A Short Theological Dictionary

The following theological terms are actually much simpler than they appear.

It is because many of the words are transliterated (see below) from other languages, that they sound intimidating.

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Angelology:
Is the study of angels.

Anthropology:
Is the study of man.

Anthropomorphism:
Is describing human attributes to nonhuman things, such as using emotional type words or human characteristics in describing God’s motivations, actions, or His very being, (a noun) ~ Anthropomorphize is the verb.

Antinomianism:
The meaning comes from the word itself, which is: (Greek:) Anti (meaning: “against“) nomos (meaning: “law“), refers to the doctrine that states that it is not necessary for Christians to preach and/or obey the moral law of the OT.

Apologetics:
Is a branch in theology that presents a defense of the validity of Christianity as truth, and it’s doctrines as legitimate primarily in a deductive systematic manner (Greek: apologia, “to make a defense”).

Apostle:
Means: “Onesent with delegated authority” (also when referring to Christianity, the person had to have been in the presence of Jesus “…seen Jesus Christ our Lord” ~ 1 Cor. 9:1; referring to Paul as an Apostle).

Appistamalology: 
Is the study of how people come to Christ.

Atonement
“Covering” or reconcile to or back to (See Propitiation below).

Bibliology:

Is the study of the Bible.

Christocentricity:
Is the Biblical fact taught in Scripture that all Scripture is Christ centered (Joh. 5:39).

Christology:
Is the study of Christ.

Christophanies:
Is the pre-incarnate (O.T.) appearances of Jesus.

Ecclesiology:
Is the study of the church.

Eisegete:
Is to place meaning into a text which is not originally or inherently present in the text to begin with.

It is to interject meaning not originally contained, and is the opposite of exegete, which is “to draw out” the meaning of the text.

Epistemology:
Is the study of knowledge, how we know things, its scope and limits.

Eschatology:
Is the study of future (prophetic) events.

Ethnology:
Is the study of cultures.

Etiology:
Is the study of the cause or origin of a disease.

Etymology:
Is the study of the origin of words or linguistics.

Exegesis:
Is an in-depth (critical) systematic examination of text (Greek: “to draw out”).

Plain Meaning: Is the study of what the scripture means.

Technically:  In the process of exegesis, a passage must be viewed in its historical and grammatical context with its time and purpose of writing taken into account (noun) ~ Exegete or exegetist, are both nouns – a person who…  

Exegetical is an adjective.  A formal form of exegesis is often accommodated by asking ~

• Who wrote the text, and who is the intended readership?

• What is the context of the text, i.e. how does it fit in the author’s larger thought process, purpose, or argument in the chapter and book where it resides?

• Is the choice of words, wording, or word order significant in this particular passage?

• Why was the text written (e.g. to correct, encourage, or explain, etc.)?

• When was the text written? (Theopedia)

Expositional Preaching:
Is a kind of preaching that expounds upon the meaning of a particular text.

Plain Meaning: Is the study of what the scripture says. ~ Expository is an adjective.

Heretical:
Is an opinion or doctrine held in complete opposition to an Orthodox position which undermines a foundational truth concerning an essential belief.

Hermeneutics:
Is a branch of theology that deals with principles of in-depth (exegesis), systematic examination in order to determine the intended meaning of a passage through specific principles of interpretation.

There are different hermeneutical approaches, such as the: Allegorical Method, Literalistic Method, Naturalistic Method, Neo-Orthodox Interpretation Method, Devotional Interpretation Method, Ideological Interpretation Method, and the Grammatical-Historical Method.

Plain Meaning: Is a study of the methods and techniques of Biblical interpretation. ~ Hermeneutical is an adjective.

Heterodoxy:
Is any opinion or doctrine at variances with what is considered an orthodox position, yet does not undermine a foundational truth concerning an essential belief. ~ Heterodoxical is an adjective.

Heteropraxy:
Pertaining to people who do not follow the teachings of their religion.

Homily:
A sermon given to an assembled audience (Greek: homilia; means: “conversation,” “discourse“), some say to edify on a practical matter, others say a message with a personal application.

Logy:
Is Greek for “study” or “science.”

Omnipotent:
Means: “All powerful, visible & invisible.”

Omnipresent:
Means: “Existing everywhere all at once, non-locality.”

Omniscient:
Means: “All knowing.”

Ontological Argument:
Is an argument for the existence of God based upon the meaning of the term “God.”

Orthodoxy:
Means: “right opinion,” or “correct thinking”, and is understood as the accepted or traditional historic Christian faith, made up of its doctrines.

Paterology:
Is the study of God the Father (“Theology Proper”).

Pelagianism:
Is the belief that there was no original sin, and man can work out his own salvation.

Pharisee:
Means: “A separated one“ (a person).

Pneumatology:
Is the study of God the Holy Spirit.

Prophet:
Means: “One who speaks for another” ~ “interpreter” (As per Dr. William Smith [1884], “The English word, ‘prophet’ comes from the Greek prophetes (profetes)[G4396], which signifies, in classical Greek, one who speaks for another, especially one who speaks for a god, and so interprets his will to man; hence, its essential meaning is “an interpreter“. The use of the word in its modern sense as “one who predicts” is post-classical. The larger sense of interpretation has not, however, been lost.  In fact, the English word has been used in a closer sense“).

Propitiation:
Means: “Covering” (Greek: hilasterion), “the lid of expiation,” (Greek: epithema “a cover”) from the Hebrew: kapporet (Exo. 25:10-22; Lev. 16:2; Heb. 9:2-10).

