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Christianity and the Arts
[Doctrine & Theology]The relationship between the Christian faith and the arts, such as painting, music, architecture, and literature, together with the theological understanding of that relationship. In a narrower sense, works created for worship and devotion are sometimes called "Christian art."
Theology of the Cross
[Doctrine & Theology]The theology of the cross is a theological perspective holding that God reveals himself not in glory and power but in the suffering and weakness of the cross. Martin Luther set it forth in contrast to the "theology of glory."
Fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
[Bible]The fruit of the knowledge of good and evil is the fruit of the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil," which stood in the midst of the Garden of Eden. God commanded that it not be eaten, and Adam and Eve's eating of it is read in Scripture as the beginning of humanity's fall.
The Poor
[Bible]In the Bible, "the poor" refers to people who struggle to make a living and need protection. The Old Testament makes caring for them a duty of the covenant people, and the New Testament presents the proclamation of the gospel to them as a sign of the kingdom of God.
River of the Water of Life
[Bible]The river of the water of life is the river described in Revelation 22 as flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb and watering the New Jerusalem. Together with Ezekiel's vision in Ezekiel 47 of a river flowing from the temple, it is read as a symbol of the life that God gives.
Babylon the Great
[Bible]Babylon the Great is a symbolic city that appears in Revelation 14–18. It represents worldly power that opposes God and the judgment that falls upon that power.
Chapter and Verse Divisions of the Bible
[Bible]The chapter and verse divisions of the Bible are the system by which the biblical text is divided into numbered chapters and verses. They were not part of the original text. Chapter divisions were introduced in the early thirteenth century, and New Testament verse numbers in the mid-sixteenth century.
New Testament Quotations of the Old Testament
[Bible]The practice by which New Testament writers reproduce or borrow the words of the Old Testament to explain Jesus Christ and the church, and the passages in which they do so. These quotations are treated as a key resource for understanding the relationship between the Old and New Testaments.
Authorship of the Bible
[Bible]The authorship of the Bible concerns who wrote each of the books of Scripture. The Bible speaks both of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and of the writing of human authors, and denominations and scholars differ in how they understand the authorship and inspiration of each book.
Homosexuality and the Church
[Controversies]Homosexuality and the church concerns how churches should respond to homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and LGBTQ church members and clergy. In South Korea, most denominations hold the traditional position that homosexuality is sin, and the issue is closely intertwined with the debate over enacting an anti-discrimination law.
James (Brother of the Lord)
[People]James is a New Testament figure identified as "the Lord's brother" and was a leader of the early church in Jerusalem. Tradition holds that he wrote the Epistle of James.
James the Son of Alphaeus
[People]One of the twelve disciples of Jesus, distinguished from James the son of Zebedee by the addition of his father's name. He is traditionally also called "James the Less," although it is uncertain whether the two are the same person.
Simon the Cananaean
[People]Simon the Cananaean was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. In Luke and Acts he is called "Simon called Zelotes" (the Zealot), which distinguishes him from Peter, who bore the same name.
Calming the Storm
[Bible]Calming the Storm is the miracle in which Jesus, in a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee, rebuked the wind and the waves and made them still. It is recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
Darius the Mede
[People]Darius the Mede is the king who, according to the book of Daniel, received the kingdom after the death of the Babylonian king Belshazzar. He is known as the king who had Daniel cast into the lions' den. Because he is not attested in sources outside the Bible, his identity is the subject of several competing views.
Ananias the High Priest
[People]High priest in Jerusalem in the mid-first century. In Acts 23–24 he orders that Paul be struck on the mouth as Paul stands before the Sanhedrin, and he later brings charges against Paul before the governor at Caesarea.
Simon the Tanner
[People]Simon the tanner was a leather craftsman of Joppa mentioned in Acts 9–10. After raising Tabitha, Peter stayed for many days in Simon's house by the sea, and it was on its housetop, while praying, that Peter saw a vision.
Maximus the Confessor
[People]Maximus the Confessor (c. 580–662) was a seventh-century Eastern Roman monk and theologian. He is called "the Confessor" because he suffered torture and exile for defending dyothelitism, the doctrine that Christ has two wills, one according to his divinity and one according to his humanity.
Philip the Evangelist
[People]Philip the Evangelist appears in the Acts of the Apostles as one of "the seven" chosen in the early Jerusalem church. He preached the gospel in Samaria and baptized the Ethiopian eunuch. He is distinct from Philip the Apostle.
Simon the Leper
[People]Simon the Leper was a resident of Bethany in whose house Jesus was dining shortly before His Passion when a woman poured ointment on His head. He is mentioned by name only in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark.