Glossary

Philosophical and Ethical

Abstract: That which exists in the mind rather than the external world; the conceptual as opposed to the objective; the general as opposed to the particular.
Absurd: In logic, a contradiction, as in "round square." In philosophy, the impossibility of objective or ultimate meaning.
Accident: A property or quality not essential to a thing.
Ad hoc: Literally, "to this"; pertaining to one case alone.
Ad hominem: Literally, "to the man"; in logic, an attack on or appeal to the personal rather than to reason.
Ad infinitum: Carried on without end; forever.
Aesthetics: The study of beauty.
A fortiori: Literally, "with greater force"; in logic, the argument with the form, "If this is true, then how much more is that true."
Agnosticism: The belief that one cannot, or at least does not, know reality, including God.
Analogical: Similar; being both the same and different.
Analytic judgment: According to Immanuel Kant, a proposition whose predicate is deducible from the subject, as in, "All husbands are married men."
Analytic philosophy: A movement in philosophy, primarily in England and North America, which advocates the analysis of language as the heart of philosophy.
Antinomy: A contradiction comprised of a thesis and antithesis.
Apologetics: Literally, "defense"; the discipline of rationally justifying one's beliefs.
A posteriori: From experience, as opposed to a priori.
A priori: Prior to or independent of experience.
Atheism: The world view which claims that no God exists; the universe is all there is.
Atomism: The ancient belief that the universe consists of innumerable tiny, indivisible tiny pellets of reality.
Axiology: The study of values, as in ethics, aesthetics, and religion.
Being: That which is or exists; the real.
Cause: The necessary and sufficient condition for an effect.
Coherence theory of justification: In epistemology, the theory that there are no immediately justified beliefs; justification is found in a consistent relationship among beliefs, none of which is epistemologically prior to the other.
Coherence theory of truth: A test for truth which is based the self-consistency of its basic premises.
Contingent: Dependent on another for its existence or function.
Contradiction, Law of: (see Non-Contradiction, Law of).
Correspondence theory of truth: Definition of truth as that which corresponds to reality.
Cosmological argument: The argument from the contingent, changing world (cosmos) to the existence of God.
Deduction: Arguing from the general to the particular; also a logical argument whose conclusion follows necessarily from one or more premises.
De facto: Actually; as a matter of fact.
Deism: The belief that God created the world and is transcendent; denies that God is immanent in the world, especially in any supernatural way.
Deduction: A logic inferences from one or more premises.
Deontology: The ethical view that stresses duty rather than consequences (see teleology).
Demiurge: Plato's concept of a creator or god who formed the world (cosmos) out of the eternal chaos.
Determinism: The belief that all events in the universe (including man's actions) are determined by previous conditions.
Dialectic Method: The Socratic method of drawing out truth through dialogue that leads to logical conclusions.
Dialectical: A process of thought or of history which by which the tension between thesis and antithesis leads to a synthesis.
Dualism: The world view which teaches the existence of two ultimate realities (such as God and evil, or Spirit and matter).
Efficient cause: The agent by which an effect is produced.
Emanation: In Plotinian type pantheism, the flowing of the universe necessarily from God, as rays flow from the sun or radii flow from the center of a circle.
Empirical verifiability principle: In logical positivism, the belief that only those propositions which are true by definition or that are verifiable through sense experience are meaningful.
Empiricism: The theory of knowledge which holds that all knowledge begins in sense experience.
Epistemology: Theory of knowledge or how we know.
Equivocal: Having a totally different meaning (see univocal).
Equivocation: Use of the same term with two different meanings.
Eschatology: Study of last things (the future).
Essence: Qualities or attributes of a thing which are necessary; its nature.
Essentialism, ethical: The ethical view that God wills moral rules because they are right, and flow from His essence or character (see voluntarism).
Ethics: The study of right and wrong, of what one ought to do.
Exemplar cause: The pattern or blueprint after which something is made.
Existentialism: A philosophical movement which stresses that existence is prior to essence; the concrete and individual is over the abstract and universal.
Ex nihilo: The theistic belief that God created the world "out of nothing."
