Christianity · Glossary

Glossary of Christianity's history

The ideas, texts, schools, places, figures and pieces of evidence that recur across the series, each defined in a few sentences. The definitions summarise what the chapters argue; the dates and the evidence behind them are cited in the chapter each entry links to. Greek, Latin and Syriac terms are given in a simple transliteration, with common spellings alongside.

A

Aksum also Axum Place: The Ethiopian kingdom whose king Ezana adopted Christianity around the 330s–340s; his later coins replace the disc and crescent of the old gods with the cross. More in Beyond Rome
Anabaptists also Mennonites Movement: Radical reformers, beginning in Zurich in January 1525, who baptised adults on confession of faith; the Mennonites, the Hutterites and later the Amish descend from them. More in Reformations
Antony of Egypt also Anthony the Great, Antony the Great Person: Egyptian ascetic (c. 251–356) who gave away his property around 270 and became the model of the solitary monk through Athanasius' Life of Antony. More in Constantine, the Creeds and the Councils
Arius Person: Priest of Alexandria who from about 318 taught that the Son had a beginning ("there was when he was not"); the Council of Nicaea condemned his view in 325. More in Constantine, the Creeds and the Councils
Armenian Church also Armenian Apostolic Church Movement: Armenia's kings adopted Christianity traditionally in 301, more probably around 314; Mesrop's alphabet of about 405 gave the church its own scriptures. More in Beyond Rome
Athanasius also Athanasius of Alexandria Person: Bishop of Alexandria and leading defender of Nicaea, exiled five times by four emperors. He wrote the Life of Antony and the Easter letter of 367 listing the 27 New Testament books. More in Constantine, the Creeds and the Councils
Augustine of Hippo also Augustine Person: North African bishop (354–430) whose dispute with Pelagius shaped Western doctrine on sin and grace, including inherited guilt, which the Eastern churches never adopted. More in Constantine, the Creeds and the Councils
Azusa Street revival also Azusa Street Evidence: The revival led by William J. Seymour at a mission on Azusa Street, Los Angeles, from April 1906, notable for mixing Black and white worshippers. More in The Twentieth Century Where did Pentecostalism come from?

B

Bartolomé de las Casas also Las Casas Person: Spanish colonist turned Dominican friar who renounced his own Indigenous labourers in 1514 and spent his life denouncing their treatment, debating Sepúlveda at Valladolid in 1550–51. More in Mission and Empire
Bauer thesis Idea: Walter Bauer's argument of 1934 that what was later called heresy was in many regions the first form of Christianity there, and that orthodoxy was Rome's version imposed later. It is still debated. More in Many Christianities

