bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
W
yclif (
W
ycliffe),
J
ohn (
d
. 1384)
Authors: Hill Bracy V.
Published: January 2012

English secular priest, philosopher, theologian, and reformer. Possibly born in late 1320s to a modest gentry family in Richmondshire (Yorkshire), Wyclif may have been ordained a priest by 1351. He was a Fellow at Merton College by 1356 and Master of Balliol (c.1360–1361). He resigned this position to accept a Balliol living, rector of Fillingham (Lincolnshire) from 1361–1368. Sub‐sequently he held the rectory at Ludgershall (Buckinghamshire) and prebendary of Aust in Westbury‐on‐Trym. Made Warden of Canterbury Hall (1365–1367) by Archbishop Islip, Wyclif was replaced with a monk by Benedictine Archbishop Langham. Wyclif's hostility toward monasticism, especially mendicants, frequently is tied to this event. Wyclif likely resided at Queen's College from 1363 to 1381, and was incepted as Master of Theology between 1371 and 1373. He was made rector of Lutterworth (Leicestershire) in April 1374 which he held till his death of a stroke.
X
avier,
S
aint
F
rancis (1506–1552)
Authors: Wilson Douglas K.
Published: January 2012

Francisco de Jassu y Xavier pursued a university education in Paris, where he met Ignatius Loyola, through whose influence, he confessed his faith in Christ in 1533. Xavier was familiar with, if not influenced by, the teachings of Martin Luther, whose disciples sought to effect change in the Catholic universities throughout Europe. A small group of men joined Xavier and Ignatius to form the original Society of Jesus. Xavier was ordained in 1537 in Venice, where his activities among the indigent and infirm were famous. The remaining 15 years of his life were given over to missionary service as a Jesuit priest.
YMCA
/
YWCA
Authors: Braun Mark
Published: January 2012

The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) is a worldwide, largely nonsectarian social movement that places special emphasis on community development and service to young people.
Z
wemer,
S
amuel (1867–1952)
Authors: Cate Patrick O.
Published: January 2012

In 1884 when Robert Wilder visited Hope College in Holland, Michigan, representing the Student Volunteer Movement, Samuel Zwemer said “yes” to the invitation for missions. While studying at New Brunswick Seminary, Zwemer along with a few friends founded the Arabian Mission. After studying Arabic in Beirut in 1890, he settled in Basrah in Iraq (1891–1896).
Z
wingli,
U
lrich (1484–1531)
Authors: Schirrmacher Thomas
Published: January 2012

Ulrich (or Huldrych) Zwingli was the first great leader of the Swiss Reformation and a senior pastor of the church of Zurich. A priest from 1506, Zwingli was influenced by scholasticism and humanism, especially by Erasmus, whom he knew personally. In 1519 he became the people's priest at the Great Minster in Zurich and decided to reform the church according to the principle of
sola scriptura
. Zurich was the first city to introduce the Reformation successfully, in 1522–1523, and Zwingli thus became the unquestioned leader of the early years of the Swiss Reformation.
Apostolic Fathers
Authors: Scholer David M.
Published: January 2012

The Apostolic Fathers are an arbitrary collection of mostly early 2nd century Christian writings, disparate in authorship, location, and genre. The term “Apostolic Fathers” was coined in 1672 by J.‐B. Cotelier and has over the years referred to a collection of documents that have varied in content. By 1700 the basic collection was in place. In 1765 the
Epistle to Diognetus
, the fragments of Papias, and the fragments of Quadratus were added. When the
Didache
was discovered in 1873 (published in 1883), it was added.
Heresies
Authors: Oderberg David S.
Published: January 2012

The term “heresy” refers, loosely speaking, to the willful doubt or denial of a divinely revealed truth, or dogma, of the Christian faith. It is to be distinguished from schism, which is separation from the church through refusal to submit to its authority, and apostasy, which is the complete abandonment of Christianity. The term, and the concept behind it, is now found almost exclusively in Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox religion. In some of the stricter Protestant denominations, including the more conservative wing of Anglicanism/Episcopalianism, heresy is sometimes mentioned, but on the whole the idea of heresy has virtually disappeared from use among Christians. Even contemporary people, whether lay or clerical, who profess themselves to be Catholics rarely if ever speak of heresy. This says more about the present state of Christianity than about the supposed lack of importance of the concept itself, which is firmly embedded in Christianity from the time of Christ himself and continues to play a central role in serious theology.
Aesthetics, Pentecostals and
Authors: Rybarczyk Edmund J.
Published: January 2012

The Pentecostal worldview is an amalgam of pragmatism, a rather literal biblical hermeneutic, anti‐traditionalism, and an impulse toward apostolic restorationism. Each of these features has contributed toward a Pentecostal aesthetic. Most early 20th century Pentecostal congregations were comprised of people from the lower and middle classes. This meant that their financial resources were limited to pragmatic concerns (e.g. supporting the minister, paying the church mortgage, funding missionaries), so that things like art and architecture were barely on the horizon of their thinking. Biblical literalism led them to believe that aesthetics and art were secondary concerns at best. After all, the New Testament does not immediately testify to any early Christian aesthetic. And for its part, the Old Testament prohibitions of idolatry apparently precluded any serious aesthetic reflection; this characteristic the Pentecostals share with other low‐church, free‐church Protestants.
Catherine ofGenoa (1447–1510)
Authors: Scheper George L.
Published: January 2012

Catherine of Genoa (Caterina Fieschi Adorno) occupies an unusual place in the annals of spirituality. At first glance Catherine appears a conventionally Catholic saint in the context of late medieval Ligurian culture, a holy woman who spent her entire adult life serving the ill and the poor in the name of Christ, practicing lifelong ascetic self‐denial, and expressing as her only worldly desire the daily reception of holy communion. The fervor of her longing to annihilate her own will and to realize in herself nothing but the will of God has led scholars such as Friedrich von Hügel and Evelyn Underhill to place Catherine in the foremost ranks of Christian mysticism.
Dionysius of
Z
akynthos (1547–1622)
Authors: Benisis Marios
Published: January 2012

The Greek Dionysius of Zakynthos (born Draganigos Sigouros) was declared a Saint of the Orthodox Church by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1703.
Divine Office
Authors: Kurian George Thomas
Published: January 2012

In Christian liturgy, the daily cycle of prayer, known collectively as the Liturgy of the Hours or the Divine Office. Early Christians developed a pattern of praying at set hours of the day, using fixed psalmody appropriate to the canonical hours and also ceremonial offering of light and incense. Monastic communities celebrated the canonical hours in a more austere fashion, with continuous recitation of the psalter, as established by the Rule of St. Benedict. The Spanish pilgrim Egeria who visited Jerusalem around 500 has left a description of the daily Divine Office in both church and monastery.
H
erman of
A
laska (1756–1837)
Authors: Gallagher Robert L.
Published: January 2012

For 43 years Herman faithfully served the Alaskan natives, instructing the native Koniag Eskimos and the transplanted Aleuts in the basics of the Christian faith and how to improve their lives through agriculture and simple crafts. The Russian monk aligned himself from the beginning with the Alaskan native peoples, employing the mission strategy of the Orthodox Church in establishing Christian communities among shamanistic tribes more by example than preaching. The goal was to establish a self‐governing American Church in Alaska respecting and using the native languages and creative arts and enjoying administrative independence within the community of the Orthodox churches.
I
lminski,
N
icholas (1822–1891)
Authors: Gallagher Robert L.
Published: January 2012

Nicholas Ilminski was a Russian Orthodox missionary and linguist who graduated from the Kazan Ecclesiastical Academy in 1846 and became its professor in Tatar and Arabic. Sent by the church, he traveled to Damascus, Constantinople, and Cairo to master the Turkish, Arabic, and Persian languages. He eventually became an expert in the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Tatar, Mordvin, Chuvash, Cheremis, Kirghiz, Altai, and Yakut languages, as well as many other languages and dialects. Although he remained an academic and educator throughout his life, he was instrumental in helping the missionary cause through his linguistic abilities.
F
igourovsky,
I
nnocent (1863–1931)
Authors: Gallagher Robert L.
Published: January 2012

Innocent Figourovsky was a Russian Orthodox missionary to Beijing (Peking), China, who administered the mission for 33 years. Leaving Russia in 1897, Archimandrite Figourovsky found the Russian Orthodox missions in China with no more than 500 baptized members. Six previous mission expeditions had ministered mainly to expatriate Russian merchants engaged in the tea trade and guards of the Imperial Palace (descendents of the 45 Russian prisoners taken in 1685 at Albazin), focusing on diplomatic, scholastic, and publishing activities. The reasons for the lack of evangelistic and educational progress were the insufficient financial support from the Russian government to preach in places beyond the capital, the discouragement of that government toward any effort to convert the Chinese population, and the missionaries arriving without any knowledge of the Chinese language and culture.
M
cClendon,
J
ames
W
illiam,
Jr
. (1924–2000)
Authors: Ashford Bruce Riley
Published: January 2012

Baptist theologian, author, pastor (born March 6, 1924 in Shreveport, LA, died October 30, 2000 in Altadena, CA), McClendon is one of the most widely known Baptist theologians of the latter half of the 20th century. He was a professor of theology at various institutions, including a 12 year tenure at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (GGBTS). He is well known for his Christian pacifism and for his close working relationship with other theologians such as John Howard Yoder and Stanley Hauerwas. He published several books, including a three‐volume
Systematic Theology
. Much of his writing has appeared in anthologies such as
Baptist Roots
and
Ties that Bind
.
Persecution (Modern Times)
Authors: Schirrmacher Thomas
Published: January 2012

Martyrdom and the persecution of Christians concerns not only the early church, but has constantly accompanied all branches of Christianity throughout its history. The history of the church is not only, but also, the history of her persecution. Of the twentieth century, Chuck Colson writes: “more Christians have been martyred for their faith in this century alone than in the previous nineteen centuries combined” (Colson 1997, xi).
Evil, Problem Of
Authors: Friesenhahn Jacob H.
Published: January 2012