Fallacy: An invalid inference; a logical error.
Fideism: The view that there are no rational ways to justify one's beliefs; faith alone is necessary.
Final cause: The end or goal for which an agent acts; the purpose.
Finite: Having specific boundaries or limits.
Finite godism: The world view that affirms there is a god but that he is limited in power and/or perfections.
First principle: Basic axiom or proposition; self-evident premise.
Formal cause: The structure or form of which something consists.
Foundationalism: In epistemology, the belief that knowledge is based on first principles or self-evident premises.
Gnosticism: Early religious cult which held God is good, matter is evil, and man is saved by knowledge (gnosis) of special hidden truths.
Hedonism: The ethical view which claims that pleasure is the greatest good.
Humanism: The belief that humans are the highest value in the universe; a human centered world view.
Idealism: The philosophy which holds that reality consists of minds and ideas rather than matter.
Identity, principle of: The law of logic which says a thing is identical to itself, that is, A is A.
Identity theory: The belief that mind and matter are manifestations of one reality, matter. This is a sophisticated form of materialism.
Immanence (of God)t: His presence within the universe (see transcendent).
Immortality: The doctrine that man will live forever.
Indeterminism: The belief that at least some events, especially human behavior, are uncaused.
Induction: Arguing from the particular to the general.
Infinite: Without limits or boundaries.
Infinite regress: The belief that there can be an unending series of causes, making it impossible to arrive at a cause or principle.
Instrumental cause: The means or tools through which an agent acts.
Intuitionism: In ethics, the view that in every situation the right action is self-evident.
Logic: The study of valid thinking and argument.
Logical positivism: The philosophy which holds that metaphysical and theological propositions are meaningless unless they are empirically verifiable.
Material cause: The stuff or matter out of which something is made.
Materialism: The belief that all of reality is material, that no spiritual entities such as the soul or God exist.
Metaphysics: The study of being or reality.
Monism: The metaphysical view that all reality is one (see pluralism).
Mores: Customs or practices of a culture, whether morally right or not as judged by a prescriptive (see) ethical standard
Mysticism: The belief that there are states of mind or reality beyond sensation and reason.
Natural law: In ethics, the view that there are innate or natural moral laws available by all rational persons.
Naturalism: The belief that the universe is all there is; everything operates by natural law (without miracles).
Necessary Being: A Being that cannot not exist; a being existence whose non-existence is not possible.
Necessity: That which must be or cannot be other than it is.
Nihilism: The view that there is no value or being in the universe.
Nominalism: The belief that universal forms or ideas exist only conceptually; all that exist in the real world are particulars.
Non-contradiction, law of: A proposition cannot be both true and false at the same time and in the same sense.
Non sequitur: A conclusion that does not follow from the premises.
Noumena: According to Kant, the "thing-in-itself" or real world, as opposed to the world of appearance (see phenomena).
Objectivism.: The belief that there are external objects outside mere states of consciousness.
"Ockham's razor.": See parsimony, principle of.
Ontological argument: The argument devised by Anselm for God's existence which claims that from our idea of God's essence we can conclude God must exist.
Ontology: The study of being; generally synonymous with metaphysics.
Panentheism: The world view which holds that "all is in God"; God is to the world as a soul is to a body.
Pantheism: The world view which denies God's transcendence and identifies God with His immanence in the universe.
Parsimony, principle of: The principle of simplicity; one ought not multiply explanations or causes unnecessarily. Also called "Ockham's razor."
Petitio principii: Begging the question or arguing in a circle.
Phenomena: According to Kant, the world of appearance, as opposed to reality (see noumena).
Phenomenology: A view in epistemology (see) that claims to avoid all presuppositions and begin with the pure data of human consciousness.
Pluralism: The metaphysical view that reality is many (see monism).
Polytheism: The belief in many gods.
Positivism: The philosophy which repudiates metaphysics and attempts only a scientific understanding of the world.
Prescriptive Ethics: Ethical laws are imperative, not descriptive; they are a matter of what "ought" to be, not of what "is" (see mores).
Pragmatism: The philosophy that makes practical consequences the criterion for truth.