C

Cappadocian Fathers also Cappadocians Movement: Basil of Caesarea, his brother Gregory of Nyssa and their friend Gregory of Nazianzus, who supplied the settlement of the Trinity debate: one essence (ousia) in three persons (hypostaseis). More in Constantine, the Creeds and the Councils
Cathars also Albigensians Movement: Dualist heretics of southern France and Italy against whom the Albigensian crusade was launched in 1209. Some historians argue that a unified Cathar church was largely the inquisitors' construction. More in The Medieval West
Chinese Rites controversy Idea: The dispute over whether Chinese Christians could honour Confucius and their ancestors; Rome banned the rites in 1704, 1715 and 1742 and reversed the ban in 1939. More in Mission and Empire
Christ-myth theory also mythicism, Jesus mythicism Idea: The view that Jesus never existed but began as a heavenly being later given a history. It has almost no support among scholars of antiquity, Christian or not. More in The Historical Jesus Did Jesus exist?
Christmas on 25 December also Christmas Idea: The feast is first securely attested in Rome in 336. Why the date was chosen is contested: one theory links it to the sun festival, another counts nine months from 25 March, the date given to the crucifixion. More in Constantine, the Creeds and the Councils Why is Christmas on December 25?
Chronograph of 354 also Philocalian Calendar Evidence: A Roman almanac compiled for a Christian named Valentinus, whose list of feasts, dated to 336, is the earliest secure evidence for a feast of Christ's birth on 25 December. More in Constantine, the Creeds and the Councils
Church of the East also Nestorian Church, Assyrian Church of the East Movement: The Syriac church of the Persian Empire, organised at the Synod of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in 410, which spread across Asia to India and China. Its old name "Nestorian" is a misnomer. More in Beyond Rome What is the Church of the East?
CIASE report also Sauvé report Evidence: The report of France's independent commission on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church (October 2021), which estimated 216,000 minors abused by clergy and religious since 1950. More in Christianity Today
Codex Sinaiticus Evidence: A Greek Bible of c. 325–360, taken by Constantin von Tischendorf from St Catherine's Monastery in Sinai in 1844 and 1859. It is the oldest complete New Testament and also includes the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas. More in How We Know
Codex Vaticanus Evidence: A Greek Bible of c. 300–350, in the Vatican Library since at least the fifteenth century. It breaks off in Hebrews and lacks the Pastoral letters, Philemon and Revelation. More in How We Know
Confessing Church also Bekennende Kirche Movement: German Protestants who opposed the Nazi-backed German Christians and issued the Barmen Declaration in May 1934; members included Martin Niemöller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. More in The Twentieth Century
Conflict thesis Idea: The claim, popularised by John William Draper in 1874 and Andrew Dickson White in 1896, that science and religion have always been at war. Historians of science now reject it as a general account, while recognising real conflicts. More in Revival, Reason and Criticism
Constantine also Constantine the Great Person: Roman emperor who defeated Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge on 28 October 312, favoured Christianity, summoned the Council of Nicaea in 325 and was baptised only on his deathbed in 337. More in Constantine, the Creeds and the Councils Did Constantine make Christianity the state religion?
Council of Chalcedon also Chalcedon Evidence: The council of 451 that defined Christ as one person in two natures, divine and human. Many Christians in Egypt, Syria and Armenia rejected it, dividing the Eastern churches. More in Constantine, the Creeds and the Councils
Council of Nicaea also First Council of Nicaea, Nicene Council Evidence: The council of bishops summoned by Constantine in 325, which declared the Son "of one substance" with the Father, set a common Easter and issued twenty canons. It did not choose the books of the Bible. More in Constantine, the Creeds and the Councils What happened at the Council of Nicaea?
Council of Trent also Trent Evidence: The Catholic council of 1545–1563 that answered the Reformation, defined the biblical canon as dogma in 1546 and reformed the training of clergy. More in Reformations
Criteria of authenticity Idea: Tests scholars developed to decide which Gospel material goes back to Jesus: multiple attestation, embarrassment, dissimilarity, and coherence with context. Since about 2010 many scholars have preferred to work from memory instead. More in How We Know
Crusades also First Crusade Evidence: Armed pilgrimages proclaimed by the popes, beginning with Urban II at Clermont in 1095; the first ended with the taking of Jerusalem in 1099. Their modern framing is fought over. More in The Medieval West
Cunctos populos also Edict of Thessalonica Text: Theodosius I's edict of February 380, addressed to Constantinople and later read as binding the whole empire, which required the faith of the bishops of Rome and Alexandria and called its followers catholic Christians. More in Constantine, the Creeds and the Councils Did Constantine make Christianity the state religion?

D

Didache Text: "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles", a church manual on baptism, fasting and the eucharist, compiled from older material between about 50 and 120 and published in 1883 from a manuscript found in Constantinople. More in After the Temple

E

Ethiopianism Movement: The movement for African-led churches in southern Africa; in 1892 Mangena Mokone founded the Ethiopian Church in Pretoria, named from Psalm 68:31, "Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God". More in Mission and Empire