The problem of evil is the logical problem posed by the reality of evil against Christian theism or against theism more generally. A person who poses the problem of evil (and other such challenges) against Christian theism is sometimes called an “atheologian,” one who engages in discourse concerning God in order to demonstrate God's nonexistence. A response to the problem of evil can be a “defense,” an argument for the logical compatibility of belief in God and acknowledgment of the presence of evil, or a “theodicy,” a “justification of God,” that provides possible reasons for why God allows evil. The term “theodicy” was coined by the philosopher G. W. Leibniz (1646–1716), one of the most significant figures in the field. One of the many ways in which the problem can be posed is to speak of the tension, if not contradiction, that exists among the following propositions: God is omnipotent; God is omnibenevolent; evil exists. Sometimes a statement of God's omniscience is added to this list. The argument of the atheologian takes up these three propositions, each arguably intrinsic to Christian theism, and makes the following type of argument: if God (as omnipotent) is fully able to eradicate evil, and if God (as omnibenevolent) is fully willing to eradicate evil, then evil ought to be eradicated, that is, ought not be present in our world — yet the world that we know seems full of evil. Therefore, God is either not omnipotent (somehow limited in power) or not omnibenevolent (less than fully willing of the good). The Christian seems faced with four unpalatable alternatives: (1) if God is willing to eliminate evil but cannot, then God is not omnipotent; (2) if God is able to eliminate evil but unwilling, then God is not omnibenevolent; (3) if God is both able and willing to eliminate evil, then evil ought to be eliminated — yet evil is still present in the world as we know it; and (4) if God is neither able nor willing to eliminate evil, then God seems neither omnipotent nor omnibenevolent — thus not really “God” at all. The Christian theist seems pressed to abandon God's omnipotence and/or omnibenevolence. The argument concerning the problem of evil in this basic form may go back to the Greek philosopher Epicurus (c.342–270bc) or one of his followers, such as the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius (c.100–55bc). The argument from evil is commonly regarded as the strongest of all the arguments that can be made against Christian faith and enjoys a prominent place in debates concerning Christian theology. The argument can be presented as a full, logical disproof of the Christian doctrine of God, or it can be presented (more modestly) as providing strong evidence against belief in the Christian God.
Riches and Christianity
Authors: Rhee Helen
Published: January 2012

The issue of riches and Christian faith is as ancient as the New Testament and reaches farther back to the Old Testament. As frequently noted, Jesus' teachings in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) demanded a kind of discipleship that barred any competing commitment to peoples or things other than himself, including money, property, and possessions. From the very beginnings of the Christian movement, how to deal with riches formed an important aspect of Christian discipleship and was thought to express “an essential articulation of our faith in God and of our love for our fellow humans” (Johnson 1981, 16). Christians claimed that the Christian attitude toward and use of wealth was a critical identity marker that distinguished Christians from non‐Christians. Regardless of how one theologized riches and poverty, Christians had to grapple with and respond to the “clear” call of the social (material) responsibilities of the gospel. This entry examines the ways in which Christians interpreted, applied, communicated, and struggled with what they thought they understood as the Christian principle and mandate regarding wealth. It first proceeds with Jewish and Greco‐Roman backgrounds of early Christian teachings on riches and mainly focuses on the New Testament teachings; it then treats the subsequent interpretations and applications of those teachings in a broad historical development.
S
tephan of
P
erm (1340–1396)
Authors: Gallagher Robert L.
Published: January 2012

Stephan's mission was to the Zyrian people of Perm, a nomadic Finnish tribe in the Ural Mountains, northwest of Siberia, Russia. He grew up in Veliki Ustyug in northwestern Siberia during the Mongol period. At 25 Stephan entered the monastery of St. Gregory of Nazianzus in Rostov to learn Greek and patristics and become a missionary to Siberia. Thirteen years later he left the monastery and traveled north to live among the Finno‐Ugric Zyrian tribes at Ust‐Vim.
Theology of the Heart
Authors: Atwood Craig D.
Published: January 2012

The French Catholic author Pierre Poiret coined the phrase “theology of the heart” in a 1690 work,La théologie du coeur, which enjoyed a wide circulation among German Protestants in the 18th century. Poiret drew upon a long history of Christian spirituality in formulating his notion of a theology of the heart, which is rooted in individual experience and nonrational modes of knowing. Advocates of “heart theology” find precedence in the Bible for the idea that the heart, rather than the head, is primary in matters of faith.
T
olkien,
J
ohn
R
onald
R
euel (1892–1973)
Authors: Imbert Yannick
Published: January 2012

English. Born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on January 3, 1892, of Arthur Tolkien, a bank clerk, and Mabel Suffield. He was an Oxford professor of Anglo‐Saxon from 1925 to 1945, and Merton Professor of English Language and Literature from 1945 until his retirement in 1959.
Anaphora
Authors: Kurian George Thomas
Published: January 2012