Proposition: The meaning conveyed by a declarative sentence; a statement making and affirmation or denial that is either true of false.
Rationalism: The epistemological view that stresses reason or rational explanations.
Realism: The philosophy which holds that there is a real external world which can be known.
Relativism: The belief that there are no absolutes.
Secular Humanism: There is no God or God-given moral law; decisions are made situationally in view of humanistic values, such as freedom and toleration.
Skepticism: The belief that one should doubt or suspend judgment on philosophical questions.
Solipsism: Metaphysically, the doctrine that "I alone exist." Epistemologically, the view that one knows only what is present to him in the given moment, nothing more.
Subjectivism: In ethics, the belief that there are no objective, universal principles of conduct.
Substance: An underlying essence; that in which all qualities of a thing inhere.
Sufficient reason: The principle (from Leibniz) that everything must have a rational explanation or cause.
Syllogism: A concise deductive argument, usually consisting of two premises and a conclusion.
Syncretism: The combination of divergent beliefs into one philosophy or religion.
Tabula rasa: Literally, "blank slate." The empirical belief that man is born with no innate or inborn ideas.
Tautology: In logic, a statement that is true by definition, such as, "All triangles have three sides." Hence, an empty statement which affirms nothing about the real world.
Teleological argument: The argument from the design or purpose in the world to the existence of a Designer (God).
Teleology: In ethics, the view which stresses the end, result, or consequences of our actions (see deontology).
Theism: The world view that affirms the existence of a personal, infinitely powerful and all-perfect Creator of the world, who is both transcendent over the world and immanent in it.
Transcendent: That which is more than our experience or goes beyond the world. Theists say God is transcendent because He is outside of or beyond nature (see immanent).
Tyranny: The rule of a tyrant or dictator who has disregard for the rights of human beings.
Universal: The general concept or idea of a thing, as opposed to a particular instance or example.
Univocal: Literally, "of the same voice," or with the same meaning, as opposed to equivocal.(see)
Utilitarianism: In ethics, the view that one should act to bring about the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
Veridical: True or accurate.
Voluntarism, ethical: The ethical view that traces moral principles to God's will; something is right because God wills it (see essentialism).

Biblical

Accommodation Theory: The view Christ and the apostles accommodated their teaching to the current (but false) Jewish traditions about authorship, inspiration, and so forth, of the Bible without thereby either asserting or approving those beliefs.
Amanuensis: A scribal secretary or one employed to take dictation.
Antilegomena: Literally, the books "spoken against," that is, the books of the New Testament canon whose inspiration has been disputed, usually meaning Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation.
Antinomianism: Literally "without (or against) law," it designates the ethical position that there are no binding moral laws; all is relative or situational.
Apocalypse: The English transliteration of the Greek word apocalypsis (revelation), this term used as the title for the last book of the Bible in English Roman Catholic versions.
Apocalyptic Literature: A designation sometimes applied to the pseudepigraphal books because their contents are largely "revelations" and "visions"; it is also used to describe the canonical books of Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, and Revelation.
Apocrypha: The Protestant designation for the fourteen or fifteen books of doubtful authenticity and authority that are not found in the Hebrew Old Testament but are in manuscripts of the LXX; eleven of these books were declared canonical by the Roman Catholic church at the Council of Trent in 1546, and they call these books deuterocanonical (second canon).
Apostolicity: In the narrow sense, it refers to that which comes directly from an apostle; but in a broader sense, it may refer to teaching produced under apostolic authority, whether by apostolic authorship or by apostolic teaching through a prophetic ministry.
Authenticity: A word describing the truthfulness of the contents of a given text or composition; it is sometimes incorrectly used interchangeably with genuineness (see below).
Autographs Or Autographa: Sometimes inaccurately defined as the original writings from the hand of an apostle or prophet, these are, more precisely, writings produced under the authority of an apostle or prophet, whether or not through a scribe or in several editions.
Canonicity: The character of a biblical book that marks it as a part of the canon of Scripture, namely, the divine inspiration and authority that designate a book as part of the rule or standard of faith and practice.
Codex: A manuscript in book form, that is, with sheets bound together rather than in the form of a roll or scroll.
Colophon: Literally "finishing touch," that is, a literary device used at the end of a book sometimes connecting it with a following book.
Conservative: The theological position that affirms the basic doctrines of Christianity as the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, the substitutionary atonement, the bodily resurrection of Christ, and the divine inspiration of the Bible. In this sense, it is used interchangeably with fundamental, evangelical, and orthodox, and it is to be contrasted with liberal or modernist.
Covenant: An agreement or compact between two parties, such as the Mosaic Covenant.
Credibility: As applied to the Scriptures, it is their right to be believed and received as the truth of God.
Critical Text: An edited text of the Bible that attempts, by critical comparison and evaluation of all of the manuscript evidence, to approximate most closely what was in the autographs; the Westcott and Hort text of the Greek New Testament is an example of a critical text.
Cursive Manuscripts: Usually the equivalent of minuscule or small-lettered manuscripts written in a "running hand," hence "cursive"; it is akin to handwriting rather than printing.
Decalogue: Literally, "ten words," that is, the Ten Commandments as recorded in Exodus 20 or Deuteronomy 5.
Deism: The belief that there is a Creator of the world who allows it to operates through natural law that He never intervenes in the world by miracles; hence, it is antisupernaturalistic in outlook.
Demythology: A modern critical method of biblical interpretation espoused by Rudolph Bultmann and others that attempts to divest biblical stories of the religious myth of their day in order to arrive at their "real message," and to see through the historical to their supra-historical truth; hence, this view does not accept the historicity and inerrancy of the Bible.
Destructive Criticism: A term used by conservative theologians to describe the harmful result of certain liberal or negative forms of higher criticism of the Bible (see below).
Docetism: An early Christian heresy which affirmed the deity but denied the humanity of Christ.
Eclectic: A view composed of various teachings drawn from different sources.
Existentialism, Christian: It holds, among other things, that revelation is not propositional but that it is personal . That is, it is not found in objective statements but only in a subjective and personal encounter with God.
Fathers Of The Church: The writing theologians and teachers of the first seven or eight centuries of the Christian church, usually, the great bishops and leaders noted for sound judgment and holy living, whose writings preserve the doctrines, history, and traditions of the early church.
Fideism: From the Latin fides ("faith"), it designates the view that faith alone, without evidence or reason, is a sufficient ground or support for holding a view.
Folio: A book made of full-sized leaves or sheets, each folded once to form four pages (twelve by nineteen inches, scale of American Library Association), or a book of the largest size.
Former Prophets: Designation for the first subdivision of the second section of the present Hebrew Scriptures known as the Prophets, including Joshua, Judges, I and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings.
Genuineness: The character of a composition that guarantees its alleged authorship; genuineness is sometimes popularly used interchangeably with authenticity, which properly concerns the truthfulness of the contents of a composition or text.
German Rationalism: A movement among eighteenth and nineteenth century German biblical scholars that, while attempting to defend Christianity on rational grounds, actually undercut the authority and inerrancy of the Scriptures, and subsequently the other fundamental doctrines arising therefrom. Destructive (negative) higher criticism and the "accommodation theory" are two examples of the teachings of this movement.
Gnostic: From the Greek gnosis ("knowledge"), it denotes the religious movement prominent in the second century a. d. that believed it had special knowledge. Beliefs included the denial of Christ's deity and the affirmation that matter is evil, which encouraged asceticism.
Graphe: The Greek word for "writings" (Scriptures), which are inspired of God, according to 2 Timothy 3:16.
Hagiographa: The English equivalent of the Greek word for "holy writings," which designates the same section of the Old Testament canon as does the Hebrew Kethuvim (see below). In the Middle Ages this term was applied to writings about the saints and saints' lives. This latter sense is not in view throughout the present work.
Hexapla: A manuscript with six parallel columns arranged for comparative and critical study, such as Origen's Hexapla that contained various Hebrew and Greek translations of the Old Testament.
Hexateuch: The first six books of the Old Testament, namely, the Pentateuch plus Joshua.
