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Byzantine Empire
[History]The Byzantine Empire is the name later given to the Eastern Roman Empire, which had Constantinople as its capital and endured until 1453. Early ecumenical councils were held there, and the Orthodox tradition developed within it.
Deaconess
[Church Offices]A deaconess is a woman church member who holds the office of deacon. Whether women may be ordained as deacons, and how church offices are structured, varies by denomination. In Korean Protestant churches, deaconesses usually serve as acting deacons appointed on a yearly basis.
Triduum
[Feasts & Seasons]The Triduum is a season of the church year that, from the evening of Maundy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday, commemorates as one continuous whole the Last Supper of Jesus Christ, his passion and death, his burial, and his resurrection.
Still Small Voice
[Bible]The "still small voice" is the quiet, faint sound that came to Elijah on Mount Horeb after the wind, the earthquake, and the fire had passed (1 Kings 19:12). The passage is often cited to illustrate the manner in which God reveals himself.
Judgment Seat of Christ
[Doctrine & Theology]The judgment seat of Christ is a New Testament expression for the place where people, and Christians in particular, have their lives evaluated before Christ. It is commonly discussed in connection with rewards.
Mosaic Authorship
[Doctrine & Theology]Mosaic authorship is the view that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. It is the traditional position of Judaism and Christianity and stands in contrast to the documentary hypothesis, which holds that the Pentateuch was compiled at a later date from several documents.
Writings (Hebrew Bible)
[Bible]The Writings are the third of the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), following the Law and the Prophets. Called Ketuvim ("things written") in Hebrew, the division comprises eleven books by Jewish reckoning, including Psalms, Job, and Proverbs.
Exorcism
[Worship & Rites]Exorcism is the prayer and rite performed to drive demons out of a person believed to be possessed by evil spirits. The term refers chiefly to the official rite of the Catholic Church; Protestants more commonly speak of deliverance or casting out demons.
Holy Saturday
[Feasts & Seasons]Holy Saturday is the Saturday of Holy Week, the day between Good Friday and Easter on which the church remembers that Jesus Christ lay in the tomb.
British Israelism
[Doctrine & Theology]British Israelism is the claim that the British and other Anglo-Saxon peoples are descendants of the "lost ten tribes" of the biblical northern kingdom of Israel. Mainstream theological and historical scholarship regards the claim as unfounded.
Land-Treading Prayer
[Christian Life]Land-treading prayer is a devotional practice in which believers walk through a particular area or building and pray for it on site. Practitioners ground it in passages such as Joshua 1:3. Among Korean Protestant churches it is used in preparation for evangelism and mission, but prayer conducted at the sites of other religions has also provoked public controversy in South Korea.
Revised Common Lectionary
[Worship & Rites]The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) is a table of Scripture readings that assigns the biblical texts to be read in worship on each Sunday and festival according to a three-year cycle. It was published in 1992 by an ecumenical consultation of North American denominations.
Table of Nations
[Bible]The Table of Nations is the genealogy in Genesis 10 of the peoples descended from Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. In a single list, it shows how humanity divided into many nations and languages and spread abroad after the Flood.
Institutes of the Christian Religion
[Doctrine & Theology]The Institutes of the Christian Religion is a systematic work of Protestant theology by the Reformer John Calvin. First published in 1536, it was revised several times before the final edition was completed in 1559. It is regarded as a foundational text of Reformed and Presbyterian theology.
Psalmody
[Worship & Rites]Psalmody refers to songs that take the Old Testament Psalms as their lyrics for congregational singing. The term chiefly designates the metrical psalm, in which a psalm is recast in regular meter and set to a tune, a form especially valued in the Reformed tradition.
Historical Criticism
[Doctrine & Theology]Historical criticism is a method of biblical interpretation that uses the tools of history and philology to study when, by whom, and under what historical circumstances the biblical texts were formed.
Free Will
[Doctrine & Theology]Free will is the capacity to think and choose for oneself without coercion. In Christian theology, denominations differ in particular over whether fallen human beings can turn to God by their own power.
Civil Disobedience
[Doctrine & Theology]Civil disobedience is the act of openly and nonviolently breaking a law or state order that one judges in conscience to be unjust, while accepting the resulting punishment. In Christianity it is treated as a question of what to do when obedience to the state conflicts with obedience to God.
Havruta
[Christian Life]Havruta is a method of study from the Jewish tradition in which two people pair up to study a text by questioning and debating each other. In Korean churches it is used mainly as a method for Bible study and church school education.
Celibacy
[Christian Life]Celibacy, or singleness, is the state of living unmarried. In Christianity the term can also refer to a life in which a person chooses not to marry in order to devote himself or herself to the service of God. Understandings and practices differ among denominations.