Etymologically, anaphora means an announcement or an offering lifted up. In Christian liturgics, its sense is established by Hebrews 13:15 and 1 Peter 2:5 as a religious sacrifice. In Eucharistic theology, it connotes the act of offering the Eucharist, the formulary used in the act, the material offered, the priestly prayer during the act, and the liturgical veil covering the species. It may also be used to designate the part of the Eucharist from the kiss of peace to the Communion or the final doxology.
Communion of Saints
Authors: Kurian George Thomas
Published: January 2012

Communion of the Saints is the literal translation of the Latin phrase
communio sanctorum
.
Communio
is a translation of the Greek term
koinonia
, an intimate participation or sharing or bonding, while
sanctorum
refers to the spirit of holiness or holy persons and things. Christianity is a religion of relationships which involves bonding or rebonding, first with God and Jesus Christ through baptism and the Eucharist, then vertically with fellow believers of all times and places through love and compassion or charity. The bonding agent is the Holy Spirit which not only unites the believer with the past and the present in time but also with heaven and earth in space.
Divinization Or Deification
Authors: Kurian George Thomas
Published: January 2012

The doctrine of divinization appears in 2 Peter 1:4: “So that through these you might become partakers in the divine nature.” It has become one of the central theses of Byzantine Orthodoxy that through faith in Jesus Christ human existence is sublimated and transmuted so that it becomes a mirror image of the divine. For the Greek Fathers Christ is the paradigm of humanity deified, summarized in the dictum: God became human that we might become divine. Christians participate in Christ's divinity, and thus attain a more authentic humanity. This participation called methexis is a gift of grace. Divinization is both Eucharistic as well as personal and operates effectively on both levels.
N
orris,
J
ohn
F
ranklyn (1877–1952)
Authors: Hopkins Jerry B.
Published: January 2012

John Franklyn Norris was born to Warner and Mary (nee Davis) Norris on September 18, 1877, at Dadeville, Alabama. In 1881 his family moved to Hubbard, Hill County, Texas. Upon finishing secondary school, Norris entered Baylor University in 1898 and finished his degree in 1902. He continued his education in 1902, attending Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, finishing a master of theology degree in 1905. In that same year Norris moved back to Texas where he became the pastor of the McKinney Avenue Baptist Church in Dallas. He resigned from McKinney Avenue in 1907 when he became editor of the
Baptist Standard
. From 1907 to 1909 Norris was instrumental in bringing the Texas Baptist newspaper war to a conclusion. Norrris also helped abolish racetrack gambling in Texas. In 1909 Norris sold his financial interest in the
Baptist Standard
to a group of influential Baptists, including George W. Truett. Also in 1909 he accepted the pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Fort Worth where his tenure as pastor extended from 1909 to his death in 1952.
Rules, Monastic
Authors: Kurian George Thomas
Published: January 2012

The rule is the constitutional document of a religious order. In the early days, monks did not have written rules. They looked to great monks as their models. Athanasius'
Life of Anthony
served as the template for a monastic life, although it did not have a set of rules, obedience to which was mandatory. Coenobite communities imposed conditions regarding the times and duration of prayer, ascesis, meditation, or contemplation, and labor, so that they would be exercised in harmony; episcopal authority intervened only in certain situations in the form of a tacit
nihil obstat
. Pachomius'
Precepts
were intended to preserve the traditions of the primitive church and monastery and, through Jerome's translation, they exercised great influence both in the West and East. In Cappadocia, an ascetic movement had to be content with a court episcopate. But Basil was able to mediate a
via media
through his
Moral Rules
drawn from the New Testament. A commentary on these Rules, the
Asceticon
, answered specific questions regarding monastic conduct. All these documents were translated into Latin and formed the ground‐work for two of the most famous Rules in the West, the
Institutes
of John Cassian and the
Instituta
of Rufinus (a translation of the
Regula
of Benedict).
P
rudentius,
A
urelius
C
lemens (348–405)
Authors: Kurian George Thomas
Published: January 2012

The greatest of the Christian Latin Poets. He began his career in the time of Emperor Theodosius as a lawyer, and went on to become provincial governor and private adviser to the emperor. After his retirement, his Christian faith led him to asceticism and to poetry. His poetry became a spiritual exercise in praise of God and in service to the church.
S
abas (439–532)
Authors: Kurian George Thomas
Published: January 2012

Founder of the Great Laura in Palestine. Born in Cappadocia, he left for Palestine at the age of 17. At Jerusalem he decided to settle in the nearby desert, first in the monasteries of Passario and Euthymius and later at Theoctistus where he remained until 473. After five years of eremitical life, he settled in a cave on the left bank of Cedron. This was the beginning of the monastic settlement known as the Great Laura which became the largest in Palestine. Despite the support of the patriarchs of Jerusalem, he was exiled. He then founded a second monastery at Gedara, east of Lake Tiberias. Before long the Patriarch Elias ordered him back to the Great Laura which had grown to become the central hub of all monasteries in the region. The Great Laura actively supported orthodoxy at the time of the Origenist and Monophysite controversies. In 530, following a bloody revolt by the Samaritans, Sabas traveled to Constantinople to plead the Christian cause before Emperor Justinian. The Great Laura survived until the 9th century when it was extinguished by the Arabs. During that period it produced great monks famous for their literary activity, including John of Damascus, Cosmas Melodus, Stephen Melodus, Stephen the Thaumaturge, Michael Syncellus, Theodore Graptos, and Theodore of Edessa.
Schools and Schooling
Authors: Kurian George Thomas
Published: January 2012

