by agapē – Unselfish Love. God’s divine love.
Age Day Theory – Hebrew word יוֹם (yom), while it most frequently means a twenty-four-hour period, is not limited to that meaning. It can also mean epochs or long periods of time. God created in a series of acts over long periods of time.1
Angelology – Study of Angels/Angelic Beings
Anthropology – Study of Man
Anthropomorphism – Attempt to express human traits, characteristics, or behavior to non-human things like God, animal, or object. Example: cartoons having animals talk.
Anxiety – It is the inevitable spiritual state of any human standing in the paradoxical situation of freedom and finitude. It is the subjective experience of temptation—“anxiety is the internal description of the state of temptation.” This state is not to be identified with sin, however, for there is always the possibility that perfect faith will purge it of its tendency toward sinful self-assertion.6
Arianism – aka Arian Controversy; Belief that Jesus Christ was a created being making Him subordinate to the Father. (Rejected)
Aseity – From oneself; Self-derived, self-originated, and not dependent.
Bibliology – Study of the Bible
Christology – Study of Christ
Chalcedonian doctrine of the Hypostatic Union – Jesus Christ has two natures, divine and human, possessing a complete human nature while remaining one divine hypostasis.
Demonology -Study of Demons
Ecclesiology – Study of the Church
Economic Trinity – Refers to the activity and work of the three Persons of the Trinity in relation to the world. The way in which God interacts with creation and the specific roles that each Person plays in the history of salvation. How God reveals Himself to humanity.
Epistemology – Theory of Knowledge
Eschatology – Study of the Last Events
Foundationalism – View that all beliefs are justified by their relationship to certain basic beliefs
Gnostic Philosophy – Belief that there was a series of emanations from the primal Being, of different ranks. Jesus was one of high rank but still a dependent Being with a denial of His true humanity. (Rejected) 16
Grace – Undeserved Favors from God
Hamartiology – Study of Sin
Immanent Trinity – Refers to the internal life and relationships of the Trinity apart from their activity in the world. The nature and character of God as Trinity. Deals with eternal and unchanging relationships between the Persons of the Trinity.
Immutability – Doctrine of the Divine Constancy
Inerrancy – Doctrine that the Bible is fully truthful in all of its teachings
Inerrancy, Full – the Bible, when correctly interpreted in light of the level to which culture and the means of communication p 202 had developed at the time it was written, and in view of the purposes for which it was given, is fully truthful in all that it affirms.
Mariology – Study of All Things Related to Mary, Mother of Jesus
Mercy – God’s loving compassion for his people.
Missiology – Study of Missionary Work
Modalism – See Monarchianism, Modalistic
Monarchianism, Dynamic – Belief that Jesus was normal until Baptism. God worked dynamically through Jesus. Denied the Trinity. (Rejected)27
Monarchianism, Modalistic – aka Modalism; Belief in one Godhead with 3 different modes (names, roles, activities, forms) of the same person. Accepted Trinity. Common illustration is Water in three forms Liquid/Solid/Steam. (Rejected)28
Monotheism – Doctrine that there is only one God (e.g. Christianity, Judaism, Islam).
Panentheists – Group of theologians who advocate that God is in everything. Universe is God’s body. (Rejected)
Pantheism – Doctrine that God is everything, or everything is God. (Rejected)
Parousia (παρουσία) – Greek word commonly used by Paul and Christian Theology to refer to the Second Coming or the return of Jesus Christ.
Paterology – Study of God the Father
Platonism – Similar to Pantheism, represented Christ above all creatures but subordinate and not eternal. (Rejected)33
Pneumatology – Study of the Holy Spirit
Polytheism – Doctrine in the existence of many Gods.
Progressive Creationism – God created the first member of “Kind”, others developed by evolution, then God created another kind. There has been microevolution (or “intrakind” development, but not macroevolution (or “interkind” development).36
Providence – The continuing action of God by which he preserves in existence the creation he has brought into being and guides it to his intended purposes for it. Two aspects – 1) Preservation and 2) Government.37
Sanctification – The continuous action of God whereby the believer is progressively made holy. Justification is an act; sanctification, which follows it, is a process.39
Sin – “Sin is any lack of conformity, active or passive, to the moral law of God. This may be a matter of act, of thought, or of inner disposition or state.” Sin is failure to live up to what God expects of us in act, thought, and being. The essence of sin is simply failure to let God be God. It is placing something else, anything else, in the supreme place which is his. “Sin is lawlessness.” (1 John 3:4)40
Soteriology – Theological term meaning “teaching about salvation.” In Christian theology it relates to human sinfulness, those qualities of God that define how sinful humans relate to him, the atoning death of Christ, faith, forgiveness, justification, and sanctification.41
Subordinationism – Belief that Son and Holy Spirit are subordinate to Father. Common illustration is Trinity is like the sun because it is comprised of a body, light, and heat yet all are the sun. Light and heat only exist because of body. (Rejected)
Systematic Theology – Seeks to elaborate the whole and the parts of Scripture, demonstrating their logical (rather than their merely historical) connections and taking full cognizance of the history of doctrine and the contemporary intellectual climate and categories and queries.44
Teleology – Study of God’s design and Purpose for the World and All He Created in it
Theism – Study of God
theologia crucis – “Theology of the cross”; a way to understand the gospel that focuses on the weakness, suffering, and death involved in enduring and conquering through faith in Christ and sharing in his cross. Used in 2 Corinthians.47
theologia gloriae – “Theology of glory”; a way to understand the gospel that views Christ primarily as a means of self-betterment, the way to success, the way to power, affirmation by peers, and acceptance by God. Used in 2 Corinthians.47
Theology Proper – Study of the character of God
Theophany – Temporary self-manifestation of God to humankind.
Tritheism – Belief in 3 separate Gods. Common illustration is Trinity is like an egg with three parts Egg/Yolk/Shell but is one egg. Each part is only that, a part, and cannot be said to be the entire thing. (Rejected)
Verbal Plenary Inspiration – An orthodox view of the church; Every word, word form, and word placement found in the Bible’s original manuscripts was divinely and intentionally written.
via dolorosa – “Way (or path) of suffering.” Literally, the path Jesus walked through Jerusalem on his way to Golgotha. Figuratively, it is a reminder that in Christian service, true glory—glory for God, not humans—comes in part through suffering.60
Bibliography
Blomberg, Craig L., and Jennifer Foutz Markley. A Handbook of New Testament Exegesis. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010.
Elwell, Walter A., and Robert W. Yarbrough. Encountering the New Testament: A Historical and Theological Survey. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013.
Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough, Encountering the New Testament: A Historical and Theological Survey, Third Edition., Encountering Biblical Studies (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 388.
Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013.
Hodge, Charles. Systematic Theology. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997.
1 Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 351.
6 Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 536–537.
16 Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), vol. 1, 450.
27 Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 303.
28 Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 304.
33 Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), vol. 1, 450.
36 Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 354.
37 Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 360.
39 Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough, Encountering the New Testament: A Historical and Theological Survey, Third Edition., Encountering Biblical Studies (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 386.
40 Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 530.
41 Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough, Encountering the New Testament: A Historical and Theological Survey, Third Edition., Encountering Biblical Studies (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 387 & 277.
44 Craig L. Blomberg and Jennifer Foutz Markley, A Handbook of New Testament Exegesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010), 219.
47 Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough, Encountering the New Testament: A Historical and Theological Survey, Third Edition., Encountering Biblical Studies (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 388 & 277.
60 Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough, Encountering the New Testament: A Historical and Theological Survey, Third Edition., Encountering Biblical Studies (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 389 & 277.