Posted in A, tagged afterlife, agape, belief, bread, bread and wine, c. s. lewis, catholic, Christian, communion, Eucharist, feast, Greece, heaven, Holy Communion, jesus christ, life, love, religion, rome, sacrament, sacraments, soul, spirit, wine on April 25, 2008 | No Comments »
Agape In literary circles the Greek term agapē (Latin: caritas) refers to the ideal of universal love, particularly, charitable Christian love among brothers and sisters of the human family.
As C. S. Lewis suggests in The Four Loves (1960), this is distinct from matrimonial, emotional, passionate-erotic and friendly love.
For many Christians, agape also refers to the [...]
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Posted in A, tagged aggression, ahimsa, augustine, battle, buddhism, catholic, catholicism, christianity, conflict, confrontation, dharma, Gandhi, ghandi, harmony, hinduism, jainism, just war, non-violence, non-violent, peace, religion, violence, war on April 23, 2008 | No Comments »
Mahatma Ghandi
Originally uploaded by dbking
Ahimsa Mohandas Gandhi’s life exemplified this Jain ideal of non-violence.
Himsa means “harming.” The prefix a implies the opposite, “not-harming.”
Ahimsa is based on respect for all life. It’s believed that violence to the living merely harms self and others, binding the doer to undesirable future incarnations on Earth.
The ideal is central to [...]
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Anathema
Originally uploaded by hghwtr
Anathema A term with Greek roots meaning something lifted up as an offering to a deity or deities.
In Catholicism it came to mean a severe denunciation of some theological idea or practice and usually the complete separation of the culpable person or persons from the saving power of the Church.
Essentially, [...]
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Posted in A, tagged Apocrypha, Bible, catholic, Christian, greek, jewish, latin, orthodox, religion, scripture, spirit, spirituality on April 3, 2008 | No Comments »
Apocrypha This term has different meanings, according to the beliefs of those using it.
These meanings may be summed up as follows:
(a) Religious texts considered inauthentic by Protestant denominations but included in the Catholic and Greek Orthodox Bibles.
These extra books are found in ancient Greek and Latin versions of the Old Testament but not in the [...]
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Posted in A, tagged Apollinarius, catholic, christ, Christian, energy, heresy, humanity, matter, nature, religion, salvation, soul, spirit, teacher on April 3, 2008 | No Comments »
Apollinarius (310-390 CE) Early Christian teacher whose views on Christ were condemned as heresy.
He argued that Christ and God were one and that this doctrine should be taught.
For Apollinarius, Christ’s human spirit was replaced by the divine Logos. As such, Christ couldn’t morally develop during his life because he was already perfect.
This view denied Christ’s [...]
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Posted in A, tagged aquinas, Aristotle, belief, catholic, Christian, God, Italy, jesus christ, medieval, Philosophy, reason, religion, scholastics, schoolmen, St. Thomas Aquinas, theology on March 31, 2008 | No Comments »
Aquinas, St. Thomas (1225-74) Italian theologian born in his family’s castle near Aquino.
While in a Dominican monastery his family members were unwilling to accept his decision and abducted him, taking him prisoner for two years.
He fled to Germany where he taught in 1248 after studying under Albertus Magnus.
His theological work borrows heavily from Aristotle, recasting [...]
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Posted in A, tagged angels, Archangel, catholic, Christian, christianity, devil, exorcism, life, orthodox, religion, soul, spirit, Spiritual Warfare on March 28, 2008 | No Comments »
Archangel [Greek archos: ruler + angelos: messenger] The Catholic tradition outlines three archangels: Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.
In a Catholic exorcism prayer St. Michael and other spiritual powers are appealed to in order to expell the devil from an afflicted person.
The Catholic catechism does not place too much emphasis on angels, while affirming that they are servants [...]
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Posted in A, tagged arius, catholic, christianity, God, heresy, Jesus, jesus christ, religion, spirit, theology, trinity on March 25, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Arius (c.250-c.336) Libyan Christian theologian responsible for the heresy of Arianism.
Around 319 CE he created controversy by saying that Christ is ‘divinized’ but remains subordinate to God.
For Arius, God is absolutely transcendent and cannot be present in a human being.
Although he gained some support, Arius was excommunicated in 321 by a synod of bishops at [...]
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Posted in A, tagged assumption, catholic, virgin mary on March 23, 2008 | No Comments »
The Assumption (of the Virgin Mary).
This is the belief that Jesus Christ’s mother Mary was raised into heaven in both body and soul at the moment of her death.
The idea arose in 4th century apocryphal writings, was accepted by orthodox believers in the 7th century and was formally made Catholic dogma in 1950 by Pope [...]
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Posted in C, tagged catholic, christianity, religion on January 31, 2008 | No Comments »
Catholic (Greek: katholikos = universal) This term was initially applied to the Christian Church by St. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 100 CE) in a letter to the Church at Smyrna:
Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church.
The term became widely used to denote [...]
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