Even after Constantine legitimized Christianity in 313 (by the Edict of Milan), it did not introduce any new forms or subjects of teaching or contents different from the subjects taught in pre‐Christian schools. Pagan and Christian boys (to a lesser extent girls) attended the same schools, learned the same subjects and had the same teachers. A good secular education was necessary for success as a civil servant. Religious education was left to the mothers.
Authority of the Believer
Authors: Kurian George Thomas
Published: January 2012

Christianity is not merely a faith in which the believer is a passive partner. It is an enabling and empowering religion in which power is transmitted to the believer constantly through the operation of the Holy Spirit, and in which the believer is conscripted into a struggle for which he or she is equipped with the proper ordnance and ammunition that is adequate to the assigned tasks. Ephesians 6:14–17 speaks of the “whole armor of God,” which includes the “breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit” as part of the accoutrement of a conscripted Christian.
Eternal Security
Authors: Kurian George Thomas
Published: January 2012

Also known as perseverance of the saints, eternal security defines the seal of divine protection of the believer after regeneration. Perseverance of the saints is the last of the five tenets of Calvinism developed at the Synod of Dort, known by the acronym of TULIP: Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, and Perseverance of the saints. It answers the question: will the operation of divine grace in the life of a true believer, chosen of God, continue after rebirth and be brought to completion so that he can never fall away from grace and be denied eternal salvation? Calvinism answered this question in the positive and Arminianism in the negative.
Indigenous Churches
Authors: Kurian George Thomas
Published: January 2012

Christianity exists on several levels. First there is the universal church and the local church. Then there is the visible church and the invisible church. There is also the suffering church and the church triumphant, the folk church, and the confessing church. In the 21st century there is even an emerging church.
Josephus,Flavius (AD37–c.100)
Authors: McClister L. David
Published: January 2012

Josephus (Jewish name, Joseph ben Matthias) was a Jewish historian of the 1st centuryad, of Hasmonean and priestly descent, who grew up in Palestine. During his formative years, he investigated the Jewish sects and finally decided upon membership with the Pharisees. At the age of 26, he participated in a delegation to Rome to petition for the release of some Jewish priests whom the Judean procurator Felix had sent for trial there. The First Jewish War erupted shortly after his return to Palestine, and the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem dispatched Josephus to oversee the defense of Galilee, where he was opposed by rivals, especially Justus of Tiberias and John of Gischala. Josephus came into Roman hands when the town he was defending, Jotapata, fell to Vespasian inad67. Once in Roman custody, Josephus predicted that both Vespasian and Titus would become emperors and thus won their favor. He accompanied the Roman forces to Jerusalem where he witnessed the fall of the city inad70, and after that he was taken to Rome, granted citizenship, and wrote several literary works. His Roman name, Flavius Josephus, reflects the acquisition of his citizenship from the Flavian house. Virtually nothing is known of his life in Rome.
Theology of Religions
Authors: Pardigon Flavien
Published: January 2012

The Christian faith was born and took its baby steps in a world of extreme religious pluralism. It was forced to define its identity and role in relation to many other religious claims under the threat of persecution and martyrdom. This issue became virtually dormant during the historical period of “Christendom,” except for the challenges that Islam and the Reformation posed. However, since the second part of the 19th century it has increasingly regained strength and urgency thanks to the resurgence of foreign missions and the age of worldwide empires.
Worship, Services and Settings
Authors: Kurian George Thomas
Published: January 2012

There are basically four elements of Christian worship: (1) baptism; (2) scripture reading and preaching; (3) Mass or Eucharist; and (4) rites of passage ceremonies, such as confirmation, marriage, and funerals. Each of these services is governed by its own ceremony and liturgy, and each is regulated by ancient tradition as well as modern needs.
False Doctrines
Authors: Kurian George Thomas
Published: January 2012

Christianity is a confessional religion in which belief, rather than praxis, is the defining element. It is thus vulnerable to corruption through wrong beliefs, teachings, and interpretations of its core message. Even during the first decades after Calvary Christianity had to contend with wrong teachings that contradicted the central message of the gospel and the centrality and divinity of Christ. St. John the Divine, writing in the Book of Revelation, condemns a host of heretics by name and so does St. Paul in his Epistles. Even before the close of the Age of Apostles, the church was confronted with the need to protect its beliefs against distortion by those who, from whatever motive, tried to subvert them. When Paul uses the word
hairesis
in I Corinthians to refer to heresy, he is not referring to a different school of thought but rather to pernicious belief systems that if left unchecked could strangle true faith. In fact, many church fathers used the metaphor of a cancer in referring to heresy. Epiphanius, the 4th century churchman, titled his catalog of heresies
The Medicine Box
, first describing each heresy like a disease and then “treating” it with arguments and verses from the Bible and the church fathers. The church had to devise means of defusing these dangers by both spiritual and physical means. For the first three centuries, as a persecuted church, Christians could not employ any physical means, but only the power of persuasion. The church also could employ its magisterium, the teaching authority vested in its bishops and popes, to warn, confute, and anathematize heretics.
Women and Theology
Authors: Kurian George Thomas
Published: January 2012

