Adam's Peak
Śrī Pada. Sacred mountain in Śri Lankā, at the top of which (a place of pilgrimage) a hollow shape is identified by adherents of the relevant religions as the footprint of Adam, the Buddha, Śiva, or ...
Andrew
Brother of Simon Peter (Mark 1: 16), with whom he was fishing when invited by Jesus to become a disciple. But John 1: 35–41 offers an alternative account; Andrew followed Jesus after hearing John the ...
Apostles' Creed
A statement of faith used in the W. Church. Like other early Creeds, it falls into three sections concerned with God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Its title is first found in a ...
Apostolic Age
A modern title for the first period in the history of the Church, falling approximately within the lifetime of the Apostles.
apostolic succession
A belief in Christianity that the authority of the ordained ministry, in word and sacrament, is protected by the continuous transmission of that authority through successive ordinations by those who ...
Ascension
In Christian belief, the ascent of Christ into heaven on the fortieth day after the Resurrection. Ascension Day is the Thursday 40 days after Easter, on which Christ's Ascension is celebrated in the ...
Athanasian Creed
A profession of faith which has been widely used in W. Christendom. It expounds the doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation, adding a list of the most important events in the Lord's life; it ...
authority
The power or right to persuade individuals or groups to obey precepts or recommendations. In the State, the coercive power of the government can ensure compliance, and when the Church was identified ...
Barnabas
(first century),apostle. A Jewish Cypriot and a Levite, Barnabas (the name means ‘son of consolation’) was an early Christian disciple but not one of the Twelve. He introduced Paul to the other ...
Bartholomew
One of the Twelve (Mark 3: 18; Acts 1: 13; not mentioned by John) whom later tradition identified with Nathanael (not mentioned by the synoptists), who was brought to Jesus by Philip (John 1: 45). ...
beloved disciple
The anonymous and idealized disciple in Jn. (e.g. 13: 23). He has often been identified with St John the Apostle, but others have been suggested.
Book of Concord
The collective name for the six founding documents of the Lutheran confession, consisting of the Formula of Concord (Formula Concordiae), the Augsburg confession of 1530 (Confessio Augustana), ...
Catholic
The word, meaning ‘general’ or ‘universal’, has come to have various uses in Christian terminology: (1) Of the universal Church as distinct from local Christian communities.(2) In the sense of ...
Christianity
The religion based on the person and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, or its beliefs and practices. It originated among the Jewish followers of Jesus of Nazareth, who believed that he was the promised ...
church
The word denotes both a church building and the Christian community, local or universal. The origins of the Church as a sect within 1st-cent. Judaism lie in the Lord's choice of twelve disciples ...
Church Fathers
Christian writers of the first eight centuries ce. The study of these writers is known as Patristics or Patrology.
Church government
No fixed order of ministry intended to be permanent is described in the NT any more than an agreed sacramental theology. Developments into Papal, Episcopalian (having bishops presiding over ...
communion of saints
Part of the 9th article of the Apostles' Creed. It is usually interpreted as the spiritual union existing between each Christian and Christ, and so between every Christian whether in Heaven, ...
confirmation
The Christian rite in which the Holy Spirit is conveyed in a renewed or fuller way to those who have already undergone baptism, derived from John 14. 15–21, and Acts ...
creed
A formal statement of Christian beliefs, especially the Apostles' Creed, the Athanasian Creed, or the Nicene Creed.
