The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (212 page)

stratum:
Lat. for “layer,” figuratively used for a succession of written sources incorporated into a given document

subapostolic period:
era subsequent to the apostolic era

substitutionary atonement:
blood sacrifice on behalf of another

Suetonius (c. AD 70—AD 130):
Roman historian and author of
Lives of the Twelve Caesars

Suffering Servant, the:
figure in the second part of Isaiah (esp. 52:13—53:12) identified as Jesus the Messiah by the NT writers (e.g., 1 Pet 2:21-25)

syllogism:
form of argument containing a major and a minor premise and a conclusion (e.g., Scripture is the Word of God; God does not err; Scripture is inerrant)

syncretism:
eclectic mix of religious beliefs and practices

Synoptic:
pertaining to Matthew, Mark, and Luke

Synoptic Gospels:
from Gk.
sunopsis
(lit. “seeing together”), technical designation for Matthew, Mark, and Luke because of their common viewpoint on Jesus' life

Synoptic parallels:
related passages in the Synoptic Gospels

Synoptic problem:
the nature of the relationship between the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, deemed by some a “problem” due to alleged discrepancies in chronology and wording

Synoptic tradition:
oral and/or written material underlying an account in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and/or Luke

Syria:
ancient Near Eastern region north of Israel (capital: Damascus)

Syriac language:
Aramaic language that spawned its own set of literature and version of the Bible

Syriac manuscripts:
copies of biblical texts written in the Syriac language (s.v.)

Tacitus (born c. AD 56; died after AD 118):
Roman historian and author of
The Annals
and
The Histories

Talmud:
compilation of Jewish writings in the Babylonian and Palestinian traditions

Tannaim:
from Aramaic
tanna
(“to repeat, learn”); masters of teaching transmitted by oral repetition

Tannaitic period (AD 70-200):
s.v. Tannaim

Targum (pl. Targums):
Aramaic paraphrase of and commentary on the Hebrew Scriptures

Tatian:
early church father and compiler of the synopsis of the Four Gospels called
The Diatessaron
(c. AD 150-160)

tax collectors:
local residents in NT times who collected revenues for the Roman authorities and thus were despised by their fellow citizens as traitors

temple cult:
religious rites and sacrifices offered in the Jerusalem sanctuary

temple, the:
usually, shorthand for the Jerusalem temple, originally built by Solomon

Tertullian (c. AD 160-225):
important early Christian apologist; author of
Against Marcion, Apology
, and
On Baptism

Terumah:
section of the Mishnah containing tithing regulations

testimonial
common OT messianic texts adduced by the early Christians to prove that Jesus was the Christ

Testimonium Flavianum:
disputed portion in
Jewish Antiquities
by the Jewish historian Josephus that refers to Jesus, at least part of which is believed to be a later Christian interpolation

tetragrammaton:
from Gk. meaning “four letters,” referring to the OT name for God, “YHWH” (likely pronounced “Yahweh” but in most translations represented as “Lord”)

tetrarch: “
ruler of a quarter,” title of governors such as Herod Antipas (s.v.)

text types:
the four major Gk. manuscript text types of the NT books are commonly classified as Alexandrian, Caesarean, Byzantine, and Western

textual criticism:
the science of adjudicating between variant manuscript readings through specific criteria such as dating, text type or geographic distribution, attested readings, and possible reasons for variants

textual witnesses:
readings attested in particular manuscripts

Textus Receptus:
Lat. for “received text,” a form of the Byzantine text type also attested in the Majority Text, which constituted the textual base for the translations by Wycliffe and Luther and for the KJV

Thallus:
historian who wrote in Greek and flourished during the first and/or second century AD

theodicy:
from Gk.
theos
(“God”) and
dikaios
(“righteous”); an attempt at justifying God's actions (e.g., see Job, Romans, and Revelation)

Theodore of Mopsuestia (c. AD 350—428):
Antiochene theologian and biblical exegete

Theodoret:
fifth-century AD Syrian bishop who played pivotal role in several Byzantine church controversies

Theodotion:
Hellenistic Jewish scholar (c. AD 200) who translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek, whether revising the Septuagint or directly from the Hebrew original

theophany:
from Gk.
theos
(“God”) and
phainō
(“appear”); an appearance of God to humans