Feminism is a secular movement, not a religious one; nevertheless, it has spilled over into Christianity and has gained considerable significance in Christian thinking. The movement is founded on a series of agendas trying to correct historical gender‐based inequities. Christian feminists have developed a theology of their own in which the scriptures and church traditions are reinterpreted in the context of historical male dominance and bias. Christian feminist theology rests on a three‐fold analysis: 1. Women were excluded from ordained ministry in traditional churches and given a subordinate role in shaping theological doctrines. 2. Christianity has confirmed, rather than weakened, traditional patriarchal social structures, especially marriage. Women, in other words, are the train cars rather than the engines in social evolution and their biological frailties have been exploited to consign them to a permanent subordinate status while their biological strengths have been harnessed to benefit patriarchy. 3. The vocabulary of the church and the Bible is androcentric, making theology a male preserve and God himself a father figure, despite the fact that the majority of believers have been and are women.
S
tein,
E
dith (1891–1942)
Authors: Oderberg David S.
Published: January 2012

Born in Breslau, Germany, the youngest of 11 children of a devout Jewish family, Edith Stein is one of the 20th century's most famous converts from Judaism to Catholicism, known as both a philosopher and a holy Carmelite nun who perished in Auschwitz.
American Baptist Charismatic Renewal Movement
Authors: Clark Gary Kenneth
Published: January 2012

The early 1960s saw what was regarded as the initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the historic American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA). Across the United States, pastors and congregations began receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit and manifesting the spiritual gifts. However, it was not until 1981 that the American Baptist Charismatic Fellowship (ABCF) was formed.
Nature, Early Christian Attitudes Toward
Authors: Foltz Bruce V.
Published: January 2012

Many Christian bodies are now active in encouraging “care for creation” as an important element of Christian faith (Oelschlager 1994; Scharper 1998; Bartholomew & Chryssavgis 2003). But does this amount to a continuation of, or rather a departure from, the doctrines and sensibilities of traditional Christianity? Earlier Christian attitudes toward nature have in recent decades come under sustained critical scrutiny, largely due to the influential arguments of Lynn White, Jr., a historian of medieval technology. White claimed that Christianity, especially in its dominant Western form — for he exempts the Byzantine East — de‐sanctified the natural world, made humanity think that it did not really belong within the natural order at all, and took much too literally the charge to humanity in Genesis (1:28) to “subdue” and “have dominion over” creation, all of these leading to destructive technologies with little sense of nature's rootedness in a sacred order. White's precursor in this indictment is the 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who claimed that Christianity, particularly in its medieval form, advanced a purportedly Platonistic devaluation of the visible and earthly, thereby standing guilty of not being “true to the earth.” These charges have been somewhat uncritically incorporated into many etiologies of environmental disorder, even though a more careful examination of how nature was actually viewed in Christian thought and sensibility suggests that these charges are somewhat tendentious, based largely on selective readings. It may indeed be questioned whether it was not Christian civilization, but rather its gradual dilution and dissolution leading to the Enlightenment's secular and mechanistic worldview, unparalleled in world civilization, that provided the foundation for environmental degradation.
I
saac the
S
yrian,
S
aint
Authors: Foltz Bruce V.
Published: January 2012

St. Isaac the Syrian, also known as Isaac of Nineveh (fl. c.680), was a monk and mystic, briefly a bishop, and the author of some of the Christian East's most profound and influential texts in ascetic spirituality. He was born in the region of what is now Qatar and Bahrain, then part of Persia and an important center for Christianity; he was tonsured as a monk, and eventually was made Bishop of Nineveh, present‐day Mosul, Iraq. After five months he abdicated his episcopacy for reasons that are now unclear, and withdrew to a solitary life in the mountains of Khuzistan, in southwest Iran. A 9th century source states that he lost his eyesight due to his arduous “reading and asceticism,” adding that “he entered deeply into the divine mysteries and composed books on the divine discipline of solitude” (1984: lxv). These books, composed in Syriac, perhaps originally dictated to his followers, are masterpieces in the literature of asceticism and mystical theology. The extant works are in two collections, the earlier‐known and longer one translated into English in 1923 by Wensinck, and again in 1984 by Miller, while the second was discovered only recently by Sebastian Brock at Oxford University's Bodleian Library, and translated by Brock in 1995.
Historical Jesus
Authors: Morgan Robert
Published: January 2012