F

Farrer hypothesis Idea: The main alternative to Q: Luke used Matthew as well as Mark, so the material they share needs no hypothetical document. Its leading defender is Mark Goodacre; both camps accept Markan priority. More in How We Know
Festal Letter 39 Text: Athanasius of Alexandria's Easter letter of 367, the first surviving list of exactly the 27 books of the New Testament. More in Many Christianities Who decided which books are in the Bible?
Filioque Idea: "And the Son": words added to the creed in the West, first at Toledo in 589, saying the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Rome adopted them in its creed around 1014; the Greek churches rejected them. More in The Medieval West Why did the Catholic and Orthodox churches split?
Florence Li Tim-Oi also Li Tim-Oi Person: The first woman ordained a priest in the Anglican Communion, by the bishop of Hong Kong in January 1944, to serve Chinese Christians in Macau cut off by the Japanese occupation. More in The Twentieth Century
Fourth Lateran Council also Lateran IV Evidence: The council of 1215 that defined transubstantiation, required annual confession and communion at Easter, and ordered Jews and Muslims to wear distinguishing dress. More in The Medieval West
Friars also Franciscans, Dominicans, mendicant orders Movement: Members of the mendicant orders founded in the early thirteenth century, above all Francis of Assisi's Franciscans and Dominic's Dominicans, who preached and begged in the new towns. More in The Medieval West
Fundamentalism also fundamentalists Movement: The Protestant movement named after The Fundamentals (1910–15), defending biblical inerrancy and the miracles against modernist theology. More in The Twentieth Century

G

GAFCON Movement: The Global Anglican Future Conference, founded in 2008 by conservative Anglican provinces, mostly in the global South, in dispute with the Communion's leadership over sexuality and authority. More in Christianity Today
Global South also shift to the south Idea: The shift of Christianity's centre of gravity to Africa, Latin America and Asia; sub-Saharan Africa now has more Christians than any other region, according to Pew. More in Christianity Today
Gnosticism also Gnostics, gnōsis Movement: A modern label for several second-century groups, among them Valentinians and Sethians, who taught salvation through knowledge (gnōsis) and a myth of a lesser creator god. Many scholars now doubt it was ever one movement. More in Many Christianities What are the Gnostic gospels?
Gospel of Judas Text: A second-century text, probably the work Irenaeus knew by that name around 180, presented in 2006 as rehabilitating Judas. It says nothing reliable about the historical Judas. More in Many Christianities What are the Gnostic gospels?
Gospel of Mary Text: A second-century gospel in which Mary Magdalene comforts the disciples after the resurrection and teaches them what the Saviour revealed to her privately. More in Many Christianities What are the Gnostic gospels?
Gospel of Thomas Text: A collection of 114 sayings of Jesus with almost no narrative, complete only in Coptic at Nag Hammadi. Most scholars date it in something like its present form to the second century. More in Many Christianities What are the Gnostic gospels?
Great Awakening also First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening Evidence: Waves of revival in the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, with Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield; the name was given only in 1842, and some historians question whether it was one event. More in Revival, Reason and Criticism
Great Persecution also Diocletianic Persecution Evidence: The most severe Roman persecution of Christians, under Diocletian and Galerius from 303 to 311; Galerius' edict of 311 ended it in law. More in Many Christianities
Great Schism also East–West Schism, 1054 Evidence: The division between the Catholic and Orthodox churches, symbolised by the mutual excommunications of 1054 but in fact a long drift; the sack of Constantinople in 1204 made it real, and the excommunications were lifted in 1965. More in The Medieval West Why did the Catholic and Orthodox churches split?
Gregory the Great also Pope Gregory I Person: Pope from 590 to 604 who sent a mission to the English in 597 and whose sermon of 591 merged Mary Magdalene with two other women of the Gospels. More in The Medieval West

