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Two Kingdoms Doctrine
[Doctrine & Theology]The two kingdoms doctrine is a Protestant teaching that God governs the world in two ways: through a spiritual government, in which he rules faith by his Word, and through a temporal government, in which the state and the law preserve social order.
Lemuel
[People]Lemuel is a king named in Proverbs 31 who passed on the instruction he received from his mother. He appears nowhere else in the Bible, and neither the nation he ruled nor the period in which he lived is known.
Pachomius
[People]Pachomius (c. 292–346) was a fourth-century Egyptian monk. He is known as the first to organize cenobitic monasticism, in which a number of monks live together under a single rule.
Galatians 6:16
[Bible Verses]Galatians 6:16 is the benediction with which Paul closes the Epistle to the Galatians, invoking peace and mercy on those who walk according to "this rule" and upon "the Israel of God." Interpreters disagree over whether "the Israel of God" refers to the whole church or to Jewish believers, and the verse is frequently cited in discussions of the relationship between the church and Israel.
Gregory VII
[People]Gregory VII (Hildebrand, d. 1085) was pope from 1073 to 1085. He led reforms prohibiting simony and the appointment of clergy by secular rulers, and he clashed with Emperor Henry IV in the Investiture Controversy.
Nahash
[People]Nahash was king of the Ammonites in the time of Saul and David. He besieged Jabesh-gilead and was defeated by Saul. After his death, David sent envoys to his son Hanun to offer condolences.
Psalm 58:3
[Bible Verses]A verse in Psalm 58 that indicts unjust rulers and judges and declares that the wicked go astray from birth. It is frequently cited in support of the doctrine of original sin. Interpreters debate whether it should be read as a statement about all people or as a poetic description of particular wicked individuals.
Released Prisoner Saints
[History]The Released Prisoner Saints were Korean Protestant believers who had been imprisoned for refusing Shinto shrine worship during the final years of Japanese colonial rule and who were freed when Korea was liberated in August 1945. Immediately after liberation, they called for repentance over shrine worship and for the rebuilding of the church.
Church Bylaws
[Organization & Polity]Church bylaws are a written body of self-governing rules that set out the basic principles of a church's operation, including its purpose, membership qualifications, decision-making bodies, election of officers, and management of finances and property.
Cyrus Cylinder
[History]The Cyrus Cylinder is a clay cylinder inscribed in cuneiform, made after the Persian king Cyrus II conquered Babylon in 539 BC. Because it justifies the conquest and describes a policy of returning divine images and displaced peoples to their homes, it is frequently cited alongside the biblical accounts of the return from exile.
Investiture Controversy
[History]The Investiture Controversy was a conflict in eleventh- and twelfth-century Western Europe between the Roman popes and secular rulers, especially the Holy Roman Emperor, over who had the right to appoint bishops and abbots. It was largely settled by the Concordat of Worms in 1122.
2 Kings 11
[Bible]2 Kings 11 recounts how Athaliah destroyed the royal family of Judah and ruled the land for six years, and how she fell when the priest Jehoiada made king the seven-year-old Joash, whom he had kept hidden and raised.
Proverbs 28
[Bible]Proverbs 28 belongs to the collection of Solomon's proverbs compiled by the men of Hezekiah. Its 28 verses are brief sayings that contrast the righteous and the wicked, the poor and the rich, and rulers and the law.
Shinto Shrine Worship
[History]Shinto shrine worship was a policy under Japanese colonial rule by which the Government-General of Korea compelled Koreans to bow at Shinto shrines (jinja), the sanctuaries of Japanese Shinto. In 1938 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church adopted a resolution accepting the practice, and the resistance movement that opposed it produced both prisoners and martyrs.
Ahab and Jezebel
[People]Ahab was a king of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the ninth century BC, and Jezebel, a native of Sidon, was his queen. The books of Kings record them as the rulers who introduced Baal worship and opposed the prophet Elijah.
Isaiah 40:11
[Bible Verses]Isaiah 40:11 portrays God as a shepherd who carries the lambs in his bosom and gently leads the nursing ewes. Because its image of tender care is paired with the mighty rule described in the preceding verse, it is frequently cited in discussions of comfort and pastoral care.
Zealots
[Bible]The Zealots were Jewish groups in first-century Judea under Roman rule who resisted foreign domination in the name of "zeal" for God and the Law. In the Bible the term appears as "Zelotes," the epithet of Simon, one of the twelve disciples.
Elimelech
[People]Elimelech is a man of Bethlehem in Judah who appears in the Book of Ruth. The husband of Naomi, he moved with his family to Moab to escape a famine and died there.
Roman Empire
[History]The Roman Empire was a state that ruled the Mediterranean world, beginning with the accession of Augustus in 27 BC. It forms the historical background of the New Testament. After persecuting Christianity, it legalized the faith in the fourth century and later made it the state religion.
Cushan-rishathaim
[People]Cushan-rishathaim is a king of Mesopotamia who appears in Judges 3. Early in the period of the judges, he ruled over Israel for eight years and was defeated by Othniel, the first judge.