Theophilus of Antioch:
patriarch of Antioch; author of
To Autolycus
(later second century AD)

Theophrastus (c. 371—286 BC):
Greek philosopher and associate and successor of Aristotle at the Lyceum, a school founded by Aristotle

Third Council of Carthage:
meeting of church leaders convened in AD 397

Thomas Aquinas:
thirteenth-century Dominican priest and Roman Catholic theologian; author of
Summa Theologica

Thucydides:
fifth-century BC Greek historian and author of
The History of the Peloponnesian War

Tiberius:
Roman emperor (AD 14-37)

Today's English Version (TEV):
s.v. Good News Bible

tongues:
the manifestation described at the occasion of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in Acts 2 and the spiritual gift mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12—14

Torah:
translation of Hebrew word for “doctrine” or “teaching”; broadly, the Jewish law encompassing both oral and written teachings; narrowly, the five books of Moses (the Pentateuch)

Tosefta:
from Aram,
tosefta
(“addition, supplement”); additional teaching supplementing the Mishnah

tractate:
treatise or essay, designating units in Jewish collections such as the Talmud

Trajan:
Roman emperor (AD 98-117)

transfiguration:
event at which Jesus' outward appearance was transformed in anticipation of his heavenly glory (see Matt 17:1—8 and parallels)

transmission:
the process of copying and preserving a text (Scripture)

treatise:
essay (s.v. tractate)

tribulation:
a period of great suffering and affliction in relation to the return of Christ

triumphal entry:
Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem and his popular acclaim as Messiah during Passion week (Palm Sunday; see Matt 21:1—11 and parallels)

Tübingen School:
nineteenth-century theological movement spawned by F. C. Baur (1792—1860) at the University of Tübingen, Germany, engaging in historical-critical research and questioning many of the traditional positions in biblical scholarship

Twelfth Benediction, the:
part of the liturgy of the
Shemoneh 'Esreh
, the chief prayer of Judaism consisting of 19 supplications, to which at some point a curse of heretics (Christians?) was added

Two-Document Hypothesis:
s.v. Two-Source Theory

Two-Gospel Hypothesis:
s.v. Griesbach Hypothesis

Two-Source Theory:
hypothesis that Matthew and Luke both independently used two written sources, Mark and “Q” (s.v.)

typology:
biblical pattern of correspondence along salvation-historical lines (e.g., John 3:14, where Jesus elaborated on the relationship between the serpent lifted up by Moses in the wilderness and Jesus being lifted up at the crucifixion, in both cases giving life to the one who looks in faith)

uncial:
ancient manuscript written in all capital letters without spaces or punctuation

universalism:
erroneous belief that all eventually will be saved

Vaticanus:
s.v. Codex Vaticanus

vaticinium ex eventu:
prophecy after the fact

vellum:
animal skins used for making parchment (s.v.)

verbal inspiration:
the divine nature of the very words of Scripture

Vergil or Virgil:
first-century BC classical Roman poet; author of
The Aeneid

Vespasian:
Roman emperor (AD 69-79)

Victorinus of Pettau (died c. AD 304):
church bishop and commentator

Vitellius:
Roman emperor for part of AD 68

Vulgate:
Jerome's fourth-century AD Lat. translation of the Bible

“we” passages:
portions of narrative in the book of Acts written in the first person plural, in all likelihood indicating that the author of Acts participated in the travels narrated in those portions of his account (Acts 16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1-28:16)

Western Church:
churches that gravitate(d) around Rome or broke away from it during the Reformation

Western manuscripts:
s.v. Western Church; contrast with Eastern manuscripts

Western text type:
distinctive family of manuscripts (e.g., the Codex Bezae for the Gospels and Acts) in contrast to the Alexandrian and Byzantine text types (s.v. entries there)

William Tyndale (c. 1494-1536):
published the first English NT based on the Greek text in 1526

works of the law:
ritual observance of OT legal requirements

Yahweh:
approximate transliteration from the Hebrew consonants
YHWH
(s.v. tetra-grammaton); OT name for God based on the divine self-reference in Exod 3:14 to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”

YHWH:
tetragrammaton (s.v.); Yahweh

Zion:
holy mountain in Jerusalem (e.g., 2 Sam 5:7; Ps 2:6; Isa 28:16)