H

Herod Antipas also Antipas Person: Herod's son, tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea for the whole of Jesus' life, ruling from Sepphoris and then Tiberias. He executed John the Baptist; Jesus called him "that fox". More in The World of Jesus
Herod the Great also Herod Person: Rome's client king of Judea, of Idumean descent, who rebuilt the Jerusalem Temple on a vast scale and built Caesarea. His death in 4 BCE set off revolts across the country. More in The World of Jesus
Hidden Christians also Kakure Kirishitan Movement: Japanese Christians who kept their faith in secret after the ban of 1614, sometimes venerating Mary in the form of the Buddhist figure Kannon, and revealed themselves after 1865. More in Mission and Empire
Hildegard of Bingen also Hildegard Person: German abbess, visionary and writer of the twelfth century, author of Scivias, declared a Doctor of the Church in 2012. More in The Medieval West
Historical criticism also biblical criticism, higher criticism Idea: Reading the Bible as historical documents, developed from Spinoza in 1670 through Reimarus, Strauss in 1835 and Renan in 1863. More in Revival, Reason and Criticism
Homoousios also consubstantial, of one substance Idea: "Of one substance": the word the Nicene creed of 325 used for the Son's relation to the Father. It was not a biblical word, and some bishops accepted it reluctantly. More in Constantine, the Creeds and the Councils
Hypatia Person: Mathematician and Neoplatonist teacher in Alexandria, killed by a Christian crowd in March 415. More in Constantine, the Creeds and the Councils

I

Iconoclasm Idea: The Byzantine rejection of religious images in two periods, traditionally from 726/730 to 787 and from 815 to 843; the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 restored images. More in The Medieval West
Ignatius of Antioch also Ignatius Person: Bishop of Antioch who, on his way to execution in Rome around 110, wrote seven letters urging one bishop in each church; they contain the first known uses of "Christianity" and "catholic church". More in After the Temple
Indulgences Idea: Remissions of the punishment due for sins, granted by the church and, by the early sixteenth century, sold to raise money, as for the rebuilding of St Peter's from 1515. More in Reformations
Inquisitions also Inquisition Movement: Papal inquisitors, mostly Dominican friars, appointed from 1231–1233 to investigate heresy. Bernard Gui's register shows 636 convictions and about 45 executions between 1308 and 1323. More in The Medieval West
Inter caetera Text: Pope Alexander VI's bull of 4 May 1493 granting Spain lands it discovered, later central to the "Doctrine of Discovery"; in 2023 the Vatican said such documents had never expressed the Catholic faith. More in Mission and Empire
Irenaeus also Irenaeus of Lyon Person: Bishop of Lyon whose Against Heresies (c. 180) names all four Gospels' authors and argues that there can be only four Gospels, as there are four winds. More in Many Christianities

J

James, brother of Jesus also James the Just Person: Leader of the Jerusalem church after Jesus' death, whom Paul met and called "the Lord's brother". Josephus records that he was stoned in Jerusalem in 62 CE. More in Paul and the Gentile Mission
Jehovah's Witnesses Movement: The movement of Charles Taze Russell's Bible Students, who began publishing Zion's Watch Tower in 1879; the name Jehovah's Witnesses was adopted in 1931. More in Revival, Reason and Criticism
Jerusalem meeting also Council of Jerusalem, Apostolic Council Evidence: The meeting around 48–49 CE at which, by Paul's account in Galatians 2, James, Peter and John agreed that gentile converts need not be circumcised. Acts 15 tells a different version. More in Paul and the Gentile Mission
Jesuits also Society of Jesus Movement: The Society of Jesus, founded by Ignatius of Loyola and approved in 1540, which became the leading teaching and missionary order of the Catholic Reformation. More in Reformations
Jesus of Nazareth also Jesus, Yeshua Person: A Galilean Jew born around 6–4 BCE who was baptised by John, preached that the kingdom of God was at hand, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, probably in 30 or 33 CE. Soon afterwards his followers proclaimed that God had raised him. More in The Historical Jesus
Jesus Seminar Movement: A group of scholars who voted on the sayings of Jesus with coloured beads in the 1980s and 1990s and concluded that about 18 percent of the words attributed to him went back to him, and that he was not apocalyptic. More in The Historical Jesus
Johannine comma also Comma Johanneum Text: The clearest Trinitarian verse in the Bible (1 John 5:7–8), which began as a Latin addition. It appears in only a handful of late Greek manuscripts, and Erasmus added it to his third edition in 1522. More in How We Know
John Calvin also Calvin Person: French reformer of Geneva whose Reformed churches spread to France, Scotland, the Netherlands and beyond; Geneva burned Michael Servetus in 1553. More in Reformations
John the Baptist also John the Baptiser Person: A popular Jewish prophet who preached repentance and immersed people in the Jordan, and who baptised Jesus. Josephus independently reports that Herod Antipas executed him for fear of sedition. More in The Historical Jesus
John Wesley also Wesley Person: Anglican priest whose heart was "strangely warmed" at Aldersgate on 24 May 1738 and who founded the Methodist movement, which separated from the Church of England in America in 1784 and in Britain after his death. More in Revival, Reason and Criticism
Josephus also Flavius Josephus Person: Flavius Josephus, a Jewish priest and general who went over to the Romans in the war of 66–70 and wrote his Jewish Antiquities in Rome around 93–94 CE. It mentions Jesus twice, once as the brother of James. More in How We Know
Judas the Galilean Person: Leader of resistance to the Roman census of 6 CE on the principle that God alone was Israel's master; Josephus calls his teaching a "fourth philosophy". More in The World of Jesus
Junia also Iounia Person: A woman Paul greets in Romans 16:7 as "prominent among the apostles". From around 1300 some read the name as a masculine "Junias", unattested in antiquity; the standard critical editions restored Junia in 1998. More in Paul and the Gentile Mission
Justin Martyr also Justin Person: A philosopher from Samaria who taught in Rome, addressed two Apologies to the emperor and the Senate in the 150s, and was beheaded around 165. He gives the earliest description of a Sunday service. More in Many Christianities

K

Karl Barth also Barth Person: Swiss theologian whose commentary on Romans (1919, revised 1922) broke with liberal theology, and who largely drafted the Barmen Declaration of 1934. More in The Twentieth Century
King James Bible also Authorised Version, KJV Text: The English translation of 1611, which drew heavily on William Tyndale's earlier work. More in Reformations
Kingdom of God also basileia tou theou Idea: The centre of Jesus' preaching in the Synoptic Gospels: God's reign, coming soon and in some sayings already arriving in his exorcisms. How to reconcile the two strands is the core of the debate over the historical Jesus. More in The Historical Jesus
Kingdom of Kongo also Kongo Place: A central African kingdom whose rulers became Christian from 1491; King Afonso I built a Kongolese church and his son Henrique was made a bishop in 1518. More in Mission and Empire

L

Latter-day Saints also Mormons, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Movement: The church founded by Joseph Smith in 1830 on the Book of Mormon, which moved west to Salt Lake in 1847. More in Revival, Reason and Criticism
Leo XIV Person: Pope elected on 8 May 2025 after the death of Francis, born in Chicago in 1955, who had worked as a missionary and bishop in Peru. More in Christianity Today
Liberation theology Movement: A Latin American Catholic theology reading the gospel from the side of the poor, set out by Gustavo Gutiérrez in 1971; Vatican instructions of 1984 and 1986 criticised and partly accepted it. More in The Twentieth Century

M

Magdala also Taricheae, Migdal Place: A lakeside town in Galilee, home of Mary Magdalene, where a synagogue of the first century CE was found in 2009 with a carved stone showing a menorah. More in The World of Jesus
Marcion Person: A shipowner from Pontus who broke with the Roman church around 144 and made the first fixed Christian scripture: one Gospel and ten letters of Paul, with no Old Testament, because he held the God of the Jewish scriptures to be a lesser god. More in Many Christianities
Markan priority Idea: The view that Mark is the earliest Gospel and that Matthew and Luke each used it. Matthew reproduces about 90 percent of Mark's content and Luke about half; it is the closest thing to a settled result in Gospel studies. More in How We Know
Martin Luther also Luther Person: German friar and professor whose Ninety-five Theses of 1517 against indulgences began the Reformation. Refusing to recant at Worms in 1521, he was outlawed, and he translated the Bible into German. More in Reformations
Mary Magdalene also Magdalene Person: A follower of Jesus from Magdala and in all four Gospels a witness of the empty tomb. Gregory the Great's sermon of 591 merged her with the sinful woman of Luke 7; the Catholic calendar separated them again in 1969, and in 2016 her day was raised to a feast. More in The Medieval West Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute?
Matteo Ricci also Ricci Person: Italian Jesuit who settled in Beijing in 1601 and presented Christianity in the dress and learning of a Confucian scholar. More in Mission and Empire
Melito of Sardis also Melito Person: Bishop whose Easter sermon On Pascha (c. 160–170) accuses Israel of killing God, the clearest early expression of the deicide charge. More in After the Temple
Methodism also Methodists Movement: The movement founded by John Wesley within the Church of England, organised in America as a separate church in 1784. More in Revival, Reason and Criticism
Muratorian fragment also Muratorian Canon Evidence: A Latin list of New Testament books copied in an eighth-century manuscript in Milan and published by Muratori in 1740. Whether it was composed in the late second century or the fourth is disputed. More in Many Christianities Who decided which books are in the Bible?