The phrase “the historical Jesus” became current through the English title and the final chapter of Albert Schweitzer's 1906 history of life‐of‐Jesus research,The Quest of the Historical Jesus(1910; enlarged and corrected edition 2000). This analysis of mostly German reconstructions starts with “The Aims of Jesus and His Disciples,” a posthumous work of H. S. Reimarus (1694–1768) published by Lessing in 1778. Its importance lies not in its proposal that Christianity originated in a fraud by the disciples but in its claim that the spiritual, suffering, and risen Messiah projected by the Gospels conceals the very different historical reality of an enlightened teacher and failed political Messiah. That sharp contrast between the historical reality of Jesus and the churches' traditional interpretations of him was subsequently softened but remained the characteristic feature of the subsequent “quest.” The “historical Jesus” was assumed to be the real Jesus, more rational and true than the dogmatic or mythical constructions of Christian faith. This prejudice in favour of historical science over tradition, authority, religious imagination, and theological argument was reinforced by the ambiguity of the phrase itself, which can refer either to the now inaccessible 1st‐century reality of Jesus of Nazareth himself, or to modern historians' more or less successful attempts to reconstruct the outlines of his life and death. The latter gained unwarranted prestige from being mistakenly identified with the former rather than being seen as themselves constructions and interpretations more credible to a secular age but not necessarily more true to the larger reality of Jesus than orthodox Christian accounts. A clear example of the modern secular preference for history over religion was D. F. Strauss,The Christ of Faith and the Jesus of History(1865 ET 1977), an attack on Schleiermacher's Christology.
W
illiams,
C
harles (1886–1945)
Authors: Mahan David C.
Published: January 2012

Born Charles Walter Stansby Williams in London on September 20, 1886, Charles Williams spent his entire life as a city dweller. Not surprisingly, “the image of the city,” as the title of one of his essays renders it, would form one of many reference points for his unique blend of Christian theology and literature.
Appendix 11 Historical Statistics of the Christian Church
Authors: Johnson Todd M.
Published: January 2012

The following table presents a series of estimates for the number of Christians (in millions) in each continent (as currently defined by the United Nations) for 100 year increments beginning in
ad
33 (the traditional date of the founding of the Christian church). The estimates for Christians are built on three sets of human population data. For the years 33 to 1900, population figures are derived from C. McEvedy and R. Jones,
Atlas of World Population History
(New York: Facts on File, 1978). For the year 2000, population figures are from the United Nations Demographic Database (2004 Revision). Finally, for 2100 and 2200, the projections are from the United Nations'
Long‐Range World Population Projections: Two Centuries of Population Growth, 1950–2150
(1998).
Tongues in Pentecostal Experience
Authors: Lamp Jeffrey S.
Published: January 2012

A theological designation for the phenomenon of speaking in unknown tongues, derived from the Greek words
glōssa
(“tongue, language”) and
lalein
(“to speak”), is
glossolalia
. Though the term itself is never found in the New Testament, the formula
glōssais lalein
, “to speak in/with tongues,” is found frequently. Particularly described in Acts and 1 Corinthians,
glossolalia
is a form of unknown, often unintelligible, ecstatic speech induced by the Holy Spirit that frequently is accompanied by a Spirit‐given ability to understand the utterance (Acts 2) or to interpret it for the benefit of others (1 Cor. 12, 14). It is frequently asserted that the
glossolalia
described in the New Testament has parallels in Greek (e.g. Oracle at Delphi) and various Mystery religions. However, the most direct precursor to the New Testament practice appears to be the Old Testament phenomenon of ecstatic prophetic utterance, often found in connection with emotional experience, dreams and visions, and broken and halting speech.
Youth Ministry
Authors: Lamport Mark A.
Published: January 2012

Youth ministry is the church's attempt to socialize adolescents into the faith community through culturally relevant measures of encountering Christian teaching and worship. Based on sociologically based, market‐niche principles, the church, along with newly conceived para‐church youth ministry organizations, launched numerous adolescent age‐focused initiatives, primarily a reflection of American middle‐class values, during the mid 20th century. These strategies have gained momentum and refinement through the intervening years.
Protoevangelium
Authors: Estes Douglas
Published: January 2012

The
protoevangelium
, literally “first gospel” from the original language, is a moniker for the divine utterance in Genesis 3:15 spoken to the serpent in the Garden of Eden. As the first words from God after the fall of humanity, the
protoevangelium
warns the serpent that God will cause a war between the serpent (Satan) and the woman (Eve), and more specifically, between each of their seeds (offspring) (Jn. 8:44; Heb. 2:14; Rev. 12). This war will result in the seed of the woman achieving a lethal blow (to the head) against the serpent (Rom. 16:20), even while the serpent will knock down but not kill the seed of the woman (Isa. 53:3–5; Jn. 12:31–33). The
protoevangelium
is one statement embedded within a triad of divine curses to the serpent, to Eve, and to Adam.
Enhancement of the Li Conductivity in LiF by Introducing Glass/Crystal Interfaces
Authors: Li Chilin , Gu Lin , Maier Joachim
Published: January 2012

