Reli 104 1st Edition Exam 1 Study Guide Lectures 1 12 Chapter 1 Apostle one who is commissioned to perform a task from a Greek word meaning sent in early Christianity term used to designate special emissaries of the faith who were understood to be representatives of Christ Canon form of Greek word meaning ruler designates any collection of texts canon of the NT thus collection of books Christians accept as authoritative Adoptionist second century Jewish Christians living in Palestine Maintained Jesus was a remarkable man more righteous in Jewish law than any other man chosen by god to be his son Jesus was adopted at his baptism sometimes called Ebionites maintained Jwish practices and Jewish forms of worship Jesus is empowered by Gods spirit to do miraculous things Jesus was not himself divine nothing more than a man adopted by god to be his son savior of the world To call Jesus god would be saying that there is two gods didn t have our NT and rejected Paul as heretic Believed that god chose Isreal and gave it his law Jesus and followers must continue to oby these laws Marcionite Christians scattered throughout Mediterranean form of Christianity advanced thru second century scholar Marcion claimed to uncover the teachings of Christianity in writings of Paul Maintained Paul was the Apostle and Christ was the only way of salvation believed that there were two separate gods god of Jews and God of Jesus Jesus came to save people from Jewish God Jesus wasn t actually born and didn t have real flesh and blood body he only seemed to be human Gnostics named b c of their claim that special gnosis Greek word for knowledge is necessary for salvation Located in major urban areas throughout much of the Mediterranean during the second and third centuries were wildly diverse with different groups believing radically different things Some agreed with Marcion that Jesus was totally divine and not at all human b c he represented a different God from the one who created this world Others claimed that Jesus consisted of two distinct beings the human Jesus and the Divine Christ they agreed with adoptionists that Jesus was the most righteous man on earth and that something special happened at his baptism but didn t think that God adopted him to be his son instead they maintained that his baptism was the moment at which the divine being the Christ came into the man Jesus empowering him for his healing and especially teaching ministry At the end of Jesus life immediately before his death the Christ then departed from him once again to return to heavan accepted existence of many gods Proto Orthodox Christians represent the forerunners of the group that became the dominant form of Christianity in later centuries When this group later acquired more converts than any of the others beginning of fourth century and stifled its opposition it claimed that its views had always been the majority position and that its rivals were and always had been heretics who willfully chose to reject the true belief can only use this term in retrospect since the adherents of this position didn t actually know that their views would become dominant nor did they think of themselves as forerunners of believers to come later just saw themselves as true Christians argued that Jesus was both divine and human he was one being instead of two and that he had taught his disciples the truth claimed that the apostles had written the teachings of Jesus down and that when interpreted in a straightforward and literal fashion the books that were passed form the apostles to their followers revealed the truth necessary for salvation attempted to counteract the claims of the groups that they opposed had to reject some documents that claimed to be written by apostles but that advanced beliefs contrary to their own Gospel of Peter Gospel of Philip Gospel of Thomas support Gnostic perspectives Gospels first four books of the NT term means good news Four Gospels proclaim the good news by telling stories about the life and death of Jesus his birth ministry miracles teaching last days crucifixion and resurrection Matthew Mark Luke JohnTwo were disciples Matthew and John and two were associates of famous apostles Mark the secretary of Peter and Luke the traveling companion of Paul Gentiles Jewish designation for a non Jew Epistles 21 books of the NT letters written by Christian leaders to various communities and individuals Apocalypse last book of NT is the book of Revelation the first surviving instance of a Christian apocalypse literary genre in which an author usually pseudonymous reports symbolic dreams or visions given or interpreted through an angelic mediator which reveal the heavenly mysteries that can make sense of earthly realities Apostolic Fathers those who rote noncanonical writings these were Christians living in the early second century whose writings were considered authoritative in some proto orthodox circles some of them on a par with the writings of the Gospels or Paul Some of our ancient manuscripts of the NT include writings of the Apostolic Fathers as if they belonged to the canon Manuscripts any handwritten copy of literature Nag Hammadi Town in Egyp where some peasants digging for fertilizer accidentally uncovered a jar containing thirteen fragmentary books in leather bindings The book scontain anthologies of literature some fifty two treatises altogether written in the ancient Egyptian language called Coptic Gnostic books Torah first five books of the Hebrew Bible most Jews subscribed to the special authority of this book Hebrew word that means guidance or direction but that is usually translated as law As a technical term it designates either the Law of God given to Moses or the first five books of the Jewish Bible that Moses was traditionally thought to have written Athanasius author of the New Testament list of 27 books powerful biship of Alexandria Egypt Some think that this pronouncement on his part and his accompanying proscription of heretical books led monks of a nearby monastery to hide the Gnostic wrtings discovered 1 600 years later in Nag Hammadi Canon form of Greek word meaning ruler or straight edge Term came to designate any recognized collection of texts the caon of the NT is thus the collection of books that Christians accept as authoritative Heretic Heresy any worldview or set of beliefs deemed by those in power to be deviant from a Greek word meaning choice Scribe Christian Highly educated experts in Jwish