N

Nag Hammadi library also Nag Hammadi codices Evidence: Twelve leather-bound papyrus books and leaves of a thirteenth found in a jar near Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt in December 1945. They contain 52 tractates in Coptic, including the only complete Gospel of Thomas. More in How We Know
New Perspective on Paul Movement: A reading of Paul after E. P. Sanders showed in 1977 that first-century Judaism was not a religion of earning salvation by works; on this view Paul's "works of the law" are the markers that separated Jews from gentiles. More in Paul and the Gentile Mission
New Prophecy also Montanism, Montanists Movement: The movement of Montanus and the women prophets Priscilla and Maximilla, who prophesied in ecstasy in Phrygia in the 160s or 170s, speaking in the first person as the Spirit. Opponents called it Montanism. More in Many Christianities
New Testament canon also canon Idea: The list of 27 books that became the New Testament. No council chose it; the books emerged by use over about three centuries, Athanasius listed exactly the 27 in 367, and regional synods in North Africa ratified the list in 393 and 397. More in Many Christianities Who decided which books are in the Bible?
Nicene Creed also Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed Text: The creed recited in most churches today is the expanded form associated with the Council of Constantinople in 381, not the creed of Nicaea of 325 itself. More in Constantine, the Creeds and the Councils
Ninety-five Theses also 95 Theses Text: Luther's propositions of 1517 for debate on indulgences. Whether he nailed them to the church door at Wittenberg is debated; Erwin Iserloh argued in 1961 that he did not. More in Reformations Did Martin Luther nail the 95 Theses to the church door?

O

Oriental Orthodox churches Movement: The churches that rejected Chalcedon: the Coptic, Syriac Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic and Ethiopian churches. Their critics called them "Monophysites". More in Constantine, the Creeds and the Councils
Origen Person: Alexandrian scholar of the third century who compiled the Hexapla, the Hebrew Bible in six parallel columns, and sorted Christian books into accepted, disputed and rejected. More in Many Christianities
Original sin Idea: Augustine's teaching that all humanity inherited from Adam both guilt and a will incapable of good without grace, read partly from the Latin of Romans 5:12. More in Constantine, the Creeds and the Councils
Orthodox Church of Ukraine also OCU Movement: The church granted independence (autocephaly) by the Ecumenical Patriarch in January 2019; the Moscow Patriarchate had already broken communion with Constantinople in October 2018. More in Christianity Today
Our Lady of Guadalupe also Guadalupe Idea: The image of Mary venerated in Mexico City. Tradition dates the apparition to 1531; the first written account appeared in 1648, and the history of the cult is contested. More in Mission and Empire

