The Bible as Literature – ENG 300a, WIC, Spring 2015
Please, verify all terms in this handout (used in class and/or in the course book till the
last day of lectures and discussions before the final examination). Use, e.g., Encyclopedia
Britannica, Funk & Wagnall's New Encyclopedia (=MS Encarta), Encyclopedia
Americana (=Grolier), American Heritage Dictionary 4th ed., Encyclopedia Catholica Online, etc. Use all links to widen your search – it is a fast and painless way to be briefly
introduced to the main terms, names, dates, and conceptions in any scholastic field.
NB: only bold + underlined terms (all of them – used in class lectures) will be used for
the final test (some terms appear twice – e.g., Holy Spirit + Spirit, Holy Spirit). The
minimal set of terms in any introduction to a scholastic/scientific field is up to 200 items.
All other terms are general and for your future reference (if you are interested at all in
Bible studies, history and essence of Biblical religions, human culture and arts based on
the sacred book of Judaism and Christianity…)
On the test: while choosing a term to identify, be sure to make your definition academic,
as objective as possible, and relevant to the course and its themes, goals, etc. Avoid all
generalities (e.g., identify "parable" as a literary/language term, and not as one used in
any other field of knowledge) and all emotions. Also, please make sure to identify not
more than 10 terms (since you study mathematics and statistical methods, you are
expected to understand the underlying reasons; if you do not understand, please, refer to
the syllabus for all explanations).
A.D. (meaning and explanation), C.E. (meaning and etymology)
Aaron
Abel, Cain
Abraham
Abrahamic religions
Acts (of the (Holy) Apostles)
Adam
Adultery (biblical sense)
Age to come, Coming Age
Alexander the Great (and his role in European culture)
Alexandria (also "school of")
Allegory, Allegorical sense
AUBG, Assoc. Prof. S. Ivanov
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Anagogy, Anagogical sense
Analysis, Synthesis
Angel
Anthropomorhism
Anthropopathism
Antioch (school of, etc.)
Antithesis
Antonym
Apocalypse/Revelation (as genre; as a book, and passages), Apocalyptic
Apocryph, -a (all meanings: general, “Protestant”, in and out of the Bible, etc.)
Apostasy
Apostle
Aramaic
Ascension
Athanasius of Alexandria, Festal letter, 367
Atonement, Day of Atonement
Auctor primarius (God), secundarius (man)
Authority (in Biblical literature)
AV, Authorized Version of the Bible, Synodal Bible (in Greek Orthodoxy)
Axiology
B.C. (meaning and explanation), B.C.E. (meaning and explanation)
Babel (Tower of)
Babylon, Babylonia, Babylonian
Baptism
Beatitudes
AUBG, Assoc. Prof. S. Ivanov
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Bede, Venerable
Bible (+etymology), Holy Writ, the Scripture, Holy Bible
Bible: Authorized, Canonical, Greek Orthodox, Roman-Catholic, Protestant,
Synodal,
Bible Societies, the
Bible Studies
Biblical Archeology
Biblical languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, Koine)
Biblical/Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) (+ explanation)
Biblical/Systematic/Historical theology
Bishop
Cain, Abel
Calvary, Golgotha
Canaan
Canon (of Scripture), Canonicity, Canonical, Canonization (principles of apostolicity,
orthodoxy, antiquity, usage, inspiration)
Catechism
Catholic epistles (in the NT)
Catholic (all meanings); Catholicism
Chapter/-s (in the Bible)
Christ (+etymology)
Christian, Christianity
Christmas (+the "NT Christmas story")
Christology
Chronicles
Circumcision
AUBG, Assoc. Prof. S. Ivanov
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Codex
Collossians (epistles to)
Concordance/Symphony (of the Bible)
Context
Coptic, Copts
Corinthians (epistles to)
Council of Trent (and its relevance to the structure of the European Bible)
Covenant, Covenant Code
Coverdale, Miles
Creation (+Creation story)
Creed (-s)
Criticism: form, historical, literary, redaction, source, social, textual, etc.