Higher Criticism: The scholarly discipline dealing with the genuineness of the text including questions of authorship, date of composition, destination, and so forth. It is often called "historical criticism," but in its more radical expressions it has been labeled "destructive criticism" or "negative criticism."
Homologoumena: Literally, "to speak the same," that is, those books of the New Testament that have been universally acclaimed as canonical, or all of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament except the Antilegomena (see above).
Illumination: The process by which God enlightens a person's mind so that he understands the significance of the objective disclosure of God (revelation) for his life subjectively.
Inerrancy: Meaning "without error" and referring to the complete accuracy of Scripture, including the historical and scientific parts.
Infallible: Literally, "not fallible or breakable"; it refers to the divine character of Scripture that necessitates its truthfulness (cf. John 10:35).
Inspiration: Meaning literally "God-breathed" (from 2 Tim. 3:16), and referring to the divinely authoritative writings of Holy Scripture, which God produced without destroying the individual styles of the writers.
Kethuvim: The English equivalent for this Hebrew word is the "Writings" the title of the third division of the Hebrew Old Testament along with Law and Prophets.
Koine Greek: The common trade language, the "language of the market place" of the first-century Western world; the New Testament was originally written in Koine Greek.
Latter Prophets: The second subdivision of the Hebrew Prophets, including all of the prophets after 2 Kings, which is the second division of the present Hebrew Bible.
Lectionaries: Early church service books containing selected Scripture readings usually from the Gospels and sometimes from Acts or the epistles .
Liberal: The theological position that denies many of the fundamental doctrines of historic Christianity, such as the deity of Christ, the inspiration of the Bible. It denies that the Bible is the Word of God but believes that it merely contains the Word of God.
Literal Translation: A word-for-word translation from one language to another as opposed to an idiomatic, thought-for-thought translation or paraphrase.
Lower Criticism: The scholarly discipline dealing with the authenticity of the biblical text and that seeks to discover the original words of the autographs. It is also called "textual criticism."
Lxx: Symbol for the Septuagint, meaning "The Seventy," which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament alleged to have been translated by some seventy scribes at Alexandria, Egypt, at about 250 to150 b.c.
MAJUSCULE: See "Uncial."
Manuscript: A handwritten literary composition rather than a printed copy.
Masoretes: Jewish textual scribes of the fifth through ninth centuries a.d. who standardized the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, which is therefore called the Masoretic Text.
Megilloth: The transliteration into English of the Hebrew word meaning "rolls"; it is used to designate the Five Rolls, the group of books from the third division of the Hebrew canon (the Writings) that were read at the festal ceremonies.
Minuscule Manuscript: A manuscript written in rather small letters, commonly in a cursive or free-flowing hand.
Nevi'Im: The transliteration into English of the Hebrew word for "prophets"; it designates the second division of the Hebrew Old Testament (the Prophets).
Neo-Orthodoxy: A modern theological view that, while reacting against liberalism, never quite returned to the orthodox position on the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures; it asserts that the Bible becomes the Word of God when it speaks to an individual personally. In itself the Bible is only a witness to the Word of God (Who is Christ).
Neo-Platonic: The pantheistic philosophy stemming from the third century mystic Plotinus who studied with the church Father Origen under Ammonius Saccas.
Ostraca: Broken pieces of pottery used as writing material by poorer classes who could not afford parchment or papyrus.
Palimpsest: A manuscript that has been "rubbed again," erased for reuse as a rescriptus (see below).
Pandect: From Greek, pandektos ("all receiving"). A manuscript containing the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments.
Papyrus (Papyri): A kind of ancient paper or writing material made from the pith of a plant by that name, which grew in the marshes of Egypt.
Paratactic: Literally "placing side by side" or the device of placing clauses of phrases one after another without subordinating connectives (see chap. 23).
Parchment: An ancient writing material usually prepared from goat or sheep skin.
Pentateuch: Literally, a fivefold book; used specifically with reference to the first five books of the Old Testament.