P

P52 also Rylands Papyrus, P. Rylands Gk. 457 Evidence: A papyrus scrap with John 18 in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, bought in 1920 and published in 1935. Long called the oldest New Testament manuscript, it was dated by its editor to the first half of the second century; that date range is now disputed. More in How We Know
Papal infallibility Idea: The teaching, defined at the First Vatican Council on 18 July 1870 in Pastor aeternus, that the pope cannot err when he defines doctrine ex cathedra. More in Revival, Reason and Criticism
Parting of the ways Idea: The separation of Christianity from Judaism, now usually seen as long, uneven and different from place to place rather than a single break. More in After the Temple
Paul also Paul the Apostle, Saul Person: A Pharisee from the Greek-speaking diaspora who persecuted the Jesus movement, then had a vision of the risen Jesus and spent his life founding gentile churches. His letters, written between about 50 and 60 CE, are the oldest Christian writings. More in Paul and the Gentile Mission Did Paul invent Christianity?
Peasants' War also German Peasants' War Evidence: The German peasant revolt of 1524–1525, whose Twelve Articles drew on the new gospel; Luther urged the princes to crush it, and perhaps 70,000–100,000 died. More in Reformations
Pentecostalism also Pentecostals Movement: A form of Christianity centred on the experience of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues, with several starting points, among them Topeka in 1901 and the Azusa Street revival from 1906; it became the century's fastest-growing form of Christianity. More in The Twentieth Century Where did Pentecostalism come from?
Perpetua also Vibia Perpetua Person: A young noblewoman executed with the enslaved Felicity at Carthage in 203, whose prison diary, preserved in the Passion of Perpetua and Felicity, most scholars think is substantially her own. More in Many Christianities
Phoebe Person: A woman Paul commends in Romans 16 as a diakonos of the church at Cenchreae and a patron, using the same word he uses for himself and his male co-workers. More in Paul and the Gentile Mission
Pietism Movement: A Lutheran renewal movement launched by Philipp Jakob Spener in 1675 that stressed personal conversion, Bible study in small groups and a religion of the heart; its centres were Halle and Herrnhut. More in Revival, Reason and Criticism
Pilate Stone Evidence: A limestone block found in 1961 in the theatre at Caesarea, recording that Pontius Pilate, prefect of Judea, dedicated a building in honour of Tiberius. It is the only inscription securely naming him and fixes his title as prefect. More in How We Know
Pius XII Person: Pope from 1939 to 1958, whose public silence about the extermination of the Jews is one of the most disputed questions in modern church history. More in The Twentieth Century
Pliny the Younger also Pliny Person: Governor of Bithynia and Pontus who around 112 CE wrote to the emperor Trajan about Christians brought before him, reporting that they sang "a hymn to Christ as to a god" before dawn on a fixed day. More in How We Know
Pontius Pilate also Pilate Person: Roman prefect of Judea from 26 to 36 CE, who ordered Jesus' crucifixion. Josephus and Philo describe clashes over standards, shields and an aqueduct; the Pilate Stone fixes his title. More in The World of Jesus
Pseudepigraphy Idea: Writing in the name of a famous figure. Most critical scholars think at least four of the letters in Paul's name, the Pastorals and Ephesians, were written after his death, and 2 Peter is probably the latest book of the New Testament. More in After the Temple
Purgatory Idea: A state of cleansing after death for those who die in grace but with sins unpaid. Prayers for the dead are early; the noun purgatorium appears in the late twelfth century, and the Second Council of Lyon set out the teaching in 1274. More in The Medieval West Where did the idea of purgatory come from?

Q

Q also Quelle, Q source Text: A lost collection of sayings of Jesus that most scholars think Matthew and Luke both used, to explain the roughly 230 verses they share but Mark lacks. It has never been found and is reconstructed from Matthew and Luke. More in How We Know

R

Rabban Sauma Person: A monk of the Church of the East from the Mongol empire in China who travelled to Europe in 1287–1288 and met the king of France, the king of England and the pope. More in Beyond Rome
Rapture Idea: The belief that believers will be caught up to meet Christ before a time of tribulation, read from 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (Latin rapiemur). The pre-tribulation form was systematised in the 1830s by John Nelson Darby and spread by the Scofield Reference Bible of 1909. More in Revival, Reason and Criticism Where did the idea of the Rapture come from?
Resurrection belief Idea: The proclamation that God had raised Jesus and that he appeared to named followers, quoted by Paul in a creed most scholars date to within about five years of the crucifixion. Historians can date the belief; whether it is true is outside their method. More in The Historical Jesus
Rule of Benedict also Benedictine Rule Text: Benedict of Nursia's rule for monks, written around 530, which became the standard rule of Western monasticism: prayer, work, reading and obedience to an abbot. More in The Medieval West