For a variety of purposes, solid electrolytes with high ionic conductivity are believed to be an alternative to widely used liquid electrolytes. Most of them are developed based on the exploration of crystalline or amorphous structures. As a very rare example of the beneficial influence of glass/ceramic interfaces, we report the conductivity of LiF films on SiO2. The LiF thin films are surprisingly found to be structurally disordered on the silica (0001) surface, leading to a remarkable enhancement of the Li‐ion conductivity (6 × 10−6 S cm−1 at 50 °C, with an activation energy of 0.55 eV) of three orders of magnitude. The resulting conductivity is not exceedingly high, but is comparable with that of the current, best thin‐film solid electrolyte (Li(3 + x)PO(4 ‐ x)Nx). The conductivity is highest if a significant density of glass/ceramic interfaces is achieved and percolation of the interfaces guaranteed.
General Fabrication of Monolayer SnO2 Nanonets for High‐Performance Ultraviolet Photodetectors
Authors: Chen Hao , Hu Linfeng , Fang Xiaosheng , Wu Limin
Published: January 2012

A facile approach for the fabrication of monolayer SnO2 nanonet is presented using polymer colloid monolayer nanofilms from oil–water interface self‐assembly as sacrificial templates. The hole size of the nanonets can be adjusted easily by the mean diameter of polymer colloidal spheres. This method can be extended to the fabrication of a series of monolayer nanonets of semiconducting oxides such as TiO2, ZnO, and CeO2. Furthermore, the first photoresponse nanodevice based on monolayer SnO2 nanonet is fabricated. This device presents ultrahigh photocurrent and sensitivity, excellent stability, and reproducibility.
Sneaky Monkeys: An Audience Effect of Male Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta) on Sexual Behavior
Authors: OVERDUIN‐DE VRIES A.M. , MASSEN J.J.M. , SPRUIJT B.M. , STERCK E.H.M.
Published: January 2012

Males and females have different sexual interests and subsequently may show conflicting sexual strategies. While dominant males try to monopolize females, promiscuity benefits females and subordinate males. One way to escape monopolization by dominant males is to copulate in their absence. We tested this inhibitory effect of males on the sexual behavior of their group members in captive group‐living Rhesus macaques. Copulations between females and nonalpha males almost exclusively took place when the alpha male was out of sight. Furthermore, the inhibiting effect was not unique for the alpha male. An upcoming nonalpha male also inhibited copulations of its group members, and three other nonalpha males inhibited female copulation solicitations. Females adjusted their behavior to the presence of bystander males, as they initiated and accepted initiations more often in absence than in presence of bystander males. Although not significant, in males, a similar pattern was found. The observed reduction in mating behavior in presence of bystander males is in accordance with an “audience effect,” in which the behavior is modulated in relation to the presence or absence of third parties. This audience effect may serve as an important mechanism to reduce (aggressive) interruptions of subordinate male copulations.
Coevolution of Facial Expression and Social Tolerance in Macaques
Authors: DOBSON* SETH D.
Published: January 2012

The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that social tolerance drives the evolution of facial expression in macaques. Macaque species exhibit a range of social styles that reflect a continuum of social tolerance. Social interactions in more tolerant taxa tend to be less constrained by rank and kinship than in less‐tolerant macaques. I predicted that macaques that are more tolerant would exhibit a wider range of facial displays than less‐tolerant species because interactions that are open to negotiation are characterized by greater uncertainty than interactions that are constrained by rank or kinship. To test this hypothesis, I conducted a phylogenetically informed regression analysis (N = 11) using previously published data on repertoire size and two quantitative measures of social tolerance (conciliatory tendency and counter‐aggression). As predicted, macaques with more tolerant social styles tended to have larger repertoires than less‐tolerant species. These results support the hypothesis that increased social tolerance favors the elaboration of communication to mitigate uncertainty.
Hormonal Correlates of Paternal Care Differences in the Hylobatidae
Authors: RAFACZ MICHELLE L. , MARGULIS SUE , SANTYMIRE RACHEL M.
Published: January 2012

Only one of the 15 species of monogamous hylobatids, the siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus), demonstrates direct paternal care in the form of infant‐carrying, providing a unique model for examining hormonal correlates of paternal care differences between siamangs and gibbons. We used behavioral data and fecal hormone analysis to investigate (1) differences in monthly percent father–infant proximity in relation to monthly fecal androgen metabolite concentrations from infant birth to the late postpartum period between siamangs and gibbons, (2) the pattern of change in fecal androgen and fecal estrogen metabolite concentrations during the 8‐week peripartum period between siamangs and gibbons, and (3) the change in mean fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations at 1‐month postpartum from individual baseline between siamangs and gibbons. Father–infant proximity increased as androgen concentrations decreased over the postpartum period in siamangs but not in gibbons. Androgen concentrations increased around birth in siamangs during the 8‐week peripartum period, but exhibited a decreasing trend around birth in gibbons. Estrogen concentrations increased from pre‐ to postpartum in siamangs during the 8‐week peripartum period, but exhibited a decreasing trend from pre‐ to postpartum in gibbons. The difference in mean glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations from baseline was greater in siamangs than gibbons. Our data suggest a relationship between specific steroid hormone patterns and differences in paternal care among the hylobatids, warranting further investigation of such proximate mechanisms.