Crucifixion
Crucifix
Cuneiform
Damascus road, Road to Damascus (Paul’s vision and conversion)
Damasus, pope, 366-384
Daniel
David
Day of Christ (Parousia)
Day of the Lord (of YHWH)
Deacon
Dead Sea scrolls, Qumran
Death (in biblical literature)
Decalog (-gue), Ten Commandments
AUBG, Assoc. Prof. S. Ivanov
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Deluge, Flood
Demon
Deuterocanonical, Protocanonical
Deuteronomy, Deuteronomic (+D source)
Devil
Diaspora (Dispersion)
Doctor of the Church
Doctrine
Documentary hypothesis
Dogma, Dogmatics
Doom, Doom’s Day
Douai-Rheims (Douay-Reims) Version
Eastern (Greek) Orthodoxy
Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiasticus (ben-Sirah)
Ecumenical Council
Egyptian, Egypt (Biblical sense)
Election (Biblical sense)
Elohim
Elohist
Ephesians (epistle to)
Epistle (as genre; Hellenistic letter => in the NT)
Epistles of John
Eschatology
Eternal life, punishment (in the Bible)
AUBG, Assoc. Prof. S. Ivanov
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Ethics (biblical, religious)
Eusebius of Caesarea, 325
Evangel, Gospel (as genre), Good News
Eve
Evil (in the Bible)
Exegesis; Hermeneutic(-s); Interpretation
Exodus (Book of, and "Exodus experience")
Ezekiel
Faith
Fall, the
Fairytale
Father (of the Church), Patristic Literature
Fertile Crescent
Figure of speech, Trope
Flood, Deluge
Fourth Gospel (Gospel acc. to John)
Gabriel (archangel)
Galilee
Generation, Degeneration, Regeneration
Genesis
Geneva Bible
Genre (speech; sermon; homily; prayer; novella; chronicle; epistle; prophetic vision;
apocalypse; biography; gospel)
Gentile
Gloss
AUBG, Assoc. Prof. S. Ivanov
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Gnosis, Gnostic, Gnosticism
God (in OT, in NT, in general; academic use of the term - not a religious one)
Golden Calf
Golgotha, Calvary
Good News Bible
Gospel (as genre)
Gospels (acc. to Matthew, Marc, Luke, John)
Greece, Greek culture/history
Greek (Eastern Greek) Orthodoxy& its Bible
Heaven, heavenly (in the Bible)
Hebraism
Hebrew (all meanings)
Hebrews (epistle to)
Hellenic VS Hellenism, Hellenistic
Hermeneutics (-c), Hermeneutical principles; Exegesis; Interpretation
Heuristics
Hieroglyph
Historical narratives (in the Bible)
Historical setting (Sitz im Leben)
Holiness Code
Holy
Holy Spirit/Ghost
Homily
Hymn, Hymnody
Idolatry, idol
AUBG, Assoc. Prof. S. Ivanov
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Illumination (in manuscripts)
Image & Likeness
Immanuel
Immortality (in the Bible)
Incarnation (Biblical religious sense)
Initial (in manuscripts)
Inspiratio verbalis
Inspiration
Interpretation (in general; Biblical); Exegesis; Hermeneutic(-s)
Inter-Testamental
Irenaeus of Lyons, ca. 180
Isaac
Isaiah
Israel (ethnos/state/community)
Itala
Jacob, patriarch
James (brother of Jesus; epistle of), Jacob
JEPD "Documentary" hypothesis (Yahwist, Elohist, Priestly, Deuteronomist)
Jeremiah
Jerome of Stridon, St. (Sophronius Eusebius Hieronimus), ca. 340-420
Jerusalem
Jerusalem Bible
Jesus (+etymology)
Jew, Jewish
Job (Biblical personage; book of)
AUBG, Assoc. Prof. S. Ivanov
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John (the) Baptist or Forerunner
John (the) Theologian, his Gospel
John Wyclif (-ff, -ffe), 1382
Jordan River
Joseph, Jacob’s son; Father of Jesus
Josephus (historian)
Joshua
Judah (state; name)
Judaism (incl. "Rabbinical J.")
Judas (Iscariot)
Judgement, Day of Judgement
Judges (book of)
Kerygma
King James I, 1566-1625
KJV, King James Version, AV, 1611
Koine
Lamb
Last Supper
Latin (language)
Law (in the Bible), apodictic, casuistic
Lazarus
Lectio brevior potior; Lectio dificilior potior
Legend
Levites
Leviticus
AUBG, Assoc. Prof. S. Ivanov
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Life, Death (in biblical literature)
Lindisfarne Gospels
Literature (in general; specifically as related to our ENG course)
Liturgy (Divine L.), Mass (Holy M.)
Logos, Word of God, God the Word
Lord, YHWH (Tetragrammaton)
Lord’s Prayer (Our Father, Pater Noster)
Luke
Magnificat
Manuscript
Marcion, ca. 140
Mark (the Evangelist)
Mary, Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God/the Lord, Theotokos
Masoret(h), Masora
Mass (Holy M.), Liturgy (Divine L.)
Matthew
Membrana
Mesopotamia
Messiah, Gr. pronunc. of Mashiah, Gr. transl. Christ, Christ(os)
Messianic age, Kingdom of God, Heavenly Kingdom
Metaphor
Methods of practical interpretation
Midrash
Miles Coverdale, 1535
Miniature
AUBG, Assoc. Prof. S. Ivanov
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Miracle (in the Bible)
Monotheism, Polytheism, Henotheism, Pantheism
Morality (biblical, religious)
Mortality (in the Bible)
Mosaic Law
Moses
Mystical (spiritual) sense
Myth
Nazirite
Nero (emperor)
New KJV, 1982
New Testament
NIV (New International Version)
Noah
Noematics
NRSV (New Revised Standard Version), 1989
Number of books in the Bible (77, 66, 11, 24, 39, 27 with an explanation)
Numbers (book of)
Old Testament
Oral tradition (in general; biblical)
Original sin
Orthodox, Orthodoxy (Greek/Byzantine, Slavic, Eastern O.)
Palestine
Paper
Papyrus, papyri
AUBG, Assoc. Prof. S. Ivanov
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Para-Biblical Literature
Parable (as genre; Midrash)
Paradise
Paraphrase
Parchment
Passion narrative
Passover, Pesah, Pascha
Pastoral Epistles
Patriarch; Patriarchal society; Patriarchate
Patristic Literature, Father of the Church
Paul/Saul; Paulinism
Pauline epistles, Corpus Paulinum
Pentateuch
Pentecost
Peshitta
Peter (Cephas), Petrinism
Pharisees
Philo Judaeus (the Jew)
Poetry (in the Bible)
Pontius Pilate
Prayer
Priest (both in OT and NT times)
Priestly (source; tradition; Code; etc.)
Primordial sin
Prolog (-gue)
AUBG, Assoc. Prof. S. Ivanov
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Prophet, Prophesy, Prophetic Literature
Prophoristics
Protestantism
Protocanonical, Deuterocanonical
Protology
Psalm, Psalter
Ptolemy II Philadelphus
Punctuation (in the Hebrew Bible)
Q (Quelle) document
Qumran, Dead Sea scrolls, manuscripts, community of
Rabbi, Rabbinism, Rabbinical Judaism
Ramses II
Redemption
Repentance
Resurrection
Revelation, Apocalypse
Roman Catholicism, Roman-Catholic
Roman Empire
RSV (Revised Standard Version), by 1952
Rubric
Ruth
Sabbath, Shabbath
Sadducees
Salvation
Samaritans
AUBG, Assoc. Prof. S. Ivanov
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Samson
Sarah (wife of Abraham)
Satan, Ha-Shatan
Saul (Paul)
Scholium
Scripture, the Holy Writ
Second Coming (of Jesus), Advent
Semantics, Semantic
Semitic
Sensus accommodatus / improprius / proprius / realis / verbalis (litteralis)
Septuagint, LXX
Sermon
Sermon on the Mount
Shekinah
Simile
Sin
Sinai
Sodom
Sola Scriptura
Son of God & Son of Man (genuine meanings)
Song of Solomon (Song of Songs)
Source and Target Languages (in general, and specifically in Bible Studies)
Spirit, Holy Spirit
Style
Symbol
AUBG, Assoc. Prof. S. Ivanov
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Symphony/Concordance/ (of the Bible)
Synthesis, Analysis
Synedrion/Sanhedrin
Synod of Trent, 1545-1563
Synodal Version (Greek Orthodox)
Synonym
Synoptic Gospels, Synoptics
Talmud
Tanah, Tanak, Tanakh
Ten Commandments
Testament, Old, New Testaments
Tetraevangel, Tetramorph
Tetragrammaton, YHWH
Textology
Textus Receptus
Theodicy
Theology (biblical, systematic, liturgical)
Theotokos
Thessalonians (epistles to)
Toledoth (-t)
Tora, Torah, Torah Moshe
Tradition
Translation
Trinity, Most Holy Trinity
AUBG, Assoc. Prof. S. Ivanov
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Trope (metaphor; metonymy; synecdoche; hyperbole; allegory; parable; comparison
or simile; prototype or prefiguration)
Tropology, Tropological sense
Twelve, the (The Twelve Apostles)
Tyndale, William, 1525
Typology (in biblical literature)
Verse/-s (in the Bible)
Version (of the Bible) + two examples (minimum)
Vision
Vita, -ae
Vulgate
Wisdom (books of; personification)
Wisdom of Solomon
Wyclif, John (-ff, -ffe)
Yahweh, YHWH
Yahwist, J (tradition in JEPD)
YHWH, The Holy Tetragrammaton
Zechariah
Zion
AUBG, Assoc. Prof. S. Ivanov
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