise dissimilar from the views of the early churches (and therefore cannot have been invented by them). There are logical problems with the use of this criterion to exclude material as inauthentic, but if a saying or story ‘passes’ this criterion, it has a high claim to historical authenticity.
Docetism The view, branded as heresy by the later churches, that while Jesus was truly divine, he only appeared to be human. From the Greek dokein, to seem or appear. According to Eusebius the view originated with one Cerinthus, who he believes was an opponent of the apostle John at Ephesus.
Dualism The tendency to divide the world, or human experience, or other phenomena, into two contrasting opposites. Dualism can take the form of ‘cosmic dualism’: examples include Platonic philosophical dualism, which divided the world into the realm of ordinary human sense-experience, and the true world of intellectual thought. There is also ‘anthropological dualism’, which sees human experience as divided between (for example) ‘the flesh’ and ‘the spirit’. Language can be described as dualistic if it uses strong ‘Light versus Darkness’ contrasts. Religion can be said to be dualistic if it claims there are two ultimate ‘Gods’ or forces, one good and one evil.
Edom / Idumea The ancient kingdom of Edom, on the east bank of the Jordan opposite Judea. Starting under Simon of the Hasmoneans, 142-135 B.C., and continuing under John Hyrcanus, Idumea was absorbed into the new Jewish state and ‘Judaised’ (Josephus, A.J. 13:258). The Hasmonean state lost control of the region again under Pompey's settlement of 66 B.C.
Ephebate / Ephebeia / Ephebe A characteristically Greek paramilitary youth organisation, usually for young men in their late teens or very early twenties, which combined military training with cultural education. The Ephebate often formed the final stage of formal education before the young man became a full citizen. Ephebes could be recognised by their characteristic hat, the petasos.
Essenes One of Josephus’ ‘Four schools of thought’ within Judaism, the Essenes are variously described by Philo of Alexandria, Pliny the Elder, Josephus himself, and a number of later writers. They have much in common with the people of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but debate still surrounds the precise relationship between the Scrolls and the Essenes. See the Unit Booklet for further details.
Ethnarch Literally the ruler of an ethnic group, ethn/archos, though the term could be used in different ways.
Form Criticism The study of the different literary forms (parable, pronouncement story, miracle story etc.) in which the traditions about Jesus were handed on in oral form, before being written down and put together into the Gospels. The aim is to develop general rules by which such forms might have developed in the telling, and hence to evaluate the historicity of the Gospel tradition.
“Fourth Philosophy” Josephus generally speaks of the three main ‘points of view’ or ‘schools’ within Judaism, the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Essenes. He once also describes what he calls the ‘Fourth Philosophy’ (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 18.23ff.), founded by Judas the Galilean and Saddok the Pharisee, who (perhaps violently) opposed the imposition of direct Roman government and taxes when Archelaus was deposed as Ethnarch of Judea in 6 A.D.
Haggadah The result of interpreting a Biblical narrative as a story. ‘Haggadic’ interpretation retells Biblical narrative with interpretative embellishments.
Halakah Jewish legal Biblical interpretation. Halakah is the general term for the developed tradition of case-law and precedent which made up the ‘oral tradition’ of Pharisaic and then Rabbinic Judaism.
Hasidim A title generally used for ‘ultra-orthodox’ Jews, but in our period the title for a group which joined the Maccabean rebels some time in 167-5 B.C.: see 1 Maccabees 2:42. Little is known of them with any certainty, but many scholars make them a crucial force in the development of conservative Jewish opinion.
Hasmonean /s The family and later the ruling dynasty of Judea which led the ‘Maccabean’ revolt; named after their notional ancestor, Hasmon. Mattathias of the Hasmoneans is recorded as starting the revolt with the aid of his sons, of whom Judah (Judas ‘Maccabee’) is the most famous.
Hellenisation The process of cultural change brought about by the contact between native cultures and the newly dominant cosmopolitan Greek culture of the period after Alexander the Great.
Hillel Famous Pharisaic teacher of the late first century B.C. and early first century A.D. Hillel was the head of one of the two ‘wings’ of Pharisaism in this period, and was seen by the later Rabbis as their spiritual ancestor.
Jamnia or Yavneh the town north west of Jerusalem, near the coast, where a Rabbinic school was set up after the fall of Jerusalem, from which the Rabbis commenced the reorganisation of Judaism into its classical form. It is widely believed that a ‘Council of Jamnia’ set forth a number of standardised Jewish prayers which effectively excluded Jewish Christians from Synagogues around 90 AD, but this view has been heavily attacked in recent scholarship on a number of grounds.
Josephus A Jewish aristocrat who helped in the leadership of the great revolt against Rome (66 - 70 A.D.), defected to the Romans, and predicted the rise of their general, Vespasian, to the imperial throne. As a result of getting this prediction right he was made a pensioner of the imperial court, and spent much of the rest of his life writing histories of the Jews and other autobiographical and apologetic works.