S

Samuel Ajayi Crowther also Crowther Person: A Yoruba man freed from a slave ship in 1822 who became a missionary and translator and, on 29 June 1864, the first African bishop in the Anglican communion. More in Mission and Empire
Second Vatican Council also Vatican II Evidence: The Catholic council of 1962–1965 that allowed the Mass in local languages, embraced religious liberty and, in Nostra Aetate, rejected collective Jewish guilt for the crucifixion. More in The Twentieth Century
Sepphoris also Zippori Place: Galilee's administrative city, about six kilometres from Nazareth, burned by the Syrian governor Varus in 4 BCE and rebuilt by Antipas during Jesus' youth. The Gospels never place Jesus there. More in The World of Jesus
Seventh-day Adventists also Adventism, Millerites Movement: A church organised in 1863 from followers of William Miller, who predicted Christ's return around 1843–1844; the date his followers fixed, 22 October 1844, became the Great Disappointment. More in Revival, Reason and Criticism
Slave Bible Text: Select Parts of the Holy Bible for the Use of the Negro Slaves (London, 1807), which left out most of the Hebrew Bible, including the Exodus, while keeping passages urging slaves to obey their masters. More in Mission and Empire
Son of Man Idea: Jesus' most frequent way of referring to himself in the Synoptic Gospels; whether it meant simply "a human being" or the heavenly figure of Daniel 7:13 is debated. More in The Historical Jesus
Synoptic Gospels also Synoptics Text: Matthew, Mark and Luke, so called because they can be laid side by side and "seen together": they tell many of the same stories in the same order, often in the same Greek words. John goes its own way. More in How We Know

T

Tacitus Person: Roman historian who, writing around 116 CE about the fire of Rome in 64, says that Christus "suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius" at the hands of Pontius Pilate. More in How We Know
Tertullian Person: Carthaginian writer of the late second and early third centuries, the first major Christian author in Latin, who around 213 used the word trinitas. More in Many Christianities
Testimonium Flavianum Evidence: The longer passage on Jesus in Josephus' Jewish Antiquities (c. 93 CE). In its received form it calls Jesus the Messiah and reports his resurrection; most scholars think Josephus wrote a shorter, neutral notice that Christian copyists later expanded. More in How We Know
Theotokos also God-bearer Idea: "God-bearer", a title for Mary already popular in devotion. Nestorius' objection to it in 428 led to the Council of Ephesus in 431. More in Constantine, the Creeds and the Councils
Thomas Christians also Saint Thomas Christians, Syrian Christians of Kerala Movement: The Christians of Kerala, who trace their church to the apostle Thomas. Firm evidence begins with Cosmas Indicopleustes around 550 and the Tharisapalli copper plates of about 849. More in Beyond Rome When did Christianity reach India?
Transubstantiation Idea: The teaching, defined at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, that the bread and wine of the eucharist are changed in substance into Christ's body and blood. More in The Medieval West

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Ulrich Zwingli also Zwingli Person: Reformer of Zurich who failed to agree with Luther on the eucharist at the Marburg Colloquy in 1529. More in Reformations

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Witch trials also witch hunts Evidence: Prosecutions for witchcraft that killed perhaps 40,000–60,000 people, about three-quarters of them women, with a peak between 1560 and 1630, mostly in secular courts. More in Reformations
World Council of Churches also WCC Movement: The fellowship of Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox churches formed at Amsterdam in August 1948. More in The Twentieth Century

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Xi'an Stele also Nestorian Stele, Jingjiao Stele Evidence: A stone erected in Chang'an in 781 recording the arrival of the Church of the East in China with the monk Alopen in 635 and its "Luminous Teaching". More in Beyond Rome

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Yehoḥanan's heel bone also Yehohanan, Jehohanan Evidence: The heel bone of a young man pierced by an iron nail, found in 1968 in a tomb at Giv'at ha-Mivtar in Jerusalem: the clearest physical evidence of crucifixion from the period, and proof that a crucified man could be buried in a family tomb. More in How We Know