It is the greatest word of love in Scripture, because it displays how far God would go to redeem man by covering man’s sin.

Sin cannot be simply forgotten, or just set side.  Sin is on opposition to God and His Will, & cannot be tolerated.

God’s justice could not allow sin to go without punishment, man took himself out from under God’s protection when he chose to NOT obey; because of his lack of faith in God (we obey because we trust God – it is only natural to obey God if we trust what He says – only a fool sticks his hand in fire after God has warned him of the harm, obedience is the natural fruit of faith. Faith should be our motivation, and it is our motivation that God is concerned with – obedience for the sake of obedience [such as Pharisees], can be a form of manipulation, yet obedience because of faith sets-up a relationship, which is what God wants), this is what Adam gave up, a relationship based upon faith.

Being part of God’s family means God protects & covers us; after man’s fall, this covering was withdrawn,*now through faith in Jesus’ atoning death on the cross, having paid the price for our sin, we are adopted back into God’s family, and made righteous by Christ’s blood.

God’s covering of man’s sin cost Him the most valuable thing in existence, the life of His Son. This is the price of our covering, and proof of God’s love.  (*God always protects His Own, which includes before they respond in faith, God is always the Master of His Creation; He is Supreme in all, thus His covering does not mean others are without protection.)

Redemption:
Means: “Freed by a ransom having been paid” ~ in regards to a market slave (1 Joh. 5:19; Joh. 12:31; Eph. 2:2,3; Col. 2:14; Heb. 2:14, 15; 1 Pet. 1:18,19).

Romanize:
To take a word from a foreign alphabet and transliterate it in to the Latin alphabet, which makes up what we know as our English letters.

Sanctification:
Means: “To set aside.”

Satan:
Means: “Adversary,” (Greek: satanas) from the verb (Hebrew) saTan, “to lie in wait.” (herban ~ Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7).

Semi-Pelagianism:
Is the belief that man did not totally fall, and man can work within his own salvation.

Sin:
Comes from the Greek: hamarthia (G266), and means: “to miss the mark” as in archery.

Soteriology:
Is the study of salvation.

Sovereign:
Means: “Accountable only to one’s self.”

Teleology:
Is the study of the meaning, goal and purpose of the world.

Tanach:
Is the Hebrew Old Testament (Hebrew: Tanakh).

Theocracy:
Is a form of government which god / God is recognized as the civil ruler.

Theodicy:
Is a system of natural theology aimed at seeking to reconcile divine justice (a good God) and allowing evil to exist (the existence of evil in the world).

Theology:
Is the study of God (Greek: Theos = God).

Theology Proper:
Is the study of the doctrine of God.

Theonomy:
Is a system of natural theology that reconciles divine justice & evil in world.

Theophany:
Is a theological term used to refer to either a visible or auditory manifestation of God (noun).  ~ Theophanies is a plural noun.

Torah:
Means literally: “the law” refers to books of Genesis – Deuteronomy, (Greek: Pentateuch); meaning: “five.”

Translation:
The act of conveying the meaning of a word in one language by producing the same meaning in another language.

The primary goal is that of transmission of meaning only, not the word itself or the use of the original word alphabet; hence, the translation is not about spelling, but meaning (vs. transliteration).

Transliteration:
The representation of letters from one language alphabet (written symbols) to another language alphabet.  Whereas, translation deals with conveying meaning, transliteration has to do with reproducing words.

Due to this, doing transliteration can become complicated. Wikipedia gives a good explanation with the following exerts combined as follows:

“Transliteration is the practice of converting a text from one writing system into another, systematically. From an information-theoretical point of view, transliteration is a mapping from one system of writing into another, word by word, or ideally letter by letter.  Transliteration attempts to use a one-to-one correspondence, and to be exact, so that an informed reader should be able to reconstruct the original spelling of unknown transliterated words. To achieve that objective, transliteration may define complex conventions for dealing with letters in the source script [which do not exist in the other language], which do not correspond with letters in a goal script.  Transliteration is opposed to transcription, which specifically maps the sounds of one language to the best matching script of another language. Most systems of transliteration attempt to map the letters of the source script to the letters pronounced similarly in the goal script.  [part of the problem is that many language alphabets do not have corresponding letters that match with other language alphabets], the Greek language is written in the 24-letter Greek alphabet, which overlaps with, but differs from, the 26 letter version of the Roman alphabet, in which English is written” (Wikipedia).

An example of the problem can be seen as follows (with my insert): In the Anglo-Saxon language there is the letter ∂ (it would be pronounced “eth” in English, such as the no-longer-used word for the verb of faith, “faitheth”, which in our current Bibles is translated “believe” – which has a different meaning that faith.  Believer is mental only, faith also has confidence and action involved), which does not exist in Modern English. To transliterate this letter, we use the digraph when we write out the Anglo-Saxon word. For instances “∂aes,” when it is transliterated, it would “thaes” in English (Super Glossary).

Transgression:
Means: “Crossing over the line.” (“a person who…”)

Please also see: “Figures of Speech ~ Part 1 ~ A Brief Introduction” ~ LINK

Also: “Figures of Speech ~ Part 2 ~ A Few Examples” ~ LINK

The difference between ‘involvement’ and ‘commitment’ is like an eggs-and-ham breakfast:
the chicken was ‘involved’ – the pig was ‘committed’.”

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Tags: Dictionary, Exegesis, Hermeneutics, Heterodoxy, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient, Propitiation, Translation, Transliteration