Pietism: A religious movement in late seventeenth-century Germany stressing the subjective and experiential personal aspects of Christianity. This movement often tended to neglect the theological and technical side of Christian truth, and consequently opened the door for skepticism, rationalism, and other such movements.
Plenary Inspiration: The doctrine of the "full" and complete inspiration and divine authority of the Bible, meaning that inspiration extends (equally) to every part of the Scriptures.
Polyglot: Literally, "many tongues." A multiple-columned edition of a particular writing or composition, usually containing the original and various other versions or translations in the several columns for means of comparison.
Progressive Revelation: The view that the divine disclosure of doctrine did not come in a single deposit, but that at different times in its historical development later revelation added to former disclosures.
Pseudepigrapha: A word meaning "false writings" and used to designate those spurious and unauthentic books of the late centuries b.c. and early centuries a.d. These books contain religious folklore and have never been considered canonical by the Christian church.
Quarto: Literally, "one quarter," referring to manuscripts or books having four leaves (eight pages) to the sheet, that is 9 1/2 by 12 inches (scale of American Library Association).
Recension: The systematic and critical revision of a text or composition.
Rescriptus: A manuscript that has been rewritten over lettering that had been erased; it is a palimpsest (see) that has been rescripted.
Revelation: An objective disclosure of truth by God, and used in contrast to interpretation, which is the subjective understanding of a revelation.
Revision: A text or composition that has been reviewed and has undergone some necessary changes or corrections.
Septuagint: Literally, "The Seventy"; the Greek translation of the Old Testament allegedly done by some seventy scribes in Alexandria, Egypt, at about 250?150 b.c. and symbolized LXX.
Sopherim: Literally "scribes." They were Jewish scholars who worked between the fifth and third centuries b.c. to standardize and preserve the Hebrew text.
Tanakh: An acronym for "Torah, Nevi'im, and Kethuvim," the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible, used as the title for the Jewish Publication Society translation of the Old Testament, also called the New Jewish Version (NJV).
Tannaim: Literally "repeaters" or "teachers." These Jewish scribes succeeded the Zugoth and labored between the first century a.d. to around a.d. 200. Their work can be found in the Midrash ("textual interpretation"), which was later divided into Mishnah ("repetitions") and Gemara ("the matter to be learned").
Testament: Loosely the equivalent of "covenant," but technically a testament does not require a two-way agreement, as it needs only the action of the testator with or without the assent of the heir (see Heb. 9:15-22).
Textual Criticism: Synonymous with "lower criticism" (see above).
Textus Receptus: The Greek text presumed to underlie the Authorized Version of 1611 (King James Version). This text is basically that of Erasmus and Stephen's third edition (1550). It was named the Received Text in the introduction of the Elzevir Brothers' second edition (1633). It is based on few early manuscripts and is opposed by Westcott, Hort, and all those who accept a "Critical Text" (see above).
Theopneustos: The English equivalent of this Greek word is "inspiration," which literally means "God-breathed" (see 2 Tim. 3:16).
Torah: The English transliteration of the Hebrew word for "law"; it often refers to the first five books of the Old Testament.
Translation: The rendering of a composition or piece of literature from one language to another, as contrasted with a version, which is a translation from the original language of a manuscript into another language.
Transliteration: A letter-for-letter transposition of a word from one language to another.
Transmission: The process by which the biblical manuscripts have been copied and recopied down through the ages; it deals with the history of the text from the autographs to the present printed Hebrew and Greek Testaments.
Uncial Manuscript (Or Majuscule): Literally, "inch high," referring to a manuscript written in formally printed large letters similar in size to capital letters.
Vellum: A fine quality writing material in ancient times, usually prepared from calf or antelope skin.
Verbal Inspiration: The doctrine holding that the very words of the Bible are vested with divine authority and not merely the thoughts or ideas.
Version: A literary composition that has been translated from its original language into another tongue.
Vulgate: Literally, "common" or "usual"; generally the designation for the Latin translation of the Bible made by Jerome in the fourth century a.d.
Zugoth: Literally, "pairs" of textual scholars who worked during the second and first centuries b.c. They were succeeded by the Tannaim (see above).

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