Kenosis Literally ‘emptying’: the doctrine, developed by a number of theologians in the last two centuries, that Jesus ‘emptied himself’ of various attributes of divinity in order to become a man. It is usually based around an understanding of Philippians 2:6-7, where Jesus is said to be “in very nature God”, but to have “emptied himself, taking the very nature of a servant…”. Whether the doctrine correctly understands the passage is controversial.
Kerygma Literally ‘proclamation’ (a Herald is a Keryx; what a Herald announces is Kerygma); a technical term for the essence of the early Christian message.
Koine The cosmopolitan form of Greek which was the universal language of the first century A.D.
Maccabee /an Judah (or Judas) ‘Maccabee’ (‘the Hammer’), one of the sons of Mattathias Hasmon,was the second leader of the Jewish guerilla group who revolted against Antiochus IV ‘Epiphanes’ in 167 B.C. He took over leadership of the rebels on the death of his father, Mattathias, and achieved several striking victories before being defeated and killed in battle. The ‘Maccabean’ forces and their revolt take their title from his nick-name. The Maccabean revolt eventually established the Hasmonean dynasty; Judah's family were ‘descendants of Hasmon’.
Midrash /ic Midrash, Hebrew, literally simply ‘the results of study’, is a term applied to the interpretative paraphrasing of a Biblical passage, or to more explicit commentary on a cited Biblical passage. ‘Midrashic’ interpretation is one of the several forms of Biblical interpretation used in the New Testament period by both Jewish and Jewish Christian authors.
Onias / Oniads Onias III was the High Priest in Jerusalem c. 180 B.C. He was the head of one of the major aristicratic groups in Jerusalem, who Josephus calls the Oniads; the other was the ‘Tobiad’ clan.
Paranesis moral exhortation or encouragement.
Parousia Literally ‘presence’ or ‘appearance’ in the sense of ‘sudden appearance’, this ordinary Greek word came to be applied to the expected future appearance or ‘second coming’ of Jesus.
Pentateuch The first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the ‘Books of Moses’: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Also known as ‘the Torah’.
Pericope A definable section of the oral tradition about Jesus, whether a saying or story, which is postulated to have originally circulated as an independent unit. Pronounced ‘Pericopey’.
Pesher A style of Biblical interpretation practised particularly by the people of the Dead Sea Scrolls, whereby general statements in the Biblical texts were interpreted highly specifically as being to do with people, places and events of the readers’ own times. The ‘hidden meaning’ of the text is the Raz, or mystery; the Pesher is the interpretation which reveals it.
Pharisee / Pharisaic The best known of Josephus’ ‘four schools’ of Jewish thought, and the ‘spiritual ancestors’ of the later Rabbis. The Pharisees formed a multi-facetted lay movement within Judaism, which set out to apply the Hebrew Bible to everyday life through a process of developing traditions of interpretation – the ‘Oral Law’.
Philology The systematic study of the development and history of languages.
Polis Originally a Greek ‘city-state’, though in Josephus and the New Testament the term can be used of even quite small towns.
Prefect Latin, Praefectus: a high-ranking Roman official in charge of a Province, himself drawn from the Equites, the class of Roman society below the Senatorial elite. A Prefect's duties were primarily military and administrative. After the reign of Herod Agrippa the Prefects of Judea were replaced with Procurators; Tacitus mistakenly describes Pilate (from the earlier period) as a Procurator.
Procurator a high-ranking Roman official in charge of a Province, with similar powers to those of a Prefect, but with primarily financial duties. After the reign of Herod Agrippa the Prefects of Judea were replaced with Procurators.
Pseudepigrapha /l Literally ‘falsely written’: works which lay outside the Hebrew Bible, but which had considerable status among some Jews and early Christians. Many of the ‘Pseudepigrapha’ claim to have been written by great figures of the ancient past, such as Enoch or Ezra, while in fact they were written between 150 BC and 150 AD: hence the title. Many works of the ‘pseudepigrapha’ are apocalyptic in style.
Ptolemies /Ptolemaic The Ptolemies of Egypt were Macedonians, descendants of Ptolemy I Soter (‘the Saviour’) who ruled Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great, 322 B.C. Their dynasty remained in power until the defeat of Cleopatra VII and Marc Antony at the Battle of Actium (31 B.C.). The ‘Ptolemaic period’ hence refers to the three centuries of Greek rule of Egypt.
“Q” The hypothetical source of information about Jesus used by both Matthew and Luke as a source alongside Mark's Gospel. Its exact contents and order remain uncertain, as it can only be detected from the fact that Matthew and Luke have material which seems to derive from a common source. However, it is not really possible to tell what else may have been in “Q” that Matthew and Luke did not include, or what we cannot detect as “Q&rdquo because it overlaps with Mark. (The minority scholarly views which believe Matthew was the first Gospel written, or that Luke made use of Matthew, have no need of “Q&rdquo, and do not believe in it.)
Qumran Qumran is an archaeological site near the west coast of the Dead Sea in southern Israel. It is best known because it is located close to the caves in which were found the Dead Sea Scrolls, and scholarship has from the beginning linked the Scrolls to the ruins at Qumran, presuming they originated there. This connection is now less certain, but still probably the majority view.
