Glossary

Terms

Theological, historical, and philosophical terms used on the site. Where a term has a longer treatment, the entry links to the relevant note.

Apokatastasis: Greek for "restoration." A view in patristic theology, associated with Origen and Gregory of Nyssa, that all rational creatures are eventually reconciled to God. Currently defended by David Bentley Hart. Contested but historically present in orthodox Christianity.; See note →
Bayesian inference: A method for updating probability assessments in light of new evidence. Used by Sean Carroll and Richard Carrier in apologetics and mythicism respectively. The method is only as reliable as its priors.; See note →
Binitarian devotion: Larry Hurtado's term for the early Christian devotional pattern in which Jesus was reverenced alongside the God of Israel as a unified object of worship. A modification of strict Jewish monotheism, present in the earliest discoverable Christian texts.
Christology: The branch of theology concerned with the nature of Christ. "High Christology" treats Jesus as fully divine; "low Christology" treats him as merely human. The contemporary scholarly consensus is that high Christology emerged within years of the crucifixion, not centuries.
Codex Sinaiticus: A Greek manuscript of the Christian Bible, ~350 AD, the earliest near complete copy of the New Testament. Held principally at the British Library, fully digitised at codexsinaiticus.org.
Codex Vaticanus: A Greek Bible manuscript dated ~325 AD, alongside Sinaiticus the most important early near complete witness to the New Testament text. Held in the Vatican Library.
Conditionalism: The view that the unrepentant cease to exist after final judgment, rather than enduring eternal conscious torment. Held by John Stott, Edward Fudge, and a minority of contemporary evangelical scholarship. Within historic Christian options.; See note →
Dead Sea Scrolls: Manuscripts discovered 1947 to 1956 in caves near Qumran, dated 150 BC to 68 AD. Contain copies of essentially every Old Testament book except Esther, in pre Christian form. Confirm the prophetic texts predate Jesus.
Ego eimi: Greek for "I am." Used by Jesus in the Gospel of John in ways that echo the Septuagint translation of YHWH's self revelation in Exodus 3:14. The construction draws stones from the crowd in John 8:58, indicating it was understood as a claim to divinity.
Form criticism: A method of biblical scholarship developed by Bultmann and Dibelius (~1920s) which assumed an extended period of anonymous oral tradition shaped by community needs. Bauckham's eyewitness model is the leading challenge to form criticism's underlying assumptions.
Habermas's minimal facts: Six (sometimes twelve) historical facts about Jesus's death and the early church accepted by more than 95 percent of working New Testament scholars. The site uses six: crucifixion, disciples' belief in resurrection appearances, transformation of the disciples, early Jerusalem proclamation, conversion of Paul, conversion of James.
Incarnation: The Christian doctrine that the Son of God took on human nature in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, fully God and fully human. Solves the transcendence and immanence tension that other monotheisms struggle with.
Inclusio: An ancient historiographical literary device, framing a narrative with the same witness at the start and end to signal that the witness's testimony stands behind the whole. Used by Mark with Peter, Luke with the Galilean women, and John with the Beloved Disciple.
Maranatha: An Aramaic invocation meaning "Our Lord, come" preserved untranslated in 1 Corinthians 16:22. Indicates the practice of addressing prayer to Jesus originated in the earliest Aramaic speaking Palestinian church, not in later Hellenistic settings.
Mythicism: The thesis that Jesus of Nazareth never existed as a historical person. Held by Richard Carrier, Robert Price, and a small number of others. Rejected by virtually all professional New Testament historians, including agnostic and atheist ones.; See note →
P52: The Rylands Library Papyrus, a small fragment of John's Gospel paleographically dated to ~125 AD. The earliest known fragment of the New Testament. Held at the John Rylands Research Institute, Manchester.
Septuagint (LXX): The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, made between the third and first centuries BC. The version most commonly cited in the New Testament. Important for Christological interpretation, since "kyrios" in the LXX translates the Hebrew YHWH.
Synoptic Problem: The literary question of how Matthew, Mark, and Luke relate to one another, given their extensive verbal agreements and characteristic differences. Mainstream solutions: the two source hypothesis (Mark plus a hypothetical sayings source Q), the Farrer hypothesis (Mark first, Luke used Mark and Matthew, no Q needed). The site's case does not depend on a particular solution.; See note →
Tahrif: Arabic for "distortion." The Islamic doctrine that the Jewish and Christian scriptures were corrupted in transmission. The strong textual corruption form was popularised by Ibn Hazm in the 11th century; earlier Muslim scholars typically held the milder "corruption of meaning" position.; See note →
Testimonium Flavianum: Josephus, Antiquities 18.3.3 (~94 AD), a passage about Jesus. The textual reception is contested, with most scholars accepting an authentic core under later Christian interpolation. Confirms Jesus's existence, teaching, crucifixion, and continuing followers.
Trilemma: C. S. Lewis's argument that Jesus must have been Lord, Liar, or Lunatic. The fourth option (Legend) is the modern addition. The site engages all four.
Trinity: The Christian doctrine that God is one being in three persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). Solves the relational problem of a strict unitarian deity (love requires an object; the Father loves the Son before creation). Articulated formally at Nicaea (325 AD) and Constantinople (381 AD).
Yehohanan: Yehohanan ben Hagkol, a first century Jewish man whose ossuary was discovered at Givat HaMivtar (Jerusalem) in 1968. The heel bone retains the iron crucifixion nail. The only archaeological remains of a Roman crucifixion victim ever recovered.