Monday, 27 January 2014

Christian Creed, Heresy Keywords and Etymology

Christian Creed, Heresy Keywords and Etymology


1.     Ecumenical
·         Representing a number of different Christian churches.
·         Promoting or relating to unity among the world’s Christian churches.
               The word is derived from Greek οἰκουμένη (oikoumene), which means "the whole inhabited world", and was historically used with specific reference to the Roman Empire. The ecumenical vision comprises both the search for the visible unity of the Church (Ephesians 4:3) and the "whole inhabited earth" (Matthew 24.14) as the concern of all Christians.
2.     Heresy
·         Someone who actively chooses a different interpretations of faith than that which is proclaimed in the creed of the church
From the Latin word ‘haeresis’ meaning ‘’act of choosing’’
3.     Incarnation
·         The embodiment of God the son in the human flesh of Jesus Christ
Etymology
The noun incarnation derives from the ecclesiastical Latin verb incarno,[4] itself derived from the prefix in- and ''caro, "flesh", meaning "to make into flesh" or "to be made flesh".
4.     Modalism
·         The view that the Holy Trinity is like an Actor playing three different roles; this has the implications that when God was Jesus, he was not the father. The Godheads of the Trinity is made up of three different ‘’aspects’’ or ‘’modes’’ of a single God rather three distinct beings.

5.     Trinitarianism
·         The belief that God exists as three hypostases – The father, the son and the holy ghost but is still just one being with each of them having the one identical essence or nature, not merely similar natures.
6.     Universalism
·         The belief that all humans may or will be saved through Jesus Christ and will eventually come to harmony in Gods kingdom.

7.     Gnosticism
·        The view that God is fully transcendent, the world was created by a demiurge. Jesus was a messenger of God but not actually God, the holy spirit was inside Jesus but left his mortal body shortly before his death.
Gnosticism (from gnostikos, "learned", from Ancient Greek: γνῶσις gnōsis, knowledge)

8.     Homoiousios
·         Meaning ‘’Similar essence’’. Although essence can be interchanged with ‘’substance’’

9.     Homoousios
·        Meaning ‘’Same essence’’ again with essence being interchangeable with substance

10.                         Hypostases
·         A Greek term which translates into Latin as ‘’personae’’ or ‘’persons’’. Example: God is made up of the three Hypostases.
Comes from the Greek word hypostasis which means ‘’sediment’’. Hypostasis is the result of the words ‘’Hupo’’ which means under and ‘’Stasis’’ which means standing. 

11.                        Personae
·         A Latin word which translates to persons. Example God is made up of three personae.

12.                        Substantia
A Greek word than translates to the Latin word Ousia which means ‘’True being’’ or ‘’True essence’’.
13.                        Ousia
A Latin word which translates to ‘’True being’’ or ‘’True essence’’
Early Christians used Ousia in defining God as one genus of Ousia with three distinct hypostasis.
The generally agreed-upon meaning of ousia in Eastern Christianity is "all that subsists by itself and which has not its being in another’’ (i.e. necessary existence)  - in contrast to hypostasis, which is used to mean "reality" or "existence".[8]

Christian theologians began to use the greek term ‘’hypostases’’ which translated into latin as ‘’personae’’ or persons. They posited that God is three hypostases of one ousia 

No comments:

Post a Comment