Redaction Criticism The branch of New Testament studies which focusses its attention on the question: how have particular Gospel authors redacted (edited together) the material they had at their disposal, whether from an earlier Gospel writer, from pre-Gospel written sources, or from oral tradition? Building on the results of Form Criticism, which set out to disentangle the sayings and stories of Jesus from their literary context in the Gospels, Redaction Criticism looks on the Gospel authors as creative editors of their material, bringing themes to the fore and developing new ones through their linking, shaping and presentation of the traditional material which came down to them.
Sadducee /Sadducaic The Sadducees are one of Josephus’ ‘Four Schools’ of Jewish thought. Mainly identified with the wealthy High Priestly establishment in Jerusalem, the Sadducees were culturally Hellenised, but deeply conservative in terms of their interpretation of the Hebrew Bible and their approach to the ‘liturgy’ of the Temple.
Sanhedrin A sanhedrin is a ‘Council’, usually a governing council. ‘The’ Sanhedrin is the governing council of Jerusalem, presided over by the High Priest, the ultimate civil and criminal court, and governing body, of Judea, answerable only to the Roman governor. The term is derived from the Greek term Synedrion.
Seleucid /s The Seleucids were Macedonians, descendents of Seleukos Nikator (‘the Victorious’), who ruled Babylon after the death of Alexander the Great (322 B.C.). Their Dynasty ruled a widespread empire based in Mesopotamia, and later in Syria, where Antioch on the Orontes was their capital. Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-163) was the last really powerful Seleucid king; after him the Dynasty declined due to a combination of Roman pressure and dynastic in-fighting.
Shammai Famous Pharisaic teacher of the late first century B.C. and early first century A.D. Shammai was the head of the stricter of the two ‘wings’ of Pharisaism in this period, but his school's influence declined after the fall of Jerusalem.
Sicarii Literally ‘dagger-men’, this group of ‘urban terrorists’ came to prominence in the 50s AD as assassins of Jewish collaborators with the Romans. They remained an organised force during the great Jewish revolt of 66-70 AD, and some were among those who held out against the Romans at Masada.
Sitz-im-Leben The ‘life situation’ or social context within which sayings or stories about Jesus were transmitted in the early churches. For example, the story of the ‘Last Supper’ would most likely be transmitted in the context of the early church's own celebrations of the ‘Lord's supper’. Likewise the story of Jesus’ baptism by John might well have been transmitted in the context of early Christian baptisms.
Tanna'itic / Tanna'im The Rabbis of the ‘Tannaitic period’ (1st-2nd Centuries AD) were called Tanna'im, ‘teachers’; the Rabbis of the 3rd-5th centuries are called the Amoraim, ‘speakers’.
Targum A Targum is an Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Bible. In Synagogues when the Hebrew Bible was read, if the passage was hard to understand or the ‘congregation’ did not know sufficient Hebrew, a member of the Synagogue would give a free translation or paraphrase into the common language, Aramaic. Over time a number of these were written down, and became in themselves a form of commentary on the Hebrew Bible.
Thaumaturge /y Literally ‘wonder-worker’: a term generally used of miracle-workers and magicians of various kinds.
Theologeumenon Not a word you should come across often, but still: a theologeumenon is a purely abstract belief with little or no ‘everyday’ consequences. You may believe them, but beyond that they don't really matter. Of course, one person's theologeumenon may be crucial to another person…
Tithe A 10% religious tax paid on all produce and goods by highly observant Jews. Tithes were a fundamental part of the ‘purity’ culture of Judaism. Tithed goods were ceremonially pure; untithed goods were not. Meticulous observance of tithing particularly marked the Pharisees.
Tobiah / Tobiads Tobiah was a major Jewish aristocrat and magnate c. 260 B.C., and a relative of the High Priest. His clan, the Tobiads, were rivals of the Oniads in Jerusalem politics.
Torah The Jewish term for the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the ‘Pentateuch’, or ‘Books of Moses’.
Yavneh or Jamnia; the town north west of Jerusalem, near the coast, where a Rabbinic school was set up after the fall of Jerusalem, from which the Rabbis commenced the reorganisation of Judaism into its classical form. It is widely believed that a ‘Council of Jamnia’ set forth a number of standardised Jewish prayers which effectively excluded Jewish Christians from Synagogues around 90 AD, but this view has been heavily attacked in recent scholarship on a number of grounds.
Zealots A group of Jewish revolutionaries
formed in Jerusalem from numbers of farmers and rural workers driven off
their land by the Roman invaders during the Jewish revolt of 66-70 AD (Josephus,
B.J. 4.138-161). They became one of the primary factions inside Jerusalem
during the siege of the city. The term is also loosely used of almost any
armed ‘resistance fighters’ or militant nationalists in Judea in the late
1st century BC and 1st century AD, but this usage tends to blur important
distinctions. The group inside Jerusalem during the Revolt is the only
group Josephus describes as calling themselves, or being called ‘Zealots’.