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Wednesday, 1 May 2024, 1:32 PM
Site: Birmingham Theological Seminary
Course: The Apostles' Creed (The Apostles' Creed)
Glossary: Glossary for Lessons 1-5

Origen

Early Christian theologian (185-254 A.D.) who taught in Alexandria, Egypt. Wrote commentaries on the Bible and On First Principles, in which he defended the Scriptures as our final authority for Christian doctrine. He produced the Hexapla, a  comparative study of various translations of the Old Testament.

Rufinus

Monk and historian (340/345 – 410 A.D.), who proposed (in 390 A.D.) the idea that the Apostles' Creed was written by the twelve apostles, each one contributing a phrase

Tertullian

Early Christian writer (160-220 A.D.) from Carthage. (His name is written in several different ways, sometimes ending in "-us.") He referred to the "Roman Creed" by this name around 200 A.D.

Chalcedon

City in Asia Minor where church council was held in 451 A.D. This creed stated that Jesus was "truly God and truly man."

Hypostatic union

Phrase used in early theology to express the doctrine that the divine and human natures of Christ are united in one person

Sheol

Hebrew term used in the Old Testament to refer to the place of the departed spirits, both the righteous and the wicked

Hades

Greek term used in the New Testament, usually meaning the abode of wicked souls, but sometimes referring to the place of both the righteous and the wicked

Session

Theological term used to refer to Jesus' ministry of intercession, while seated at the right hand of God the Father

Cyprian

Bishop of Carthage in the third century. In Epistle 73, he wrote that traditional teachings of the Church should not have more authority than the Scriptures, because the Church can make theological mistakes. In this letter he wrote, "...custom without truth is the antiquity of error."

Augustine

Bishop of Hippo (354-430 A.D.). He believed in the Scriptures as our final authority in doctrine, and considered the creeds of the Church as helpful summaries of Scriptural teaching. He wrote regarding the Nicene Creed, "These words which you have heard are in the divine Scriptures scattered up and down: but thence gathered and reduced into one, that the memory of slow persons might not be distressed; that every person may be able to say, able to hold, what he believes."